Hotel managers in Ios know how to work to their audience. Breakfast starting at 10am consisting of toast, fried eggs, bacon, orange juice and water was a great choice. After catching up over breaky and recovering we headed down to the beach for our speed boat tour we had booked previously. Almost our whole group booked it and we were all put on the same boat which was awesome. After purchasing a few things to quench our thirst ( 🍺 ) for the trip we boarded our speedboat and set off into the aqua blue sea.
First stop was some caves that intertwine through a cliff face. We were able to swim through them all fairly easily. Really the main obstacle was to get back to the boat with all of your skin. The rocks were very sharp but the ocean was still so we all managed to successfully navigate the tunnels.
This lighting was obviously too much for my GoPro to deal with so sorry bout the crap photos but you can imagine what it looked like from our eyes.
I’d like to take time to note that pretty much all of the photos we post of Greece don’t do justice to what these places actually exude. It kinda goes without saying but just know if it looked great in the photos I can guarantee you it was 1000 times better in real life.
We boarded the boat and set off for destination 2, snorkelling over a small shipwreck. With the speed of our boat it didn’t take Aussie Matt long to navigate us there and before we know it we were back in the water looking down on the part shipwreck 6m below.
Lots if people swam down to touch the boat but it was a long way down so many also failed. Me, having ear problems, decided against it because I know the pressure on my eardrums would have been too much… oh well. Typically, these sorts of things present great opportunities for cool pictures with the GoPro. Best photo we got was of our friend Amy. She managed to sink down and stay calm for a nice photo. Our attempts weren’t so graceful 😂
Stop 3 was a secluded beach around the bottom part of this magnificent island. We anchored up and sat on the shore to eat a pre packed lunch. The sand was too hot for me so I took a snorkel and jumped in the ocean. Wasn’t long before others joined me for the same reason. Our group of people were the only people on this beach, actually as far as the eye could see, it was super cool and peaceful. The water was almost swimming pool clear so the snorkelling was great apart from the fact they don’t have colourful coral like Australia. (Aren’t we spoilt?)
Here’s a pic of me on the boat home soaking up the view trying not to get sunburnt 😂
Stefanos has been bragging all day about how great the night was going to be for us and now was the time. “Infinity pool with the best sunset in the world” was what we were promised. The short story is that there’s a bazillionaire NY stock broker who is from Ios and he has moved back here and built a mansion but also invested a lot of money in his home island. One such investment is this sunset lounge bar called “pathos”
“Pathos” in Greek means an element in experience or artistic representation evoking Pity or compassion. I have to be honest and say I have no idea why he would name his bar this. The bar was beautiful and modern, maybe there’s something I’m missing here. If you’re reading this and know more on this please let me know.
Stefanos… you’ve don’t it again. Recommendation of the year. This place was magnificent. Our whole group decided to pay for a few bottles of vodka and VIP table overlooking the pool. This was a great decision. The bar had world class DJs playing all afternoon and we had 2.5 hours till sunset.
We danced and drank and headed into the infinity pool as sunset approached. It was golden hour and we took advantage to get some breathtaking photos.
Before we knew it the sun was down and we were off to get a quick bite to eat and shower before heading out for the second pub crawl in two nights. Katy wasn’t feeling it so decided to stay home but the group headed into town about 11pm. We started out nice and chill, it was one of the girls 30th birthday so Stefanos organised some cake for her and we moved on. We went to various bars and as with the same as last night, there was always free shots waiting for us with some sort of special drinks menu. We went to a silent disco which was good fun. For those who don’t know what a silent disco is it’s where everyone in the club has headphones on and there’s no music playing- only through the headphones. It’s funny because everyone’s singing but unless you wear the headphones you hear no music 😂 The last bar we went to had 2 Aussies and their guitars playing lots of singable hits. They were really great and we wanted to stay but it was 3:30am and the group decided bed time was probably best. On our way home we passed a courtyard with all the locals sitting playing traditional music and singing along. It was so nice to see them all out, great cultural experience 🙂🇬🇷
All in all it was a very big day but possibly one of our best days.
Our group tour ends tomorrow so we added everybody on social media and promised we’d see them at breaky in the morning before everyone headed off.
For the first time we were up early with our bags packed and in the lobby with plenty of time to spare. We got a transfer down to the port which was actually quite scary. As I looked out the window we were winding down a cliff on a 100 seater coach with even bigger coaches zooming past us in the other direction. Alas, we made it to the port and boarded our newest sea transportation. Armed with a few new episodes of “Stranger Things” on Netflix and Ed Sheerans’ newest album (released today) we made it across to the island of IOS.
This island has a reputation, especially with Aussies as being a party island. Not in the aspect of anything goes like Bali etc. But more that it’s just setup perfectly for sunset bars and infinity pools. We were to early to check-in so as a group we walked the 10min down the hill to the popular beach. It’s the bluest I’ve seen of any Greek beaches and probably the least crowded. There was various of umbrellas and tanning beds setup along with different companies offering water sports like stand up paddle board, kite surfing, kayaking and all the others. We met with the company selling the water sports so they could go through everything with us. They do lots of tubing (in a floatable being pulled by the boat) and tell us that you get your ride for free if you can hold on for the 15 minutes without being thrown off the side; I don’t like our chances 😂 We also booked into a speedboat tour of the whole island tomorrow with lots of swim stops at beaches and caves etc so that’ll be great tomorrow.
