Gavin's House, England



Us on Paradise Beach



We have mixed feelings about being back in England. Don't get us wrong, we love it, but leaving Greece was devastating! After our post in the residential island of Naxos, we went on to Mykonos. For the first night we stayed in Paradise Camping which was located on a beautiful beach and lined with beach bars. Although we enjoyed the atmosphere, it wasn't high tourist season, so there weren't many people around and it was quite far from Mykonos town. Luckily we befriended some locals (Sidrit and Jianis) who were kind enough to drive us into town and show us all the hot spots of Mykonos. They also enjoyed teaching us Greek swears - ones which we were then forbidden to use in public! The second night we decided to relocate ourselves to the middle of town and spent a while trapsing around with our huge packs trying to find a cheap place to stay. We were laughed at multiple times when we said we only had 12 euros to spend each while the going rate for rooms was about 90 euros. Oh, the joys of being on a gap year! Zooming all around us were crazy Greek moped-ists, and to add to our struggles, one of them happened to run over Camilla's foot. We managed to limp up a hill and put on good puppy-dog eyes to talk Kostas, the owner of a hotel, down from 95 euros a night to 25. Camilla's bloody foot probably helped. Our room was really nice; the only peculiar feature was the shower. If you could call it that. There was simply shower head stuck to the wall, with no floor or wall to contain the water which managed to spread throughout the entire bathroom.

We spent the rest of the time in Mykonos going to idyllic beaches, having cappucinos with locals, eating delicious pastries and going out to the Scandanavian Bar at night with our new friends. Our friends recommended that we try a white Nutella crepe ( a specialty of Mykonos) which was basically white chocolate Nutella and was incredible. We've also found a new love - BAKLAVA! There is no parallel to the Grecian baklava - piles upon piles of crispy dough and nuts dripping with honey. When we finally had to leave Mykonos, we sadly boarded a slow ferry to Athens and stayed overnight there in our favourite hostel, the Pagration Youth Hostel. Now, we're back in England and are preparing to go to Tanzania tomorrow evening, which we are both excited and nervous about. At least we know that the weather will be better than here!

Our 6 euro beach hut in Ios

  



Our cute little ATV on a country road in Naxos






Camilla and Jianis




Elena and Sid

Naxos, Greece

Hello! After a two day stint in Ios, Greece per recommendation of Barb Kenslea, we have been staying in Naxos, the biggest Cyclades Island. Ios was lovely, and we stayed at the best place ever! It was a campsite in Mylopotas Beach at the end of the only road in Ios, and we had a beach hut right on the edge of the water for only six euro per night! There were not many people on the island at all, but there were two Australian tour groups who we spent the evenings with, and we spent the days lounging around on the beach! The water was incredible - it was crystal clear, and even though it was very deep you could almost count the grains of sand on the bottom! We took the ferry to Naxos yesterday, and after learning that it was better to book accomodation before arriving somewhere ( we took a bus ride all the way out to Naxos Camping, which we later discovered was shut), we found a lovely room by the sea and near the centre of town. Today we rented an ATV to drive around the island because there is not much of a bus system. It was awesome! The views were incredible, and after a few wobbly starts on the vehicle, we managed to go over dirt paths and around hairpin corners up into Mt. Zeus. We have returned to the Port area now to see the sun set over the Panagios gate. Tomorrow we will go to Mykonos!

Fira, Greece

Okay so seeing as Elena has to use the internet, and we wont have access to the internet for a few days after this, I am just going to upload a couple more pictures while I can! Today we are moving campsites to Perissa, home of the black beaches, where we have to do some food shopping (quite a hassle when you don't understand any food labels) and book our next ferry to Ios. Yesterday's donkey ride was incredible though rather scary up the steps of the Old Port of Fira - there was no controlling them and quite often they would slip down the slippy edges of the steps! Elena thought that hers was going to fall over because it kept trembling but it was all okay in the end. We also discovered the joy of taking selfies with the donkeys that were lined up the steps! In the evening we went to Oia and saw the sunset and spent two hours wandering around the maze of streets looking for somewhere that sold cheap food (everywhere else it was 12 euro for a salad). We ended up eating souvlaki, which is lots of random food wrapped in pita bread. I'm not quite sure what mine had in it but it tasted alright, and was only 1,80 euro! After we returned to Fira we went to a club called Enigma with Jojo and David and Kerry, our roomie from Athens who decided to join us in Santorini! It was full of locals, and they played some American music but mostly Greek, which was awesome! Anyway, here's a couple of photos!

