My First Flower Arrangement!

My first go at flower arranging straight from the garden. Not too bad if I don't say so myself! I think I can be proud? :) Perhaps this can be a travel AND gardening blog? Ha.

Santorini, back to England and a bit of Life Planning

We had a nine hour stop over in Santorini between ferries so decided to make the most of it and have a look around. We rented a mini bus and Mat drove us up to the top to have a look around. We went to the red beach, which was really strange. Compared to Ios this place was so quiet, very chilled out. We had dinner at a really nice restaurant that had a beautiful panoramic view of the ocean and surrounding islands. We were there for a while trying to kill time. We went for a quick cruise once it was dark around the island but then just decided to go and park back down at the port and try and get some sleep before we hopped on the 2am ferry. We were so exhausted, and while we were somewhat happy that we got to see Santorini, we were also wishing we'd paid a little bit extra and got a ferry straight back to Athens as our commute back to England took nearly two days. It was pretty painful!

After an hour and a half delay in Athens we arrived back in England around 5pm. I left the others to head back to Jackie's in Shortlands to see Mum and Katrina as they were flying out for home the next day. First things first was a shower, then sat down with them all to discuss my plans as the split with Sam had suddenly left me with the prospect of five months on my own and I was freaking out a bit. Katrina suggested a cruise in Croatia which sounded really good but because it was in a weeks time the flights were nearly 200 euros one way. Would have ended up costing too much. I decided I might look for a job but really had no idea what I was doing. It was a really nice night though, we had dinner and a few drinks, I felt so much better being with family. The next day I went with Jackie to drop Katrina and Mum at the airport which was really sad so we made it a quick goodbye and then headed back to Jackie's. I had a day on my own and just relaxed, watched TV and had a look on the internet about possible jobs etc. I had a few ideas.

The next day I headed back into London to meet up with Mat and Lucy. I had been talking to Emma from Belushi's (who we'd gotten to know from staying there a few times) about wanting to travel Eastern Europe before we'd left for Spain. Mat let me know she was keen to leave in a week or two, so went in to see her in Shepherd's Bush. Looks like I had a plan! We talked about maybe flying to Prague and then making our own way down to Croatia. She was waiting to hear back from a possible job opportunity so we planned to go ahead and book a flight in the next few days once she'd heard back from the boss.

On the Friday night I met up with my old manager Jimmy from the Temple Walkabout where I used to work five years ago when I was on my Gap Year. He now owns a bar down in Portsmouth, and let me know that if I wanted a job I could have one whenever I liked, and there were places to live. Excellent! So I thought maybe once I got back from Eastern Europe I could go down there to save a bit more. Will just wait and see what happens. It was so nice to be back at the Walkabout, nothing has changed, brought back some great memories. Was awesome to hang out with Jimmy again, and it'll be nice to know someone in Portsmouth if I decide to go down. After living in Canberra for four years I think living on the harbour would be unreal! Things are changing every day at the moment though, so will lock it all in closer to the time if that's what I decide to do.

Had a fun weekend in London with Luce and Mat before they left, had a really nice dinner at a French restaurant on Lucy's last night to celebrate our birthdays as we'd all be in separate countries when they occurred! Emma and I locked in Prague for the 2nd August which is really exciting. Felt a lot better about everything now that plans were starting to take shape.

Monday I headed down to Kirsty's in Binsted again for a few days to relax and enjoy the peacefulness of the English countryside. It's definitely a great place to regather and do some soul-searching, have some quality 'Me' time. Kirsty took me to Portsmouth to have a look at my potential new work place/home which was really nice. We had a great dinner at Zizzi's and a lovely chat. It's so nice to spend time with her, she gives great advice but is also so much fun to have silly chats with too :) On one of the days we had a really nice lunch at the local pub and then chose some beautiful flowers from the garden shop and went home so I could learn how to plant! I am proud to say I now know how to properly and successfully plant flowers :) Very keen to have my own garden one day now! Took a lot of photos of the garden and the nearby countryside...I could definitely spend a lot more time in that part of England. That night we had a girly cocktail evening and experimented with a number of different cocktails doing taste testers and cooked beer can chicken. She was so lovely and brought a birthday cake out at the end which she didn't have to do...but we sat out in the garden, ate our cake and drank Bailey's until around midnight. Was such a nice day. Off to Jackie's today for a birthday dinner at her place, I'm so lucky to have such wonderful family in England! Sad to leave Binsted but no doubt I will be back. Then off to Wimbledon on Friday to spend my actual birthday with Elspeth. Really looking forward to it, then Prague on Tuesday of course!