As tempting as the crystal clear water was, our stomach won the argument so we all went for some food across the road which ended up taking a few hours. Check-in time was closing so we skipped the beach as we have a big beach day tomorrow. We checked in and went to our pool for a relaxing afternoon.
I spent a good few hours in and by the pool with most of our group coming in and out. Katy joined us for a while but went back for a nap as we were told it would be a late night. I soon found out that our friend Amelia has an extra bed in her room and even a KITCHEN! The group laughed when I spat out my drink and told her we didn’t even have a toilet seat or a working shower head let alone a kitchen. 😂 Katy and I are both totally in a “that’s greece” mode so it doesn’t really bother us. There’s only 2,000 inhabitants on this island so we weren’t really expecting much.
After the pool and During Katy’s nap I showered and sat on our balcony listening to Ed’s new album, reading my book and watching the sun go behind the hills.
8:30pm we were to meet in the lobby for a walking tour of the small main town in Ios. Strangely I was ready early so jumped a fence to our neighbouring abandoned half built house which has breathtaking views over the sunset. Once everyone started showing up they joined me when they saw the view I was getting.
We met Stefanos (our tour guide) and headed just up the road to the town by foot. We walked through the town stopping at some churches for photo shoots and history of the island.
We had dinner at an apparently very traditional restaurant in the old town on Chora, the main and only town of Ios. I had a dish called Moussaka which can be best described as a Greek lasagne with a nutmeg? (Possibly) taste and eggplant and potato instead of lasagne sheets. It was delicious.
Next on the agenda was our pub crawl headed by our tour guide Stefanos. He had a whole list of places to visit and assured us that nothing starts until midnight and nothing finishes until at least 7am.
We had a blast pub crawling through Ios town as a group of about 15 of us. Stefanos had organised free entry and free shots at all the places we visited; really got the VIP treatment. My favourite photo of the night is here of Katy dancing on a table.
She’ll probably kill me for uploading this but alas…
We strolled home at 4:15am and slept until about 11. Here in Ios the businesses know what the nightlife is and adapt by make breakfast start at 10am (best idea ever).
Temperate has cooled down here, only 34 degrees now 🤘🏼
Ooh look at us being consistent with our posting! I’m actually impressed we’ve managed to keep it up this long.
As I type this we’re on the boat heading to Ios so I have an hour to explain our entire quad biking adventure. We started early at 9:30 with most of our tour group deciding they wanted to tour the island on quad with Stefanos as our guide. This is a popular way to get about as it’s not too expensive and, if you have the little box on the back, you can carry all your essentials for the day.
The tour started with us leaving our hotel and travelling north to Oia [pronounced Ee-yah]. This is the the where the domes with the blue roofs are that everyone gets a picture of. Very typically Greek. We stopped to let everyone re-group; have a look around and get some lunch. Pre-warning that it’s a bit more pricey for lunch here and anything with a view of the sea pushes the prices up even more. It’s a touristy, quaint little spot and also very busy during the summer months. I’ve heard the sunset here is breathtaking but we had to have our bikes back before 9 so we would be pushing time to see the sunset and return the bike.
I, of course, got my insta pic with the blue domes. I considered getting one on the stairs until I realised it was someone’s house.
From here we travelled to see the red beach. It’s a beach made from the compressed ashes that fell on the ground after a nearby volcanic eruption. It’s a really striking colour and we would have loved to stay and swim but the beach didn’t have any sun loungers or parasols; and my fair Scottish skin can’t take that long in the sun. This was the longest solid stretch of biking we had during the day, made much worse by the fact our bike was defective and slowed to a crawl at the mere sight of an incline.
We hopped back on our bikes and headed to a swimming spot that Stefanos recommended. Thankfully it was mostly downhill. It was another black sand beach with slightly choppier water that the others we’ve been to. It was actually really nice to just float in the waves with our friends and talk rubbish.
That was until one lone giant wave wiped me out. I tried to go side on when I realised it was going to be taller than me and subsequently lost my sunglasses in the water. We had a look for them and even asked a wee boy wearing a snorkel if he could see them in the water. I was resigned to the fact that they were gone. Ocean – 2 Ray-bans – 0. I decided to see if they had gotten swept back in when a man in front of me caught my attention waving my lost sunnies! It’s a Santorini miracle! Also lesson learned to stop wearing sunnies in the ocean.
Mitch and I also got to test out our ugly swim shoes and can confirm that while ugly, they are very comfortable and practical for the stoney beaches of Europe. 100% would recommend they be in everyones suitcase if you’re a big beach bunny.
Look mum I’m in the shade!
We were a quick 15 mins from the hotel at this beach so as it got a bit cooler we all split off to head back to the hotel pool for some drinks and a swim.
We got ready and headed for our last dinner as a full group (some of the people on the tour finished here rather than in Ios). Dinner was ok, we weren’t blown away but Stefanos got us up for a bit of traditional Greek dancing which in a tiny restaurant was a great laugh since everyone got involved. We meandered through other guests tables while they clapped us along, we even got some Greek diners up to teach us as well. Wish I had a video but alas I was dancing.
We ended with a drink overlooking the water. Shout out to Angelo and his google phone for this sick last picture.
Well, our 9am set off time rolled around very quickly today considering Mitch got home at 4am! If anyone knows me well, you’ll know that I function very poorly on too little sleep and today was not the day to mess with me. Mitch got a fair lashing when he wouldn’t get out of bed at 8:40 and I ended up leaving the room to meet everyone down in the lobby as I didn’t want to be the one holding everyone up.
