Off to Croatia

Yes we are off to Croatia tomorrow by train. Not really sure if we have the right tickets, or even what route it follows. It sounded like the first 3hrs of the journey we have a seat, but the next 3hrs me may need to stand! The total trip will be about 30hrs so we will see where we end up!

Athens

We had to spend one night in Naxos before geting to Athens from Koufonissia and had a much nicer room in the same hotel. We headed to Pireaus (the port of Athens) the next day.

Athens. What is there left to be said, that hasn't been said in the last 3000 years – except that it’ll look great when they finish it. The place people come to see the monuments of a civilization but the ancient monuments appear to still be undergoing "renovation". Even the place across the road from our hotel, which is neither ancient nor a monument, appears to be in a state of either repair or demolition (bit hard to tell which). Yes the old Parthenon and the temple of what’s his name in the Agora is rather cool, but compared to the experience of Ephesus where you get to walk along the same roads, and into the same temples, libraries and houses as the original occupants, the monuments of Athens appear a little sterile with barriers, ropes and people with whistles stopping you from getting too close. Still, the museums were rather impressive, even without Lord Elgin’s booty.



Naxos on the returne journey


View from the room, over the Aegean Sea


Last view of the Islands from the ferry in Naxos. How about that for a sailing ship!


The not so salubriuos view from the balcony of our room in Athens! We suspect the white blobs on the walls are toilet paper "bombs" thrown by Liverpool FC supporters at last week's Champion's Cup final.


The restored stoa, part of the Acient Agora


Temple of the god of metal workers. Name ?? it was only today you would think we would remember!


Ben and another photo of a monument!


Acropolis at night from the terrace of the hotel


Parthenon at about 9:00am (note number of tourists)


Same shot, an hour later


The view of the ancient agora from the acropolis


Jessica after a hard day’s walk around the sites of Athens


Last dinner in Greece.

Koufonisia 22nd to 25th May

Yes internet very difficult to find in the Greek Islands!

We went from naxos to one of the islands in the Little Cyclades, Koufonisia. We had no reservation and just hoped there would be some where to stay. We were met at the wharf by a greek family who ran a hotel with lovely rooms with balcony over looking the sea. They didn't speek a word of english, just smiled a lot. Koufonisia was lovely, we got our first taste of real greek hospitality with biscuits on arrival, ouzo at dinner and free treats from the bakery.


The main st of Koufonisia



View from our balcony


The Aegean Sea


Old windmill and boats

Naxos

Arrived in Naxos late at night (12:00) and tried to find our way through the supposed simple street to the accommodation we had booked. We found a labyrinth of streets and staircases getting completely lost. We met up with some other lost travellers, trying to get to the same place. It took about 30 min to find the place which was about 50m from the port! When we got there we found they only had 1 room left and the other people, with backpacks not suitcases got there just before us so they got the room! The hotel owner found us another room just around the corner, or several corners. But luckily the hotel owner took us there. We then tried to go for a beer and some dinner, but decided we would never make it back to the room!


The labyrinth of streets in Naxos


Ben's continued fascination with toilets- this time medieval.

Ikaria 21st May

We didn't spend much time in Ikaria, it was only a transit stop between Fourni and Naxos. We did spend one day walking to the hot springs. Which were impressive. The springs are on the edge of the ocean and the water comes out of the ground at 60 C wich makes the surounding water a nice temp. But the H2S smell was a bit much!


Very dark skies over Ikaria


Waiting for the Ferry to Naxos


Finnaly the big Ferry arrives

Fourni Island

The street our room was on with all the oleanders and bougainvilleas in flower.



After second night in Greece, when we worked out how to order food!


The main street of Fourni, Yes it really is that busy!


The cute fishing port, and the Taverners where we spent most of our time.


The Beach over the other side of the island with its very own wharf


View from the other side of the Harbour with one of the many churches

Selcuk to Fourni Island

Kusadisi (Turky) from the ferry


First look at Greece, beach umbrellas at Samos


The very nice lunch at Samos before the ferry to Fourni Island later in the day.

Off to Greece

Tomorrow we head to Greece, catching a ferry to Samos and hopefully to a very small island called Fourni, which is part of a very small chain to the east of Ikaeia. The Ferry system seems a bit chaotic so I hope we get there, but if not I am sure all the islands will be nice. We shall see what happens but internet may be limited!

Ephesus

Ephesus is all it’s cracked up to be. The best preserved Roman city in Asia Minor, and with the tourists to prove it. Thousands of them, apparently they all decided to arrive on some massive cruise ship and all wanted to go to Ephesus the same day as us. Still it hardly detracted from the monumental scale of the whole site. The tour groups went through in about an hour, and we took about 5. Best parts are the newly opened and restored terrace houses, complete with stunning frescoes and mosaics, and working archaeologists attempting to piece together the wall coverings of entire rooms – talk about a jigsaw puzzle and a half!!! And without most of the tour groups, thankfully. The stadium and library are the big ones, and deserve to be, but Ben reckons the most interesting were the Roman loos, water pipes and sewage system. On the way out we went down some deserted track and came across an overgrown roadway, the oldest in the site at 600 BC. Complete with original columns, remnants of shops and paved in marble and extending for more than 500 m. Weird – sums up most of Turkey actually


The Theatre from a long way away



Archaeologists working on an enormous jigsaw puzzle


Frescoes and mosaics in one of the old houses.



Mosaic of in the hall of one of the houses




The Old Library





The oldest steet at Ephesus, and with NO tourists



Domitian Street, where the taverns (Pubs) were


Curetes Street which runs between the Library and admin centre


An ancient backgammon board now used as a paving stone in a pathway


Mosaics down the side of one of the buildings on Theartre Street.


The Roman loos!

Selcuk

We caught a bus from Pamukkle to Selcuk which took about 4 hrs through mostly fruit and olive trees, with the occasional Shepard guarding his sheep! The country side is similar to home, with slightly, or should I say much higher mountains around with all bare surfaces. On arrival in Selcuk we went to the Ephesus museum which houses many of the important statues and artefacts that were found on the Ephesus site many of which date back to 5000BC. Yes more marble statues, columns etc!!! and very interesting. We then went Saint Johns Basilica and saw the tomb of Saint John who died here about 100 AD. The Basilica is only about 100m from where we are staying and is lit up at night. Just outside our hotel are storks which nest on a telegraph pole and on the old aquaduct which took water to the ancient city of Ephesus.


Artemis Ephesia 125 to 175 AD


Emperor Domitian who was in power between 82 and 96 AD, a statue which would have stook over 7m high


The Tomb od saint John


Saint Johns Basicila


Castle on the hill that is not open to the public after one wall fell down after an earthquake

Storks nesting on the pole just outside our hotel room

The aquaduct at night

Saint Johns Bascilica at night