Day 6 to 11

Day 6 to 11 (26/6 – 1/7)

Sunday (26^th June) during the day was rather uninteresting. We sat outside by the swimming pool which was on the roof but couldn’t tan because it was windy and cloudy so we played cards, chatted and took photos.

The view from the top of the hotel

That evening we met the rest of the Contiki Crew with a meeting to gain general information and then a big Greek dinner in the oldest district (which is the tourist district) in Athens. There are a range of English speaking nationalities in our tour group – the majority being Americans, then Australians, Canadians and South Africans. We are most definitely the youngest but ages range from us to about nearly 35 I would believe. We have made mates with 2 other girls from Sydney (Sarah and Steph) who are 24 and absolutely lovely. They kind of remind me of Katherine and me as they are traveling in a pair and one is short and one is tall. There is an interesting range of personalities in the group which have neared confrontation over the last couple of days.

Dinner was so much fun. We had three courses of traditional Greek food with Greek wine and wonderful live entertainment. Hearing everyone’s stories about where they had been or where they were heading to was really motivating. Learning everyone’s adventures what we should and shouldn’t do in various countries was very informative.

Day One of the Cruise

On Monday we began our cruise. We had to meet at 7:15 which was highly irritating after having ended up at the bar the night before with everyone from the tour. The boat is massive; fits about 15 000 people on it with two pools, 10 levels, a disco and many, many bars. We were lucky enough to get a drink special where we get unlimited drinks between 10am and 2am from Monday to Thursday for only 95 euro. Let’s just say we most definitely made use of it!

To start of with, we had a emergency evacuation drill. It was pretty amusing – everyone was standing around in bright orange life jackets.

 Monday during the day we tanned in sun lounges which were littered across the upper deck and during the afternoon/evening we went to Mykonos. Holy Moly, it is stunning and it is by far both mine and Katherine’s favourite island.

Steph, Sarah, Katherine and I all wondered around Mykonos for about four hours. It is so cool throughout the back streets, its mostly white with the doors and windows accentuated in various colours - mostly blue but there is also red, green and turquoise.

 

We had a Gyros (pronounced Yuros) which is a Greek kebab. It has chips, pork or chicken, tomato, tzatziki and onion in it. You can get various types but that is known as the original. Sounds really strange, but honestly it is sooooooo good. After walking around the town, we got cocktails at a bar known as “Martini” which is apparently quite popular. We got seriously lost getting back to the port to catch a tender boat to the cruise ship but luckily we made the last tender boat at about 10:20ish at night.

Later that night we went to the “disco” on the boat - it is really more like a club as it has a bar.  We had a fabulous night dancing, using our drinking cards (the boarding passes!), and getting to know our fellow Contiki members. It closed at 2am and shockingly (not really) it was mostly the Aussies left in the club with a few Americans and Canadians at the end. I think we surprised them with our partying spirit ha.

Day 2 of the Cruise

Shockingly we slept in a bit on Tuesday and nearly missed getting to Turkey! But lucky enough the house maids woke us up and we were off the boat and in Turkey in less than 20 minutes which is pretty impressive I think.

     

Turkey was interesting. We went through the bazaar and they will try anything to get you into their shop. You can’t look at anything without them practically pouncing on you to buy something. Honestly, they are so desperate for you to buy something that you don’t even have to pay in Turkish Currency. We didn’t buy anything but we did look around. We got back on the boat at 11:30 and went and had a buffet lunch which was actually rather nice and then had a nice long sleep. Unfortunately, I got really boat sick when I woke up because the water was really rough and therefore the boat rocked… a lot. So I spent the next 4 hours curled up in bed and therefore missed the next island. Katherine was lovely enough to stay behind with me even though I told her she could go.

That evening I felt a lot better and then went to the Contiki Cocktail party and then we had a karoke night. The whole Contiki Group ended up singing Bohemian Rhapsody which was hilarious. Then the disco started and we had some drinks and danced with the rest of the group, it wasn’t as late as the night before but we still didn’t get a huuuuge amount of sleep.

Day 3 of the Cruise

So this morning was the first time we actually got up for breakfast. Wasn’t too impressed.. everything was a bit… bleh I suppose. Any way, today we went to an island called Rhodes. It was kinda cute because it had two parts – old and new. The old part was built within castle walls and the new part was current Greek architecture (not white and blue).  During the morning Katherine and I roamed the old part of the island. We wondered through the bazaars, the castle itself and through the old streets. Apparently, the roads of most of the islands were designed in an almost maze like way to protect the locals from the pirates who came to attack the towns.

