Venice

Grand Canal

Some alley behind St Mark´s Square

Venice is the first city we've ever been to that doesn't have cars in the city. They have boats instead! Seriously, everyone owns a boat or at least a sampan! :-)

It was also full of bridges and little alleys which adds to the character of the city and its many canals. We really enjoyed Venice. Though it was a little touristy at the main bits, it was pretty quiet in the back alleys and we caught glimpses of the Venetian lifestyle (did you know their laundry are all colour coordinated!). Our butts also got a good workout by climbing up and down the bridges. :-)

It was also fun exploring the city with our friends the first day as it was nice to have lunch with other people besides each other. Haha!

We saw all the main sites but man, was it a pain to walk through all the little alleys as it goes round and round before reaching a place. It was pretty quiet at night too so can be a bit scary as most parts aren't that well lit. And no, we didn't sit the gondola or waterbus even for the matter. Firstly, it was expensive and we've just spent 34 hours on water so it's pretty understandable if we prefer solid ground. :-)

Overall, we loved being back in Italy. The land of good food, gelato and normal toilets. :-) The Greeks had something about not throwing toilet paper into their toilets so we were happy to revert back to our norm when we reached Venice! Hehe. OK maybe that was too much info here! :-)

p.s. The photos uploaded on the blog so far are taken from Gabe´s phone so not very good quality. We´ll upload some nicer ones once we get back to London... :P

All aboard

So we travelled by ferry from Greece to Venice. It wasn't 29 hours as claimed, it was 34 hours altogether! :-)

It started with a journey to Patra where the ferry was. Patra was a small port city so we didn't see much since we were lugging our bags around. We did however see the St. Andrew's church which was supposedly the biggest orthodox church in the Balkan region. It was quite grand and the interior was pretty amazing esp the ceiling frescoes!

So how was the journey?

It was pretty good surprisingly. Firstly they allowed us to board early and we managed to get a seat even though technically we were supposed to seat in the deck!

Then we met some new friends on board, fellow travelers from Sweden and California so we hung out together the times we weren't asleep (we all slept quite a bit!) and that was fun coz we learned to play a few card games like Plume/Blotch, Durnia and a rather violent slapping game! :-)

The ferry was impressive as well as it was one of those huge cruise liners and it had restaurants, shops, pool n jacuzzi (though it was too cold to use!), card rooms and even a disco!

So with all those distractions, time passed by quickly and before we knew it, we were sailing into Venice and the books were right, there's nothing quite like arriving in Venice by the sea as you just fit right in to the Venetian lifestyle and we got a free tour too. Hehe!

I was quite lucky the travel pills worked and the sea wasn't too rough so it was a comfortable journey. :-)

Would we do it again? Most probably if we ever have the luxury of time again! Oh, did I mention that it only cost us 16 euros per person? :-)

Half way point

Gosh how time flies. Can't believe we're already half way through our trip. Guess the old adage rings true - Time flies when you're having fun.

We sure are having the time of our lives. Wearing the same clothes over and over and the travelling can be quite tiring at times and sometimes we long for a lazy day but all in all, it has been a great experience and we are so, so lucky to be able to do this. Seeing all these places we've only read in books and just experiencing the different cultures and lifestyles, it has been very enriching. We've also got to meet different people from all over the world by staying in hostels so that has also coloured our trip a little.

We're off to Venice tonight on a 29hours ferry ride and we will then be commencing the second half of our journey through Italy, France, Spain and Portugal a.k.a the more expensive cities... Here's hoping everything goes as well as the first half!!

Cheers everyone!

Athens

The mighty Athens and her wonderful ruins. After Santorini, we were feeling a little too laid back so wasn't quite in the mood for sight-seeing and the heat has been quite extreme, combined with being in the city so we were quite sluggish! :-)

Decided to take it easy and just walked around Athens and of course tried to see as much as we could. We couldn't visit the Acropolis as they were closed early the day we went. So we just admired from afar and used the money budgeted for the entry for a yummy Greek dinner of souvlaki and moussaka. :-) It wasn't such a loss really as there were major reno (again!) works going on at the Parthenon so it was covered with cranes and more scaffolding. Yes, the new Acropolis Museum opened while we were there but unfortunately the entrance was by purchasing online tix only so we couldn't get one in time so no go for us either.

