Hello! Are you planning to go Greece for Holiday?

Hello there,

Just thought we wanna jot down our wonderful trip, remember our fun time, also to share our experience and some culture shock we encountered. During our planning and preparation for this trip, we did a lot of online research on Greece. We really appreciate those who took time and effort to write reviews on hotels and places of interest. So hopefully, our little adventure can aid you in your holiday planning. This journal took us (Clarence & I) awhile to finish.

Clarence: Yup, it’s a wonderful idea Nicole! I didn’t really think much about blogging about my trip until you suggested it. And I have no regrets! 3 months after the trip and I’m still smiling and laughing about our ‘adventures’ over there! Haha! It’s a wonderful experience that we want you people out there to know! Feel free to ask us any questions, provided our teeny weeny brains can still remember hurhurhur. As for my foreign friends out there, if you are having difficulty reading my language, that’s because it’s in ‘Singlish’ haha! I feel it’s more natural if I write it that way, ‘cos then I don’t have to think about how to phrase this and that. It all flows naturally Fret not though! Just drop us a comment and we will interprete it for you!

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To read this journal, you need to start from the bottom of this page.

Enjoy!

To me, Greece is…

Greece is….

Slowing down our pace and listening to the waves;

Drinking the Mythos at the roof terrace and wasting the day away;

Seeing all the Greek road signs and navigating our way;

Facing the spectacular caldera view and marveling at the beauty;

Trekking the Samaria gorge and walking with achy legs for the next few days;

Watching the sunset at Oia and wondering why the sun seems different from our homeland;

Sipping our frappe and drooling at the Greek babes;

Climbing the monasteries and thinking how the houses were constructed hundreds of years ago;

Standing before Leonidas statue and snapping a picture with him;

Admiring the houses and appreciating their color scheme;

Looking at the photos and thinking the money spent is all worth it.

*Of course!*

Love,

Nicole

11-12 June 2007 : Lazing in Athens

We pretty much laze around in Athens for the last 2 days.

Went to the National Archaeology Museum of Athens.

They also have “nut seller”, which we called Kacang Putih Man.

There is this very colorful bar in the Plaka Village. Pretty cool, isn’t it?

Postcards are everywhere.

Check out the marble pavement. Pretty slippery when its wet. Beware!

Oh… one thing about the toilet system in Greece, you are not supposed to throw toilet paper into the toilet bowl. Most of the toilets have a bin beside the bowl for used toilet paper disposal. I don’t get it, I don’t know why their sewage system cannot handle toilet paper. It was not a natural thing to do for me. But I did, in case I clog the bowl and all the shit comes out! Then how?!! For such thing, I am not a risk taker.

10 June 2007: Back to Athens

We had breakfast served by Sydney Hotel owner- this Australian uncle in suit and tie. He was accommodating and polite. Breakfast was coffee or tea, ham, cheese, butter, jam, muffin and orange juice. Simple, but filling enough.

We drove up to the monasteries. Visiting a monasteries I thought I would meet monks, nuns, but I didn’t see any. (Clarence: Got lar, so many nuns you didn’t see meh? Those at the Roussanou are all nuns. You buy the fridge magnet the cashier is a nun already mah…hurhurhur) There were 24 monasteries here, but now only 6 are occupied. We picked 2 to visit. The first one we went was a nunnery called Roussanou. Appropriate clothing is required to visit the monasteries. Shorts, sleeveless, tank tops, mini skirts are no no. I was in my long pants and jacket, but still the lady at the entrance issued me a long wrap skirt. So, you can just grab one of the wrap skirt from the pile at the entrance, instead of worrying about what to wear. You will appreciate this visit more if you know a little about Greek Orthodoxy. No picture taking is allowed inside. Anyway, inside was pretty dimly lit, so quite difficult to take photos.

The place felt very sacred. The ceiling was filled with frescoes, and the walls hung many religious icons from the byzantine era. We picked this one cos Clarence said this is the smallest and the poorest one among them. We bought a fridge magnet from their souvenir shop, thinking we might be able to contribute to this little nunnery. 3euro per piece lor!

(Go early to avoid the crowd- from the tour buses) 

The second one we went was Great Meteoron monastery, the biggest and the most visitors, so this one must be the richest. By the way, you need to pay an entrance fee. This monastery is quite a climb. It has a church and even a museum, very big. We spent most of the time in the museum. And guess who we met on our way down? We ran into the Taiwanese couple! We stopped and made conversation with them. Such a coincident.

We went back to Sydney Hotel to check out, thinking that we could use the toilet before we hit the road. The chambermaid gave us a buay song face, reminded us our check out time was supposed to be 10am. We were unaware. Anyway, we just act blur, used our toilet, packed our bags and check out. I still remember that black face she gave us when we returned the key and paid for the room. Hello girl, you are in service industry you know?

We wanted to have lunch at a restaurant recommended by LP, but it was closed! So we went to another restaurant with a lot of Greek uncles drinking Ouzu and coffee. This place must be serving authentic greek cuisine we thought. This restaurant was ran by these 2 brothers. We had some really juicy charcoal grilled pork chop, chicken and yummy stuffed tomatoes & peppers. (Clarence: This has to be one of the most authentic greek restaurants we had been to! No tourists, no airs, just plain Greek friendliness from the two brothers! There were elderly men around drinking ouzo at noon you know? Just like our lao uncles over here in Singapore drinking stout in the morning haha! Actually I also feel like drinking hurhurhur…but don’t want lar…haha. And the daughter of one of the brothers is so pretty and cute. She showed us her drawing, which I’m still trying to decifer haha. Too bad we did not take down the name of the restaurant to introduce to you guys. It’s near the church in Kastraki I think…)

After a delicious lunch, we drove back all the way to Athens. Maybe because of the lunch, I couldn’t stay awake throughout the drive, though it was a scenic drive.

The road trip was smooth till we hit Athens, when we didn’t know which exit to exit from the highway. After a few rounds, we finally got back to SIXT at about 6plus. Earlier, the girl who did the paper work for us was not on duty. She previously agreed to give us a discount cos we got the car 1 hr late (because they couldn’t locate that rental car)Apparently, she didn’t give us the discount on the payment invoice, but we told her colleague and she honored the deal. So we paid 75euro per day which includes extra driver + full waiver auto insurance coverage. Not too bad!

From SIXT, we dragged our heavy luggage to Plaka Village. We are staying at this Student & Travellers Inn. 70euro per night for our double bed with WC shower + AC. Clarence took the mix dorm, 25 euro without AC, share with up to 3 other persons.

9 June 2007: The Amazing Monasteries of Meteora

Wah this morning very cold…maybe we were higher up on the altitude level…

Settled our barang barang, and then went for breakfast at a cafe downstairs. I need my coffee fix every morning, if not engine cannot start. Fortunately, the coffee and the ham & cheese sandwich was good and filling

Our usual coffee is called filtered coffee here.

