Greece

I peaked too early! It is mid July and all my summer holidays are over and done with.  After Barbados in May and Greece in June, I have nothing else to look forward to, apart from enduring muggy London, watching the tourists have fun outside my work building, while I sit in the office.

But would I change my summer plan given the choice? No. I’ve had a wicked summer so far! And actually I am just loving London right now - plenty of time to get out and enjoy the sunshine.

A definite highlight of my summer has been my trip to the Greek Islands. It was me and seven friends. We all met in Athens on a Saturday morning to climb the Acropolis and do some general sightseeing. I liked Athens. It reminded me of Melbourne in many ways, and not just by the abundance of Greeks. I think the main thing was the choice of interesting cafes, bars and bakeries all over and late into the night.

And cafes were very useful, given my 2:30 am arrival at Athens airport the night before, culminating in checking in to my hostel at 4:30.

Athens - view from Acropolis

After a great day of sightseeing, and a big night of drinking, we eventually crawled into bed. But only for a few hours, as we had to be on the early ferry from the Port at 7am.

So we all started with a very hung over 5am start, and boarded “Highspeed 4” in Piraeus, bound for the island of Mykonos.  A few hours later we were there, and found our boat quickly, moored in the next dock.

The others of the 30-strong contingent had not yet arrived, so some of us made instant use of the closest beach and went for a hangover-relieving swim. Then the others started arriving, and we had some drinks on the boat before sailing off to Naxos.

The boat was comparable to the one I had sailing Croatia four years ago, but more spacious and slightly less engulfed with diesel fumes! The common area was much more spacious and the bar was well equipped. I was excited and thought this would be a fantastic trip!

But we did have some hurdles along the way. Our one -night-stop in Paros turned into 3 nights due to strong winds, our boat broke down and we lost running water and power for the best of two days. It was quite challenging at times (seasickness and lack of running water don’t mix well!) and we lost  a few destinations on our itinerary, but overall being with a great bunch of people, in a beautiful part of the world made it hard to feel down.

We spent our days on the islands quad-biking around, exploring many beaches, coves, hills, and some very forgotten-looking deserted tracks.

exploring islands by quad

When we got stuck a second day in Ios unexpectedly, we got lucky because it was the Swedish midsummer party. The boys and I enjoyed a long day at Far Out Beach Club watching the Swedish girls in their hundreds strip off into bikinis, throw each other into pool and generally frolic around drunkenly!

On the down side, we missed any amount of useful time in Santorni, arriving one evening and having to set sail back to Mykonos the next morning.

So what of the Cyclades? These islands are quite amazing. The natural landscapes are mainly brown, baron, and dry, but against the contrast of the bright blue seawater and dotted with chalk-white buildings all over, it actually makes for stunning scenery!

The towns mainly consist of narrow, cobbled, alleyways between softly rounded buildings showing off their bright white paint with blue doors and window shutters, and colourful flowers for extra contrast. All the time under a bright blue sky, everything glimmering in the bright sunlight.

a typical Paros street

If I had to retire and live somewhere in Europe – these Islands would probably be one of the first choices!