We had a rough start to the morning as we waited to board the ferry, piled on, found a place to store our luggage and located our seats. I managed to get a bit of a nap in on the ferry. Mitch spent his time regretting the night before.
Once we got to Santorini we had very little time to check in, dump our stuff and get changed to head to the beach. I wish I could say that I got some amazing photos of the black sand beach but we were both so tired we plopped ourselves on two loungers under a parasol and relaxed. The service was really quick on the beach so in no time we had a bottle of water and two cokes beside us. I don’t know if this is to do with the scalding temperature of the sand or not but the waiters move very quickly. We ventured into the sea a little later on. The water is crystal clear and pleasantly cool, you can see your feet sticking into the black pebble-bank.
We only had a couple hours at the beach before we hopped back on the bus to see the highest monastery in Greece atop a hill that overlooks the island. Also, yes I know my tummy doesn’t match the rest of me. I’m working on it!
We had a couple hours at the hotel to get ready and relax before heading out again. This time into central Santorini; which is a quick 10 min walk for us; to watch the sunset. The area overlooking the water where the sun sets was heaving with people trying to get their perfect shot during golden hour. Thankfully Mitch is a true Instagram boyfriend and got some amazing pics (of me).
After our half hour photoshoot we headed to dinner with our tour group. That’s one of the nicest parts of these trips is that you get to meet so many friendly like-minded people. We had some really good conversations over dinner about travelling, work, good TV shows and even about saving for a house! Hopefully we’ll get to meet up with some of our new friends (just like we had done in Canada); all the more likely considering most of them are Australian.
This was more photos than stories this time but still an update none the less – Katy xxx
Kalimera readers. Today was our first full day in Mykonos. As Katy and I are coming back to here for a week we felt no need to try and cram in some exploring and figured a day at the beach was a great idea. Our TravelTalk tour had arranged transfers to “Paradise Beach” which is great because although it’s 15 min it’s €25 flat rate which is borderline extortion. We arrived at paradise beach with our group of about 15 friends and claimed some beds and umbrellas front and center. Apologies in advance for the lack of photos, mainly because I just left my phone in my bag for most of the time! The way it should be!
Honestly there’s not much to write about our day spent here as it’s exactly as you imagined. I put my phone and wallet in our bags and spent the next 9 hours laying in the shade, drinking beer and swimming in the ocean every-time I started sweating (which was almost constant). The temperature was a toasty 36 degrees so we had to deploy all the sun safety guidelines. Our guide Stefanos tells us that it’s actually a heatwave and isn’t normally this hot but we’ve been here a week and have seen no evidence that it’s ever cooler here, not a problem for me, thats what I came for- Sunshine!
At 4pm the beach party started. They had Djs, dancers and even an Idris Elba lookalike hype man on a microphone. They sold big buckets of cocktails that were basically slushies which was excellent because we were all definitely beyond “medium well” cooked from the sun.
The plan was to stay for the party which was 3 hours then head back for dinner and a rest, then to come back because it has world famous DJs starting around midnight and even Lindsey Lohan owns a bar here.
Our plan got slightly changed when Angelo, a bloke in our group started profusely sweating and vomiting. It started out funny until we realised he couldn’t walk or speak and his eyes were rolling into his head. We did the usual tactics of trying to get water into him and cooling him down but nothing was working so the group decided Katy and I were the best to look after him. 😂 Everybody was very helpful and concerned and eventually I decided it’s probably better to get Stefanos to call an ambulance. One phone call later – the ambulance wasn’t coming as there’s only 1 on the island. Luckily, he convinced a taxi driver to take us all to the hospital. So our group went and showered and had some dinner and a rest while Stefanos, Katy and myself escorted Angelo to hospital. The entire hospital was 2 rooms and they were so relaxed, I kid you not the ED doctor took a selfie with a passed out Angelo. No matter how much Katy and I insisted he hadn’t just drank to much and suggested the possibility of somebody spiking his drink or heatstroke they wouldn’t have a word of it. Not Stefanos and not the hospital. I’m not sure if it’s to keep the tourists coming but they brushed off all those ideas very swiftly. Regardless, the treatment was the same and 2L of IV saline later he was feeling much better. Angelo is actually the only Greek speaking person on our trip and when he became slightly conscious he started singing Greek patriotic songs which gave us all a laugh. All is well and he was getting better so we left him with Stefano at the hospital and rushed back to get changed and have a quick dinner as everyone was already ready to go and party.
After a rushed shower and a feed Katy decided to stay in for the night and get a good nights sleep. A group of about 15 of us headed back to Paradise Beach to party into the night and boy was it rowdy. We partied into the night, went for a quick swim and caught a taxi home. While we were swimming somebody swiped Jordan’s clothes that had his phone and wallet in them so they’re gone, such a bummer end to the night it really was. Luckily I was smart enough to hand my belongings to one of my friends rather than just leaving it on the beach so I came home with everything.
So it was a late night and up early at 9am to get the ferry to Santorini. As you can imagine we were all feeling fresh the next morning. 🙃 Having an absolute ball and the people on our tour are all so lovely and fun (mainly Aussies, Canadians and Kiwis).
