Posted on by Mitch&Katy

Isle of Capri

Buongiorno! Today was an absolutely fantastic day. We awoke reasonably early again and tucked into our free breakfast. We had been in two minds whether to spend the money to go to Capri or to save the money due to our backpackers budget. Our rationale for choosing to go was that we had multiple friends who have been in the past and read multiple reviews online, each and every account of this place state how amazing it is and we figured we can earn more money but may never have the opportunity to go to the Isle of Capri again in our lifetime. We found the cheapest way was to catch the public ferry, it was €38pp which is still quite pricey for a 20min boat ride.

Katy and I gathered our belongings and set off for the port of Sorrento. It was a bit of an effort to walk there using google maps as Sorrento is a maze but eventually we managed to make our way to the main port. We bought tickets to the next ferry and waited in the shade for it to arrive. We sat top deck of course (to take in the views) even though it was about 32 degrees outside. Before the boat left we were both melting in the open sunshine but as soon as the boat started to move we got a nice cool ocean breeze. 💨

The views from the boat were spectacular. On the right we had Mount Vesuvius in the distance with Naples and Pompeii visible, on the left was the Amalfi coastline in all its glory and straight in front you, you could see the rugged landscape of Capri in the distance.

The boat didn’t take too long and before we knew it we were at the main port of Capri.

There is a funicular that runs up the hillside to the main town up the top. The line for the funicular looked to be at least an hours long and google said it was an 18min walk- but we knew it was almost directly upwards.

Nonetheless we decided to make the trek up the hill to save us both time and money. By the time we got to the top we were just as sweaty as you can imagine. In fact, we were so dehydrated and thirsty we paid €3 for a litre bottle of cold water- probably more than the cost of the funicular.

Once at the top we were greeted with the streets and streets of boutique style shops mixed with designer labels and fancy jewellers, along with a lovely view of the north-west of the island.

I immediately thought of all the shopaholics in my family and how they would absolutely love this place. I tried very hard to get gifts for people but as I’m on the boat home writing this I didn’t manage to justify not 1 gift. I found a lovely watch my grandma would love, but the face was very small and it said “Milano” on it and I figured I would’ve liked Capri jewellery as I can get Milano jewellery in Milan later on. Lots of jewellery and handbags etc caught my eye for gifts but they were either too expensive, too large to transport or just weren’t quite suited.

Katy and I had a ball shopping even though neither of us bought anything. The shops were heavily air-conditioned and most of them had a token dog to pat. I even found a nice cardigan for myself that was unique to Capri and would’ve been a great memory but I couldn’t justify €90 for it. Capri seems to take pride in their watch brand “Capri watches” and I thought I would find one of them I liked but the only one I found I liked apart from a Rolex was a Maserati watch and it’s €400 price tag steered me away very quickly. As we had read online, Capri is a heaven for the rich- it housed every designer shop and expensive store you can think of, most of them having special edition lines of clothing made exclusively for Capri. This island and town are incredibly beautiful, all the superlatives in the world don’t do them justice, but I would advise anyone on a budget or without money to spend to think carefully about your visit.

There’s always a way to see a place on your budget and we proved just that today. We couldn’t afford to eat at any of the restaurants but we still had a delicious healthy lunch from the bakery for under €10. We paid the €1 entry to the botanical gardens where we sat for a good 90min reading our books and chillaxing in the shade, this was one of our greatest decisions.

The coastline around the whole island is peppered with boats everywhere, that’s understandable as it’s so popular and looks amazing from the perspective of the water. We essentially walked the entire town of Capri up and down and saw all of the shops and even sampled their lemon slushie (this area of the world is famous for everything lemon).

There is another town called Anacapri a short bus ride away but we didn’t have time to visit that one. From what we have read it is similar but less busy and geographically smaller.

Our boat home was booked for 5:30pm so we had an hour to kill, Katy and I decided we were super hot and sweaty and a quick dip in the ocean would be just what we needed. Luckily we had anticipated this this morning and threw our swimmers into our bag for the day. We made our way down the mountain which was a lot easier than going up and arrived at the only beach on this side of Capri.

Capri is not really known for its beaches. It is famous for things such as “The Blue Grotto” and it’s rugged rough coastline where you can hire boats to steer around the island to see. The beaches are added in parts for convenience of the tourists and there’s no sand- it’s all pebbly rocks but the water is still crystal clear and lovely and warm.

After awkwardly changing in front of some Italian men who weren’t even trying to hide the fact they were looking, we dumped our stuff on the coastline and jumped into the busy blue waters to cool down.

