Well i made it to Greece and without any relatively large dramas, now that is odd. Rocked up and met some cool german lads and set off for a night walking tour around the metropolis in Athens, all the ancient Greek ruins as they are all lit up at night and look spectacular. A relatively early night and up the next morning for the big walk exploring all the sights around town including the Parthenon, Erechteion Temple, Theater of Herodes Atticus, Temple of Hephaestus, Temple of Thission, Temple of Zeus and many others. A short walk out of town brought us to the original sight of the Olympics and I couldnt help but imagine what the atmosphere in the stadium would have been like during the recent games. Due to the loss of camera number two i had to use a disposable "film" camera, felt like a cave man, havent got it developed yet so had to pilage photos of the net, same stuff just so you get teh idea, but  i didnt take them. Athens is a definate must see and after watching the movie '300' several times i was quite keen to read a bit more into the history of Greece, the ruins are truly breathtaking, the shear scale of the buildings, the intricacies and perfection of the carved stones and the writings inscribed.

 

5am down at the wharf in Athens and im waiting to board one of the 50 or so massive ferries on my way out to the islands, which would take about 8hrs all up, sleep time. With my new camera in hand the first stop was Santorini, an old collapsed volcano, which is meant to be the most beautiful of the islands with its traditional white and blue greek buildings nestled on the giant red cliffs that surround the Island. AI met up with a great group of Aussies and Kiwis that would accompany me for the rest of my Greek island adventure and make for some great nights out. Day 1 and straight to the quad bike store to get some wheels, rip it up and check out the sights, red beach, black beach, old town of santorini, churchs, and the main town of Fira with day comming to an end watching the sunset and eating dinner atop the cliffs with a few nice brews. The next few nights would see a high speed cocktail pub crawl, team topgun revival, good old game of circle of death, and some good old fashioned chillin out on the beach and around the hostel pool.

 

Next island was the party island of Ios, i let most of the pictures tell the story. We stayed at the Far Out hostel, killer setup and right on the beach, bar, store, got a bungalow to myself - couldnt ask for a better setup. Harmony bar on the edge of the edge of the beach has great live music in the afternoons and mexican food, most clubs dont open till 12 so its tucker max drunk by the time you get there. Flamming Lamborginis are definately dangerous and welcome your palette to the taste senstation that is the 2Euro 'Gyros', life saving sustinance, street jenga is a great game at 4am when you cant see your feet and as with everyone that goes to Ios, you'll get introduced to the "walk home" when staying at far out, just be careful trying to steal donkeys to ride home. Ios is an island of epic party proportions, have a week or two off before you go there.

 

Leaving Ios brought me to the slow town of Naxos, an island with ancient ruins right on the beach. Naxos has a great little old greek own feel, with skinny walkways, quaint litte cafes, an ancient city recovered from below the earth, lots of restraunts along the pier, and some ancient columns right on the point. Very good place to chill out and relax after Ios and before returning to the aiport to spend the night before shooting off to London. I loved greece and would liek to go back sometime, I didnt have a single incident or lose anything there either - things may just be turning around for me ???