(Nicole: Our balcony has the view of the gorge of Delphi, which is really nice. I went to enjoy the morning at the balcony while the 2 guys were still under their blankets. We had breakfast at this corner cafe. We picked this cafe because we saw a few locals were smoking and drinking coffee. I read this travel tip about choosing eateries locals patronize. That was why we chose this particular cafe. The lady manning the cafe spoke very little English. But with a bit of pointing and body language, we ordered focaccia bread with Ham & Cheese & Tomatoes. Eric’s spinach pie turned out to be a cheese pie, but never mind, sometimes body language could go wrong too.)

Today I would be the driver, Eric the vehicle commander, and Nicole our official sleeper and meal indicator again. She was getting pretty good at it. It’s my first time driving on the right side of the road, so I was pretty nervous about it. What if I subconsciously drift to the left side? What if I turned left and end up in the wrong side of the road? Hurhurhur so exciting…

Anyway, there wasn’t any spectacular incident…I started off pretty slowly and calmly, and got bolder as time went on hurhurhur…there was this part on the winding mountain path that I overtook a LONG TRUCK while going through the bends…that woke Eric and Nicole up hahahaha. After that Nicole was totally awake, until 5 minutes later she reverted back to her role.

The drive to Meteora passed by a number of towns. We stopped by at the town of Lamia and had one of the cheapest lunch for this trip. 2 pork gyros and a plate of pork slices, with 3 soft drinks, cost us about 12 Euros. That was already damn cheap liao ok!

(Nicole: On the way, we stopped by to take a photo with Leonidas. Clarence’s wish had finally been fulfilled. That’s the power of movie! See, he looked so happy.)

After lunch, we continue our journey up to Trikala, where we would head to the town of Kalampaka, and then proceed to the small little town Kastraki. Kastraki is located at the western region of Meteora, amphitheatrically built between the huge rocks and constitutes one of the municipal town district. It is in this town where we would stay over for the night, in a small hotel called Hotel Sydney. We arrived at about 4.30 pm, and by the time we checked in, it was already too late to visit the monasteries, which made the whole area famous.

You see, what makes Meteora so special is that these monasteries are all perched right at the tip of huge, towering rocks. The word Meteora literally means ‘hovering in the air’. What created this rare geological phenomenon is one of the mysteries of nature. These rocks themselves are impressive, rising from the plains of Thessaly a few miles of northwest of Kalambaka.

Enough of description. We spent the rest of the afternoon driving around the winding roads up to the individual monasteries, marvelling at the beauty and incredibility of these monasteries. It’s really quite unbelievable you know? How do these monks or nuns get up to their monasteries back in the old days? Together with their food supplies, but the use of pulleys? That’s quite scary isn’t it? I would be scared shitless man…

(Nicole :We set off to Meteora, which was a 4-hr drive on the winding mountain roads. Driver today was Clarence. I couldn’t tell you much, cos most of the time I was sleeping during the drive.

We finally arrived at Meteora at 4plus. Meteora is ancient Greek for “suspended in midair”. The rocks look like gigantic cheese blocks with holes, standing by themselves. Really quite amazing! The monasteries are on top of them, so fascinating! It was hard to imagine how those monks transported their building materials up to the top of these rocks.

We found our Sydney Hotel which was located at the root of the monasteries. We were given a 3 single bed room but we requested to switch to a double +single bed room. Good that we changed, cos this room had a balcony and a view of some rocks

We drove up to Meteora for photo taking. Most of the monasteries were closed by then, so we only plan to roam around and visit the monasteries the next day. We were thankful we drove instead of walking up. The terrain was quite steep. Walking up? No thanks man!

(Nicole: Dinner was at this restaurant recommended by LP. The food was normal, not fantastic. Probably we were a little sick of Greek cuisine at this point. No idea why Clarence had not appetite. Maybe he was sick? Meteora area at night was pretty quiet. We hung out at this ALL TIME CAFE around the corner of the street, this place had computer for internet access, the guys were eager to find out the result for Euro 2008 qualifier. 3 euro for an hr. It was a Saturday evening and the crowd was sparse. I counted, at most 5 tables for the night. Was this good or bad business for them? I wondered. )

Dinner was nothing spectacular. I did not have any appetite today, I also dunno why. But I was damn thirsty, so I drank 2 cans of coke…hurhurhur. After dinner we wanted to use the internet, so we hop over opposite of the road into this internet cafe and used the net for a while, before calling it a night. Tomorrow we will visit 2 monasteries and then make our long journey back to Athens liao. Our journey in Greece is finally coming to an end…sob sob…

Love,

Clarence

8 June 2007: Road Trip!

Woke up earlier than usual today ‘cos I just realized Eric & Nicole don’t have toothpaste. They were in the other bunk ‘cos supposedly, the other bunk’s full so I cannot share the room with them. Nehmind lar, I also don’t care one. So I quickly and quietly wash up (there’s a mystery sleeper in the room, mystery ‘cos I cannot find her face), pack my backpack, and dropped the toothpaste in the other bunk. I spent the rest of the morning stoning at the reception while waiting for them to wake up. The reception was crowded man! Lots of people who bought deck tickets were already waking up and washing themselves up at the public toilets. That’s what happen if you do not buy a bunk ticket.

Soon, both of them woke up, and Eric told me that the ferry is going to be delayed for about 2 hours! Wah lao die liao, do what for 2 hours? We spent the rest of our time plonked on the sofa, drinking frappe.

Finally, the ferry docked in Piraeus, and we walked into Piraeus port searching for our rented car. Guess what? Cannot find…There was supposed to be a man holding up a piece of paper with Eric’s name on it, so that he could pass us the car keys and we drove off to Delphi from Piraeus. But the guy wasn’t there. We waited. Still no guy with Eric’s name. I walked up and down the port to spot a guy with Eric’s name on a piece of paper. Still no such guy. We tried calling the agency, but it’s too early for them to open. In the end, after about 45 minutes waiting at the dock, we decided to heck it and go for breakfast, where we would continue calling the agency.

In the end when we got through, it’s bad news. The agent had canceled our booking ‘cos he couldn’t get hold of Eric during the trip. So our Hyundai Accent is gone. How? No more road trip liao. How? What are we gonna do? So I whipped out my Lonely Planet and we started calling the other car agencies to check out the rates for a 3 day rental of car. In the end we chose this agency call Sixt. The rate is 70 Euros per day for a Peugeot 307. Wah not bad leh, we had so far not driven a Peugeot before, sounds so much better than a Hyundai Accent hahaha. So we took the offer.

After the procedures, we were officially gonna start on our road trip! Eric was to drive, and I would be using the map to chart out the direction to our first stop - Delphi. Nicole will be the official sleeper and reminder for meals hahahahahaha.

So we took the route as suggested by the people in Sixt. Take the road going towards Piraeus, then look out for the sign towards Lamia, then next was Corinth, and we would be on the national highway. From there, we should be able to spot the sign towards Delphi. Actually it was not that difficult lar, but it was also not that easy. So, difficult and easy means easily difficult, or difficultly easy lor, hahahaha.

