Posted on by Mitch&Katy

Ios-Time To Party

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 🤘🏼

M

Posted on by Mitch&Katy · 1 Comment

Quad biking around Santorini

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.

See you in the next blog post. – Katy xxx

Posted on by Mitch&Katy · 1 Comment

Mykonos to Santorini

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

Posted on by Mitch&Katy · 1 Comment

Mykonos Town/Paradise Beach

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).

🤘🏼🇬🇷 M

Posted on by Mitch&Katy

Beginning of the Cyclades-Mykonos

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. 🙂

Posted on by Mitch&Katy · 4 Comments

Athens Day 1

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.

All the best to you all

Missing you, M 🤘🏼