Naxos, Greece II

Next up was Naxos. We camped right by the beach. Knowing nothing about the island - we rented a scooter and went exploring. It's the biggest island in the Cyclades (the classic greek island chain)... we didn't know that. Scooting around, we found a sign to archeological ruins. 30 mins later we arrive at the recently excavated Temple of Dionysis. There wasn't much there. Pictured is the most interesting part.

Later that day we found ourselves following the signs to the "Ancient Marble Quarries". We didn't see any Ancient Marble Quarries, but we saw a number of un-finished statues. In this area was one of the largest natural springs in the Cyclades, which supplied a surprising dense area of growth, almost resembling a jungle. We also took a hike up the hill and saw some off-the-path ruins.

...and of course we chased Lizards. Plenty of water = bugs. Plenty of bugs = fat lizards!

For lunch we drove down to the Main Town/Port. Afterwars we checked out the "symbol" of the island of Naxos: The "entrance" to the Temple of Apollo. According to legend, the gate was never finished, however it points out to sea towards the birthplace of the god Apollo.

Naxos, Greece I

Some pictures from Greece!

Looking over Apollo's Temple at the Port of Naxos Island:

Maragas Beach. Right across the street from our Campsite:

Ios, Greece IV

There isn't much going on in Ios. During the day there is beaches... however during the night, the only things to do are in town. As a result, everyone goes to town at night. In town, while bar hopping, you encounter everyone you've seen during the day: fellow beach bums, the campers, and all the waiters from the restaurants.

Renee taking a flaming shot.

Renee was sad to leave Ios. Cheap camping, beer, and doing nothing on the beach is all she really wanted to do in Greece.

Ios, Greece III

Beach hunting is a tough job. Get a scooter, a map - and zip around all day until you find a beach that you have to yourself. Enough time - and you can escape the touristy bimbo-covered beach, and have your own personal sun-tanning area.

The problem however with secluded beaches, is that they are subject to occasional road-blocks.

We had been doing a little too much beach-bumming... so one of the days in Ios, we took an all-day "Adventure Boat Ride". Blasting music in a power boat, the driver took us, and 8 other people to "cave-diving"... (it was more like swimming), where we anchored the boat, and then swam through the caves that had been worn into the rock over the course of thousands of years. After about 25 meters of swimming into the caves, they would connect in the inside, and you could swim out a different cave (if you could fit)!

Next was snorking, where we power-boated to a beach that was only accessible by boat - and swam around in the crystal clear water and watched fish, and tried to avoid sea-urchins. Afterwards was cliff-jumping - where we took a running start, and dove off a cliff. I hit the water pretty hard, and forgot to pinch my nose. As a result, I felt like I had salt water in my brain for a day. Pictured is our Danish friends enjoying their now super-clear sinuses!

Sorry for lacking pictures - water sports are rather unfriendly towards digital cameras, so I kept in safe. Here's our Argentinean friends that we hung out with!

Ios, Greece II

My favorite thing to do on Ios was to rent a scooter. There really isn't much on Ios - so there is no where to go. As a result, the roads are almost always empty - so you can zip around to the different beaches. The weather of Ios is hot and dry - so the breeze on the scooter feels really great.

We went to Homer's Tomb. It was the most uninteresting place I've ever been. It wasn't the first time for me - but I wanted to make Renee laugh.It took about 40 minutes of "scootering" to get to - fortunately there was paved road all the way - but at the end there really isn't anything. Some historic fund built a little bit of shade... but the actually tomb is just a pile of rocks.

On the way back, we stopped at some archeological ruins named Skarkos. The tourist center, and gates were closed - but since we came all the way there - we just hopped the fence, followed the roads, and had the place to ourselves. According to the signs, Skarkos was from around 3000 BC to 2000 BC!, and is one of the first places to show signs of organized agriculture, sewage system, and two-story houses.

Ios, Greece I

Next on our list to-do was Ios.With out tent we bought in Athens, we found a cheap camping site right next to a beach on Ios. I would barely call in camping. After managing to figure your way out of the tent, it took 3 minutes to get to Manganari beach!

Right next to the "Camping Area" was a bar, complete with pool we could sneak into, and hammocks that over-looked the ocean.

The only part that I would actually call camping was our pathetically small tent. It looked bigger in the picture. It barely fit Renee.

However, when we weren't exploring, or at the bars, we spent 100% of our time at the beach.

Santorini, Greece

We didn't spend long in Athens. Long enough to find the cheapest tent possible for camping, a ticket to one of the islands, and baklava. The next ferry leaving was to Santorini - so we took it. That night we camped on Santorini, then the following day we rented a Scooter and went beach hunting.

We "buzzed" around all day, and found a few smaller, empty beaches. Late noon, we headed north to Oia, to see the sunset. Oia is the beautiful white-washed town built along the hill.

...however everyone else in Greece also wanted to see the sunset there.

