a few from labor day weekend

I hope everyone had a great three day weekend! As you know, I had my first camping experience this weekend to celebrate the holiday and it really was a lot of fun. It was different than what I was expecting but for the most part we were completely prepared and weren't going "ohhh, I wish I had brought that" which is very good.

On Saturday, our first day, we spent almost the entire day just out on the lake. We had a little bit of trouble as the plastic oars from my parents old little raft had all cracked and failed on us while out in the water. There was a general store with a restaurant on site so luckily they had one oar to purchase. We used that and it was a bit better but still it was a little difficult to get around on the small raft. Brett gave it his all fishing off the boat and caught three fish! They weren't that big but we still brought them back to BBQ and eat with our dinner.

Sunday we drove out to Columbia where they have kept the town and have shops and business's open as if it were 1850. These towns were developed when the rush for gold started and everyone came out west to strike it rich! I had been there once on a school trip and I have wanted to go back and see it again for awhile. There is a stagecoach tour that you can take, visit any of the old general stores, ice cream parlor, blacksmith, bar's and saloons and of course panning for gold. It is definitely worth a visit if you are ever in California and interested.

X x

24 hours to see thira (santorini)

The next stop on our journey was a quick overnight in Santorini. We heard it was a very small sleepy little island and didn't think there would be that much going on, so we thought one day / night to explore would be perfect. Well we were a little off and wished we had just one more day to explore but we made the most of our short time and did as much as we possibly could! Santorini is also known as Thira and it is the biggest of the islands that came up because of the volcano below that erupted thousands, or millions of years ago - I'm not exactly sure so don't quote me!

The island is very small and all the houses, buildings, etc. are on top of the island because all around is just cliff! You have to take these steep roads and drive up and down these switchbacks. But once you are at the top it is a little hilly but fairly easy to get around. This time we rented a little car {CONVERTIBLE smart car!} because there were about 8 rent-a-car stations at the port, so it seems that is what everyone does. It also worked out because we had so little time and we could just drive to everywhere we wanted. Well we made it to our hotel just in time to see the beautiful sunset from our balcony and then dressed up a little and went into the town. The car was awesome too, it was a little smart car and the whole roof would go back, so it felt like we were back on an ATV. We loved that little thing, I ended up calling her Put-Put because there were so many hills and we were worried she wouldn't make it.

The "sleepy little town" we heard about - was all wrong! It was just as busy as Mykonos as tons of people walked through the streets, headed into restaurants and bars and did some late night shopping. It was such a fun atmosphere. We had an amazing dinner on a rooftop terrace restaurant and then just got lost in the little winding city streets until it was really late and we headed back. Since we had the full day for Santorini because our ferry was at 6.30pm, we booked to go on a boat tour to the other little islands off Santorini where there is still a little {thermal} volcanic activity. The bus arrived at 9am and picked us straight up from the hotel and took us down to the port. We had a really nice tour guide who was on the boat with us. First we went to the bigger island - called something like Old Burnt Island and the other was New Burnt Island, or the other way around? I can't remember. Anyway the first one we were able to hike to the top and get some great views and our guide gave us a little history about the islands and the volcanic eruptions. It was the strongest wind I have ever felt, oh it was crazy! I thought I was going to blow off the island. But I'm still here, so don't worry. Then he took us over to the other smaller island to the hot springs. {luke warm water} The water was this horrible orange murky color and it was so weird to be swimming through it. Again it is said the waters are supposed to have "healing powers" but I'm not feeling any.

After the tour was over, it was about 1.30 or 2 o'clock so we hopped in the car and drove to the other side of the island because there was a point on the map that said "Ancient Thira" and I thought that would be really cool to check out. It wasn't too far away but the map failed to mention that you have to climb up this huge hill for about 15 minutes to reach the top to "Ancient Thira." Our poor little car {Put Put } just barley made it up there and I kept saying encouraging things so she wouldn't die. We made it to the top for some seriously breathtaking views of the other side of the island, along with more crazy intense winds that made it really difficult to walk.. or stand, or do anything really. But it was still completely worth it. Ancient Thira is only 2 euro's and open to the public to walk through at your own pace and check everything out. There were some great little descriptions and explanations of things that you can read about with drawings of what they think it may have looked like.

After all that walking around and exploring we went down to the beach for a late lunch and a quick swim to get all the murky "hot spring" water off of us. Then we had to head back to our hotel to pick up our bags and return the car and then our ferry arrived right on time to take us to our last and final destination, Crete.

x X

mykonos never sleeps, no seriously

Mykonos is one of the hottest summer destinations for people from all over the world who want to relax on white sandy beaches and party until the sunrises. This place puts Vegas to shame, but more on that later.

We took another ferry from Paros to Mykonos, it was only about 45 minutes because the islands are so close together. We were staying on the southern end of the island, about 15 minutes from the port and main town. Our hotel was adorable with an all white exterior and little blue doors. It was the perfect "Mediterranean style" I was hoping for! Also, it was only steps from the beach and a few restaurants.