(Nicole:I think the guys are genius. The road maps were all in Greek, so were the road signs the moment we left Athens. But the guys were really genius. They could figure them out those symbols! Though I was not doing the navigating nor driving, being a passenger doing nothing was tiring you know.

We saw an accident along the way. An overturned truck sitting helpless in the middle of the road. Lunch was at this empty taverna which we found on the way. It wasn’t many to choose from, so when we spotted one, mai too liao)

When you order a “hamburger” in Greece, this is what you should expect to get.

Besides stopping by in an empty taverna for lunch, we headed straight for the town of Delphi, where we would stop by for the night. We visited ancient Delphi first, where we saw the ruins of the Oracle, the temple of Apollo and the Santuary of Athena. Well…they are….ruins….literally ruins….hurhurhur.

(Clarence: Wah I like this picture (below) of myself the most I’m actually pretty fair in complexion, but in this picture I looked so tanned in it! So handsome! Hahaha! Good job Eric! This one can archive into another of your ‘award winning’ categories )

Checked into this small little hotel call Hotel Sibylla. The rate for a triple is 38 Euros per night, quite cheap by this time of our trip. It’s already evening. So we checkout the area and had dinner at this taverna call Skala restaurant. Wah lao the food sucks man! This is by far the worse food and service we got in Greece. And it’s recommended by Lonely Planet some more. The moussaka looked like it’s from a instant-pack. And there’s something suspicious about the mineral bottle we had. You see, we were served a bottle of mineral water in most of our meals. This mineral bottle he served was already opened, meaning the seal was already ruptured. And there are so many tiny bubbles sticking to the inside of the bottle, like it’s being filled by tap water…anyway we didn’t pursue the problem.

The rest of the night was spent walking around the dead town and having a little drink at a nice cozy cafe before we call it a night. Tomorrow, we would continue our journey to Meteora!

(Nicole: Delphi town was a very touristy little town. I would say it was pretty much a dead tourist town. When we were driving by, searching for our Hotel Sibylla. Some of the hotel staff were touting. Can’t really blame them, no business they had to be pro-active. I guess Delphi more of a pass through town, could be covered by a day trip. It becomes unnecessary to spend a night.

Dinner was at this tarvena recommended by LP, called Skala. We saw an Asian couple dinning inside, thought was a good choice. Of course we believe the couple read LP too. Among all the meals, we voted this one the worst. Usually the restaurant in Greece serves a bottle of mineral/spring water. The charge will be added to the bill. In Skala, the bottled water was suspected to be tap water cos the cap seal was broken.

The whole night, the couple and us were the only 2 tables eating. I really wonder how the businesses in this town survive.)

7 June 2007: Goodbye Santorini…

Breakfast today was much better than yesterday. You know why? ‘Cos we woke up earlier this morning so that we can eat the marble cakes! Hahaha…Yesterday’s marble cakes weren’t there when we arrived for breakfast, so today we must at least try them out! Oh well…nothing to shout about anyway.

Today’s our last day at Santorini. So we planned to do some souvenir hunting today before we leave this beautiful island. Right after breakfast, we drove down to the post office in Fira to post our written postcards. Actually, the idea came from Nicole. I had never sent any postcards before, ‘cos I think it’s quite boh liao…hurhurhur…Anyway, I decided to send one to my daddy ‘cos it’s Father’s Day this weekend (actually I realised it’s next weekend when I returned :P). So I wrote down Happy Father’s Day in Chinese and sent it back home. It cost 0.65 Euros for a stamp to be sent out of Greece, is it expensive anot?

(er… excuse me, not boh liao… is you boh sim :P)

(See, the vehicles here are so colorful!)

We spent the rest of the morning hanging around the shops in Fira. I had to buy some souvenirs back for my family, buddies and colleagues. So I also dunno how many to buy. Just wack! By the way, I think there’s something weird about me…I only looked out for fridge magnets every time when I travel…everything is fridge magnets fridge magnets fridge magnets..why har? I also dunno wor…so you guys can guess what I bought right? Also got postcards and coasters lar, ‘cos fridge magnets a bit ex

Back at Blue Dolphin, we packed our bags ‘cos we had to check out by 12 pm. Alexis don’t wanna let us extend our check out time till evening . Actually can, but we must pay half a day charges for the room! Tamade 70 Euros just to put our bags leh! Of course don’t want right? We can deposit our bags at the reception for free, so why not do that? Just cannot wash up till night time only, ‘cos our ferry to Athens is 10 pm tonight.

Before I came to Greece, Nicole asked me to bring cup noodles for them. Apparently, US don’t sell the chilli crab flavor by Nissin. So she asked me to bring 3, one for each of us. Now it’s time to lighten up my bag, whip out the 3 cups, and eat them for lunch! It’s kinda weird eating cup noodles in a hotel dinning area in the afternoon…I bet when the other occupants saw us sitting down on the table, slurping loudly our noodles, they must have thought that we very poor thing hahaha. Machiam like we paid so much for the hotel room that we had no more money to eat. It’s not like that okay, they never try chilli crab cup noodles before nia. If they try, see they will beg us anot…hehehe.

(Nicole: 3rd day on Santorini, our last day on this island. We could keep the car till 7pm, so we drove to Fira town after breakfast, planned on some last minute shopping of souvenirs. We returned to check out and had Nissin chilli crab cup noodles! This was the highlight of the day (for me). I wish for more when I slurped my last bit from the cup. Yummm…Clarence, why you only bring 3 cups)

The rest of the afternoon is back in Fira. Yup, we continued our souvenir hunting. Basically we walked round and round, ‘cos there’s nothing much to do for today. We stopped by this crepe place call NRG, and ate crepes. I had chocolate and banana, which was really delicious. Nicole had chocolates and strawberries, and Eric chose something that included rum in it, wah very strong…We also had coffee at this nice cafe overlooking the sea. Apart from the strong winds, it’s quite nice and cozy, sipping latte and wasting the whole afternoon away.

(Clarence: See lar, everything I do he also follow me )

Dinner was at this nice little authentic Greek restaurant call To Afkion. It’s situated between Firostefani and Fira, and you will definitely pass this small little taverna if you take the pathway between the 2 towns. I had moussaka, which was very much like lasagna, but Greek style. Nice

Then it’s back to Blue Dolphin to take our backpacks, meet our driver, and be driven to the port to wait for our ferry. It certainly wasn’t a good feeling to leave this beautiful island. From the words of Nicole, it’s a ‘yi yi bu she’ feeling…means we left Santorini with a heavy heart. Goodbye Santorini, we will see you again next year, we love you, goodbye…

Love,

Clarence

(Nicole: We arrived at the port at 8:45pm. Had coffee at the cafe restaurant nearby. I was inspired by this couple whom backpacked with their daughter, which I guess is 5 yrs old. How cool is that? Some day, Eric and I would be backpacking with our kids. Hahaha some day.

The ferry arrived on time. Let me talk a little about the difference between AB3 and AB4 cabin tickets again here. 3 of us bought AB3, the price is higher and we got to have the whole cabin to ourselves. We couldn’t get AB3, so had AB4 instead. This ferry service separate the passengers by sex. I was assigned a different cabin from the guys, a couple of rooms down. Clarence and I did a swap, so Eric and I could be in the same cabin.