One of the walls within the town

For lunch, we went back onto the boat and had just the buffet. We found Sarah (one of the two from Sydney) and the three of us wondered back into the town and to the beach. The beach was incredible and so different to the beaches back home. I mean, they use their beach as a major source of income for the town; from charging for the beds on the beach to having the bars serve drinks to people on the beach and then finally people wondering up and down the beach offering to sell cakes, drinks, ice creams and even massages. It was so crowded (see the photo below). We were lucky enough to find three beds near the water, near the exit and near a nice/reasonably priced bar that played good music. The water was sooooo blue and very clear. Although one major problem with the beach was that it was pebbles not sand and they hurt when you sink into them.

The Beach at Rhodes

At night we just danced again in the disco and once again it was only Contiki… well mostly Australians left on the dance floor at 2.

Day 4 of the Cruise

Today was our last full day on the cruise. We actually got up for breakfast and then we went to the island Crete. All the historical sites were too far from the dock for us to get to in the allocated time and so Katherine and I wondered around into the centre of the town but we discovered it smelt bad.. so walked back to the boat.

Lunch was nice, it was international day on the cruise so they had food from all over the world. We ate on the upper deck with Sarah and Steph before then heading back to our room to pack.

We did a tour in Santorini. The lady who ran the tour reminded me of the dad from My Big Fat Greek Wedding. She would explain the Greek origin of every English word… even the word “down”. It had the Contiki people in absolute hysterics and therefore no one was actually listening to anything informative she had to say. Santorini is gorgeous. Everything is so photogenic and clean.

First of all we went to the a small village which was stunning. The guide was telling us that the greatest income of Santorini is due tourists. We wondered up and down the streets basically taking photos of everything. We have noticed that everywhere you go in Greece there are stay cats and dogs just lying everywhere, especially on the islands.

Then, we got a bus to Fira which is the main town of Santorini. At this point my camera ran out of battery so I’ll get photos once Sarah (one of the Sydney girls) uploads hers.

We went and had a drink on a bar with the Contiki people which looked onto the sunset and over the sea – amazing view. To get back to the boat we had to go down the escarpment, so as one should do in Santorini we rode down on Donkeys! Katherine was stuck on a donkey that was grouped to a group of American school girls who were also on the cruise whereas mine was roaming free. My donkey decided it didn’t want to be last so tried to over take all the others. With doing so, It practically ran down the hill whilst ramming me into the wall, plants and other donkey’s - Terribly amusing for everyone else around me.

Katherine on the Donkey

That night was by far the most amusing. Firstly,  they had international music going on (to fit in with the theme) and the song “From the Land Down Under” came on. Then, when the dance music came on there was a bunch of American teenages dancing incredibly inappropriately. Let me give you a brief image… There was very little space between them and they definitely should not have had their hands in certain places. They had been dancing like that all week and basically everyone was sick of it. Kristy (one of the Australians) after telling them to stop it… went and threw a glass of water on a pair of the two gyrating teenages. Even though…. That was probably wasn’t the best thing to do, it was well needed – they needed to cool down!  In the confrontation between Kristy and the teenages involved them coming to “bash her” as they said. But when they came over, the whole of the contiki group stood up to support her. What the teenages failed to notice is that one of our mates is a 7 foot male and when he stood, they quickly backed off. In the end security kicked the teenages out for being inappropriate and we continued to dance!

Final Day of the Cruise

We had to be out of our rooms by 7 and in a meeting at 7:15, so with very limited sleep - getting up earlier than this to get ready and then have breakfast was a great struggle.

We got off the boat at 7:30 and then we got onto a bus with some of the contiki people to do a tour of Athens. The Acropolis was amazing and totally worth seeing however, the amount of people, the heat and the lack of personal space made it… not as great as I thought it would be. We were on a tour with some other public people and so in the end when going up we separated and made our own tour.  I was amazed at the amount of people who had a lack of respect of others. They were pushing in, pushing you out of the way… well just very pushy. It took hours to get through and finally we met all the contiki people down the bottom, we had a water in a café nearby.

We got back to the meeting spot to find that firstly, there was no bus (which had all our belongings in it and secondly, no tour guide. We all had a major panic which resulted in 7 people running around like headless chickens looking for either the bus or the tour guide. Eventually we found the tour guide who informed us that the bus hadn’t arrived yet. When the bus eventually arrived, it took us back to the President hotel where we would be staying. Katherine and I then went out to lunch with Kimo (the 7 foot American man) and an Australian couple from Canberra. Lunch was so good. We each chose a dish and then shared and once finished the waiter gave us a shot of some Greek liquor on the house.

During the afternoon, we had a bit of a look around the area, tanned and basically relaxed as we were both exhausted from the cruise. Dinner was interesting, we had dinner with 4 other contiki people. We must have looked hilarious as a group as it was 6 girls and then Kimo. The food itself was strange, it wasn’t traditional Greek food; it was like a modified version.

So that has been the last week, we’re still in Athens for another couple of days. We’re meeting up with the Bineham’s tomorrow which should be good. Sorry for the long entry….. There is just a lot to say!

Till next time!

Andia

Cait and Katherine