Ios - What A Place To Be-os!

Our ferry left Athens at 7am and arrived at the Ios port four hours later. We were so excited. As we hopped off the ferry we were met by a sea of people holding up signs to the different hostels and hotels around the island. We were staying at Francesco's so as soon as we spotted our sign we went straight over. We were met by two English guys, looking slightly worse for wear...it seems as though the staff party as hard as the guests! Upon informing him that we were Australian, we were met with rolling eyes and told, "About 90% of the people here are Australian." Great, should we have just stayed in Sydney?

As they drove us up in the mini bus towards to centre of the town - white buildings topped with blue scattered over the hills, half-naked sun tanned bodies on scooters and dotting the roads with towels and lilos, music pumping and hot wind blowing at us through the window, we didn't care that it might seem as if we were home due to the amount of Australians inhabiting the island, we were in Ios!

It was unbelievably hot, so as soon as we had dumped our bags in reception as check-in wasn't until later in the day, we headed straight for a cold beer and a dip in the pool. Sam and his friends had had a huge night the night before so didn't join us until around three in the afternoon, so we just enjoyed some wonderful sunshine lying by the water enjoying our incredible view of the harbour from the poolside.

Rather than talking through each day individually, I'll just say that each day and night were scheduled more or less the same. Wake up around midday, head to the beach, lie in the sun, swim, snorkel, sit at one of the beachside bars and have lunch while lounging in hammocks or among pillows, listening to music and watching everyone stroll by. One of the days we went to a wet t-shirt contest at Far Out which is the hostel that holds all the day parties. Wet t-shirt competition was interesting, we left after the first round as it was just too cringe-worthy! Plus we enjoyed really chilled out and relaxing days. The nights we kept going back to a really nice family-run Greek restaurant called 'Chilli Pepper' where the food was excellent, the atmosphere was really beachy and fun and the family were lovely. They might have even loved us back as they started giving us free beer and sangria every time we returned! After this we'd hit all the bars in the centre of down just down from our hostel. We had so much fun dancing, walking around and meeting people. Everything was so close to each other so even if you split up with your friends you'd always find them again a couple doors down. We didn't see one cloud the whole time. Life is hard aye?

We also did a three hour speed boat trip with one of the local water sports companies, Meltemi, where they took us out of the cove and told us a bit of history about the island, showed us around some of the architecture (including a mansion owned by a German dentist who only comes in and out by helicopter and never comes to the town...strange?), took us to a private beach to explore and snorkel and then to a jumping rock where we launched ourselves down five metres into the blue sea. It was a really nice trip, I'm not sure it was worth thirty seven euros, but it was nice to do something a bit different than just sit on the beach all day.

There was one large dampener on the trip and that was the blow out I had with Sam. After six months together and two months of travelling we decided to call its end. I cannot pin point the exact moment where things changed, but I did have the gut feeling for a while that things weren't the same and it was not going to work. Perhaps mainly it was because he had no money left, or a visa, so we had absolutely no idea how to approach the next five months. I was always a lot more committed to this trip than he was, and I think I wanted to do so much whereas he prefers to be with his friends at home. In the end it was the best decision for me, as now I can do what I want to and not have to worry about what he was going to do. While break-ups really bite, it was definitely the best decision and at such a good time, and I'm sure Sam and I will be friends in the future, after I enjoy the rest of my trip of course!

So off he went to Mykonos and we had another few days in which I met some really lovely girls from Australia, with whom I walked up to the top of the mountain behind the town to watch the most beautiful sunset and talked about plans for the next few months. Sheena is planning to work in England from September so we agreed to keep in touch. I ran into a great friend from school Morgan, who I also ran into in Barcelona in a club at 2am when I was on my gap year in 2006...smallest world! Also plan to catch up with him in England now too.