This is yet another place where our European rock shoes came in handy (best. purchase. ever!) We anticipated 30min swim quite well and dried off before walking the 5 min to the pier and find our boat.

After incorrectly walking the entire length of the peer we realised our boat was actually docked at the exact opposite side. Although it seemed very close/just in front of us, it was in fact a long walk all the way around the crescent shaped pier. Luckily we were 20min early, the walk around took us 15min and we safely boarded our much bigger vessel, bound for Sorrento.

The rest of the night is a bit “ditto” to be honest. We had a shower and we’re hungry so headed straight out to dinner. We went to the closest shop as it’s the cheapest we knew and we had lunch here our first day and it was friendly and delicious. After tanning a pizza and a pasta (typical) we strolled home through the warm summers night and packed our bags. Early morning tomorrow so we’re all packed and into bed early.

I certainly enjoy writing these blogs as it enables me to look back and reflect on just how great my day was. I’m trying not to take it all for granted and really soak in the fact that we are on the opposite side of the world, in some of the most amazing picturesque corners of the earth. No need to worry about us fam- we’re having an absolute ball. 🕺🏼

Arrivederci 🚶🏼‍♂️ M

Posted on by Mitch&Katy

Amalfi & Positano- The Main Event 🌊

We were up early for our “Italian breakfast” and I managed to steer away from the Nutella croissants today. Instead, opting for the prosciutto and cheese roll with an orange juice and a coffee. We met our friendly hotel neighbours on the way out, said hello and headed for the bus station.

We opted for an all day ticket as we had planned to catch a few buses and it turned out the best option for us. €10 for an all day ticket that took us to Amalfi, then Positano and afterwards, Positano to home. Our first stop was the town of Amalfi as it was furthest away. It took just under 2 hours and was one of the scariest bus rides of my life. The actual drive itself would not have been as bad if the local drivers had not treated it like an F1 track. At least the drivers in Greece (mainly Santorini) treated their dangerous roads with care, these drivers in Italy have obviously driven them so many times that they are wayyy to confident. For the sharp, blind corners they simply honk their horn to let oncoming traffic know and scream around the corner taking up both lanes of traffic in the hope that if anything was coming in the other direction, they assume the other drivers heard the horn and stopped to let them pass. It didn’t always happen like that though. 🙃 Either way the views were breathtaking so I just tried to focus on that and not think about the 3cm separating me from my death of plummeting into the ocean below. 😱

We arrived in the town of Amalfi after approx 1hr 50min. Our first thoughts were that it was lovely and quaint but there isn’t much substance to it. We were right. After a quick 30min stroll through the old town we had seen it all and we were heading for the beaches. I think possibly the attraction here is “The Amalfi Coast” and not so much the town of Amalfi itself. If I came back the best way would be to stay in Amalfi and hire a scooter so you can drive along the coast and visit all the tucked away beaches and famous swimming stops. I won’t say we were disappointed in Amalfi, we bought a few gifts and enjoyed our time wandering around, we just weren’t aware of its “piccolo” size.

After a short wait we boarded our bus and headed for Positano, back along the same road we we had arrived from, only this time we were on the (right side) side closest to the land which was much more relaxing. Was still a formula 1 race but at least if we crashed it would only be into the cliff face. 😶

We arrived to the top of Positano and we instantly knew how high up we were only meant 1 thing; lots of steps leading down. We were correct!

We painstakingly wound our way down these steep stairs knowing only too well that we would eventually need to go back up. There were a few nice platforms halfway down where we could rest and take in the view.

At least the steps were nice and sturdy. By the time we got to the bottom our legs were aeroplane jelly and we needed a swim. The entire beach was filled with expensive umbrellas. We checked them out and they were €25 each which is crazy. There was a 30m stretch in the middle of the beach for the free section but it was packed. Because I’m a rule breaker and the free section was rammed, we parked our stuff in front of the expensive sunbeds and dove in for a swim where there was much less people. We had learnt in Greece off Stefanos that the Greeks “ask for forgiveness- not for permission” so we went with that ideology. By this point we were very hot and very sweaty, the water was our saviour!

We frolicked around and swam in the ocean until our fingers shrivelled into prunes. The water temp here is very warm so you could easily stay in all day. It was very pleasant for us as our Portugal holiday told us that not all European beaches have warm water, no matter what the air temperature.

