Greek Islands (Athens, Mykonos and Santorini)

Arrived in Athens and driving in from the airport was a real shock to the system, third world type feel and smog as far as the eye can see. Luckily our hotel was up to scratch and we spent the night having a few "Richard Gere's" meeting a few of the people on our Contiki tour through the Greek Islands. My new roomy Patto and I really seized our first day in Athens, rising from bed at 2:00pm in the arvo. However we made a real fist of the remaining daylight and caught a cab into Acropolis where I had the best pizza I've ever tasted, climbed the rock of Acropolis seeing the Temple of Athena Nike and also visiting The Panathenaic Stadium which was built in the fourth century BC and has a seating capacity of over 68,000. They drive like mad over here and there are no real road rules to follow. At this stage Greece looks pretty busted and our vibe was that the locals came across rude. Rose the following to take a five hour ferry ride to the first island of three we will be visiting on our tour, Mykonos. Now there are no real historically significant places to visit in Mykonos, it is a purpose built party island. Bloody warm here with high 20's to early 30's every day and it took me no less than two hours for my pale skin to get beetroot red. I zoned out when our tour guide mentioned not to drink the local water from the tap so after downing around a litre of it when I was parched after a couple of stubbies it was no surprise that as of late, I have spent most of my time on the dunny. I can sum up our time in Mykonos as 'most scenes missing' with the standout being Paradise Beach. Worth mentioning everywhere works off tips, for example, in a bar the more your tip, the stronger your drink is, so of you're up to have a big one, best practice is not to be a tight arse. After our third night in Mykonos, made our way to Santorini on another ferry this time taking around two hours. Spent the first full day on a tour to the top of Santorini and the Akrotiri archeological site which many believe is to be the foundations of the city of Atlantis and was built around 1600 BC. Also went to a few beaches, Red Beach and Black Beach, it's called this due to the colour of the sand following volcanic eruptions. Our final day in Santorini was spent on the island of Nea Kameni where we hiked up a volcano which last erupted in 1950. Got a chance to don the budgy smugglers and swim in the hot springs located at the base of the volcano. Lastly rode a donkey up to the top of Santorini which was good fun, there would have been around 200 of them in circulation and they are real on the nose. Heading off on another ferry to the island of Ios for 3 days which is apparently a step up from the Mykonos party scene so will have to prepare my body for another couple of big ones. Cheers, DS.