All in all Ios was amazing. Francesco's the hostel definitely made our trip what it was. Francesco's is run by Francesco himself and his wife Maria. They are very much a part of the hostel life, and know all their guests by name and room number. They make you feel like part of the Francesco's family. Maria would give us hugs in the morning when were tired and Francesco would drink with us and give us free shots at night. The staff were all fantastic too and became friends by the end. I don't think anyone I've who stayed there has come away saying it's not one of the best hostels, if not the best hostel they've ever stayed at. Australians, I've come to realise, are very good at spreading the word, whether it be a good club, restaurant, hostel or holiday destination. No wonder this place has so many Australians, we all just come away absolutely raving about it. I expect they'll have many more Australian visitors to come for a very long time.

In the end it was sad to leave, but after six days on a schedule like hours I think it was time to leave. We had a huge two day commute ahead of us which we were not looking forward to, so just wanted to get on with it. I don't know if I'll ever go back, because I wouldn't want to ruin the experience I had this time  around, but would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for the ultimate beach party holiday. Ios is definitely the place to be-os :)

Athens - Getting into the Greek!

After an uneventful night in Madrid where we were too tired to do anything worth while and ended up having a Chinese feast for dinner, we caught an early flight to Rome. Here we had four hours plus a three hour delay before finally boarding the plane to Athens and arrived around ten at night to our hostel. Had a few hiccups trying to get there as the bus wouldn't take us to the stop we needed to go to because of the strike so we had to get off early and catch the underground to our proper destination. Upon arrival we were exhausted, so were delighted to find out that we'd been upgraded from a dorm room to a studio apartment. Fantastic. We left our things in the room and then went to find some dinner.

The area around the Athens Backpackers hostel where we were staying was very lively with bars and restaurants. All the restaurants have people outside trying to get you in, however we gave into 'Vitro', one of the small restaurants we passed having seen that the menu was great and also they were going to give us a free round of drinks...who could say no to that? For dinner I had haloumi cheese and wrapped wine leaves, which were absolutely delicious. We sat outside where there was a great atmosphere from the buzz of all the diners and some relaxing music in the background. After dinner we went back to the apartment to get a good night's sleep. We only had one day in Athens the following day so wanted to make the most of it.

For our one full day in Athens we booked ourselves on a walking tour run by the hostel for only five euros. Our tour guide was fantastic, he really loved his city and knew so much. We got to see so many things, including some amazing views that looked over the whole city. We learnt a lot and really enjoyed listening to all his stories. I loved all the ancient ruins and also learning about the ancient Olympics. The Royal Gardens were very pretty and it was also seeing the Parliament building where all the riots have been taking place. The only problem with our tour however, that it went for nearly five hours in forty degree heat. Towards the end it was so hot we just wanted the tour to end so we could get up to the Acropolis and then head back to some air conditioning, food and water. We all felt bad for losing our enthusiasm with the tour, but had it been a cooler day I think I would have enjoyed it much more. Still glad we did it though considering how short a time we had in the city.

The Acropolis was amazing, it is so hard to comprehend just how old some of the buildings and structures in Athens are. Europe makes you realise just how young Australia is, we have nothing in terms of history etc compared to things like this so you really appreciate being able to see it for yourself. We took some great photographs then agreed it was time to get out of the sun and to a restaurant to recharge our batteries. Had another really nice lunch of Greek salad, wrapped wine leaves and about a litre of water and then went to book our ferry to Ios for the next day. We found it was much easier to book with a travel agent than online. While they do charge a slight commission, it was so much easier being able to organise, pay and collect our tickets for our trip there and return in the space of about twenty minutes. The websites seem really unreliable and confusing! Athens Backpackers directed us to a very good travel agent so I'd suggest doing this if you are travelling around the Greek Islands.

Our hostel had an amazing chilled out rooftop bar that looked out onto the Acropolis which is where we spent our last night in Athens. It was so nice watching the sun set behind the Parthenon and then seeing it lit up against the night sky. It was a very social area, and we met people from all over the world and just talked about our travels, swapped tips and stories etc. We had dinner at the same place again, our little man who convinced us to come in the first time was very glad to see us and gave us another round of free drinks. I would definitely suggest Athens Backpackers to anyone travelling to Athens who wants a great location, atmosphere, range of activities and a relaxed but fun experience of Athens. This hostel is listed on the Hostel World website. We had another early travel start the next day so got another early night, our ferry to Ios departed at 7am!