There was already an uncle sleeping inside because Santorini was not the ferry’s first stop. We took our assigned beds, which were the upper 2 beds. That night, we didn’t bath and went straight to bed. When we woke up at around 6:30am, the uncle informed us that the ferry was delayed and would take another 2 hrs at least. Hope the car rental guy will wait for us.)

6 June 2007: Beautiful day at Santorini

The weather is better. We were the last to have breakfast. The breakfast bar left nothing much. We had bread and coffee and 2 hard-boiled eggs each. Quite miserable. How could they not refill their breakfast bar?

Then, Alexis appeared for the first time. He was the guy we have been communicating with on email before we came. He offered to get us some coffee. He came back with 3 glasses of Frappe, but tasted weird. Clarence said it tasted like glue coffee, instead of Greek coffee. Alexis reappeared with 2 maps. He even gave us a brief history of the island, how the volcanic eruption happened and thus how the caldera was formed blah blah blah..He recommended a list of places we could go:

1. Amoudi Port, Oia - has a harbor and has fishing activities going on.
2. Melenio Bakery, Oia-offers great sweets.
3. Galavas Vineyard, Megalohori-offers free wine tasting
4. Raki restaurant, Megalohori-authentic Greek cuisine and it does not serve coke as it sees coke to be non-Greek.
5. Wet stories Beach Bar at Perivolos Beach- get free deck chairs as guests from Blue Dolphin.
6. Kamari Beach - if which a touristy spot with lots of hotels, restaurants and bars.
7. Red beach - at the Akrotiri area.
8. Delfini Fish -a restaurant near the red beach.

We got our complimentary car today. It was a small manual Hyundai 1.4l. When was the last time we drove a manual car? Couldn’t even recall. Clarence declined driving cos it was double challenge for him: 1) it was right hand drive & 2) it was a manual car. He was better off being the VC- Vehicle Commander

Struggled a little to get comfortable with the car and map, we hit the beaches! Isn’t it amazing this island has white, red and black beach?

The red beach has its name cos it is against a gigantic piece of red rock. That’s how the name came about. Orrrr…I see.

Then we stopover at the black beach. The black is black because it composed of black volcanic rocks. Orrrrr….I see.

Lunch was at Raki restaurant at Megalohori, that one recommended by Alexis. I love their yogurt mousse with some plum or prune sauce. Their main course were very nice too. But I couldn’t recall what I had. We rated this restaurant the best Greek Cuisine so far. Besides that, its the human touch. The waitresses knew their stuff on top of their good service. Highly recommended

The Gavalas vineyard was just around the street from Raki restaurant. The wine tasting cum little tour so called, was not free. Per person 5 euro and conducted by this very pretty and busty Greek lady. My favourite is the Santorini Vinsanto - a dessert wine, which the vineyard apparently only 5000 bottles per year. We only tasted a total of 4 types of wine. Clarence bought a bottle of Vinsanto in the end.

We spent the afternoon at Perivolos Beach. Wet Stories Beach bar was a very cool place. It had a lot of deck chairs and beds for sunbathing. We went up to the waiter and told them we were from Blue Dolphin, and guess what. The waiter just said that we were free to make use of the deck chairs, no need to be guests of Blue Dolphin. At this point, I wanted to laugh, I wondered if we sounded ridiculous to him. Anyway, we could actually use any of the furniture without buying any drink from them - no obligation.

At one point, the waiter came around distributing free vodka shots to all the people I couldn’t stop smiling.

We drove to Oia to watch the famous sunset. We could have taken a wrong route but it turned out to be a long scenic drive along the cliff. The view was amazing but maybe a little scary as we maneuvered along the winding road inches from the cliff.

There are many arts and handicrafts stores along the street. These artists chose to paint on doors and window panes instead of the conventional canvas. Very impressive.

We chose to dine at a restaurant with a sunset view, called Strogili. We had at table at the roofttop. It was extremely windy and chilly! We had a hard time enjoying our very delicious dinner and watching sun setting at the same time. I often looked up at the view, just like watching TV during dinner. Awesome! No wonder it was highly recommended in the guide books. I didn’t manage to take any nice sun set shots, just enjoy the view.

(See what I mean? These 2 buddies even like similar jacket!)

We passed by the Melenio bakery and decided to check it out. They have quite a lot to choose from. I was admiring and deciding if I should get something. When I looked up from the display fridge, I saw the guy digging his nose! I was immediately turned off! Sorry I couldn’t tell you if the pastry was nice.

5 June 2007: Santorini ~ beautiful

The ferry was 2 hr from Iraklio to Santorini. I was told that the view when the ferry was approaching Santorini was awesome, but guess the overcast weather had played it down. Not as spectacular as I expected but I was optimistic that we would certainly enjoy some nice weather during our 3-day stay.

Upon arrival, the sign written “LIM CLARENCE” was waving at us. We followed this uncle to his mini bus and had a scenic ride up to Blue Dolphin at Firostefani. This port transfer didn’t come free - 15euro per way.

( Clarence: When we alight from the ferry, I immediately saw the guy with my name on the piece of paper he was holding. Wah the feeling not bad man, like VIP like that hehehe…first time got people pick me up. I expected a car to pick us up, but it was a mini bus! And it’s only for 3 of us! Hurhurhur…the journey to our hotel was up the winding road to the top, then then a 10 minute drive to the town of Firostefani, where our hotel was located. I’m quite scared of winding roads one leh, not because of nauseousness, but i’m scared of heights…the part when the bus swerve around the bend with my side on the vertical drop…I feel like peeing…hehehe…so it’s like wanna pang jio, then don’t wanna pang jio, then wanna pang jio, then don’t wanna pang jio…

When we reached our hotel, we had to walk down a flight of stairs. But the view ahead of us was beautiful! We were really sort of on the cliff edge, and the blue Aegean Sea is below us! Very nice! I don’t really know how to describe that feeling to you, but it’s really really nice. 200 Euros per night leh! It better be good! Lucky the website didn’t bluff us…hehe )

Wow~ The beginning of our Santorini experience.

The room was not ready for check in, it didn’t bother us as we were busy snapping away with my cameras. We awed when we saw the amazing view of Fira town and Caldera. 200euro per nite lor but comes with free car for 2 days. It’s a steal!

I could recognize those yellow chairs and white tables, I saw them on their website. Though the weather was overcast, still, we were all grinning.

We had a large apartment with private balcony! How good does it sound? I have to say the layout of this room was a little strange. The door opened to a room with queen size bed, behind it was a shower room with no door, just a partition next to the shower area. I can already see myself showering here! Nevertheless, it has a toilet with a door for some privacy

Clarence’s room was an attached bedroom with 2 single beds and its own private bathroom (with a door).

We walked around admiring every corner. Even the switchboard was cool. It was camouflaged with a picture frame. How clever! We were told about the switchboard cos we need to turn the switch half an hour before shower for hot water.