Santorini, Greece

Our first real day in Santorini, Greece, and we're having a wonderful time. Our campsite is great -we have a little canvas tent with two mattresses in it for 12 euros a night each! It has kitchen facilities and a swimming pool too, so we are very happy with that! Yesterday we walked around Fira, which is the main city of Santorini and has many pedestrian cobble stone streets and beautiful views over the caldera. It is the perfect time to be here because it is baking hot, not over crowded, and full of local people who love to practice their English! We are meeting a lot of travelers too, and last night we went out with two of our neighbouring tent friends, Jojo (apparently pronounced cho-cho because he's Guatamalan? according to Elena) and David, who are from France. The nightlife here is crazy, as you can imagine, and we spent most of the night dancing on bars with the owners and meeting backpackers from all over! Today we are taking a donkey ride up the steep stairs from the Old Port, and are going to make a trip to Oia to see the famous sun set! Here are a few pictures from our last few days!

Santorini, Greece

Just a quick post from an internet cafe in Santorini, Greece! We had a wonderful time in Athens, and we managed to see most of the important sites in the one day we had there! Highlights included the Panatheniac Stadium, in which the olympics first took place in 330 B.C. Elena got to run a lap around, the track, which made her VERY happy, and both Camilla and Elena got to stand on the first place pedestal! Later that afternoon we hiked up the Filopappau hill, and got to see breathtaking views of the Acropolis, and the entire city of Athens. The Acropolis was also incredible, and the Parthenon definitely was as impressive as we had expected. The photo above is in front of one of the buildings of the Acropolis. We stayed in a wonderful hostel in Athens, with a full kitchen (we've been cooking all our own meals) and we roomed with these two boys from China. Early this morning, we caught a ferry to the island Santorini in Greece. The ferry was seven hours long, but we never got bored of the terrific views of the many different islands we passed. We are styaing in a campsite, as most of the accomodations here are very expensive! The traditional white bulidings of Santorini are very beautiful, and most of the churches have stunning cobalt blue stone roofs. We've only just arrived in Santorini, so there will be more to come later!

Bishop's Stortford, England

Well, a few days and a fair amount of rain later, we've almost completed the first week of our gap year! In the Cotswolds, we helped out at Camilla's little cousin Adam's beaver group (boy scouts in America) which was basically a bunch of six year olds running around screaming. We did a weather wordsearch with them only one of the boys kept trying to eat his pencil, so it proved somewhat difficult to get them to do it and they kept on making fun of Elena because she has a weird accent! Later, we played Lego Rockband at the cousin's house and failed at the guitar to the point that we were doing worse than Adam (6) and Peter (8), who were on the 'Super Easy' level, and didn't even have to press the right coloured buttons. We saw the Severn Bore, which is when the tides out at sea become too high, and create a small tidal wave on the River Severn in Gloucester - it was about three feet high. There were some people there who were getting ready to surf it, which would have been quite fun, though cold! We then went to Newport, Wales. Elena didn't believe it was a different country, despite the sign saying "Croeso I Cymru" or "Welcome to Wales", until Jim and Camilla convinced her that she needed a passport to get across! Wales was good, and we had a lovely pub dinner with the Shearman family while Jean (Camilla's grandma) was trying to get us drunk! The last couple of days have been spent in Bishop's Stortford visiting Camilla's school friends. We stayed at Aphra's house, and gave Elena her first taste of fish and chips before spending the night at the pub with some other English friends Katie, Lucy and Tom. The next day we walked past Camilla's old two schools Herts & Essex and Summercroft to Izzie and Lizzies house and went to town. If you haven't had Dorrington's before, it is the best food EVER! The iced buns are ridiculously delicious! Last night we watched the new season of the Inbetweeners (amazing!) with the Ollie, Claire, Gav, Harry and Matt. And now we are at Gavin's house packing for Greece! We will be sleeping in London Heathrow Airport tonight, and will be spending most of the day in London getting ready for our 4am departure! It's 30 degrees centigrade / 86 degrees F in Greece! Yay!
- E&C

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKFjWR7X5dU
watch this! as requested by Lizzie

Bath, England

Hi everybody! So we arrived at our first destination, England, yesterday evening and stayed with Camilla's aunt at her home in Guilford. After our first slightly jetlagged night, we woke up this morning at 1am (American time) and hopped onto a train headed to Bath (pronounced Both in England, according to Elena.)
We assumed that we would be able to actually bathe in the hot springs that make up the Roman baths and came equipped with bikinis and towels. As we should of known, it was a museum, DUH, and we realized how much we have to learn. Other than that, the Roman baths were pretty incredible and we saw some beautiful Roman artifacts. We also got to drink a bit of the water as we left, which made up for the no bathing rule, but tasted absolutely disgusting! We walked around the beautiful town of Bath for the rest of the day and saw some amazing street performers. We left Bath, and after doubting our choice of train when our train reversed and started going the complete opposite direction, we arrived in Cheltenham, The Cotswalds, and were graciously picked up by Camilla's grandad. So that was day number 1 of our gap year!
- E & C