San Sebastian and Bilbao - Sun, Sea, Sightseeing and Silliness

What a great place! Mum organised an apartment for us a few months earlier, so when we arrived we went for lunch while Mum and Katrina got the keys from the landlord. The apartment was incredible, with a balcony looking over the beach and mountains. It had three bedrooms with six beds and a comfy couch which was perfect for when Lucy, Mat and Boydy arrived. Kirsty and Tim also had an apartment just around the corner, so after we freshened up with spent some time down at the beach before having a few wines on our lovely balcony and getting ready for a tapas or pintxos tour with San Sebastian Food that Mum had booked us all on to treat us. For seventy five euros a head, we were taken on a tour, led by Jon Warren around both the older and more traditional parts of San Sebastian as well as the more modern ones, sampling the most amazing tapas and wines. As we toured around the city our guide told us all about the city including its history, about all the tapas bars we visited as well as got to know us. One of the men on the tour, Paddy Woodworth, came along to help with all the history information as he is a successful history writer. We learnt so much, and absolutely loved all the food and different wines. Would recommend this tour to anyone who wants to get a real experience of San Sebastian. To find out about the tours and what else there is to offer with this company see: San Sebastian Food

The following day, Mat, Lucy and Boydy arrived and we spent most of the day lying in the sun and swimming down at the beach. It was nice to see them again, they had been to Barcelona so was great to hear their stories and what they thought of it! I've always thought Barcelona is a fantastic city. After a very lazy day in the sun we decided to cook dinner for everyone and picked Lucy's signature honey soy chicken stir fry as the dish for the night. Success! Had a really nice dinner with everyone at our apartment then Lucy, Mat and I headed out to check out some of the bars and the night scene in general. There's one area of the city where down all the allyways and streets the roads are lined with bars. It was a lot of fun, did seem like everyone was eighteen and on gap but the vibe was crazy! Had a lot of fun, and even stopped for a swim in a fountain on the way home. Not the best idea but we enjoyed ourselves!

The following day was cloudy so we decided to go for a day trip to Bilbao. It was about an hour's drive from San Sebastian, so we arrived around lunch time and had Menu del dia in the city. We then set off on foot to the Guggenheim. What an amazing building! I think the 10 of us combined took over a thousand photos :) My favourite part was the big spider art piece on the pathway around the museum. It was also great to see Jeff Koon's 'Puppy' (1992) which we studied in school and I always wished I could see for myself rather through just pictures. The Guggenheim is so fascinating to look at from all angles, I think it's definitely necessary to do a full lap of the building so you can see everything it has to offer!

After this we headed back to the underground car park where we discovered that it was all closed up with our cars inside....bit of a panic...all started to think we may have to find somewhere to sleep for the night in Bilbao, but then two girls who lived in the building came home and luckily, having Katrina, she explained that our cars were stuck down in the basement. Apparently it was a private carpark for residence only. But the two girls were really helpful and managed to get us inside to then wait for someone to open the garage and get the cars out. Just one of those moment where we all felt like silly tourists. At least we managed to get out!

Our nightly activity was a game that mum organised where you have three dice, and written on them is L (left), R (right), C (centre) and a dot which means nothing. Basically you can play with any amount of money, but we played with ten coins each. You roll the dice when it's your turn and wherever the dice tell you to put your money is where your coins go. For example if it says 'L' you have to pass one coin to the person on the left, or C means you put your coin in the centre of the table and the dot means you dont have to move it anywhere. Two L's mean two coins to the left etc. The game got pretty exciting, definitely a game of luck, something that I've never been blessed with when it comes to these sorts of things. In the end it was down to Mat and Tim and Tim won the kitty. Unfortunately winning 100 1c and 2c coins isn't the most appealing thing in the world so he left it behind :) Was such a fun game, hopefully we play again soon and I do a bit better!

The following day was sunny again, Sam and his friends arrived in San Sebastian from Bilbao as an impromptu, last minute decision trip, mainly because they were just going to be travelling that day anyway and needed some beach time, plus Sam had lost his travel card and I had his spare. They went down to the beach while Katrina, Lucy, Mat and I went for a walk up the mountain next to the beach to the Jesus figure that looked over the bay. We took the short but steep route, and were extremely worn out by the time we got to the top but the views were amazing so was definitely worth the effort. We then met the boys at the beach for the afternoon and then had a quiet night at home finishing off the food in the fridge as we were all leaving in the morning.

