..around the Greek Islands...in xxx days....

Next destination was the beautiful country of Greece. This is my 3rd visit to Greece, and everytime I come I forget how beautiful it is! I stayed in Athens for a few days with a dear friend and then boarded the lovely (NOT) cheesy (more like it) easyCruise to do some island hopping :)

Whilst in Athens, I visited the new mall called 'The Mall' (what an original name) in Marousi, it's a beautiful mall and it has most shops and restaurants and a cinema, it was the only escape from the scorching heat wave (46 degrees!). Went to this really nice cute restaurant called Tzitzikas&merimigkas in Halandri ag.geoigiou& street, and this amazing trendy/bar called Balthazar bar - where you can do some celebrity spotting.....hmmm..didn't see any (not that I know any Greek celebrities) but definitely full of beautiful people - honestly! Spent an afternoon in the OTE building with my new found friends (long story...) and then saw Dee dee Bridgewater in concert on the top of the hill (can't remember the name) but it was a great concert with an amazing view of athens from the top but a long walk down the hill....not so fun but at least we didn't have to climb the hill..... :(

The cruise on dodgy easyCruise (which you need not spend more than 3 days and must have a cabin to yourself! a must! they are tiny!) stopped on the Cycladic Islands of Mykonos, Paros and Sifnos.

Mykonos

This is known as the party island and also full of gays apparently! Spent the day on Paradise beach, which was fun because there was a loads of dancing and very merry people but the beach wasn't that nice (pebbled beach :( ) Mykonos ia a great Cycladic town, there are many cute shops, restaurants, bars and galleries, I love the windy streets! We ended up in an Aussie bar called 'Down Under' - desperate for people!

Paros

Paros was a quieter island; we docked at Paros' capital and port of Parikia. I loved the shops hidden down all the windy footpaths and streets, the Greek Orthodox church in the town, the main square of Plateia Mavrogenous (with a lovely windmill), and the ruins of a 13th century Venetian Kastro (castle). I had my very first Scuba diving experience here - fantastic! that's all I can say! It was the best experience! We took a speedboat out to a little island were the water was a lot clearer. We found an adorable family run restaurant called......, the service was great and the food was splendid! There were many bars on this island, I loved the fact that quite a few of them were very colourful and outside, so one can relax and enjoy the evening breeze and watch the world go by.......

Sifnos
If Paros was quiet, Sifnos (meaning "empty") was even quieter. A cute hilly little island. The ship docked off the small village of Kamares. Kamares has many tavernas, cafes, shops and a couple of pubs as well as ceramic workshops. Apollonia is the island's capital, with beautiful architecture and quaint little footpaths which lead to little tourist shops, cafes, restaurants (some lovely ones for desserts! yummy!), the best bars and galleries. We also visited the beaches of Vathy and Platys Gialos and an adorable little village up in the hills...

It was a fantastic holiday! (except for some bits), would love to visit some more islands hmmmm.................

(huge thanks to Nora, Simon, Panos, Kostas, and Ioannis)

Athens

Athens, the capital of Greece, is a beautiful city full of culture and history. This was my second visit to Greece; my first visit was in 1997 when I went Island hopping and visited Santorini, Ios and Pathos (I think! can't remember :)).

Athens is a city with different aspects, it is surrounded by three mountains (Ymmytos, Pendeli and Parnitha) and the sea is not far away from te city, it also has the old historic mansions and beautiful architecture. It has many restaurants and traditional taverns, intimate shops and galleries (great art but didn't buy any :( ), old neighbourhoods and roads with beautiful neoclassical buildings.

I visited Syntagma ('Constitution') - the square in front of the Parliament (formerly the King's Palace, built between 1836 and 1840 and it is considered the main square of Athens). Along the street leads to the shopping district with many amazing department stores. This also leads to Monastiraki square, a main tourist area with a flea market where one can find good bargains.

A must visit is the National Archaeological Museum of Athens where you will see the Gold mask of Agamemnon, and also the amazing archeaological site of the Acropolis ('Sacred Rock'), which Athens is built around, hence the spectacular view of Athens from the top! Also worth seeing is the Ancient Agora, the Poseidon Temple and Thisio square lined with neoclasiscal buildings and cafes where one can sit, soak up the sun and enjoy the view........