We took the walking path along the caldera and walked towards Fira town. But we were starving so we stopped at “The volcano flame” restaurant. The food menu pricing was more expensive than a few others nearer to Firostefani. Pastas 10-12 euros , coke 3 euros! (On the coke can, it was written: Suggested retail price: 0.70 euro) Clarence and I had pastas while Eric took up their special of the day- fish, which includes a Greek salad and drinks, all for 15euros. You have no idea how good he is when it comes to eating fish with bones. He is an expert.

We asked for the bill and uncle came and whispered, “40″. He not only undercharged us, he even gave us 3 cans of coke! Do we look like poor student backpackers? Maybe…..but who cares? Another nice uncle.

( Clarence: The walk from our hotel to the town of Fira is about 20 minutes. But the view along the way is simply superb! Every 5 steps we snap. So nice! I told myself tamade if I get married, this place confirm will be my honeymoon! CONFIRM! Though it’s a hot day, the breeze from the sea is chilly and I don’t feel scorched at all. I can sit on the white-washed parapet, face the sea and just stone…but cannot, ‘cos we hungry liao. We passed by a few restaurants along the way from Firostefani to Fira, but we always tell ourselves to check out the next one. In the end Eric and Nicole buay tahan liao, too hungry liao. So we stopped by this small taverna (a small restaurant in Greece) and had our lunch. Quite ex…but nehmind lar, i’m sort of prepared for the price liao. I forgot what I eat liao though…

After lunch, we had 2 choices. One was to continue our walk down to Fira and look look. Second was to hit the beach. But we could only get the car the next day, so going to the beach was out of the question. So I told them why not we go back to the apartment and sit at the balcony and sun tan? In the end we decided to follow the second option. So we popped by the mama shop and buy beer hehehe. )

(Don’t be vain, no heels on Santorini. You will regret it!)

Our initial plan to hit the beaches had to change. We decided to suntan at our own balcony instead Hmmmm…. just enjoy the moment. We named it our “Blue Dolphin beach”.

In the evening we walked to Fira town for dinner. Our first choice Nikolas was packed and we didn’t want to join the long queue outside the restaurant. We see the power of LP recommendation. So we headed for our 2nd choice - Stani.

Later that evening, we chilled out at a Jazz bar before we called it a day. The walk back to our hotel was no joke. As we walked, the wind was howling right besides my ears! I am serious! You sure need a jacket, else you will regret big time.

4 June 2007: Hania….Iraklio

We prepared to checkout but couldn’t find the owner. His little gift shop (at the ground floor of Pension Eva) was not opened yet. We walked over to look for that uncle (his friend) who helped us on our arrival, but only to find his reading glasses on his reception desk. No one was around, but the door opened.

Not there were anything valuable to steal, but this place seems to work pretty much on trust system. We could have walk out with something and no one will know. But we didn’t abuse this trust. We are honest people.

We decided to wait for him, as we wanted to hand him the 2 room keys. We settled for breakfast at this little lovely corner cafe just behind our pension, hoping that by the time we finished, he would have arrived. This corner cafe ran by a friendly lady. We ordered spinach pie, ham & cheese pie and a frappe each. The guys couldn’t stop praising the freshly baked spinach pie, maybe because they were starving.

(The alleys can only accommodate small vehicles like scooter.)

Just as we were enjoying our breakfast, there was this Hyundai car driving towards our direction, behind was a woman in her mid 30s chasing after it. The driver didn’t notice her till he was stuck at the corner street right in front of our table. The woman walked up and hit the car body and shouted at him in American accent,”Dave, I’m not in the car yet!” Huh? Wife not in the car also dunno? How possible?

This woman hopped into the car and the husband had to perform a 4-5 point to make a U turn and get out of this street. We even had to move our table to make way for this sotong husband. I hope we won’t be as sotong when we drive in Santorini

After we returned the keys to the owner, we took a bus ride from the bus station to Iraklio (a.k.a Heraklion). The ride was 2hr 45mins - 149km ride, traveling from west to center of Crete. Half the time, Eric and I were sleeping. But I was aware of the bus conductor checking tickets and some passengers boarding and alighting the bus along the way. Bus fare 10,70 euro per pax.

The bus passed by a few towns. I got to see the real Cretans’ way of life. Many old folks were hanging out at their local coffee shops, playing cards and drinking Amstel or coffee. The houses were also not as pretty as those in the touristy Hania old harbor front. But they still maintain the Mediterranean style- relaxed living inspired by strong colors and natural materials.

Iraklio

Iraklio is the capital of Crete. It was not a sightseeing place. If not for the ferry service to Santorini, we would give this town a miss. After we checked into Hotel Mirabello and came out, it was only late afternoon and we were surprised by how quiet the 25th august street was. Many shops were closed. Let’s just say it would be easier to count how many were opened.

Everybody gone for his siesta?

Hotel Mirabello has this antique lift. Open the door, there was another shutter door. How cool is it? But hor, its extremely slow. From ground floor to 3rd floor, almost take forever. )

We were walking by the stalls and overheard a shopkeeper telling her customer,”I am sorry. We are closing. We are very tired.” And next thing, we saw was the customer leaving the stall in disbelief and the shopkeeper packing up, closing the stall, for her siesta I think.

It was 3:30pm in the afternoon. Many stalls were also closing. See the important of Siesta to them over a potential customer?

First encounter of this Greek culture. Interesting.

Streets were quiet and we were caught by a enthusiastic restaurant uncle. He sort of talked us into eating at their restaurant. We settled for it cos we were tired from the bus ride. This uncle even tried to impress us with a few words of Mandarin and his limited knowledge on Singapore. Anyway, ahem… it is nice to know they know a country called Singapore.

We went back hotel since there were not much action and too lazy to take another bus ride for sightseeing. It was a lazy afternoon. We bought beers and watched TV in the hotel room, waiting for the town to wake up from their siesta.

( Clarence: I was sad to leave Hania…I like the place a lot. But no choice, ‘cos we can only go to Santorini from Heraklion, which is in the central part of Crete. Hania is on the western part. Moreover, our ferry to Santorini was in the morning around 10 pm. Since the bus ride is about 3 hours from Hania, we decided not to risk it.

I don’t really like Heraklion. It’s more like a city. And there’s nothing much to see. Maybe I was comparing it with Hania, so I guess it’s subjective. So when we reached Heraklion, I wasn’t feeling excited about the place. Coupled with the fact that my hotel room is like a prison cell. No fan no aircon, super small room. One single bed and there’s a sink beside the bed, that’s all. Don’t have the inn or pension feeling…where you will feel more cozy and at home. Boh bian, cheap mah Heng stay one night nia. )

At 8pm, we went out for dinner. Indeed, the hair salon beside our hotel was reopened after siesta for evening business. How interesting. By the way, the streets were not as dead as we thought.

Dinner was at a restaurant recommended by LP. A friendly English lady in her late 40s walked over to our table, and took the liberty to introduce the dishes to us. She explained that what the cream was made from olive and it goes with the bread. She also told us that syrup cherries, some dessert and raki will be served at the end of the dinner. Oh, don’t mistaken her as the waitress! She was just a friendly tourist who wanna share those tips with us. Such a nice lady !

