I am back from Greece! And I had the time of my life there. I have been to many different places in the world, and I have to say, Greece is probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen. It had a good mix of everything. The scenery, the beautiful beaches, the mountains, the clear blue skies, the open and endless sea, the happening night life, the historical monuments, the rich history, the sprawling and vast open spaces, with its trees, and lush hills, and of course, beautiful people. It was just stunning. So many times, I was speechless cos of the sheer beauty of the place.

I'm going to have a few entries for my trip cos there are just too many things to share so I'm going to take my time to blog everything down. I'm going to start with Santorini. Of all the islands in Greece, Santorini is probably the most popular, simply because of the stunning views and gorgeous sunset at Oia. And I went to Santorini with a lot of expectations. I have seen so many pictures of it, on tv, in advertisements, books, magazines....And I have always wanted to see it in person cos it looks so beautiful. It did not disappoint, I swear. I was in awe. Majestic.

I did a lot of things in Santorini. We took a 3 hr boat ride from Mykonos Island to reach Santorini, and the view that greeted us was awesome. Check this out.



We had dinner at the very cute Greek tavern. I had the chicken souvlaki, a very Greek dish. Very, very yum. The food in Greece is really good. I usually dont eat much when I travel cos the food is usually not to my palate but in Greece, man..everything was good. I ate like a horse there. :)

On our first morning there, we woke up at 5am to catch the sun rise. So Kat and I trudged our way to this big open field, about a 20 mins walk from our hotel, where it was empty except for a few sporadic houses here and there, and the sky was completely clear. And we just sat in silence as we watched the sky changed colour, hues of blues, orange, pink, red....It was just beautiful. We didn't do much talking. Just sat, breathed in the cool air, with silence all around us, as we watched the glorious sun rise.

Kat took these pictrues of me when I wasn't looking. I like it..I look pensive. I was just appreciating God's creation.

This was after watching the sunrise, about 620am. Really bright cos it was summer. At the hotel, very pretty hotel with great views too.

And we set off at 9am to see Santorini in one day. It was so much fun! We went to visit the Prophet Elias monastery which was built on the highest point of the island, so the view was insanely beautiful. There you go....:)

Then we went on to the old village of Pyrgos, very pretty village. And we met 3 girls from Europe, and made friends with them. We basically hung out together the whole day. This one is Thea, from Germany. They are all exchange students.

The very friendly donkey guy.

The drive down to the port to take the ferry to Nea Kameni, the volcano.

In the boat. View was amazing. Imagine sitting in the boat, and surrounded by such beauty.

From here, we stopped at the volcanoes. Still active but erupts once every 500 years and the last eruption was in 1950s so we were pretty safe. Crazy climb up cos the ground was really rocky, uneven, and very very steep. Took me about 45 mins to an hour to get up. And it was bloody tiring cos I was wearing the wrong shoes, I refused to wear track shoes cos well..it's ugly. So I wore my Giselle Bunchen sandals and paid for it.LOL! At least my photos turned out awesome. But my God, the view from the top of the volcano was insanely beautiful. I really can't describe it. You have to be there to understand. Just check out the pictures.

Stunning, right? :P From the volcano climb,we had to trek back down..A little easier but still a pain. So we were headed to the hot springs. I thought the boat was going to dock, and we were going to get down from the boat and slowly tread into the hot springs. So imagine my shock when the boat stopped in the middle of the Aegean Sea, and the guy said, 'Ok. You can jump in from here and the hot springs is there. You have to swim there.' And he was pointing to an area about 100m away from where the boat was. And in my head, I was like, 'WTF? I have to swim there? In the open sea? The freaking deep sea, where I can't feel my legs on the ground??' Im not a strong swimmer...I thought long and hard, and I felt crazy, so I just stripped down to my bikini, and without thinking, just jumped in. OMG! It was like the scariest thing I have ever done. I plunged deep into the water, and when I finally floated back onto the surface, I kind of panicked. The waves were huge, kept pushing me down, the water was freezing cold and after about5 mins or so, I panicked and quickly swam back to the boat. I figured, enough. I dont want do die in Greece. LOL! But it was an experience. And at least I can say I have swam in the Aegean Sea. :)

Me, after the horrifying jump. We just sat around in our bikini on the boat, waiting to dry up. I am beyond tanned now.

See those dots? Those are people swimming into the hot springs. Scary shit.

Then we headed to Thirassia Island, an old town, where we went for lunch. To get to the town, we had to walk 600 steps up. Im not talking about your normal HDB steps. Im talking, uneven ground, steep, inclined, in 39 degrees weather. So Kat and I decided to take a donkey up. And my God. It was bloody scary, I swear. The donkeys were a little mental. First, when I was up the donkey, it was really elevated. So it was high, really high. And cos the donkeys were going up a steep flight of steps, it was even scarier. And to worsen things, the donkeys, well at least mine, kept walking on the extreme corner of the steps, which were right next to the cliff, with sharp rocks and the open sea. Not the best. AND...............The best part was? I had a really competitive donkey, who decided that it wanted to be the first donkey up, so it galloped up the damn steps! GALLOPED! It was crazy! But we got there fast.At the expense of my heart though. But it was an experience. :)

The view of Thirassia Island from the boat.

My crazy donkey.

At the top of the island. :)

Stunning, right?

After the horrifying jump into the water, and the traumatising donkey ride, we had a really good lunch at this gorgeous restaurant facing the sea and mountain ranges. :)That's Anka from Budapest, Natalie from Paris, me, Kat and Thea from Hamburg.

From Thirassia, we set off for Oia, the must see place in Santorini. That's where the beautiful sunset it. The all famous one we see in pictures everywhere. This is the view of Oia from the boat.

Oia is just awesomely beautiful. The architecture, the white and blue buildings, the churches, the quirky shops, cafes, and the view. Oh my God, I don't even know how to describe it...But just check out the pictures. It's probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen.

We sar at a cafe, while waiting for the sunset. So we sat down, facing the gorgeous view, and had crepes and waffles and granitas and frappes, and just talked and talked and laughed and laughed. It was one of the best times I have ever had. The girls were great. I felt really happy and free. :)

And the sunset begins....

Our 2nd day in Santorini was spent at the beach and we went to Kamari beach, the beach with the black sand. The sand was really pebbly and the sea was surrounded by mountainous rocks. The waves were huge, and water was freezing but I still went in anyway.

This was the last time we saw the girls as we set off for Athens after this. But I will always remember them and we are still in contact, thanks to facebook! :)

The restaurant where we had lunch at Kamari beach.

So yes, this is Santorini. Lives up to all the hype. I had the best time here. People were so great, food was fantabulous, and the views....I cant even begin to describe it. :)

Next entry, Mykonos. Another mind blowingly beautiful island, with men galore...LOL! More about that later. Im starving. I have been blogging for 2hrs!!!