We dried off and took a seat in a nearby bar to share a fruit platter and a healthy fruit smoothie. We sat here for awhile and chatted about nothing as we watched the people go by. We utilised their bathroom to get changed into our dry set of clothes and set off to have a look around the shops.

Positano itself is not a big place. Everything you see on the hillside is residence and hotels. Down at sea level there are literally two streets with shops and restaurants. It’s very quaint and had various boutique stores to look through with things from knick knacks to expensive clothes and jewellery. I am looking to buy a new cap as mine is very old and used, I found a nice cap but the €15 price tag warned me off- after all, it’s just a cap. Eventually we had seen everything and made the steep climb back up the mountain to the bus stop. Wasn’t too long before sweaty Mitch was back. I am generally a very sweaty person but if you make me climb about 1000 steps in 32 degrees you can guarantee when I get to the top it looked like I’d just come out of the ocean. Here is a picture I took just for this blog to show how frazzled we were by the time we reached the bus stop at the top of the cliff.

NEVER. AGAIN!

It wasn’t too long to wait till the air conditioned bus arrived. Katy and I jumped on and we were home in 40min. Today was lovely. We had visited two very famous points along an equally famous coastline. We feel we saw everything we wanted to and the experience was a great one to remember for the ages.

Nothing to report after this. The usual Italian food for dinner accompanied with an ice cream before heading to bed fairly early.

Thanks for reading 🤘🏼 M

Posted on by Mitch&Katy

Punta Del Capo, Sorrento, Italy 🇮🇹

Picture this: you wake up in a perfectly air conditioned room, it’s 8:30 and your alarms just gone off, you would normally roll over to hit snooze but today’s different. You’re in Sorrento, Italy. You have nowhere to be, no boss to answer to, and no timeline to adhere to. Additionally, you have nothing to do today and you’re in one of the most beautiful coastlines on the entire planet! Jealous? You should be! This was me this morning- and trust me when I say I’m am living it up and taking nothing for granted.

After our very long day of walking and sightseeing yesterday we decided to postpone Amalfi and Positano until tomorrow and spend today recuperating. Our breakfast at this place consists of coffee, prosciutto and cheese bread, donuts, Nutella filled croissants and cake. 😂 As great as this sounds sometimes you want something more nutritious, especially if you’re here for 5 nights. I think the Italians aren’t big on breakfast and usually do coffee and a cigarette to get them going. I gave in to temptation and had the Nutella croissant today but will be stronger for the next few mornings if I don’t want to start growing sideways, especially with all the dinner options at night. After breaky we found a secluded beach on trip advisor 30min walk from here that isn’t even on google maps. All of the reviews said how hard it was to find and that there was no signs but it’s worth the walk in the sun. We could’ve gone for the closer beach but thought it might be cool to find the secret beach and I was up for the challenge. Possibly our inner sense of adventure came out as it was exciting to be strolling dangerously along a main road without a footpath looking for a pixelated sign that wouldn’t load on google.

Without much fuss we managed to find this spot. It took us about 50min walk from our hotel so by the time we got there we were very sweaty and ready for a swim. This place was like an open cave where you had the choice to swim at the inland part or out beyond the rocks in the Tyrrhenian Sea. We decided to start at the inland part as it was nice and calm and the water looked very appealing.

There wasn’t any actual room to put your belongings or spread out to sunbathe. Basically everyone had their stuff gathered into the holes of the cliff or the rocks sticking out of the ocean. We walked through the water and placed our bag high on a rock and headed in for a swim. The atmosphere here was so chill, 90% of the people were Italians on holiday, 100% of us were just here to enjoy the sun and cool down and a good 70% had come to get insta worthy pics.

The water was warm, almost too warm but who are we to complain. Katy and I swam here for a good while and watched people jump off the rocks into a seemingly shallow body of water below. While Katy perched herself in the sun on the rocks I made the swim through the cave and out to the ocean where I was greeted with the most spectacular sight. I can honestly say it’s one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen with my own eyes. As I swam through the deep narrow cave I emerged into the open and I could see all down the coastline. I could see Sorrento in the near distance, Pompei nestled under Mount Vesuvius and Naples in the background. Murphy’s law states “ones battery on their GoPro will run out at the exact moment they would have the opportunity for the best photo”. As I turned around to face where I swam from there was a fair amount of people that had setup camp on the rock face of the cliffs. There were people of all ages, Italian families on holidays, couples on romantic getaways, and tourists from afar (many of whom were cliff jumping from some serious heights ).

