The port town of Hora on Naxos from the Gate of Apollo July 2009 (c) Rachel Miller.

Opposite the Acropolis in Athens July 2009 (c) Rachel Miller.

The Athenian port of Piraeus July 2009 (c) Rachel Miller.

GREECE * HOT * HOT * HOT AND THE TOURIST TRAP
A few images from recent trip to Greece island hopping. The route was Athens - Crete - Santorini - Ios (for an hour before we decided it was a bit too 18-30s holiday) - Naxos and back to Athens. NB: the word 'hopping' is deceptive as it takes hours to get between some islands ... if you're a cheapskate and enjoy the slow ferry - an experience in itself. Highly recommended is the 8 hour overnight ferry from Athens to Crete. You just need a few things: cigarettes (even if you have quit for a year they are so cheap and add to moments looking pensively out to sea), alcohol, cards and a fun companion. You can get much much shorter catamaran journeys for a lot more money but half the fun is pottering around the wobbly decks of an aged vessel, slowly being poisoned by the dark fumes being emitted from the 'funnel?', reading and chatting for hours.
The ports are hectic when ships go out and come in and then slip into a hypnotic lull inbetween.

Sun sets at Fira in Santorini July 2009 (c) Rachel Miller.

The town of Fira on a Santorini cliff edge July 2009 (c) Rachel Miller.

LIFE ON A VOLCANO
Coming from as inland as you can (in the world) - north Birmingham - I am always fascinated by the exoticism of seaside towns. Even Grimsby and Cleethorpes astound me sometimes but this was magnificent. The sunset at Fira on Santorini in the Greek Cyclades happens over an extinct volcano. We sat and watched it on land that had been blown apart by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions over a million years ago. The mass of earth which had joined the present island with volcano island was sunk below the sea in 1650BC leaving Santorini out on its own, hewn precariously from craggy cliff edges striped with red, black and white rock. Bit more dramatic than Blackpool beach.