Today we had a pre arranged 5:50am. Yep, my favourite time of the morning… NOT! In classic fashion I packed all my bags last night and set my alarm for 5:40am. 🙃 Although we may have been last aboard the coach for Athens port, we did make it down for 5:52am so I think that’s gotta he record time, even for Katy and I. We were dropped at the port and boarded our ferry heading for Mykonos. The Ferry was massive, I didn’t expect them to be that size. The ferries are actual cruise ships that must hold thousands of people. It was 8 levels high and cut through the ocean with ease.
We had a short stop at an island called Siros which inhabits 20,000 people and looked quite busy… nothing compared for the business we were about to experience.
Upon arrival in Mykonos we hopped on a coach to take us on our massive journey of about 3 minutes. The massive coach seemed excessive but we were grateful we didn’t need to lug our backpacks the 1km it was to our hotel.
We checked in and all headed to the nearest supermarket for some food and drink purchases. Basically our entire tour group congregated at the pool and we spent our entire afternoon swimming and wading in the water sipping our Prosecco and snacking on pesto humus and crackers. At 6:30pm we had a meeting in the foyer as we were meeting another group that was joining our tour. We tried miserably to introduce ourselves and remember everyone’s names but it was nice to meet a few extra people for our tour. As expected most of them were Aussie. (Typical).
After our meeting we headed for Mykonos town and had an orientation walk with Stefanos our TravelTalk tour guide. He took us to some lovely photo opportunities and showed us the general layout of this famous place.
The backdrop is locally known as little Venice for obvious reasons!
We had dinner at a local (expensive) spot and headed out for some drinks afterwards. Some people split up as the we’re tired but most of us powered onto the next bar for a few drinks before heading home!!
Mykonos so far has impressed us in a way we didn’t know it would. Obviously we knew that t was magnificent and beautifully white washed with blue roofs and windows but nothing prepared us for the abundance of community. All the tourists get caught up in the tourist part of Mykonos and forget that when you’re walking through this town there is people doing everyday activities such as washing etc. This place has character and on our return visit in a de weeks we are determined to experience as much of it as we can. 🙂
Yassou lovely readers! That’s hello in Greek (something I learned from our guide Stefanos).
July 6th – Day 2
So the day after my birthday. I’d like to say that we had a really exciting day planned after chilling by the pool the day before but we didn’t. We had to check out of the room by 12 so we got up and had breakfast in the hotel. The food was just “meh” and overpriced; if I had a do over I would have gone out somewhere nearby for breakfast. After this though we headed to the pool to snag a lounger with a parasol since we didn’t have one the day before and it was roasting! 12 o’clock rolled around quick and we headed to our room to check out our to find our key had been demagnetised 🙄. It took us 2 trips to the lobby to get it working properly all so we could check out.
Here’s where the stupid part of the story kicks in. We had to check out of our room to essentially check straight back in.
As it turned out, we booked the same hotel that our tour was meeting and staying in. We both think this is a coincidence because neither of us have any memory of booking the hotel purely because it was where the tour was meeting.
We tried explaining to the front desk that we were staying under our booking for one night and under the tour booking (in our name) for another 2; therefore could we keep the room we were already in. Alas this got lost in translation and they told us to check out, leave our bags in the luggage room and check back in at 2. Slightly annoying but not a massive inconvenience. We spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool again until the weather clouded over a bit.
We returned to the room, had a quick nap and got ready to meet up with the tour that evening. We suspected earlier that a few people by the pool were on our tour but after meeting everyone we realised that our tour group made up most of the patrons around the pool.
We had a quick presentation about the tour and met our guide Stefanos. The presentation consisted of him telling us that Mykonos is expensive, has 225 beaches and olive oil will be in everything we eat while in Greece.
After the presentation, those who wanted to could head out for some dinner and the chance to meet the other people on the tour. We chose to go and enjoyed some cheap gyros (3€, can’t beat it) and good conversation. As always there’s a lot of Aussies on our trip, some kiwis and a few Canadians. I’m the only Brit.
We were due and early start the next day (8:30 is early for us) so we headed back to the hotel and had a cocktail on the roof, next to the pool, with some of our new friends before calling it a night.
July 7th – Day 3
Surprisingly when my alarm went off at 7 (having not experienced this in 6 weeks) I managed to pull myself from bed and into the shower without snoozing. Mitch didn’t rise until I was drying my hair at half past. We had breakfast in the hotel again (it was included this time since we’re on the tour now) and enjoyed it with Jordan & Alyssa; 2 of the Canadians we met.
We met everyone in the hotel lobby at 8:30 and Stefanos handed out our metro tickets. We were “doing it like locals” as he put it and heading into the city to meet our guide Maria who was taking our tour of the Acropolis. It was already 32 at 9am so I’m sure you can imagine how this day went weather wise.
We had been told that students get cheaper entry into the acropolis so being from Paisley, you know that I tried my luck with my expired student ID. Unfortunately the lady at the desk noticed it was no longer 2017 🤭. Mitch on the other hand (with his uni ID from working at the research institute which was twinned with Edinburgh uni) got in for FREE! All the other students paid 10€ but this lucky buggar paid zilcho 👌🏼.
Anyway we met up with Maria (who was amazing and explains Greek words like the dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding) and she talked us through the ruins that lead up to the Parthenon.
Greek Lesson #1 – Acro – Greek word for the edge.
Polis – city
Acropolis means the edge of the city. Which is where those who lived in the city states in Athens (before it was called Athens) because this walls were a form of fortification and offered them protection.