I went back through the cave and told Katy of the wonder I had seen. I eventually convinced her to swim through the cave with me to see for herself and she was certainly glad she did. We both stayed out there for a while before I decided to go and get our belongings and bring them round as we planned on staying at this part for a while.

Full disclosure: this is the part of the story where I stole some denim shorts that most definitely will not look great on me and even more definitely an accident. Katy stayed on the cliffs and when I went to grab our stuff her towel was layed out drying in the sun, it also had a pair of denim shorts on top. I immediately thought that they must have been Katy’s and folded them up and put them in our bag along with the towel and our shoes etc. It wasn’t until about 2 hours later when Katy informed me she was wearing a dress today and they weren’t her shorts that I was mortified. Some poor girl thinks that her shorts have been stolen when in reality it was an honest mistake. I tried my best to return them to the same spot but I highly doubt she was still there.

If you happen to be reading this and we’re at Punta Del Capo on 6th August 2019, and had your denim short shorts stolen, please accept my sincere apologies.

We swam for what seemed like hours jumping off the cliffs and treading water in the ocean trying not to get washed up on the sharp rocks of the coastline. We were actually surprised that it had only been a few hours when we were ready to go home. I guess time slows in Italy when you’re having fun. 😊🌊

We made the long sweaty walk home and grabbed some quick food on the way. Katy got conned into buying some traditional pastries from a grumpy Italian man- I wasn’t complaining, they were delicious.

We were both tired from the swimming/staying afloat so went for a shower and sat on our balcony and listened to music through our speaker and chilled out. Eventually Katy fell into a short nap and I made friends with our old Aussie hotel neighbour. His air con wasn’t working so he recruited me to try and fix it. Our balconies are attached so there was no way I could escape anything less than a half hours chinwag with this lovely Melbournian. I’ll save you his life story, but he was a lovely man. 😃

After our few hours rest we both wanted to go back to the exact same restaurant as last night for dinner. It was delicious, authentic and well priced so we thought we couldn’t beat it. We shared a pizza and a salad and had the same server as last night which was kinda the reason we came back, they looked after us so well and were very genuine lovely people.

If you’re visiting Sorrento we would definitely recommend Punta Del Capo as it had everything from scenery to atmosphere. It’s not the most accessible place so would not suit elderly or mobility disabled people and probably wouldn’t suit you if you’re no good with maps either as it’s a legitimate hole in the cliffs. We had a fabulous day and also allowed us to recharge for another day of sightseeing tomorrow.

Ciao M 🏊🏻‍♂️

Posted on by Mitch&Katy

You guessed it! Naxos Beach Hopping

If you’re getting sick of our beach blogs now is probably the time to look away. We spent yet another day of sunlight exploring the east coast where the majority of the organised beaches are. My thoughts on Naxos very much reflect the things I had read about it before we arrived. It is a very large mountainous island that is utilised for various types of farming and growing. Because we have driven basically everywhere on this island, we have seen (and smelt) each and every one of these. We had passed tobacco farms, vineyards, vegetable and fruit farms along with animal farms such as goat and cows (lovely scent driving by 🤮). We could even smell a certain popular illicit green plant as we drove through the most deserted parts of the island but that particular plantation was obviously out of the public eye. This might seem weird but some parts of these islands remind me of outback Australia when it comes to the look of things. See picture below.

The eucalyptus trees (whose presence surprised me) combined with very dry brown flora just seemed a little country Australia but that’s just my opinion.

First stop today was the furthest beach on the east coast Aliko Beach, which was approx 30min drive on our beastly quad bike. There were two beaches as we arrived, one on each side of a very large peninsula, we had been told by the locals that you pick which side depending on which way the winds blowing. As this island is known for being very windy you have to pick your beaches wisely. We picked the beach sheltered from the wind and parked up to set up camp. This was an unorganised beach meaning no bars, restaurants or shade umbrellas. We didn’t mind but couldn’t stay too long as we were exposed directly under the Aegean sun and Katy and I don’t particularly have the strongest melanin of all. The water here was an amazing colour and we wish we could’ve stayed all day, it was honestly like swimming in a backyard pool it was sooo clear.

Next we drove through a few more unorganised beaches that were a little windy so we only stopped for a few pictures. There was only about 5min drive between them all so it was nice to zip around the dirt tracks and check them all out.

Finally we decided on a beach the other side of Mikri Vilgla that we visited yesterday. It shares the same name so I suppose it’s the same beach on the other side of the breakwater/cliff face. Once again the side we attended was the sheltered side and had a small restaurant with sun beds so we had a small lunch and spent the next few hours laying in the sun chilling out with the occasional swim to cool us down.