We visited the 2004 Olympic stadium and it was pretty big but looked a bit deserted and not well cared for. We also tried going to the beaches near Athens but what do you know, the whole of Athens was there as well so we decided not to fight for a spot with them. Besides we didn't have an umbrella of our own so we would have baked under the scorching sun!

The main port Pireaus was huge and quite intimidating with all the gigantic ocean liners around us but thankfully they had shuttle buses so we didn't have to figure out how to get out. :-)

Overall, our Greek experience has been wonderful though the island definitely won over the city on this one. We're also going to stay off kebabs and gyros for a bit since that's what we ate most this week with it being cheapest food we can find! :-) Although I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed that the Greek men were not as handsome as described in my romance novels. Hahaha.... Now maybe I'll have better eye candy in Italy :) :)

Tripod Wives

I'm sure you've heard of the term trophy wives but how about tripod wives? :-)

Part of my job description as wife is to be a human tripod for Gabe's arm to rest when taking night shots without his proper tripod. It does not always work out well since I'm obviously not as steady as an actual tripod but hey it works.

My post today was actually inspired by what I saw tonight while Gabe was taking night shots of the Acropolis and you know how long they take with their shots. So I was standing around and happened to observe this guy who was trying to take a shot. He then called out to his wife and ask her to stand in front of him and to stay still. He then placed the camera on her HEAD and took the shot!

I was so tickled by the fact that we women with shutterbug hubbies all share the same fate. I told Gabe about it and he laughed at the camera on head part and said he can't wait to try. Me and my big mouth! :-)

Santorini

After spending more than 13 hours at the Athens airport (we were trying to save hence not going into the city. Besides our flight arrived late from Vienna), we were whisked away on the shortest flight ever, only 25 mins and we were transported to what is prob the most beautiful and picture perfect island we've ever been to!

Santorini surpassed our expectations and the layers of white washed buildings with blue roofs and window panes amidst the deep blue Aegean sea truly is something quite magnificent. Our splurge for the trip was a room facing the caldera/volcano and man, was it worth it! Seeing the sunset (truly one of a kind!) from the comforts of our balcony was so romantic and they didn't lie abt the sunsets in Santorini! :-)

We really had an amazing time here coz we were just relaxing and enjoying the island rather than rushing about sight seeing. We rented an ATV and had fun zoom-zooming around the island. After our long cliff walk from Imerogivli to Oia, I couldn't imagine walking about all the hills! Besides it works out better than the bus and Gabe fulfilled his dream of driving an ATV so it's all good! :-)

We're still in the island as I type but we will be leaving on the overnight ferry back to Athens! So sad but it has been a good holiday from a holiday. Know what I mean? :-) Anyway, we're off to secure a spot for our last sunset in Santorini! Ta for now! :-)

Vienna and Salzburg

Vienna, vienna, vienna. What can we say except that it was oh-so-expensive! Sure we are on a ridiculous budget but still! 4 euros for a lousy magnet? Sigh!

Having said that, the city itself is very grand! The architecture is amazingly intricate even the museums look like palaces. It supposedly houses some of the most famous museums but don't ask us about it coz we just have no interests in museums. :-) Gabe was happy to eat his currywurst and I had my schnitzel-like fried chic so we were quite happy. :-)

Since we had an extra travel day for not going to Zagreb, we decided to visit another famous Austrian town, Salzburg. Home to the famed Von Trapp family, we only got to see Mirabell gardens as the rest of the sights were out of the city. Salzburg was pretty small and it was quite easy to cover in a day.

And yes, we took pictures of Austria's most celebrated composer, Mozart. That guy has buildings, squares, memorials and even chocolates and cakes named after him. We tried a slice of Mozarttorte which was basically a choc cake with a layer of green praline and marzipan. The verdict-OK only la. :-)

We're off to Greece next! Woo hoo!