today was a really nice day

when i woke up this morning i knew today was going to be a good one - the sky was completely clear and there was only a light breeze.

once again spent some time at kamari beach - have decided its my favourite of santorini's beaches due to its lack of wind, wifi and awesome ice cream! 

at 2pm dee, annie and i caught the bus back to fira in order to go on our much anticipated boat cruise. ever prepared, we took changes of clothes, jumpers, baguettes, pringles, water and alcohol. 

to be honest, the boat cruise itself was an absolute letdown. but we had an awesome time regardless! the volcano required lots of uphill walking in scorching heat, only for us to be greeted with mounds of volcanic rock and no sign of the supposed active volcano. 

our second stop was the hot springs. try water that looked like the yarra blending with sea water. it was like swimming through patches made artificially warm by other swimmers. the highlight of the stop was a newlywed husband losing his wedding band in the murky waters.

onto sunset at oia. we made a brief detour to thirassia in order for our beverages to be distributed. best wine i've ever tasted - think warm vinegar in a water cooler cup. then the one good part of our trip - the sunset was spectacular. the sky was blush pink and the sun looked like a peach orb, rapidly lowering towards the horizon. 

despite the underwhelming tour, the girls and i had lots of fun and embraced our inner tourists. when we got back this evening we cracked open our bottle of white, got some crepes and then went out dancing. it was a really awesome day! 

my first hiccup

today my intention was to switch accommodation and then take the bus to kamari beach again. unfortunately today wasn't my day.

checked out of my hostel in oia and went to get money out before catching the bus to fira. the atm swallowed my travel money card. cue freak out!! 

a lovely irish man came over to the atm after i'd been standing there for 15 minutes. he minded my bag while i went across to the tourism office for help. they called the bank to which the atm belonged - typical greeks, nothing could be done until monday. so i attempted to call mastercard - lo and behold, my phone wouldn't allow me to make outgoing calls. adding insult to injury, my account deducted the 200 euros i was attempting to withdraw! 

after 3 hours of talking with my parents, borrowing mobiles from kind australians and listening to wonderful hold tones, it was finally sorted - i think! 

just wandered a bit this afternoon as the weather is rather overcast and windy. guess it matched my mood. tomorrow is going to be a much better day - going on my boat cruise!!! 

someone, please help me with my sunscreen!

after another leisurely sleep at my hotel last night, i checked out and moved to the youth hostel in oia. then decided to once again go exploring alone after realizing the only people were sitting around the hostel were writing prayers!!

now, i know it may seem like an entirely trivial matter, but being by yourself means that you have no one to sunscreen your back. i spent 5 hours today at the wonderful kamari beach, but was unable to lie on my front or spend much time in the water because i didn't have sunscreen on my back! seriously frustrating! 

regardless, i had a wonderful day by myself. had a great time perving on hot brazilian boys and ate two cups of ice cream. so yum! 

         bitter chocolate and tiramisu

was super lucky that the beach had free wifi too, so spent a great couple of hours chatting to people back home. by the way... for some unknown reason my skype is refusing to work, but i'm contactable by viber or whatsapp (+37257119212). anyhow, that was my day, no idea what i'll get up to tonight, but i guess that's the beauty of this trip!  

a place that lives up to hype

oia is utterly gorgeous. simply imagine postcards of santorini and that is where i am for the next 4 nights! 

got up this morning after a lovely 10 hour sleep and decided to walk into town. big mistake. it was utterly boiling, steep and 6km away! thankfully after walking for over half an hour a lovely man honked his horn at me and then offered me a lift. my first ever experience hitch hiking! 

started off by exploring oia, where i made my first clothing purchase of the trip - denim shorts are just too hot in this weather! 

then wandered down 300 steps to ammoudi bay to have a dip in the azure waters. added bonus that there were super hot scandinavians swimming there too! of course, i wasn't really looking forward to walking back to climbing back up the stairs...

it was awesome! thought i was going to fall off so many times, but definitely don't regret doing it - so much fun!!! 

caught a bus into fira to check it out, where i almost immediately ran into some guys from brisbane who'd been at my hostel in ios. ended up spending the day touring the island with them on quad bikes!

just got home from having a great dinner at watching the sunset over the caldera. have booked to do a boat trip around the island in a couple of days and i can't wait. santorini is definitely my kind of place!!! 

my first party stop

just realised the internet wasn't working when i tried to post this, figured i might as well anyhow....

before i start talking about ios, i first need to announce the conquering of one of my fears - well at least temporarily. was about to have dinner by myself when i saw three random guys from my hostel approach the restaurant. despite never having spoken to them before, i decided to invite them to have dinner with me. felt incredibly vulnerable but thankfully they said yes. turned out they were americans on their last night of their travels, and we ended up having dinner for three hours! 

this morning caught a ferry to ios at 7.30! was meant to be taking a cab with another guy from my hostel, but he left without me! so i attempted to make my way to the train station, got horribly lost in windy athens streets so ended up catching a cab to the port anyhow!

arrived in ios and i'm not too sure about this place. it's pretty gorgeous and the daytime activities seem awesome, but it's a massive party place - not exactly what i was looking forward to. decided to have an open mind about it, ended up having a really nice time with a few st caths girls at a mexican beach bar. 

...so the internet wasn't uploading my post last night. ended up going for dinner, pre-drinks and out with the melbourne kids. the girls are lovely, soph has been an angel. was a pretty fun night, got home at 4am and but still the decision has been made - i'm heading to santorini today.

relaxation?

following my decision to leave ios, i booked myself into a nice looking hotel in oia, santorini before heading to the beach this morning. had a rather uneventful day at the beach - except for the wind turning sand into daggers. 

caught the same ferry across as the melbourne boys before jumping in a cab to oia. what a disappointment. my room is pretty crappy (for what i'm paying) and the hotel is quite far from oia town. 

oh well, going to have an early night tonight and then go exploring tomorrow. 

exploring athens

today i managed to see all of the main tourist attractions in athens. definitely worth a day here, but that's enough! 

got up first thing to beat the crowds at the acropolis. along with two of my roommates, annie & sarah, i marveled at the vastness of the ancient site. was a bit of a shame that there was construction going on, but was pretty breathtaking regardless. plus as a bonus, being a student meant i got in half price! 

on our way to our next tourist attraction we grabbed greek yoghurt for breakfast. i got granola, kiwi and blackberries - sooo yum! we went to hadrian's arch, had a quick look at the ruins of the temple of zeus, before making our way to the athens flea market. 

we wandered through the ancient agora and acropolis museum before having a nice lazy lunch. i got a whole fresh grilled calamari, amazing!!

contemplating going to the archaeological museum now, but feeling quite content to laze though after such a packed morning!