The morning we left was rainy and miserable, seemingly matching our moods about leaving San Sebastian. We absolutely adored the place, and it is definitely a place I'd like to go back to. It was just the perfect beach holiday, and in Spain! So couldn't ask for anything more. The apartment definitely made it to, we spent so much time on the balcony enjoying the views of the sea. So sad to leave. We caught an Alsa bus to Madrid which took about six hours for a stop overnight before flying to Athens.

Santillana del Mar - Perfect Spain

Arriving in Santillana del Mar it was instantly recognisable why this little Spanish community was voted the most beautiful town in Spain. I immediately wanted to photograph everything, the cobble stone streets that cars could hardly drive over and you instantly respected women roughing it in high heels, the warm coloured old little buildings, the flowers decorating them and the gardens, the friendly gentle nature of the people and its happy little spirit.

Arriving at our hotel 'Hotel Casa del Marques' was beautiful, everything was antique and colourful, very elegant and welcoming. Detailed chairs, bookcases, rugs, paintings decorated the walls and floors, illuminated by a stunning chandelier. Each room had a style of its own, it's own old fashioned character, we loved the place straight away. After settling into our hotel we went to freshen up then met for a drink in the garden, it was so peaceful and pretty. Felt like a little paradise. The restaurant next door that we chose had the most amazing food. Katrina and I shared a goat's cheese salad and hake in a tomoto based sauce with mussels. The portions were huge! It had a breezy, forest-like setting, so we sat there for a long time enjoying our food and drinking nice wine. Definitely felt like a holiday :)

The rest of the time there followed more or less the same, slowly wandering the streets, checking out the little stores at the views of the countryside. The one strange thing about the place though was that smack bang in the middle of the town is a torture museum. Nothing like big, ugly, gruesome cages and torture machines layed out in the middle of the garden to spoil a beautiful town! But it was more amusing than anything and definitely didn't make the town seem any less pleasant.

We ate so well, a million menu del dia's :) and apart from the local cider which Mum, Kirsty, Tim and Dad tried which apparently tasted like vinegar, we drank really well too! It was sad to leave, I would recommend this place to anyone who really wants to experience Spain and the beauty the country has to offer. Might try and go back someday.

Ponferrdo - Spingle Spangle Spanglish!

We left Leon to head North to Ponferrada where we met up with Katrina's friend Alberto who took us for a big lunch at his family home where we met his parents Alberto Senior and Maria and his sister Christina. Alberto Senior and Maria spoke no English, and of course we can't really speak Spanish, so Katrina and Alberto were slightly apprehensive about how it would go and whether they were going to be able to translate everything back and forth. It turned out to be such a wonderful day, where there was a lot of translation, a heap of Spanglish and outrageous gestures as both Spanish and English speaking parties were trying to communicate. We managed to have a four hour lunch and a night out together, really connecting as people despite the language barrier. We joked that Maria and Mum were the Spanish and English versions of each other. At no point was there no conversation! Christina spoke a little English but as the day continued on and everyone relaxed she tried a lot of what she knew on us and we encouraged her to keep going. She knew so much more than even her family knew! Katrina's Spanish also blew everyone away, she didn't even know she was that good! Very impressed.

Maria cooked us a traditional Spanish lunch with bread and meats, then seafood paella, then fresh fruit from the town, cake and of course sangria! Dad and Alberto tucked into the whisky  :) After lunch Alberto Junior took us for a wander around his town. The Camino walk actually runs down the street next to his house so we wandered down that for a while and had a look at the houses and countryside. Then he took us to ... so we could dip our feet in the river, enjoy the small little town. Maria and Alberto Senior met us down there for more hilarious conversations of Spanglish, translation and larger than life hand gestures and actions. It's a beautiful place with a bridge crossing the river built by the Romans in the 12th Century. The weather was perfect so it was quite lively with lots of people swimming, picnicing and enjoying the sunshine on the patio bar.