We wanna popped by their happening pubs but thought we might be under dressed in our slippers and bermudas. We ended our day and rest early for our SANTORINI!

3 June 2007 : Trekking the Samaria Gorge

Crete has this supposedly longest Gorge in Europe, called Samaria Gorge. We went for this 18km trek, along with many other tourists. There is a bus bringing hikers from the bus terminal to the starting point at Omalos Plateau. According to our research, this hike would take us at least 6 hrs, which means we need to bring snacks and must have breakfast. We had a quick breakfast, ham & cheese pie and spinach pie (to share) from the bus terminal snack bar. The pies turned out to be quite nice or maybe I was hungry

We couldn’t believe how inappropriate some of the so-called “hikers” attired themselves for a hike : bikini tops, denim skirts, jeans, slippers etc. Totally inappropriate right? Then it turned out, some of them were not actually going for the hike. They were there merely to take a few photos with the “Samaria Gorge” sign. After that, they would take the next bus back to Hania. Hey, we are not like them ok, though we thought about it too

The entrance fee is 5euros each, which includes free usage of WC and free flow of spring water at the rest points. To our surprise, a lot of uncles and aunties were doing the hike. Initially, we motivated ourselves by making sure we were ahead of these uncles. But we definitely underestimated them. With their little beer bellies, they were still pretty fast and furious. At some rest points, when most people stopped to take breaks, they didn’t. They just carried on with their constant pace. We could only console ourselves that they must have missed out on all the great scenery, keeping their heads down with their eyes on the rock path all the while.

The only thing I regret was not bringing enough snacks. The cereal bars I brought only made us half full. We wanted to buy some apples and bananas but totally forgotten. At one rest point, I saw Clarence eying a little boy’s apple with envy. Too bad..We also met some interesting characters along the way. The deepest impression would be the group of “bikini” top women rising both their hands in the air, airing their armpits!

It took us 5.5hrs to complete the trek. Not bad I still couldn’t believe we could make it through. But the best evident was our aching legs, from thigh to calf muscles, which lasted for the next couple of days. The aching pain…not so fun.

( Clarence: The Samaria Gorge is a national park in Crete. The gorge is in the prefecture of Hania. It was created by a small river running between the White Mountains and Mount Volakias. The gorge is about 16 km long and is the second longest in Europe. I dunno which gorge is the longest in Europe though…But to me it’s already very long liao…The most famous part of the gorge is the ‘Iron Gates’, where the width of the gorge closes up to only about 2.5 m. It ends at Agia Roumeli.

I have been to the deepest gorge in the world, and that is the Tiger Leaping Gorge in Lijiang, Yunnan. But this gorge is no joke. Although it is downwards all the way from Samaria to Agia Roumeli, the terrain is not flat. It is super rocky. And the rocks are not like gravel, they are big rocks and if you did not look where you step, sure fall down. It’s just rocks rocks rocks rocks rocks. But the view is beautiful, though it’s tough to lift your head up and admire the scenery when you have to look where you are going. If you concentrate on where you are stepping on, you cannot see the beautiful peaks. If you keep on watching the beautiful scenery, your backside sure pain. Hurhurhur…try it! My favourite part of the trek is when we were on the riverbed itself. Apparently the river is dry during this period. So the moment we hit the bottom of the gorge from the top, we were already walking on the dry riverbed. There is a part when I was flanked by the 2 huge cliffs while walking on the riverbed. The viewpoint from where I was standing, looking ahead on the winding riverbed, is really amazing, not to mention the amazing strata on the cliffs sides. Although the trek is long and tiring, and my legs feel wobbly at the end of it, I still recommend this place to you. But I will not trek there again :P…Along the way, we met people who started the other way round, from Agia Roumeli…siao one! Good luck to them! Hurhurhur… )

To go back to Hania from Agia Roumeli, we had to take a ferry followed by a bus. Agia Roumeli is a small touristy village with many restaurants. However, the crowd seemed to gather at the one nearest the port. We just follow suit knowing that it is always wise to eat at a restaurant with many customers.

On the ferry to Sfakia, many people removed their trekking shoes and changed into slippers. And it was very smelly. When we saw that the ferry was pretty packed, we started to worry that we might not be able to get onto the 5:30pm bus. Besides, we had not purchased the bus tickets. So we came up with a plan: Eric would sprint to the bus station to buy tickets, while Clarence and I would carry all the barang barang. We tried not to behave too Kiasu, but was totally overwhelmed when those tourists dashed faster than Eric. Hahaha… not only Singaporeans are Kiasu ok. Before the ferry docked, they had already gathered at the exit. Wah Piang. They were faster than us lor.

Later, we realized that majority of those tourists were not after our bus tickets, they were actually rushing to catch their coaches. And as for the bus tickets, there wasn’t any one selling tickets at the bus station, in fact we gotta buy from the bus conductor on the bus. So there was another round of anticipation while waiting for the bus to arrive. Can you imagine how stress it was? Knowing that we still need to “fight” over the seats with these remaining tourists, and yet cannot embarrassed our nationality. (just kidding)

In the end, 2 buses arrived instead. Everyone had a seat

When we got back to Eva, 3 of us couldn’t walk without “ouching”, especially when we climbed the steep staircases to our rooms. But then again, that didn’t stop us from climbing 2 more levels to the rooftop terrace for our beer and sunset view.

( Clarence: What could be a better way to end a tiring day but to stone at a rooftop overlooking the waterfront, and drink beer? Hahaha…When we reached Hania, along the way back, I went straight to buy beer liao. The funniest thing is, when we see the gentle steps leading us to the pension, we were like…wah lao must climb ah! Then when we reach the pension, we were like ‘WAH LAO WHY SO STEEP!’ ‘cos we have to climb to our rooms on the second floor. Every step was ‘ow ow ow ooo ooo ooo ow ow ow ooo ooo ooo’ until we reach our rooms. Then it’s ‘ow ow ow ooo ooo ooo’ our way to the rooftop. Then open the beer cans, then no more ‘ow ow ow’ liao. It’s ‘AAAAAAAH SHIOOOK’. Then we ‘ow ow ow’ again to go down to get changed for dinner. No joke man…I sound exaggerating right? You guys go try lor then you tell me )

Dinner that night was another LP recommendation called Faka Taverna. Here, I tried rabbit meat for the first time in my life. At first the 2 rabbits (the 2 guys were born in the year of rabbit) refused to eat their own kind, but after a while, they finally succumbed to the temptation. Just like what the waiter told me, it tasted like chicken, but tastier and more tender! Very nice! When we finished our main course, the waiter served us a round of chilled Raki, served in shot glasses. The waiter and another guy, who seemed to be the restaurant owner explained that Raki is their locally homemade alcoholic drink. Very potent! They served this drink together with a plate of mini doughnut-like dessert called Loukoumades (small round doughnuts, fried and coated in honey and cinnamon). These were supposed to go with the raki, something like 下酒菜.