There’s too much history to explain in all of these photos but the ruins are all very very old. Think 400+BC for some of the pillars and temples. The Greeks spent much of their early existence fighting being colonised by the Venetians (Italians); the Ottomans (Turkish) and the Romans. Surprisingly despite being in near constant warfare, they are credited with founding philosophy, theatre, music and literature.
If you couldn’t tell, the acropolis was very busy and has absolutely no shade which in 36 degrees is very sweaty and uncomfortable. I think I sweated back out most of the water I was drinking. A couple days before we went they had to close it off from the public due to the heat breaching 40 degrees celsius!
Greek lesson #2 – the pantheon is actually a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena. This is where Athens got its name. The story goes that Athena and Poseidon competed to see who would rule the city. Poseidon struck his trident on the ground and produced water for the people. The issue being that the water was salty and no one could use it for drinking or agriculture. Athena then blew on the ground and produced an olive tree. These olives could be pressed to produce olive oil which could be used for cooking and fuel for fire. Therefore the people decided that Athena should rule the city.
Overall we’ve learned that the ancient Greeks loved a wee myth and mostly it was to appear more strong and “victorious”. This was to try and dissuade other settlements from trying to overthrow the king and take the land which was very desirable. This is because the land was fertile, the hill upon which the acropolis sits gives them a natural vantage point and there was an abundance of fresh water from the rivers below. Therefore it’s not uncommon to see many statues of gods and goddesses carved into the temples and buildings as a sign of protection from the gods.
Greek fact #3 – In the acropolis you will see goddess Nike who typically was winged; without those wings. This is because the people did not want her to fly away as she was the goddess of victory and would again offer protection to Athens.
After this we had a few more stops to see. This included, the monument of the unknown soldier which is guarded at all times by the presidents guards in formal dress. They have to stand completely still for 1 hour and they do 3 shifts over 48 hours. They have a little handler who wipes their face and gives them water.
We also ventured to the Athens Library.
And lastly the Olympic stadium. This was a big day for us which is why it’s such a big update.
Hey pretty smiling people. Sorry still got George Ezra stuck in my head from Glastonbury. I hope all you readers are well, today Katy and I are in Athens and…. ITS KATYS BIRTHDAY! Happy Birthday to my beautiful girlfriend, quarter century and counting- looking finer by the day.
Our day was pretty relaxing, we caught the overnight flight from Edinburgh to Athens. It left Scotland at midnight and arrived in Athens at 6am (4hr flight and a 2 hour time difference). We arrived and made our way to the city centre via the train. The trains were lovely and clean, not busy and on time so what more can you ask for? Also there must have been some fires around as it’s quite smokey around Athina today. As you’ll see in the photos it’s hazy and smells significantly of bush fires. Nothing I could see on the local news so it must not be anything serious.
We were obviously too early to check in so we changed into our swimmers and headed to the rooftop pool to chill out for the day.
Katy’s dad Robert has informed me that when he went to Greece 1000 years ago that no toilet paper was allowed to go down the toilet, that there was a little bin for all toilet paper to go in which was burnt at the end of the day. Ignorantly I assumed this “primitive” way of sanitation would have been updated by now surely, I never thought any more of it. Turns out I was wrong. After doing my research I learned that basically it’s because their pipes are all 50mm wide so things very easily get stuck. To go through the entire city/country and change this would be impossible as you would basically have to dig up EVERYTHING!
We spent the day lazing about napping in the sun, doing some light tanning and observing all the other travellers searching to escape the 35 degree heat at the local waterhole. Since it’s Katy’s birthday we indulged in a cheeky cocktail. I opted for the classic Brazilian refreshment of a Caiprinha whilst Katy went for “Peaches n Cream” Delicious 🤤
Eventually we checked into our room but headed back up to the pool, we’ve been in Scotland for too long so being the lizards we are we couldn’t keep away from the sunshine! Our pool is on the rooftop and looks all over our part of Athens. There’s not too much to look at but we can certainly see everything.
We had a light late lunch and retreated to the shade of our room for a shower and to apply aloe Vera to our sore and sorry skin cells 🙃 lazed about for a bit and headed out to a Greek grill for dinner. We didn’t go for anything fancy just wanted some nice Greek food for a decent price. Greek food is pretty simple and usually involves meat and veg or salad. We got exactly what we wanted and absolutely enjoyed it.
If you know me well you know those tomatoes weren’t even looked at 🤮 but the Tzatziki was amazing on my beef Koftas.
After dinner we passed a Greek bakery type place on the way home and couldn’t go past without sampling some baclava. We just had a little one each as I’m sure we’ll have a thousand more during our month here in Greece. This one had Nutella on top so we were salivating.
We headed home and shot straight off to bed early as we’re pretty tired from our overnight flight and big day by the pool. Tomorrow will be much the same, lazing by the pool until we meet up with our group tour at 7pm.
Glasto is world renowned for being the biggest and best music festival in the world. I know I’m too young to have a bucket list but ever since about 2010, thanks to “Muse” it’s been on my youth bucket list and I’ve finally made it here.
The sheer size of this festival is absolutely crazy. Cram 200,000 people into what is actually quite a large farm, yes it’s legitimately a farm. So here is a quick summary of the things we saw and enjoyed and a few facts about the festival. I could talk for days about this 5 day euphoria we experienced but I’ll try and keep it short.