It was about 8pm before we moved so we quickly went back to our hotel to shower and then met Alberto and his family in town for tapas. They took us to one of their favourite restaurants where they ordered a number of their favourite Spanish tapas dishes. These included potatoes, chips and omelet, squid and calamari, breads with caramelised onions and cheese, smoked salmon and pate and of course some great wine. All the fresh produce in Ponferrada is grown there so everything is so fresh and full of taste. We were so full by the end! After dinner we wandering through the town which was lit up with colourful lights illuminating the markets, lively bars and beautiful castle in the centre of the town. Like all the little Spanish towns we visited it was an extremely vibrant yet relaxed atmosphere, with the crowds of people enjoying food, wine, browsing the markets, socialising and dancing to all the different types of music you could hear around the town.

Around 1am we left Katrina to say good bye to her friends and headed back for the hotel. Maria and Alberto Senior were parked near our hotel so without our translators we set off with them home, and still managed to talk most of the way! I really hope we get to see them again one day, it was such a fantastic experience, something you don't get every day as a tourist so I feel very lucky. Next stop Santillana del Mar!

Lovely Leon

After a five hour bus ride from Madrid we finally arrived in Leon after a long evening and morning of travelling. Katrina met us at the bus station and took us back to her apartment to shower, make some Sangria and get ready to go out to the festival that was on in Leon to celebrate their patron Saint. The city is absolutely stunning. Beautiful old, colourful buildings, all the balconies lined with bright flowers, cobblestone streets lined with tapas bars and relaxed, happy Spanish people. Just the perfect picture of a traditional Spanish city. We went down to the river to meet up with Mum and Dad and then to the festival where all along the river were stalls set up selling all kinds of South American food. There was music and dancing, everything smelt amazing! We stopped at an Argentinian BBQ and shared platters of different meats and vegetables - delicious!  It was such a vibrant and exciting atmosphere. We then moved onto the fair where all the rides were. We tried churros which is a delicious pastry with sugar and you dip it in rich hot chocolate sauce and then get to drink the left over chocolate. Katrina then took us to a few bars to meet all her friends and we enjoyed a fantastic night dancing, speaking Spanglish and enjoyed the lively Leon nightlife.

In Leon it is tradition to get free tapas with your wine. There are a large number of little tapas bars all in the same area in a social centre of Leon where everyone goes most nights to meet for tapas and drinks with their friends. Each tapas bar is famous for one dish, so it is traditional to have a wine and a plate of tapas at one bar and then move on to the next. The tapas and the wine is absolutely delicious. Some of the tapas we enjoyed included potatoes with blue cheese sauce, jamos (ham) and other meats with bread, squid, mushrooms with potato and cream and morcilla which is essentially blood mixed with herbs and spices...this was surprisingly definitely one of the favourites! Spanish food is so full of flavour, each dish was mouth watering. Both nights we did tapas we changed bars about five or six times, it's definitely difficult to call it a night when everywhere smells so good! The atmosphere is very lively and happy, everyone around us involved in expressive and animated Spanish conversations and lively Spanish music in the background. The staff were very forgiving of our Spanglish when Katrina wasn't there :)

Another great thing about Leon is that they never really get tourists. Katrina said whenever she heard someone speaking English outside the exchange student program it sounded out of place and was very rare! The only tourists they really get are the pilgrims walking the Camino in the summer months. The Camino is the pilgrimage walk from France and ends in Santagio. You can do as much of it as you like, but the full pilgrimage takes about four weeks if you only have one or two days rest. It's very intense! But would be absolutely amazing to do, something I might try and aim for one day! Leon is the last stop before Santiago, so we saw quite a few of the pilgrims travelling through. Traditionally you shout out Bien Camino! to the pilgrims as they are passing so we definitely got into that!

During the days we just explored the city. The Cathedral was a central point, and where Katrina said everyone would always meet regardless of what they were doing. It was a stunning building both in the day and the night time and quite haunting inside. I find that religious building such as cathedrals, and particularly in Europe are so eye opening to what religion is to so much of human life - the dedication people have to it and the power it holds. It's a truly overwhelming experience standing inside cathedrals such as the one in Leon. We explored all the little streets and ate Menu del dia (Menu of the Day) for lunch which is a set menu where you choose one option from Group A and one option from Group B and then wine or water and dessert. A definite highlight was the potatoes in soup and the beef. Just so full of flavour!

All in all I thought Leon was absolutely stunning and such a fun, relaxed and exciting Spanish city. I am so jealous of my sister Katrina who got to spend a year there! Looking forward to travelling up North with the family to see more of the untouched, traditional towns of Spain.