We stayed here until about 6pm. We were very comfortable and would’ve stayed longer if the North-westerly wind hadn’t picked up and forced us off the beach. We rode our quad home, this time beating the sunset (learnt that lesson yesterday 😂). We showered and Katy did some of her washing and then headed into the old town for dinner. We are on a bit of a money saving period so went to a chain that does healthy salads on the cheap. We bought some salads and some baguette rolls- total price: €8.60. On the way home we stopped at a bakery as Katy wanted something sweet for desert. We took everything back to our room and enjoyed it on our balcony in the warm summer breeze whilst watching Netflix and sharing a cheap bottle of red we bought a few days earlier. Tonight was very relaxing and we were in bed nice and early which is unusual for Greece as everything here happens so late.

Tomorrow is our last full day on Naxos which we are both sad about as well have thoroughly enjoyed our time here. Next on the agenda is Mykonos for a second visit, we’re hoping it doesn’t hurt the wallet too much.

Kalispera

M 🤘🏼

Posted on by Mitch&Katy

Beautiful Milos in the Cyclades

Milos is one of the less touristy islands I had heard was a gem from a few of my friends who have visited. I love the fact that I haven’t ran into any Australians and I love that fact that it feels so far from anywhere. It is also a lot more rich in history than I ever knew. There will be more on this to follow as we visit all the sites. As Katy stated in our previous post it is most famous for being the location of the Venus de Milo statue which is now housed in Le Louvre.

Anywhoo, today we finally managed a sleep in and walked the short trip down to the harbour to meet our boat. It was an old style wooden boat, rather large with seating all on the upper deck, and what seemed to be a fairly spacious lower deck (we weren’t allowed down there). This boat was nice but certainly wasn’t built for pace, nothing like our speed boat tour in Ios. But hey, slow and steady wins the race eh? Our tour would’ve been approximately 50 people and we set off into the sunshine at 11am. We visited a few sites along the way to our first stop, this was the first highlight we passed.

Aptly named “Bear Rock” because if you look closely it looks a lot like yogi bear.

Alot of the scenery almost looked like Mars. Weird Martian looking rock with jagged cliffs and vastly uninhabited land. All this west part of the island is inaccessible, there’s no roads and many mountains with rugged landscape. Lots of nothing apart from the occasional fishing villages sprawled sporadically along the coast.

We slowly pushed forward through the calm ocean breeze to our first swim stop. It had a very Greek name which I cannot remember but it was a quiet bay with a depth of about 3m and the clarity of your local swimming pool. We took some snorkels and busted out the GoPro to get some cool pics in the crystal clear water.

We had half an hour here to swim and snorkel and float about. The water temp was lovely too so we did some jumping off the boat.

Second stop was a naturally formed cave similar to Benagil Cave we visited in southern Portugal. We parked our large boat at the mouth of the entrance and jumped in armed with our flippers and GoPros. Need I tell you the colour of the water? It was kind of eerie swimming through the deep part because it was so clear but I couldn’t see the bottom so it must have been very very deep which was a terrifying thought.

As we swam through it was a large cave where the roof had fallen in. Perfect photo opportunities as usual. We spent an hour here waddling around with our flippers and laying in the sun like a beached mermaid (mer-man 🧜🏻‍♀️🧜🏻‍♂️).

Our next stop was the main event. Kleftiko!! It’s further around the coast on the south of the island and is the most famous/photographed part of these boat tours.

We dropped anchor right in the middle and boarded a little dingy so we could fit into the tiny caves. They weren’t joking. We had to duck our heads multiple times in these caves, the skipper of our dingy was a little too overconfident that a wave wasn’t going to roll in and crush us against the roof of the cave. We survived anyway so I guess he knew what he was doing.

All of the caves in these photos we passed through, they look so low. Crazy I know!!

We ate some traditional Greek food provided by the tour and had some water before reeling our anchor back up. We then had a long slow boat ride back towards our port with one last swim stop along the way. The last swim stop wasn’t the greatest as we could see lots of plastic pollution in the water which was sad, honestly the first we had seen of this. Maybe it was something to do with the currents. We swam for a bit and had some watermelon before embarking for our main port of Adamas.

After our 8 hours on the boat we dropped our stuff home, had a shower and walked back to town for a small dinner. We both agreed we didn’t need anything fancy so we decided to save money and get some easy food and eat it along the water. We got a Gyro (Greek kebab) and a tuna salad and shared the both.

