SANTORINI - just after the last update, we went on a day trip to tour the islands of Santorini. Volcano tour, hot springs, donkey ride, and sunset in Ia/Oia. On the donkey ride, my camera broke :-( but the sunset was beautiful, and I think I found where they filmed Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but none of the locals would confirm. Rest of Santorini was chill, didn't do much more except relax and wait... lots of waiting done on this island.
CRETE - rented another car - this time, a Fiat Panda! super cute and compact!
-Iraklio - the main city, a lot like Athens, but smaller and nice waterfront
HIGHLIGHT: went to the famous Knossos ruins nearby, and talked our way into seeing the site for free
-Agia Galini - small beach town on a cliff on southern Crete with cute shops, and good beach nearby
HIGHLIGHT: fun tipsy night that included 1 liter of red wine, free raki shots from "Elvis", lots of laughter, night jumping pictures on the rocks, and sneaking into a hotel pool.
-Chania - lovely port city on western Crete. A local Greek pointing to me in store and saying "YOU, CHINA. BIG."
HIGHLIGHT: tara's first crepe and nutella experience, and jumping picture that pulled me out of a funk.
RHODES - took a ferry from Crete to Rhodes, in our room of 4 beds, 2 girls shared one of the upper beds, which led for a hilarious and awkward night
-Rhodes city - was here for 4.5 nights (arriving at 2AM first night). a relaxing time here that included many days at the beach, no scooter renting b/c island was out of gas, pool time with greek kids, friendly ppl, card game called T-Ball, and delicious food.
HIGHLIGHT: last day w/ Tara included picture tour, beach, pool, underwater pictures, yummy appetizer of fried eggplants and peppers, mixed grill, old tour tour and ice cream.
-Lindos - near by city that had a beautiful Acropolis, beautiful blue waters, and white stucco houses - very picturesque
HIGHLIGHT: underwater pictures in the coves, lots of fishies and warm water to swim in.
TURKEY - took a ferry from Rhodes to Marmaris, then a 13 hr overnight bus to Istanbul.
-Marmaris - cute port town that Lil and I bummed around for until our bus left.
HIGHLIGHT: amazing food at the first sit-down restaurant we saw. The waiter didn't have any menus or spoke English so he just took us to the back kitchen and showed us all the dishes they had prepared, and we just ordered a plate with a little of everything. It had lamb meatballs (so tasty and juicy), barley in spiced tomato sauce, chickpeas in tomato sauce, stewed green beans, eggplant and chicken casserole, spinach and onions, yogurt, and fresh bread. Best meal I had so far on the trip - A+!
-Overnight bus - apparently tickets from Marmaris to Istanbul were selling like hot cakes, so Lil and I bought the first we could find online. This bus had wi-fi, personal TVs that showed Valkyrie and New Moon (dubbed in Turkish), and had video games. The original Super Mario Brothers game was renamed "Pika Man" and all was exact same except for the character and music... the service on the bus was also impressive. There was a boy Murat about my age who served as the "flight attendant", passing out water and pillows, blankets, and also had a drink cart where he served drinks and breakfast. We stopped every 3 or so hours for a bathroom break through out the night (7PM to 8AM ride). Was an interesting way to travel but not easy to sleep on that bus. For about $50, pretty worth it though.
So now Lil and I are settled into Istanbul. We have an apartment near Taksim Square for 7 nights. Already had a great lunch of Turkish pizza, another A+ meal. The men are kind of creepers, mainly because I don't think many Asians/Chinese ppl come here so we're kind of a novelty. Lil and I will be very careful, don't worry Mom and Dad! And this place has free wi-fi so we'll be online more :-)
After Istanbul, we are planning on taking the train back into Greece, stopping in Thessaloniki for a couple nights before going back to Athens for a few nights (and day trips) before flying home Aug. 11th.
Can't believe the trip is already 3/5ths over but it's been fun so far. Will try to update more from Istanbul while I'm here. Especially on the food, which I have HIGH hopes for. Our apartment also has a stove so we're planning on cooking here as well; dinner tonight: Spaghetti Carbonara!
will post pictures soon :)
lotsa love,
belinda
Oh! One of my life's dreams is to explore knossos! That's awesome. Your trip sounds amazing!
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