We had beer before dinner, wine during dinner and finally raki after that. How not to be tipsy by the end of the night?

2 June 2007: Hania, Crete

Surprisingly, sleeping in the ferry cabin was quite comfy. It could be due to the jet lag, I found myself sleeping like a log.

We arrived around 6:30am and were surprised to find out this ferry did not arrive at Hania. Did we miss this part in the guide book? The ferry docked at this port in Souda. From this port to Hania, we need to take a 30min bus transfer, which cost us 1,15 euro each.

Though we don’t speak Greek, most of the locals tried their best to extend their help. One example was this uncle from a fish stall when we first arrived. He came over to help us with our directions to Pension Eva. We must have looked lost, but the guys insisted that they would have figured out anyway. Ya right!

It was still pretty early, the streets were still quiet. The narrow street leading to Pension Eva is very charming. I started to see scenes resembling those on postcards. So cool! I love the architecture, the color scheme and the little details and touches. Every house is lovely, I wish I could stop at every corner to snap a shot.

( Clarence: Maybe I have never been to Europe before, or maybe I had no expectations whatsoever, but the Old Harbour in Hania is reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally beautiful! As we walked from the drop-off point to our pension, I was swept away by the beauty of the place. The architecture, which had Turkish origins (read from somewhere), totally blew me away. So chio! I so wanted to stay here and rot for the rest of my life! Actually I wanted to rot at alot of places already, Hania has become another option hurhurhur….I feel like I’m lost in another world. The vibrant colors of the old buildings, the narrow alleyways, the sun casting shadows on the pavements and balconies, the tables and chairs lining up the already very narrow streets…I love it! And since it was early morning, the empty streets made me feel totally comfortable and at ease. )

We loitered outside the Pension Eva looking for the room key. In the email, the owner told us to retrieve the key from somewhere (better not mention where). BUT it was not there. When we were at a loss, this Greek uncle passed by, he knew about the arrangement It must be a common practice by Pension Eva. We told him the keys were not there. Then he offered to help us contact the owner. He walked us over to his pension just around the corner, and called the Pension Eva owner. Apparently our room was occupied so we should come back after 10am (after whoever checks out). In the meanwhile, we could leave our luggage at his pension. So nice to meet helpful locals when you are in a foreign land. Every little thought becomes extra heartwarming.

Just this morning alone, we met 2 nice uncles in Hania. How not to love this place?

( Clarence: After we deposited our backpacks under the dining table in the kitchen (???), we walked around the area. Oh, have I mentioned about the waterfront yet? It’s nice and serene. We sat down on the curbs at one end of the waterfront and admire the surroundings, while deciding where to go for breakfast. From where we were sitting, we can see the entire waterfront of one section of the Old Harbour, lined with cafes and shops. We even had the opportunity to see a man casting his net into the sea and walla! About 8-10 fishes were caught! I think he was probably fishing for his restaurant’s Catch of the Day…Oh ya, there is a lighthouse as well…hurhurhur…okie, where’s breakfast? )

Those cafes and restaurants by the old harbor front reminds me of Boat Quay in Singapore. We chose a restaurant facing west to have breakfast. 1 greek kopi pls!

Everything is expensive when you convert back to Singdollar ( x 2), so forget it, don’t convert.

While we were chit chatting, we saw that girl on the ferry again! She was alone, lugging her trolley bag. I waved to her and gestured her to join us (though our coffee cups were empty).

She is an Austrian student on one year term studies in Greece. Her major is Theology. Our conversation was quite a bit of culture exchange, ranging from her encounter with Greek education system to Greek culture. Later, when I found out that she had the whole day by herself, as her classmates from Austria would only arrive in the evening in Crete, it did cross my mind to ask her to join us (for the sake of Clarence’s happiness ). But I didn’t ask cos we didn’t even know what we were going to do, except for checking out the bus tickets to Samaria Gorge and Iraklio. Besides, I was not sure if the guys liked the idea.

Around 11 am, we bid her goodbye and returned to Eva. The owner walked us up the steep stairs to the 2nd floor. Originally, we booked a room for 3. But the room opposite was not occupied for those 2 days, so the owner offered us additional 20euro to take up that double room. We hesitated as that equated to additional 40euros (20 x2nights). Later, he came back with a lower offer - additional 10euro per nite. DEAL!

That afternoon, we walked around the harbor front, the old town of Hania. We even witnessed some Greeks fighting, one running after the other with a kitchen knife! But no one was harm in the end.

We had a relaxing afternoon hanging out on the rooftop terrace, sipping the beers we got from the nearby provision shop. Wowww…..the view was amazing!

( Clarence: The pension we were staying in was nice and cozy. Somehow I had a really good deal, with a big double room at 10 Euros per night…oh well…cannot complain right? Hurhur…The deco in the pension is nice and nostalgic. The old black and white pictures hanging on the walls shows Hania back in the old days. I already felt that this place already very nostalgic liao, now when I looked at the pictures, they gave me an even more nostalgic feel. The flooring is of wooden planks that creaked when I walked. So cool! If you climbed the creaky staircase up to the top of the pension, there is an open air space with a couple of round tables and chairs for chilling out. Oh my god, I totally digged it! I can sit there the whole day, looking at the waterfront, drink my beer and waste my whole life away! But hor I don’t really like that mosquito which disturb me at night )

I love summertime. Sun rises at 6plus and sets late at around 8:30-9pm. The day is so long and never seems to end. I still find it a bit weird to finish dinner and the sun hasn’t set.

Dinner was at a pick from LP (Lonely Planet) called Portes. Honestly, I wouldn’t even pass by this street if not because of LP. Its one of those restaurants off the main streets, with tables set along the street wall, lovely setting. They serve authentic Greek cuisine. At the end of dinner, we got a complimentary plate of little sweet custard tarts.

Evening at the harbor front town was quite chilly, even though it was summer. Please bring a jacket but don’t bring similar one. Eric and Clarence brought a similar jacket. In a few occasions, I nearly grabbed the wrong hand in the dark.

1 June 2007: Arrival in Athens

Delta Airline service exceeded my expectation, cos I came with zero expectation in the first place. Hehehe..

Upon arrival at Athens Airport, it was flooded with tourists. The wait in the queue was long and the custom officers seem to take their time. That was when I started to form an impression of relax Greek culture before I even officially entered the country. In a way, I wanted to remind myself to slow down.

We came without a single cent of euros, cos we had planned to withdraw our Euros from Citibank ATM right at the arrival hall. How clever. There was this uncle was at the ATM and we queued behind him. He took unusually long. We peeped over his shoulder and were shocked to know he was withdrawing from 5 different cards! Uncle, don’t take all the cash. Leave some for us.

With that delay, we missed the train to SYNTAGMA and had to wait for 30mins for the next one. When we finally met Clarence, it was about 11plus and was quite warm. So glad to see him!