First of all, we were so overwhelmed when we arrived into Mykonos. It was much busier than Paros, there were people walking and driving all over the place on these little windy roads. Luckily our hotel had a shuttle and picked us up so we didn't have to figure it out on our own. We spent our first day and night there just looking at maps and walking around everywhere to figure out what our surroundings were. There was a bus that would come every 15 minutes to take you into town. There were also taxi boats that would ferry you around all the coves from one beach to the other; it was perfect. We spent most of our time during the days on the beach and playing in the water.

The nightlife just exploded from there, everything revolved around the night - eating, drinking, shopping and clubbing took place all night and into the early morning. Restaurants and shops were packed from 10pm until about 1am, it was such a strange feeling to be in a restaurant eating a full dinner at midnight, but at the same time it felt so right. Makes sense, doesn't it? Anyway the three most famous and biggest clubs in Mykonos are: Space, Scandanavian Bar and any of the three clubs in Paradise Beach. Of course we went to all three. :] However, no one actually came to the clubs until about 4am, seriously. We tried, we really did to keep up.. but by 4am I was just so tired {Brett too} that we had to just get back to our hotel and crawl into bed. I really don't know how they can do it, I mean honestly what do you do until 4am anyways?! It beats me, but basically Mykonos won this time.

Of course not everything was party, beach, party, beach, repeat. We spent a little time walking through the town in the afternoon, while there was no one else around and I was able to get some great pictures. Mykonos is also known for a couple of other things, one being their windmills. There are 5 of them grouped together in the main town up on a little hill and they are beautiful. They can be seen from pretty much any point in the town and from the harbor. There is also a local "celebrity" of the town. His name is Petros and he is a pelican. He is beloved by his town and he is extremely friendly. You can easily find him just wandering through the town because there is a group of people chasing after him with their cameras. He even let me pet him one afternoon. :] I also could not get enough of the beautiful bright white buildings with its deep blue roof. I think when a lot of people image the Greek Islands, that is what they picture {because that's what I pictured} but those beautiful little buildings are all small churches and they have them almost every couple hundred feet! I even read somewhere that there are 365 churches on the islands of Mykonos alone. That is a pretty huge number for such a tiny little island, don't you think?

 We also lucked out and while we were wandering through the town there were tables set up with local Greek food that had just been cooked by the local women, selling them for a euro or two a piece. It was perfect! We were able to try homemade treats cooked by these women who were selling them to raise some money for a cause. My favorite, of course was baklava, which is a very sweet, flaky pastry. Oh it was so good to have it fresh & homemade. 

Mykonos definitely had a completely different style and vibe from Paros, so we had no idea what to expect for our quick day visit to Santorini, but we were ready to move on. It was great while we were there, but I think if I were to do it again, I would choose to stay on a different side of the island. By the time we had to checkout all we wanted to do was sleep. The hotel shuttle took us back to the port where we waited for the ferry to take us to our next destination. Let the adventures continue.

X x

paros: the windy island

First stop on our agenda was to get from the Athens airport, to the port where a ferry would take us to Paros, our first island, and part of the Cyclades Islands. Honestly, we really weren't sure what to expect, we knew it was going to be a quiet island with sandy beaches, we read there was rocks that turned into mud that people would put on themselves and let dry because it was supposed to make your skin soft and have "healing powers." Other than that we had no idea what we were in for.

We arrived in a flurry of people and vespa's, atv's, cars, taxis and were shuffled around until we found a taxi and asked to be taken to our hotel. It was about 5 or 6pm Greek time. (+10 hours to pacific time)  Our hotel was beautiful and situated a little further back from the port town, but up a little hill with a nice view and a little 5 minute walk down a path to the beach. It was charming and beautiful and exactly what we needed after a long journey there.
 

After getting to know the area the next day we decided it was best to rent an ATV for the day {i'm not so fond of the motorized two wheels} this way we could explore the island and do exactly what we wanted and at our own pace. One of our first stops of course was to see what the beach with the mud was all about. It turns out it's actually the rock that turns into a clay when you mix it with the ocean water and put on yourself. It was a lot of fun putting the clay on and letting it dry and then jumping into the ocean and having it wash off. I am pretty positive that I go to Target and buy a clay mask for myself that seemed identical to the clay found on the rocks. 

We spent some time going through the town, looking in all the little shops and stocked up on some things for the rest of our time - a couple towels, snorkels, paddle boards, etc. The town was great, it had a lot of restaurants right there on the water and Brett tried an authentic Greek dish - Moussaka. It was very interesting and you'll have to ask him about it since I did not have any!

Anyway, we got up one morning and went up to this other little port town on the northern coast called Naousa. It was a real fishing port with all the fisherman getting their catch out and hanging it out. That day we went, their "fish of the day" was...  octopus! Then there was this little castle ruins out to the side of the port, so of course that needed to be explored. I had never seen a castle like that before right on the water where all the waves were breaking right there. It's amazing to think that it is still standing all these years later with all the water thrashing against it everyday. Then we drove around a little more to explore other beaches before heading to our hotel to return the ATV. 

Paros was the perfect island to get us started for our trip and I am so glad we ended up there first. It was pretty small and a little quiet and the staff at our hotel were friendly. But like I said before, every island is completely different and nothing could have prepared us for what was next... Mykonos. 

X x