Hi all
I'm posting this one from Kythera - a small island south-west of Athens that very few non-Greek people visit. Vince reckons I probably represent the 1% of non-Greek Australians that visit here. It is quite amazing, in a scary kind of way. Very exposed, windy, small tussocky, dry plants. Seems like no animals. Very intermittent villages - and lots of ruins and rock walls everywhere. Some of the beaches are beautiful and the food is lovely. But it's quite expensive, a bit more than Athens for food.
View of Hora, the main town, from a castle

Small dirt or bitumen roads between sometimes crumbling, stone houses, that were originally designed only for donkey traffic. Very few people speak English here which is quite surprising considering they get quite a lot of German and Italian tourists (most menus have Greek, English & Italian translations however).

So it's been a very interesting 5 days. Staying with Vince, his bro & sis, Mum, Dad, cousin and grandma. Haven't had any hot water either. But it's fine you know, you realise how little you need to survive and be happy. But I think a tv is a necessary item - particularly here over winter where it can get cold enough to snow. And from the cooler temperatures and wind I've seen I'd believe it. Without a tv I think even the most mentally-stimulated person would go insane.

Anyway, gotta go. Going for the last-night dinner at Kapsali beach. Apparently the old castle is lit up at night.

Take care all - see you soon. Kim I fly to England the day before we fly to Dublin. The 12th I think. Will text ya exactly.

Went to the markets on the on Sun 27th. Some pics:
One of the stalls

Vince's family (Dad, Sis, cousin [hidden], Mum & brother)


The kitchen & dining area (Vince's yia yia's [grandma] cousin's daughter's place - something like that anyway... where we all stayed!! FANTASTIC

My favourite beach (Kaladi) - went there on the last day & it was deserted. What a great place to spend my last bit of time on Kythera.

The castle next to Kapsali beach (can't remember the name right now). The Greeks def know how to light up their attractions.

Vince's fav beach (Diakofti) - just out of shot is a Russian ship that sank approx 5 years ago on a small island - apparently the sailors were drunk.

Hello, well I'm at another airport - Athens - but this one has free internet access! woohoo!!!
anyway, I'm now on my way to the island of kythera. I've spent the last 3 days seeing the sights of Athens and I went on a day trip to a town called Napflio yesterday.

Ok, details:
Tuesday night - made my way to a backpackers right next to the acropolis, it was expensive (25 eur) but it was in a great location - a 2 min walk to the base of the acropolis. the backpackers is owned by an australian woman and so, of course, there were aussies working there. i was like 'geez, I come to Europe and am surrounded by annoying Australians'. well they weren't all annoying but some of them def were. but of course talking to the backpackers there, apparently there are australians everywhere - often drunk on the different greek islands. so i have to accept i can't get away :)

Anyway, spent Wednesday and Thursday walking around the centre of Athens seeing the sights - the acropolis, temple of olympic zeus, the plaka area. it was bloody hot and i walked for hours on end (around a few sits of an hour or so). It really is an amazing city. everywhere there is ancient bits and pieces in amongst modern-ish apartments, cafes, and train stations. even though people have complained about how busy Athens is, i really loved it. i would live there if someone offered me a perfect job there :)
View of the Parthenon from Filopappos Hill (I think that's what it's called). Loved that place - so quiet, no hordes and just a great view of the whole city.

Yesterday, I just had to get out of athens and that backpackers. i would have gone on thursday but i met a couple of american blokes (Hyrum and Rustin) who were really cool and we went to the Acropolis and took stupid photos of ourselves, good old self-timer cameras!! Oh and that night, Andrew from UQ Beach Volleyball Club rocked up to the roof of the backpackers. How cool is that!! Hadn't seen the bloke in like 5 years, and there he was. And it was his only night in Athens!!
Andrew, me and some other chicks at the roof-top bar of the backpackers. Acropolis all lit-up in the background.

[below] obligatory pic of me next to the Parthenon!
Theatre of Dionysis - what a great show!!


Anyway, back to yesterday (fri. it's now 11am saturday morning - 6pm brissie time). i packed up and took the metro (80c) to a bus stop and caught a bus (50c) to the intercity bus terminal. i didn't really know where i wanted to go but i was thinking delphi, up north, where there are the oldest greek ruins (or something) or down south of athens to napflio. got to the bus station and asked for a ticket to delphi, and the (relatively unfriendly) bus lady said i had to go to a different terminal.

So I got a ticket to Napflio instead and met an NZ chick who had just bought a ticket to go there too.
[left] Napflio beach - the castle is just up the top there to the left of the edge of the pic.
[below] pic of me part-way up to the top of the castle...


It was a beautiful place - private, protected beach with music playing and a very trendy restaurant overlooking the beach. And above the beach, a beautiful castle on the top of a massive cliff. I went up there after - it was a great workout, had sore calves for 3 days after. Will try to get some pics up when I can.

The Plaka area - older streets surrounding the Acropolis area. Really cool to walk around.

[below] Temple of Olympic Zeus, MY FAVOURITE. Only 15 of the original 104 (17m-high) columns remain.