Oia is a really incredible town. It sits on the corner of Santorini, an island formed when a volcano blew out the middle - shaping the island like a big C. According to myth, the layout of the town was designed to slow down invading pirates, so the streets all twist and turn in a crazy maze. Getting lost was part of the fun there.

Igoumenitsa, Greece

From Catania, Sicily, we took an overnight bus to Brindisi, Italy. We just wanted to get to Greece. Of course almost everything was closed. We found a ticket office for the ferries. They didn't actually sell ferry tickets, but they said there was a bus every 20 mins that ran from the corner to the ferries. 2 hours later - still no bus.

We eventually got to the port, where we got a ticket for the next ferry leaving Italy. Corfu was where we wanted to go, but Igoumenitsa was the soonest option. It's a long distance from Italy to Greece. On the way we enjoyed the view.

We arrived in Igoumenitsa, Greece just as the sun set.

The next night we took an overnight bus to Athens. We had intended to sleep on the bus. For some reason, the bus got into Athens a few hours earlier. It was 3am, and we were dropped in the sketchiest "I'm going to get murdered" bus station in my entire life. We walked outside, and the bus station isn't in the center of Athens: it was on the side of the highway. We took a taxi to the nearest, cheapest hotel to get out of there.

Catania, Sicily

We spent an extra day in Catania since we found a really nice hostel. Catania is a nice city, but suffers from the same problems that most Sicilian cities do. Shops and hotels are only open when they feel like it, the people aren't very friendly, and nothing makes sense. For example: the "Etna" Bus Company doesn't sell tickets to Mount Etna.

In the middle of the city is the ruins of an ancient Roman Colosseum. You don't know it's there until you walk up to it. Where there should be a building, is just a hole in the ground. Look down and you see a sixth of what used to be an ancient Colosseum from Roman occupation. We snuck in at just the right time and had the place to ourselves!

Attached to our hostel was a bar. For some reason, that bar had an underground cave, with a river running through it. When we were looking for our hostel, we stopped by the bar to ask if they knew where they were. Before I could say anything, the bartender asked "would you like to see the underground cave". Of course the answer was yes.

Finally we left Sicily. It will not be missed. I'm not even going to go into how much trouble it is to travel in Sicily, or communicate, or understand signs - so instead here is a picture of me on our ferry to Greece.

Mount Etna Panoramas

This first image is half way up the mountain. Looking over dormant craters - towards the peak of Etna you can see the clouds about to go through it.

This second picture is at the top. Silent Hill mixed with Mars Landing!

Mount Etna

After we escaped Villafranca - we took the bus to Catania, where we stayed for a few days and took a day trip to Mount Etna - an active volcano. On the bus ride up - you can see the remains from previous eruptions, where the lava overtook many buildings.

From the "gift shop area" we took a gondola ride up to the way-way top. (thanks mother!) On the way up you could see plants trying to grow in the sharp, violent landscape.

Etna is the highest volcano in Europe, and stands at 10,922 ft. Once we started walking we realized how quickly we ran out of breath at such a height. Some people payed for rides in Jeeps with giant wheels, but we decided to rough it.

We were hiking at cloud level. All of a sudden clouds would sweep across the landscape - and the temperature would drop to freezing. Visibility would drop to near zero - and it felt like we stepped into a horror movie. After a few minutes of hiking, we were completely alone on the mountain.

We hiked for an hour. A hiker informed is that unfortunately, the crater was closed... because it was active and spewing lava - however between clouds we saw what we thought was a steaming crater.

Mount Etna was an incredible experience. We didn't see any lava, or spewing fire - but we walked through a completely foreign world - where not a single plant lived, the ground was barren, black and sharp, and where it could go from clear, to freezing cold and almost no visibility in just a few minutes. What ended up chasing us down was a hail storm - the most intense hail storm I've ever been in - where the hail hurt if the pellets hit your bare skin.

Villafranca, Sicily

Our next workaway was in Villafranca, Sicily. We took the bus from Trapani, to Sciacca, where our host picked us up..... yeah...... Franco says he is the President of Sicily. Villafranca is in the middle of nowhere. Geographically, and culturally. I'm not about to return to Sicily any time soon.

Some of the funny traditions include: if someone is feeling lazy - they don't go to work. If someone is tired, or hungover, or bored... they don't open their shop. Nothing is every open - and no one is going anywhere. If someone you know (in a town of 500 people this happens a lot) is driving by - they stop in the middle of the street, blocking traffic, to have a conversation. Here is our host doing just that on the main street through town.

Not only is Villafranca in the middle of nowhere, but we lived on the outskirts. Our water came from a spring in the ground filled with frogs, we ate pasta with leaves from the "garden" every night, we didn't have electricity, and there was no internet. Did I mention Franco wanted me to make him 4 websites in a week? We had to make a deal with a local bar to get their personal home wifi password - so I could walk into town everyday to get websites - and hope they felt like being open.