(Clarence: The next day I checked out from the hostel and took the metro to Syntagma station. I’m supposed to meet the 2 of them there. They were flying in from US, so that’s why we can only meet up on my second day. Tamade I waited 2 hours for them ok? Then they slowly stroll towards me…aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh. Luckily got alot of meimeis to watch during my waiting time…hurhurhur…but it’s good to see them again lar, hehe. )

We walked to 26 Nikis street to deposit our luggage at Pacific Travel Luggage service. Each piece for 2euro. Not much of security though, cos the luggage were left at an open rack in the back room.

We took the metro to Akropolis station, and then walked to Acropolis. Entrance fee 12euro per pax. Guess what? It was under restoration! It was crowded and quite a challenge to snap a shot of the ruins without any stranger inside.

( Clarence: It was 12 days later, on our way back to the airport, that we realised we could actually walk to the Acropolis from Syntagma station! Tio pian! Hahah. )

Lunch was in Plaka. We had Greek cuisine and first try of Greek coca cola, which I was told (by LS), taste better than those we usually drink at home. I totally agreed after a sip

( Clarence: The lunch damn ex! My gyros cost like 9 Euros? That’s like 18 SGD! 18 SGD can eat like 6 bowls of prawn noodles u know? Boh bian, I’m prepared for the cost liao…did I mentioned this trip’s supposed to be budget? Hahaha. )

Dinner was at MacDonald’s at Pireaus before we boarded our 9pm ferry to Hania, Crete. We booked an AB3 cabin. The difference between AB3 and AB4 is price as well as privacy. AB3 means 3 of us will not expect a 4th person sharing the cabin with us.

The cabin has 2 double deck beds with white sheets and blue blankets. A small dressing table with a chair. A tiny WC, which would be flooded after you showered. Towels and a few bars of soaps were also provided. You could hear the next door’s conversation quite clearly at wee hours. You could even hear their alarm clocks buzzing in the morning.

None of us printed out the address for Pension Eva. To use the internet on the ferry, it cost 4euro for 3omins. While we were using the terminal, a girl came to ask me where we got our internet access card. Eric recognized her! We met her earlier in the train to Pireaus. That was when we began to tease Clarence about her. As we had finished our business on the internet, we decided we might as well let her use it our remaining minutes. So, I was tasked to chase after her to let her use our remaining minutes. She was very grateful. ButI forgot to introduce myself and ask for her name!

( Clarence: This is the place to board the ferries to the other islands in Greece, or most of them I think. Anyway, our dinner is at Mac’s! Come all the way to Greece and eat Mac’s! Hahaha…And not cheap some more! Okay lar actually we were already tired and needed to rest our legs, so we somehow ended up there. Since already there, might as well eat dinner there lor.

The ferry to Hania, Crete is an overnight ride. This saves us on 1 night of accommodation you know? We very clever hor? Hurhurhur…The ferry’s really huge! Like a cruise! It’s really cool, with about 7 levels in all. ‘Cos it’s so huge, it didn’t really feel like being in a ship. But how come the ferry so big, but the bunk so small leh? )

31 May 2007 : Before departure

31 May 2007

This is the first time I could relax hours before my flight. I mean, usually I would still be packing toilettries etc at the very last hour. This time, I packed a day in advance. I even have time to watch U-traveller episode on Greece from mobtv.sg, paint my nails, surf the net, chat with friends and tidy the living room, in case landlord popped by while we were out.

Eric came back with Sonny at noon. As planned, Sonny dropped us at Newark Penn Station and we would take a NJtransit train to NY Penn Station, we transferred to LIRR to Jamaica Station, then take an airtrain to JFK.

All went well, we settled in LIRR and there was an announcement that the service would be delayed due to a bush fire at the Jamaica Station. After about 15mins or more, the service delay became service suspension indefinitely.

We quickly made our way to the nearest taxi stand for our Plan B. Taking a cab from Manhattan to JFK airport cost USD45 + toll USD4 + tips USD6 = USD 55. The unused train ticket cost USD5 each (off peak rate).

We cleared custom in a breeze, except the camera bag had to be re-scanned. This trip, we were contemplating to bring or not to bring tripod, in the end, we decided to travel light. Hopefully, we wouldn’t regret it.

Delta Airlines has recently claimed that they are putting in effort to improve their service. So far so good. Food is not bad. But no AVOD. The crew was polite. I have begun to like Americans more nowadays, especially their sense of humor.

With the eye mask and ear plugs, I would sleep till arrival. I hope.

( Clarence: Aaaah…Greece…The land of mythical Gods and Beings…I’m coming!!

 Actually it all started from the movie 300. I was so inspired and awed by the Spartans that I told Eric and Nicole that they have to watch it, which they did of course. Anyway, one mundane March morning, apart from spewing lines after lines from the movie to each other, I told Eric that I can’t pop over in New York to visit them for 3 weeks during June, ‘cos of work commitments. But 2 weeks I can spare. “How about going to Greece for 2 weeks and meet King Leonidas for coffee?” I joked. The rest is history…

So far, the places I had been to were largely confined to Asia. I have never been to Europe in my 32 years of existence. Maybe it’s time for me to venture on to another continent and experience their culture, drink their local beer and oooooogle at their women. Actually, I was pretty worried about travelling in Europe. The cost of travelling and the time spent on the plane which I absolutely dread (and still dreading) is preventing me from actually doing it. Coupled with the fact that I’m Asian, makes me wonder if I would be safe travelling alone. Nope, not this time. I have decided. Europe must be conquered. And Greece will be the first stop! Muahahaha!

Since we made the decision somewhere in March, we had about 2 months to prepare for the trip. I could only travel in June and December due to my job, and it’s only for a maximum of 2 weeks. So, what can I see for 2 weeks? Qatar Airlines had the cheapest flight to Athens then, about 1,100 SGD with a 3-hour transit in Qatar. The whole duration would be around 15 hours…Wah lao…That’s alot of time leh. But no choice right? Having done that, I popped over at Borders to get my bible - the Lonely Planet Greece!

Questions questions questions. Many questions to ask and answer…

Shall we Athens then the islands? Or vice versa? 

Which islands to go har? Got so many…

What about mainland Greece?

Take a ferry or internal flight to the islands?

Road trip or train?

Which hostels to stay in?

Got time to meet Leonidas for coffee anot?

So many places to go, so little time! In the end, we decided.

Athens-Crete-Santorini-Delphi-Meteora-Athens-Home (Sob…)

Greece here we come!

Since Eric and Nicole is coming from New York, they can only reach Athenes on the second day. So on the first day of my arrival in the evening, I took the metro from the airport to the Akropolis station, and checked into the Athens Backpackers’ Hostel. Though I was really bushed from the flight, it’s still damn bright in Greece at 7 pm. In Singapore, it’s already 12 midnight! Cannot sleep now right? Very wierd to sleep at 7 plus in the evening…So I spent the rest of the evening gia lai gia ker in Plaka, which is below the Parthenon. In the end, I ended up at this colourful pub call Brettos, and tried for the first time a Greek beer call Mythos. Wah not bad leh! Slightly bitter compared to Heineken, my all-time favourite, probably due to the hops in the beer. But I like. J)