Tag Archives: Greece

Bloggings, Reviews - Travel, Scuba, Snorkeling, Travel

Honeymoon-Snorkeling … nah how about Scuba diving?! in Santorini

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I slept good last night. We slept with the balcony open and apparently it started thundering and storming so Don got up and shut it. I never heard any of this happen. We got up around 730 am so we could go on our snorkeling trip. First we went to breakfast at the hotel. It was not so good but it was free. I was getting a little worried because it was very cool outside and it looked like rain. I couldn’t imagine getting in the water but we went for it anyway. A person from the dive shop came and picked us up around 9 am. On the way she asked us if we wanted to try diving instead of snorkeling. I’ve always wanted to do diving but I have never done it so the thought of doing it today made me a little scared. After thinking a little bit we decided just to do it.

It was 85 euros a piece. I was feeling really nervous but excited also. When we got to the dive shop we filled out the paperwork, paid and got our wetsuits, boots, and flippers. Then we got in a van and drove to the port. The port was a lot smaller than the main one on Santorini. The boat was a small speedboat and it was freaking rough. I was bouncing up and down. We got out to the first dive spot and the experienced divers went out. We stayed on the boat with our instructor. He gave us a brief talk about diving. I couldn’t really focus on it because the boat was rocking and I was feeling very seasick and nervous. Finally we got up and Don got in first. We went to the back of the boat and put weights on our waist, our flippers on, mask on and then the instructor helped us put the tank on. Once the tank was on he hoisted us up and we stepped off the boat.

The first time I was in the water with all this gear on it was very awkward and I felt panicked. I felt like I couldn’t control my body very well because it kept pushing my body up. We went underwater for a little bit just to see what it was like. Then Don went with one instructor and I went with the other one, Costca. He was very easy to work with. We followed the chain from the boat anchor down. My ears hurt a little from the pressure but not that much. The first dive was awesome. We saw a few fish and saw the drop off. It was pretty amazing.
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When we got back on the boat we had some water and a little croissant thing. I couldn’t really eat. I didn’t feel that sick anymore but I just couldn’t eat. So we boated to the next dive spot. It was by the island of Therassia, where we ate the day before. When I first got in the water I felt a little better about it. I felt I could control my body a little easier. Then we started to go down. This time I didn’t go with Costca; I went with the other instructor. We started to go down and my ears hurt bad. It was really giving my problems. So we would go back up a little, but I felt like he wouldn’t listen to me. It was really hurting and he told me maybe I was focusing on trying to regulate them too much. This was probably true. They started to feel a little better, in my mind I was like maybe they are just feeling better because they have burst! We went down and I saw a black sponge and a few fish. Then my goggles started giving me problems. At first I tried to ignore it but then they came off. I started panicking. My instructor brought me up and I was done. That was okay because it was the end of the dive anyway.

I want to try diving again but with gear that fits me well and lessons. The first dive was amazing, second one not so much but I want to do it again. When we got back to the dive shop we took pictures with the crew and exchanged some names for Facebook. It was a really cool experience. Costca gave us a ride back to the hotel.
Here’s some pictures from the boat ride back.
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Once we got back we showered and got ready for dinner. It was early but we didn’t have lunch. We had some pizza, it was really good! We watched some dogs while at the restaurant. One of them was really territorial and wouldn’t let one of other ones into its area. But one of the other ones was okay to go in its area. It was entertaining. After dinner we went down to the beach and laid for a little bit. It got chilly so we walked back. Then it rained a little. The rest of the night we just chilled, packed, and got ready to leave for Mykonos in the morning.
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Bloggings, Reviews - Travel, Travel

Honeymoon-Santorini- Volcano, Oia, and Fira! Oh My!

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I slept really good last night, probably from all the traveling. I woke up at 350 am and thought it should be 7 am already. I tried falling back asleep, but I don’t know how well that went. Later I woke up to all kinds of birds and a rooster. I opened the balcony doors to find a cat wandering below our room and the sun rising over the sea.
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We decided to eat at an English bar for breakfast instead of the complimentary breakfast. I enjoyed a nice Greece Dr. Pepper during breakfast.
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Breakfast was good. We hung out by the beach for a bit then we came back for a meeting with costa, one of the tour guides.

After the meeting we took at taxi to the port for the volcano cruise. We walked up the volcano; it was very cool but tiring. On the way down I rolled my ankle, it was bad but kept going. It will probably hurt tomorrow. Here are some pictures from the Volcano Tour.
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After the volcano we got back on the boat and went over to the hot springs. The hot springs are not very hot just warmer water created by the amounts of sulfur in the water from the volcano. The boat anchored and we had to do about a 5 minute swim to get to the hot springs. When I got back in the boat there were a lot of waves and I started to feel sick. It was bad.

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We stopped at the island of Therassia and I was feeling pretty bad. I got a coke at the first restaurant we were shuffled into. After looking at the menu and seeing some of the other restaurants we left to go to a different one. The coke made me feel better. We ate at the last restaurant on the waterfront. It had a cat and we saw an octopus in the water.
octupus!