One aspect of the festival we enjoyed was that all the patrons respected the various environmental policies like no glass, don’t pee on the land be respectful with your rubbish. It’s not often you see men lining up for a urinal- usually if the lines to long they’d find your nearest tree to water. 🌳
After a long 7 hour drive we picked up our mates Carson and Nic from a nearby town and checked into our campsite. We paid extra for pre-erected tents with charging ports, power showers and actual toilets. After our 5 days we were grateful we paid the extra for such luxuries.
We arrived fairly late on the Wednesday so headed into the festival about 8pm. The music doesn’t start until Friday officially but there’s plenty going on for the first two days. We used Wednesday night to get our bearings- find our way around this festival city. We walked to the top of the hill and could see all over Worthy Farm. As the sun set we sat on the hill and had a few drinks while we waiting for the opening night fireworks. The fireworks were awesome and on completion a giant bonfire was lit to burn through the first night of the festival.
As it’s more than just a music festival there was plenty to see and explore. Various sculptures and amazing backdrops for bars and sets. It being Wednesday night some of the stages were still being setup.
Thursday we woke at a reasonable hour to enjoy our warm power showers and get ready for our first day of the pre-festival. Carson knew a group of Kiwis through work/friends etc so we met up with them and exchanged numbers so we can hang out during the festival. It’s good to have a big group of people at music festivals because sometimes people don’t want to see the same music as you and with a big group usually there’s someone to go with. We spent the day wandering aimlessly finding random bands and singers across the farm. We didn’t really see a bad act. We saw bands from acoustic solo acts to jazz bands to rap/hip hop groups. The weather was warm and sunny so we had a great day making memories.
There was lots of random things going on around the festival. We passed a full clan of people playing the Kazoo and some theatre groups doing method acting. Above is a picture of these strange creatures wandering about the festival. Think Mad Max meets Aliens Vs Predator! Definitely scared a few children that’s for sure.
A lot of silent statements were being made about environmentalism and such things. This “plastic draped tree” was a fine example.
Friday was officially the first day of the festival so after the usual morning routine we were headed for Mø who is a female Danish artist playing on “The Other Stage” which was the second biggest of them all. She started around lunchtime and we managed to make it front row. Before we knew it she was right up at the crowd about 3m from us singing her opening song.
Later on in her set she came right to us and grabbed Katy’s hand and started singing to her. We are yet to watch the televised part of this performance but guaranteed we are on it. She even hopped the fence at one point and started dancing with us in the crowd. Mø was a fantastic start to the official music festivities, we had to keep asking if anyone could top that.
We stayed where we were (front row) for the next band which was The Wombats. They have been playing festivals for a while so have lots of songs we knew and were also amazing.
After The Wombats we rushed to see the second half of Sheryl Crow on the Pyramid Stage (main stage). She was great fun and we sat a lot further back to enjoy the show with some more room. Katy and I then headed back to our tent area for a quick 60m rest and toilet stop. This meant we missed Bastille and The Lumineers but it was our only opportunity for the 3 days so we had to take it.
When we came back we headed for Ms Lauryn Hill on the Pyramid.
Slight backstory with Lauryn Hill is that she only has 1 album out and has been touring it ever since. People say she changed the female rap and soul business for good with her album and really introduced that genre to the world. She has a reputation for being a bit of a problem child and being hard to deal with. She has been to jail for tax fraud and did come across as a bit grumpy even during her music set. Also she was 20min late to start.
Ms Lauryn Hill kicked off with some songs we didn’t know so we initially wondered if she was the right choice. But the second half of her show was great, she played a couple songs we knew and really got into the swing of it. We very much enjoyed her.
Did I mention that Nic bought matching shirts for us all over from Australia. It’s become a bit of a Fad for these shirts to be worn in Australia at festivals so we decided to get them. Turns out it was a great idea because you can spot your mates in a sea of people easily.
There was an hour gap after Lauryn Hill before George Ezra was to play but once again we stayed put to hold our position. George Ezra has been a fav of mine since I saw him at Falls Music Festival in Australia in 2014. He has such fun music to bounce around to and always puts on a brilliant set with lots of chat and stories between songs.
As the moon replaced the sun we headed to grab some food and a rest before we tried to get the best spot we could for Fridays headliner “Stormzy”. He’s the first black British rapper to headline at Glastonbury and you can really see how humbled and grateful he was to be there. I don’t know how it came across on television but you could clearly see he was almost in disbelief in how the crowd turned out to see him. Over 100,000 people. His show was off the charts, huge budget for fireworks and confetti cannons and flames, lasers, lights everything you could throw into the show. Looking back on this week Stormzys show was definitely up in my top 3. He bought out “Dave” a British rapper to sing their song he featured on and even used Chris Martin who is Coldplay’s frontman as a pianist for one of his more sombre songs. All in all Friday was a great start to the music festival and Stormzy topped it off with a 10/10 performance. A lot of articles had been doubting Stormzy had enough material for fill a 1hr45min set but he definitely silence his critics that night.
Saturday started with The Proclaimers. It was another scorching day and they were a great early start. Katy being Scottish couldn’t miss them but I must admit despite their age, they were very entertaining and did a great show to kick off of day.
The good part about Saturday was that all the bands we wanted to see were on the Pyramid Stage which meant we could stay and get a good spot for them all. Next up was Carrie Underwood. Katy loves country music and Carrie was a lot more rock’n’roll than I expected and I very much had a great time. Katy’s sister Kirsten later informed us that we’d made it onto the tv with Katy on my shoulders singing one of her songs.
