The GREEK ISLANDS

The reason why I came to Greece was to get to the Islands ASAP and celebrate my finale of school and the start of travels in a relaxing way.

So, I took the 10 hour overnight ferry. It was an interesting experience. A new way to travel - sleeping wherever I could find legit bench, floor or sofa space.

But when you wake up to this view, you definitely can not complain!

Santorini

This was my first stop after asking around a little bit, I learned it was not to be missed and what you picture when you think of the greek islands.

The caldera (cliff) views did not dissappoint! This is from Fira, the capital at the top of the island.

Sure it was pretty touristy, but I could not deny the beauty of the views here.

Santorini is a volcanic island, so the cliffs are amazing and the terrain is rocky. The last explosion took place in the 1500's. Hmm, I do seem to like my volcanoes (Japan, Costa Rica, Guatemala and now here...)

Wandering around the town of Fira. I actually came upon a neuroscience conference. Oh dear!


Perissa - the black sand beach that I stayed near. You walk out on lava rock. Pretty weird, and slippery!

Tony's Villa - I stayed here for 3 nights in my own private room with bathroom! I decided to treat myself here for celebration.

Oia: This town on the northern part of Santorini was my favorite! No one was around, not even the Greeks. Only a few touristy. I loved meandering the winding white alley ways and getting lost in the various cobblestone paths and villas.

Ah, now isn't aren't these the Greek islands you imagine?

Gorgeous views all over the place and beautiful flowers.

Winding around different paths.

The famous blue church domes. Not sure why, but they are featured everywhere. They are striking. The blue and white is a nice contrast. And the sky was ALWAYS this clear bright shiny blue!

NAXOS: island #2

After talking around, i decided on this more family oriented, less touristy island to go to. I was not disappointed. I met another solo traveller, Ashley, from Taiwain studying in Innsbrook, Austria while stepping off the ferry, so we decided to check out a domatia (rooms for rent) together since it would be cheaper to share and about the same price as staying in a ghetto hostel. We got a beautiful studio right next to the beach and enjoyed each other's company.
Apollo's arch is famous. It was built 600 BC. This is just the start of the temple that never got finished.

The harbor was lined with restaurants and really came to life at night. The town is centered around the harbor.

Meandering the old town of Naxos, we found kids playing in their neighborhood.

The water was so clear, unlike in Santorini where it was black on the bottom

This sign is just RIDICULOUS! I had so many ice creams, including chocolate orange for Steph. But don't worry, this was ice cream. Gelato in italy is a whole different story!!!

The villages up in the mountains. We bussed up here and wandered around. Helki is one of the traditional ones left. It was pretty deserted and a lot of fruit trees. This island is actually very fruitful, and is one of hte few Greek islands that could survive without tourism. historically, the islands are actuully rather poor and war-torn. They didn't start thriving and becom,ing popular as we know it until tourism struck up about 25 years ago.

The sunsets on the islands were amazing!!!

And that's all for the islands! I made my way back to Athens, which I had to pass through and spend another night, much to my dismay, in order to fly to Rome. But it gave me some downtime to post. But I shall end now as internet is rather expensive, and our poor dollar is abismal. I'm off to Rome tomorrow to meet my mom! I'm super excited for the next two weeks. Until the next post....