After eating our food we agreed that it was just as/if not more enjoyable than our sit down €28 meal from last night. Can’t beat €9 for dinner for the both of us. Bargain!!

After we headed home to lather ourselves in aloe Vera after a sun soaked day.

NB: none of these photos have filters on them. Truth!

Pleasure writing for all you followers

🕶 M

Posted on by Mitch&Katy

Speed Boat Tour of Ios

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.

🤘🏼🕺🏼 M

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

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

Final Day in Quebec City

Hey followers, today was our last full day in Quebec and Katy had an extensive list of sights to see before we departed this fine city. We woke at a reasonable hour and had cereal in our BnB as a measure of saving money.

Firstly we walked through the old town and tick off the sights we hadn’t stumbled across just yet. We started with Le Petite Champlain which involved a few of the cobblestone streets and a couple of the plazas. Royal Plaće andSt Johns Gate on the old town walls.

From the old town walls we got a great view of both the old town and the new town as shown in the pictures above. The wall obviously separates the new and old towns.

From here we walked directly uphill for what seemed like an age to the Plains of Abraham. This is the site of many battles. If anyone who knows the correct history of Quebec City is reading please correct me if I’m wrong. From my understanding the French settled here on the east coast in the late 1600s, the British invaded in the late 1700s and successfully made it British soil. All while the Americans were also trying to invade Quebec. As it was on the east coast it made it a great center for boat trade etc, hence all the fighting for it.

Anyway the Plains de Abraham were nothing but plains. Lovely to walk but not much else to see apart from a few statues. It’s a very significant historical site so we walked through it but there wasn’t much to see beyond the fields of grass.

We then walked through a few various attractions through the city including the old town walls, local murals, the Joan of Arc statue and streets of the old town.

We went home for a rest after our extensive personal walking tour of both old and new Quebec. Katy watched an episode from the new season of “Black Mirror” on Netflix on my word, and we very much enjoyed the rest.

Afterwards we walked to a nearby pub to watch the US Open golf and have a drink before dinner. We sat down in a lovely spacious atmospheric pub only to find out it was playing “sports news” and not the golf and also it didn’t have a happy hour because it was Saturday. We (begrudgingly) sipped down our delicious drink and headed to a fancy resteraunt we had mad reservations for dinner. We were soaking wet as we arrived to our pre organised booking to one of the fanciest resteraunts in Quebec City. We decided to do a fancy dinner, not for any reason other than we’ve been fairly cheap through this part of our holiday and “treat yo’self” was ringing loudly in both our heads. I had a duck confit and Katy the Fillet Mignon steak after our beef carpaccio entree. We even accompanied it with a few wines which is very unlike us. I particularly like the strawberry wine. I apologise for the profound lack of photography. We legitimately enjoyed our meal so much we forgot to take photos before it was too late.

After dinner we went to the Irish pub next door to our accommodation to watch the golf and chill out. After a rough few days of learning of family health problems back in Australia it was lovely to unwind and relax without a worry.

The next day arose and we jumped in our car and headed for Ottawa. We had 4.5 hours driving ahead of us and a full tank of fuel. Today is Father’s Day in Canada so we were planning to make it back to Ottawa for a Sunday afternoon BBQ. We stopped at a waterfall called Montmorency Waterfall on our way through towards Ottawa. Katy had read that it is bigger than Niagara Falls but I couldn’t see it. Upon requesting the statistics again she couldn’t produce them so you can make up your mind for yourselves using our pictures.

There was another suspension bridge across the top so you could get the best view of the millions of litres of water rushing down underneath you. This Canada trip really isn’t doing much for my fear of heights is it. Once again I didn’t let the fear stop me and persisted, edging forward onto that bridge as the 6 years old behind me are bouncing past! 😱

The drive felt slow and unusually took longer than it was meant to. Unsure if I left my lead foot at home or that google maps estimation was out but it ended up taking about 6 hours with a stop instead of 5 hours. We made it back to Kyrie and Dave’s house for a Father’s Day dinner with some of the family I hadn’t met. After the people at dinner dispersed and headed home the youngens played another game of “Mexican Train Dominoes” and this time I was determined not to be beaten by a single point like at the cottage. All my might went into this game and I can safely say I scraped through, winning by a narrow 2 points with Kyrie close behind. I’d like to thank my family and all my supporters during my gruelling Mexican Train career and have decided to retire my profession on a win 😎

Tomorrow we drive another 5 hours to Toronto. Speak soon!

M 🙃