After Carrie we were front and center for Anne-Marie. We had seen a few of her songs when she supported Ed Sheeran last year so thought we’d check out her full set as she has lots of very popular pop songs.
My main event of the day was Hozier. I’ve been properly excited to see this man ever since the lineup came out. Of all the big names and headliners that were there I was most excited for this poetic long haired Irish fella. It turned out that Hozier clashed with Lewis Capaldi but Katy knew how much I wanted to see him so we watched Lewis Capaldi on the tele when we got home. I just think he is so very talented with everything that he does. As usual we were front and center and I think I sang every word of every song. All the gang we were with enjoyed it but I had the absolute time of my life. Would recommend to anyone and everyone!
Oh and also if you look for a split second you can see me absolutely zoned into the music 😂😂
Next up on the Pyramid was Janet Jackson. Katy and I both agreed we thought she’d be rubbish and didn’t know her songs so went to see a lady called Lizzo instead. We later learned this was the right decision as our Kiwi friends who went to Janet said she was terrible, she lip synced, danced poorly and dressed terribly. Lizzo was a bundle of fun. She’s a sassy American woman who promotes body positivity etc and she was excellent with the crowd we had an absolute ball.
We then trundled to the back to the Other Stage where we had a rest and had some food and drinks whilst we met back up with the rest of our mates. Sigrid was playing and we wanted to see her so it was a bonus to be watching and eating at the same time. After Sigrid there was a small gap where everyone wanted to go see some random DJ and we didn’t so Katy and I found ourselves stumbling upon James Morrison whose music I actually really enjoy. It was a bit of an accident that he was playing during a gap in our lineups but he was great to see. An absolutely phenomenal voice from that man!
After meeting back up with most of our friends we headed back to the Pyramid for The Killers (some headed for Wu Tang Clan, who again we learned were rubbish so we made the right decision). The Killers put on a great high energy show. They played for 2 hours which is crazy. I think they were always going to be great, they have so many hits and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like them. I don’t believe their headline was as great as Stormzy but they are two very different acts so it’s difficult to compare the two.
Our final day at Glastonbury Music Festival 2019 was just as big as the preceding days. We had a later start as the bands we wanted to see weren’t on until about 2pm. We woke and got ready so decided to have a drinks at our campsite. There was a great setup there with a big tent and a bar/music. They had ping pong and at nighttime a fire and live music too.
During our time chilling out we spoke to a few people who told us that “years and years” the first band we were to see, are rubbish live with terrible auto tune so we revamped our plan and decided to go straight to “Jeff Goldblum and the Scnitzer Orchestra”. Yes you heard it right, Jeff Goldblum the American actor plays in a brilliant Jazz/Blues funky band. They were actually very decent with the usual wandering baseline with 12 bar blues and various improvised solos over the top. A great start. He was also great with the crowd, being an actor he had lots to say and was very entertaining.
We had to race off just before he finished to get a good spot on the stage for the Kylie + Miley double up. As we arrived David Attenborough came out on stage for a surprise speech. He spoke about the planet and the environment and praised the festival for completely stopping selling plastic bottles. All water and beer etc was sold in paper cups or aluminium cans which I must admit wasn’t any inconvenience at all. He then spoke about his new show coming out and played a few scenes from it. While everyone was mesmerised by Sir David Attenborough my mates and I weaved our way forwards in front of the front barrier. We got to a real decent spot and made friends with this group of Scottish people beside us while we waiting for Kylie Minogue’s show to start.
Kylie was very emotional as she was due to headline Glastonbury in 2005 but had to cancel at the last minute due to her breast cancer diagnosis. Now, 14 years later she’s playing the “legends” slot which is affectionately known as the 4th headline slot. You could see how much she was enjoying herself and there was a few times where she had to hold some tears back. She played all the hits and what impressed us most was her dancing. She did all the usual crazy costume changes too but her dancing was still pretty great for a 50 something year old. As I’m sure you could imagine she was loads of fun to dance around and sing all the hits.
Here’s a video Katy took while on my shoulders 🤘🏼
Lots of people cleared out between Kylies set and Miley so we managed to push forward to about 5/6 rows from the front. Miley Cyrus came out in her usual outrageous fashion. She was looking very rockstar and played a lot of her new music. Katy was disappointed she didn’t play all of her old hits but I thought it was a good mix of old and new. She also played a couple of covers including Amy Winehouse, Led Zepplin, Metallica and she brought out Billy Ray her dad to sing his latest song “Old Town Road”. She even sang the song she released for Black Mirror the TV show.
Miley was the last of our solid plans for the Sunday. We had a few bands we wouldn’t mind seeing but were happy to be persuaded anywhere with our friends. We ended up at “Dave” who is a London rapper with 2 or 3 songs we knew. Our whole crew were there and as he sung the first few songs we were all really impressed. I shouldn’t say we were surprised but he was surprisingly great. Listening to his lyrics too we could hear what he was rapping about and he was really hitting some serious points about mental health and racism. He very much impressed all of us. The best part was when he picked a 15 year old called Alex out of the front and asked “brother, only come up here if you know every word to this song”. Security lifted him over the barriers and he got miked up to sing this song with his idol. Alex was the whitest skinny 15 year old you’ve ever seen- wearing a bucket hat and hideous shorts but he was an obvious Dave fan as the song was about a footballer called Thiago Silva and Alex was wearing the Thiago Silva jersey. Can honestly say the whole crowd was not expecting much from this young man but he knew every single world and ABSOLUTELY CRUSHED IT. He was great, so entertaining and see how surprised we all were as Dave stopped singing and Alex continued to belt out this entire rap verse!