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Once we got back on the boat to go to Oia, we sat in the top back. I had a fear I was going to get sick so I balled up a plastic bag in my fist. I didn’t get sick luckily and it wasn’t that bad of ride. We got off at Oia, the famous part of Santorini with all the white buildings, it was awesome and beautiful. It was probably the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. The only way to get to the city from the port is to walk up the stairs or take a donkey. We decided to take a donkey. It was crazy! When I got on the donkey I thought it would be a nice leisurely ride and I could take pictures, NO! When I first got on the donkey charged up the stairs. It was very fast and rough, but awesome. I had to hang on tight. My donkey would go between two other donkeys or get up close to the wall; I scraped my leg on the wall.
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Once we got to the top we took a lot of pictures. We walked around the city and looked for a restaurant to watch the sunset. The sunsets in Santorini are very famous. We found a restaurant and we saw people staying at our hotel. We watched the sunset, had some drinks and had some food. The sunset was very pretty, except clouds were on the horizon so we didn’t get the full effect.
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After dinner I got cold. We walked around a little bit more then decided to take a cab to the capital city of Fira. We split a cab with another couple who was staying in Fira. They were from Minnesota. When we got to Fira I bought a sweatshirt. We also stopped at an internet café to check in with our parents. From Fira we took the bus home to Kamari. We were both falling asleep and I was just lucky enough to hear the bus driver say Kamari. I shot up and said “we’re here!”
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Bloggings, Reviews - Travel, Travel

Honeymoon-Athens to Santorini

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We arrived at the Athens airport at 1020 am. We found our tour guide with the Gate 1 sign and she gave us instructions about our next flight to Santorini. Our flight to Santorini wasn’t until 3 pm so we had a lot of time. It was so boring. I was also getting so cranky. I was tired of traveling and I wanted a shower. We got a sandwich and shared it and waited until we could go to the gate.

We finally went to our gate around 2 and our flight was delayed by a half hour. It was horrible. I was so tired. We were sleeping in the chairs. We used the internet. They had free internet for one hour in the airport. So not as good as Canada….but hey at least you got some free time. We finally got on the plane and we sat on the plane without moving for a long while. When we took off we both fell asleep. We arrived in Santorini around 445 pm.

We took a bus to our hotel and got our travel documents for Santorini. It had a map and a list of excursions we could do and other things we could do on our own. We decided one of the excursions we wanted to do was snorkeling. Once we got checked in we showered. The shower felt so good after all the traveling. Here’s some pictures of Hotel Hermes.
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Then we left the hotel to find food. We saw a little field with 2 goats and an old woman just sitting there. The walk to the beach and main street from our hotel was about 5 minutes. The beach was black rock and pebbles instead of sand. I think because Santorini is a volcano.
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We walked around trying to find a place to eat and there were so many choices. We decided on a place that had a bunch of cats hanging around at it. The cats were cute. Our first meal in Greece was a mixed grill for two that included potatoes, pork on a stick, meatballs, sausage, chicken and lamb.
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It was soooo good. We walked around more after dinner to pick up some water since we can only drink bottled water. I found a Dr Pepper that I plan on having for breakfast tomorrow!!
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On the walk back to the hotel we took a different way and ended up getting lost. We had to ask another hotel how to get to ours. Luckily we were not too far away and we made it back. I think the reason we made it was because of this church…it was our landmark.

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Bloggings, Reviews - Travel, Travel

Honeymoon in Greece begins!

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Today I woke up and ate some more catering left overs. Then we left for Ohare around 9 am. We checked in and talked to the parents about how great the wedding was.

Our flight was on time to Montreal. The plane was so freaken small to Montreal that our carry ons wouldn’t fit above our seats! I made “friends” with an old couple from nearby Lake Geneva. They were going to Rome.

When we arrived in Montreal we had a snack and used their free wi-fi. Why does Canada have all this free stuff?! Our flight to Athens was also on time! It left around 3 pm and was an overnight flight. We noticed when they were boarding basically no one was getting up to get on the plane. The flight was freaken empty! It was awesome. We could lay down in the middle row and sleep.
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We had a dinner, it wasn’t very good. So then I laid down and watched the movie that was on, Unknown. I fell asleep towards the end and woke up and the new Yogi Bear movie was on. I watched some of it but was so tired and fell asleep again and woke up to something about electronics on. This was boring and I fell asleep again and woke up and No Strings Attached was on but it was towards the end. So I fell asleep again and was woken up by a huge bump. I sat straight up and was kind of freaken out. It was bumpy and I started feeling queasy. The rest of the ride sucked and they fed us some breakfast but I couldn’t really eat. And it was bumpy. I was so happy to be on land in Athens. I was also surprised to see how desert-like Athens looked near the airport. Can’t wait to get our honeymoon started!!