Hello!

This song is dedicated to all my Contiki tourmates!

My favourite things about my trip:

• Meeting amazing people.
• Being able to stay out til 4am most nights and still get up to go to the next day's tours.
• Athens.
• Greece in general! Corfu, Delos, Mykonos, Patmos, Santorini, Crete, all of it.
• The amazing food (especially the Greek food).
• Getting lost in Rome but feeling happy about it because it allowed me to accidentally discover beautiful things.
• The rooftop and balcony gardens of Rome.
• The peculiar idiosyncrasies of genius tour guides.
• The view onto the picturesque alleyways of Sorrento from our hotel room.
• Drinking games on every hotel terrace.
• Stoney beaches.
• The perfect metro system in Barcelona.
• Up close and personal experiences with my friends Salvador Dali and Antoni Gaudi.
• Turkish ice cream!
• George's boat, George's tzatziki.
• Amazing architecture, sculpture, mosaic work.
• Walking through a street and hearing no English whatsoever.
• European summer.

Day Sixteen

Today we visited beautiful Crete! It was the last official day of my Contiki tour, so towards the end it got quite busy. We had also booked a tour that took us away from the capital city of Heraklion and into the mountainous areas.

We started off by visiting the Monastery of the Panayia Kera in the mountains, where the Virgin Mary performed a miracle in the 1600s. During that time, Crete was invaded and occupied by the Turks who sought to suppress the Greek Orthodox church on the island. A group of Turks stole the icon of the Virgin Mary from the small church at the monastery, but it returned itself to the monastery and chained itself to a pillar, which was considered a miracle. The same icon and chains were on display inside the church to see and touch. Inside the church were also beautiful Byzantine frescoes, which were very dark because they haven't been restored. The frescoes were also missing in places because during the Turkish occupation, the locals put plaster over the decorated walls so the church wouldn't be demolished. So there were only about half of the frescoes left, but what was left was beautiful and very unlike any of the others I've seen on the Greek islands. It was much more morbid, showing people burning, being eaten by giant fish, and so on. But still beautiful in a dark way. We finished our tour by walking through the secret tunnel corridor where, during the Turkish occupation, children were taught in secret the Greek alphabet and religion.

Our second stop was my favourite of the day: the cave high up in the mountains where the Greek god Zeus is said to have been born and hidden from his father Cronus  until he was old enough to defeat him and become king of the gods.

First we had to trek up to the top of Mount Ida which was an ordeal for someone wearing thongs, i.e. myself. We had the option of taking a donkey up but I chose to get some exercise instead. It took about half an hour of steep rocky paths to get to the top. Once we got there, we formed single file and approached the mouth of the cave, which seemed small until you approached the 200 steps going down. It was about 35 degrees Celsius at that time of the day and standing at the top of the steps, you could feel cold air blowing out of the cave and hitting you. Usually it's about 18 degrees in the cave but it felt freezing because I've gotten so used to hot weather. It was very refreshing though, and the cave itself was impressive with enormous stalactites and stalagmites aged roughly 2 million years old. It was another place that felt so special when you were there, and we got to throw coins in the pool of water at the bottom of the cave to pay homage to Zeus. It was eerie though because the cave's rock formations look to be a normal rock-colour when you look at them with your own eyes, but when you take a photo of them without flash, everything is bathed in an ethereal green light.

After Zeus' cave, we headed to our lunch destination which was located near some shops selling handmade goods such as weaving, pottery, carvings and candles. There was also a natural zoo with some of Crete's mountain goats inside. We had a wander around and then went to lunch which was a five course meal of traditional Cretan dishes, all incredibly delicious.

After lunch, we went to a little beach that is a favourite with the locals on the island. After walking up a mountain it was lovely to just walk right into the warm sea, which was just what we needed. We spent a couple of hours just floating in the sea and it was the perfect end to our day.

After the tour ended we didn't have enough time to see the rest of Crete. Next time I go, I will definitely be visiting the Minoan Palace of Knossos!!

After getting back on the boat we went to a series of meetings about the disembarkation schedule of the ship, and our Contiki guide helped us out with planning for getting to our various hotels and hostels tomorrow in Athens. We had a farewell dinner where we all sat together on one huge table. Later that night at the ship disco we played a massive game of Slaps, which was the drinking game and not the card game. I kept losing and having to take shots so after a couple of rounds I thought it best to retire to bed considering we had to be off the boat by 7am.

Athens tomorrow, the end of Contiki and the start of a new solo travelling adventure to Barcelona! I have had the best time on the Contiki tour, apart from being sick with the famous cough towards the end. I've met the best people who I will definitely be keeping in contact with. Missing them already.

Day Fifteen

My time with Contiki will soon be coming to a close! Today we visited Santorini, tomorrow is Crete, then we finish up in Athens the next day.

Today we anchored in the sea outside Santorini at about 8am and headed downstairs to the tenderboat which would take us from the ship to the tiny harbour of the island. The cruise ship experience is all very new to me, so taking one boat from another boat to get to the harbour was pretty weird, although all the older people on the ship seemed to be totally used to it.

We started the day on Santorini with a trip to the village of Oia. Our tour guide described it as "glorious", and I have to say I agree with him. It's just like everything you see on stereotypically Greek postcards, of domed white and blue buildings clinging to the side of the cliffs. But way more beautiful in real life, especially with the perfect weather we had today. We had a chance to wander its picturesque narrow streets and have a look into lots of the little buildings (which just so happened to be shops), and just take in the spectacular view. From where we were, we could directly see the giant volcano that was responsible for sinking the majority of the island into the sea during the height of the Minoan civilisation, about 3000 years ago.