Our last act for the festival we went to see was Janelle Monae. We decided to skip “The Cure” as we really weren’t fans and only knew 1 song. Janelle Monae was the full show. She has Michael Jackson like dance moves, Alicia Keys like voice and Lizzo like sass. She was really hype and got us all mesmerised with her entire performance. A great one to finish our last day.
By this point it was night time and we met with all our friends and partied a bit further into the night. There are numerous open air night clubs playing deep- house music for an all night rave. A lot of the clubs were again that mad max-post apocalyptic feel with creepy sculptures and fire cannons.
Eventually we tired out and returned to our tents for a much needed rest as we had the long 7 hour drive home the next day.
There’s really nothing I can say about the festival that will do it justice. As I’m sure you can imagine we all had the absolute time of our lives at the worlds biggest festival. Everybody should experience this festival whether your 10 years old or 100 years old. It caters for all ages and there really was a wide diversity of people there, it’s not just the usual young druggy crowd you would think.
Tried to keep it as short as possible thanks for reading.
Just a quick post so you know that we made it back in one piece from Canada. Here’s a little update on what we’ve been up to the last 4 days.
Saturday
We landed at 2pm and I was at my waxing appointment for 4. That’s what you call dedication. The rest of the evening we pretty much just chilled with my family and shared the ice wine we brought back. They say the bottle once opened can last up to 6 weeks. They have obviously never met my family.
Sunday
It was a lazy day for us, we went and saw Toy Story 4 (highly recommend) and did some washing. Literally that’s it. I watched a lot of Love Island and Mitch complained about being bored.
Monday
I slept in til 3 since I was too hot to sleep during the night. I’ve also been battling Mitch’s cold; since we got back; before it can take up residence in my body. Our vitamin box is looking pretty bare since I was popping allllll the pills. The good news is it seems to have worked and I don’t have to go to Glastonbury with a Rudolph nose and a box of Kleenex.
Tuesday
We made a trip into the west end in Glasgow on for some brunch and a bit of shopping. If you find yourself on Byres Road in the late morning, get yourself to Kember & Jones. It’s a nice little breakfast/lunch spot with baked goods and coffee to take away. The vegan peanut butter cup I had was the best thing I’ve ever eaten (treat wise).
It was a nice treat to be back and not working; bonus we got a bit of sun as well! We skooted about on the subway and went for a wander through the botanic gardens which were lovely but probably not the best idea since Mitch was dying from hayfever. Teaches him to not take the anti-histamines. We spent the rest of the day buying food (mostly drink) for the weekend and packing our bags.
We probably won’t post again until after Glastonbury to give us time to recover and get ready for the next part of the trip – Greece & Italy!!!
First stop was some caves that intertwine through a cliff face. We were able to swim through them all fairly easily. Really the main obstacle was to get back to the boat with all of your skin. The rocks were very sharp but the ocean was still so we all managed to successfully navigate the tunnels.
The last bar we went to had 2 Aussies and their guitars playing lots of singable hits. They were really great and we wanted to stay but it was 3:30am and the group decided bed time was probably best. On our way home we passed a courtyard with all the locals sitting playing traditional music and singing along. It was so nice to see them all out, great cultural experience 🙂🇬🇷
I spent a good few hours in and by the pool with most of our group coming in and out. Katy joined us for a while but went back for a nap as we were told it would be a late night. I soon found out that our friend Amelia has an extra bed in her room and even a KITCHEN! The group laughed when I spat out my drink and told her we didn’t even have a toilet seat or a working shower head let alone a kitchen. 😂 Katy and I are both totally in a “that’s greece” mode so it doesn’t really bother us. There’s only 2,000 inhabitants on this island so we weren’t really expecting much.
The tour started with us leaving our hotel and travelling north to Oia [pronounced Ee-yah]. This is the the where the domes with the blue roofs are that everyone gets a picture of. Very typically Greek. We stopped to let everyone re-group; have a look around and get some lunch. Pre-warning that it’s a bit more pricey for lunch here and anything with a view of the sea pushes the prices up even more. It’s a touristy, quaint little spot and also very busy during the summer months. I’ve heard the sunset here is breathtaking but we had to have our bikes back before 9 so we would be pushing time to see the sunset and return the bike. 
Mitch and I also got to test out our ugly swim shoes and can confirm that while ugly, they are very comfortable and practical for the stoney beaches of Europe. 100% would recommend they be in everyones suitcase if you’re a big beach bunny. 
Look mum I’m in the shade!
Shout out to Angelo and his google phone for this sick last picture.
Also, yes I know my tummy doesn’t match the rest of me. I’m working on it!
At 4pm the beach party started. They had Djs, dancers and even an Idris Elba lookalike hype man on a microphone. They sold big buckets of cocktails that were basically slushies which was excellent because we were all definitely beyond “medium well” cooked from the sun.
The plan was to stay for the party which was 3 hours then head back for dinner and a rest, then to come back because it has world famous DJs starting around midnight and even Lindsey Lohan owns a bar here. 
This was a big day for us which is why it’s such a big update.
LettersToHome 