Sacred dogs? (Visitors are not allowed to smoke in this area or take pics holding anything up eg. flag, book but dogs can walk around the columns and 'answer the call of nature' wherever they want...

I'm now in Athens, arrived last night after a horror flight from London Luton. Flew with Easyjet and frankly it took forever to check-in. Waiting in the line encouraged me to think that I never want kids - they all seemed to have ADHD!!! The flight was the same - it was nuts!!

So I'd been staying with Margaret (my grandma's sister) since Sunday when I flew into London. That was so lovely - she really looked after me and I could get over my jetlag a bit. I kept eating though, so I hope she doesn't mind :) This is her and me enjoying a roast and then a photo of her street!!









Anyway, got to the Athens airport and went to catch a bus. The dude selling the tickets was like 'where are you from, what's your name, you are beautiful!' he he, it was funny. So jumped on the packed public bus and listened to all the Greek discussions, wishing Vince had taught me something. Was stressing a bit about the stop but really didn't have to worry - end of the line, then had to catch a train one stop to get to this backpackers I was hoping had a bed for me. It really feels like anothre world here. But then walked into this backpackers and it's full of English and Aussies (of course).

After a crappy sleep - people in and out and lights on and off - today went for a massive walk today around the bottom of the Acropolis and all the little streets and markets. Was a great day but talk about exhausting!! Very warm.
Everyone was very friendly and I even found a cafe where the girl was happy for me to try my Greek on her - she was impressed I think :) That's the moussaka I had for lunch (7.60 euro)

But it is hard to practice Greek when everyone speaks English at you - I think they're practising.



Walked around this hill next to the Acropolis (Fillopappos Hill) and was very happy I wasn't in one of the herds, sorry tour-groups. Could just sit and watch the world go by.

And I think that's what I really like about travelling, although I'm alone, it's just nice to not have to be somewhere in a day. I love just hanging out and watching what's going on. Oooh that reminds me, saw some dude getting arrested. There was this blonde female cop screaming her head off and going off!! Everyone on the streets just gathered around, all the traffic stopped and it was very entertaining.

It's a great city Athens, I think. All this ancient stuff and then apartments and cafes right next door. I also love the great views of the whole city from some of the hills. And I was by myself for quite a while too - probably coz it was so hot and I wasn't in the herding areas.

So I've got a couple more days before I fly to Kythera on the 26th. I can't wait to get there - will be great to see Vince (Venetsianos when talking about him, but drop the 's' when you're talking to him. So I guess I'll say 'Kalimera Venetsiano'). He he.

View of the Acropolis from Fillopappos (or whatever it is) hill

Hey so i;m at heathrow and this internet terminal is crap. the 13 hr flight was ok it was good that the entertainment actually worked - QANTAS was busted.
so i;m just hanging out for a bit until its a reasonable time to call some family. it;s funny despite all the time taken to organise an international holiday, it;s so important to actually print out everything required. when i got to hong kong i vaguely remembered the sreet name but hostels are in ighrises with no signs out the front, so i learned that lesson, if you don;t want to walk around for an hour, have your facts straight!!! particularly when its hot as, there are 50 million chinese people and old doormen in the different buildings who can;t speak english (and seem to get annoyed when you come by more than once asking for the "wang fat hostel").
hong kong was fun though - getting lost in busy streets tht all look he same but then finding a restaurant that has no english menu but a map of australia on their napkin (apparently the "everfresh seafood rest" gets all its seafood from aussieland) is all well worth the blisters and sensitive shoulders from lugging 15kg around!!
Anyway, london here i am. and while i have this computer i;m going to try and make sure i have tenille;s numer and everything else i need to know. now to just figure out where the hell i need to go in this town!!!

Well, this is the first entry to my new blog, where I hope to upload the occasional journal entry and photo.
So, I leave tomorrow for Europe - flying into, arguably, the world's biggest and most chaotic airport (especially now) - Heathrow on the 20th August. Here begins my European Adventure.
Yes - it's been done before by millions. And it's a well-known location change for many Aussies (and our NZ cousins) - sometimes known as a gap-year... It's pretty common - if someone is going overseas for a year or two, it's often to Europe. Going back to our ancestors perhaps? Speaking of ancestors, that's my grandma below (& my dad). They were both born in England.

My itinerary is quite full-on I think. Fly into London (via Hong Kong for 2 days), then 2 days later fly out to Athens where I hang out for a few days before flying to see my boyfriend (Vince) & his family on the small island called Kythira (also known as 'little Australia' as so many Greek-Australians visit). Then onto Italy to meet my parents for a week walking in the Dolomites, then a train to Montpellier before flying back to London to meet some friends from uni. A couple are living in London working & studying, and others are beginning their own Europe Adventure. A few of us girls (Kim, Amy & I) go to Ireland for a few days, then it's back to London. We go on Contiki on the 16th Sep. And there's more of course, but I don't really want to go into it right now.
A few happy snaps below.

My family and me

My Boyfriend Vince & me
Cute little Midori, my quaker parrot