Our tour guide also seemed to be an archaeology buff and told us all about Akrotiri, which is where the extensive Minoan ruins were discovered on Santorini. On the site there are giant frescoes and many buildings, some of which are up to three storeys high, all perfectly preserved thanks to the volcano ash that covered the island (similarities with Pompei again). Looking at pictures of it now, I might have read about it in the past, but I actually had no idea it was located on Santorini so I felt a bit ignorant. It's currently closed to visitors so we weren't allowed to go there, but once the site is opened up again I definitely want to visit! It sounds like the most interesting archaeological site, especially since the buildings are so "modern" compared to other buildings of that time.

After our tour of Oia, we went to Fira to see the main town and were given the rest of the day free. We decided to visit one of Santorini's famous black sand beaches at Kamari, but we all stupidly forgot to wear our bathers so we couldn't actually swim there. But we made it past the blisteringly hot black sand and rocks to walk our bare legs into the water, which was nice. After a while we decided to have an ice cream and sit down for a bit and I had one that was baklava flavoured - so good. Then it was back to Fira on the incredibly crowded bus which was an hour late due to the way Greeks perceive time on the islands. Definitely gives me a new appreciation for public transport in Melbourne, although the two are easily comparable.

For the rest of the day in Fira we just did our usual thing, had a look in some churches, ate a gyros in the shade, and looked around the shops. The buildings in Fira are similar to Oia, but generally larger, so it feels less quaint, but the town is still very pretty. The view from everywhere was amazing, as the town sits high on the clifftop, the same as Oia. We could see our cruise ship from above which was much smaller than the other ones in the bay. We ended the day with a cold drink overlooking the bay, the volcano, and our ship.

That night we had a little Contiki cocktail party at the ship disco, and it was good to have everyone together for a drink instead of scattered throughout the different bars on the ship. Again, after two cocktails I was ready for bed. My Contiki cough is getting better but I think one solid week of drinking every night and getting up early every morning is enough for me for now. I'm still needing sleep to make up for last week.

As I mentioned before, tomorrow we're finally visiting Crete, which I am very excited about!

Day Nine

Today was our guided tour of the Acropolis! It was the only thing we had scheduled to do in the morning, and the rest of the day we were allowed to have lunch and discover Athens for ourselves until it was time for dinner.

I will preface this entry by saying that I have absolutely fallen in love with Athens and I want to live there. It actually reminds me a lot of Melbourne, and is so easy to get around, with incredible restaurants and shops, with the added bonus of beautiful views of the Acropolis. We could see very clearly the Acropolis from the 7th floor terrace of our hotel, and at night it was lit up with bright yellow lights. There was also an amazing flea market in Monastiraki where we were staying that I could have explored for hours. Basically I adored it and could have stayed for a week more, or even longer. Our suburb was only 10 minutes walk away from the beautiful suburb of Plaka which sits at the foothills of the Acropolis.

So we went very early in the morning, and made our way through the horrendous tourist bus traffic that heads to the Acropolis early in the morning to evade the heat. It was so busy with so many people that we actually noticed a lot of freaks out and about. We saw a man wearing shiny black lycra leggings and Peter Pan-style boots. We saw lots of women wearing heels and slipping about on the marble and gravel. And finally, we saw a woman carrying a cat around in a backpack.

Anyway, we got a ticket for entry to the Acropolis and to the other sites such as the Parthenon and Hadrian's Library. However, we only had time to see the Parthenon so the others will have to wait for the next time I visit Greece (which is likely to be soon judging by how much I loved it).

We walked up so many marble steps, through old gates and marble columns strewn across the ground to see the giant Parthenon, and I pretty much fell in love. I couldn't stop staring at it and got a bit emotional, but I had warned some of my tourmates that I would have that reaction, so it wasn't embarrassing. I don't know what else to say about it other than that I felt so small and insignificant. It was so beautiful. We took so many photos, one of which is my current Facebook picture. I want to go again so I can spend more time there and visit the other sites as well. We had been warned that it would be swelteringly hot but it was actually perfect weather: sunny but not hot, breezy but not cold. So all in all it was an experience I'll never forget. I feel really lucky to be able to see these things while they're still around.

After the Acropolis, we went on a bus tour of the city, showing the site of the first modern Olympics and some of the parliamentary buildings. We also passed by Syntagma Square, where the tour guide mentioned nothing of the recent protests and everyone was walking around seemingly without a care in the world.

After the bus tour, we all went back to our hotels and decided to wander the city. Myself and a friend went to get a giant feast lunch of moussaka, grilled haloumi cheese, tzatziki and potato chunks. So good. Greek food has been my favourite out of all the foods I've eaten so far. Everything tastes so fresh compared to the Greek food in Melbourne and I find myself actually enjoying eating tomatoes for the first time ever. Later on we went to buy some presents for people and found the aforementioned flea market where I scored some really interesting things.

For dinner, we went to a delicious dinner in Plaka, where during our breaks between appetisers and mains, men and women came out to perform traditional dances and invite us to dance as well. I had the best time.

That night was the last night our big crew would be together, as some people opted to do the 3-day cruise, and some people the 7-day cruise, so our group would be on different boats visiting different islands. So that night was going to be a big one. We went to a little bar not too far from the hotel and drank and sang and danced and had the best time. Obviously I'm writing this in the past tense because I'm about two days late, and I can say that at this point in time I miss them all so much! If any of them are reading, you have the stalker sheet, you know where to find me. I'd love to keep in touch with all of you.

The next day was our travel day from Athens to Istanbul, Turkey!