Greece: The Land of Zeus

Namaste. In April 2016, my two friends and I went for two trips; Greece and Turkey. We went to Greece on the 9th-16th of April, for our very first time. Greece is on my bucket list since last year as I was always amazed by Santorini. I'll try to keep my story short this time. Lol. Anyway when we first planned the trip, we were quite worried as Greece was always on the news for its economy instability, refugees etc etc. We had total of three flights (Riyadh-Athens, Santorini-Istanbul, Istanbul- Riyadh) and two ferry rides (Athens-Mykonos and Mykonos-Santorini)

9/4/2016

Our flight departed from King Khaled International Airport at around 0315hours. This is my first time flying with Aegan airlines and.. they are not bad. The meal provided are eatable for us compared to Lufthansa airlines meal. Lol. We booked the flight about three months earlier. We arrived in Athens International Airport at around 0720 hours and we immediately bought ferry tickets from Athens to Mykonos ( 45 euro/pax) and from Mykonos to Santorini (67 euro/pax) . Next we took a metro ride from the airport to Thissio station (8 euro), where our hostel, Jason Inn is located about 100m away from the station.

Halal meal on board

Since we arrived the hostel early, we were allowed to check in early at around 1100hours. After we put our stuff inside the room and refreshed ourselves, we went out again at noon, heading to Acropolis. There were many souvenir stalls along the way and they were so cheap and nice. I would recommend you to buy souvenirs in Athens as they are cheaper here compared to other part of Greece.

These paintings are sold for 10-75 euro. So far this stall sells the best paintings compared to other places.

We reached Acropolis at around 1400 hours and we were standing in the line to buy the entrance ticket under the scorching hot sun. It was so hot that I turned from brown to grey, seriously. Sobs. Finally we managed to buy the special multi site tickets for 30 euro per person. The multi site ticket includes Acropolis, Athenian Agora, Hadrian's Library and Roman Agora. The ticket is for single entry to each place and is valid for 5 days.

So Acropolis comes from the Greek word; akron (highest point) and polis (city) and is located 150m above sea level in Athens. There are many structures and ruins from ancient Greek period and seriously I can't remember each and every one of them. After we spend few hours in Acropolis, we strolled down the tourist spot nearby to buy souvenirs again. Athens is just so crowded, over crowded in fact with locals, tourist and refugees.

Propylaea

Odeon of Herodes Atticus

Parthenon is dedicated to goddess Athena and the construction begins in 447 BC to replace the older temple of Athena. It was then changed to Christian church as dedication to virgin Mary. In 1460, Parthenon was converted to mosque for more than 200 years after Ottoman conquest between 1460-1687.

Old temple of Athena

10/4/2016 

We went out early today to avoid crowd and we took metro to Monastiraki station. All shops were still closed at this hour. We went to Roman agora but unfortunately it was closed today. So we went to Athenian agora (ancient agora) and we were the first visitors there. Lol. It was such an amazing walk through the ancient ruins. You won't be able to imagine how the ancient people build these buildings and how they lived in the past. We spend few hours here before heading to the flea market and Hard Rock Cafe for my favourite HRC flag t-shirt.

The perk of being the early birds. Lol

Church of the Holy Apostles

I was so in awe of this place, leaning against this ancient ruins before the security guard shouted at me haha

Flea market

There is an area in Athens where you can get halal food here and it is located near Omonia square. There are many Bangladeshi/Pakistani/Indian restaurants and they serve good briyani, lol no kidding. The food are cheap and very tasty but...honestly I won't come here again unless I'm in a big group because this place is kinda scary with so many people looking at us while we were walking past them. And the streets are small and dirty, and the whole place is as if it is not in Europe, seriously. It feels like walking in a ghetto. But hey, they were playing Hindi songs and that at least kept me happy. Later after our late lunch, we went to Syntygma square, doing nothing and headed back to our hostel.

We had 1 briyani chicken, 1 briyani beef and naan for maybe less than 20 euro?

11/4/2016

We checked out from our hostel at 0600h and went straight to Pireos station via metro. We went to platform E7 and the ferry departed from Athens at around 0730h. I would say that this ferry is so luxurious and big but I didn't manage to get a picture of the interior part of it because I had sea sickness every time I went inside to get to my seat. So for the 5 hours journey, I sat on the ferry deck and it was so beautiful and chill and breath taking.

Proud!

We reached Mykonos port at 1245h and took a cab to Little Venice. The driver drove us to Alefkandra square where we will have to walk for about 5 minutes to get to our hotel, Little Venice suite. Little Venice is famous for its windmills and we were so lucky that our hotel is overlooking all the picturesque views; the windmills, the sea and it is the perfect place to watch sunset. We stayed there for 3 days and 2 nights for 150 euro and the stay was beyond amazing. I really recommend this hotel to anyone who's planning to visit Mykonos.

Dawn in Little Venice

Stairway to heaven :)

Even the interior part of our suite is all white washed.

This fairy-tale-like-room

Mr Pan, the owner of our hotel took us for a walking tour around Little Venice. I personally think Little Venice is the best place for those who wants to see white washed buildings with blue doors and domes. Every building has rounded edge and this makes this town so special.

Mr Pan told us that there are more churches compared to houses in this town.

Those rounded edge buildings

Backstreet

The famous Paraportiani church

After we had our late lunch/early dinner (which is more expensive compared to Athens and Santorini eg 1 plate of spaghetti costs me 22 euro), we went back to our suite. I'm getting prepared to watch sunset in front of our suite. I made a new friend today, Mr Socrati who lives alone and he goes fishing every single evening. He is so friendly despite our language barrier and he actually allowed me to use his fishing rod and I ended up catching 4 fishes. Lol.

Almost sunset. Mr Socrati.

12/4/2016

Today we bought a boat ticket to Delos island ( 20 euro/pax) and we departed from the small port at 1000h. We reached the uninhabited island about 40 minutes later and paid 12 euro/pax for entrance fee. This island is the birth place of Apollo and it is one of the most mythological and archaeological site in Greece. Even though this island is uninhabited and very hot, I have to admit that it is so beautiful with blue sea water surrounding it and with thousand  ruins all over the place.

Walking through the archaeological sites

“No place is ever as bad as they tell you it’s going to be.”

Ruins among the flowers

The astonishing blue sea water

“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and enjoy the journey.”

“Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.” - Rumi

“What you seek is seeking you.”Seriously Rumi? Seriously??

Play tourist

Under the scorching hot sun

Later in the evening, we headed back to Little Venice, had our evening tea and went back to our suite and today Alhamdulillah, I witnessed a perfect sunset again and it was so beautiful.

Then which of the favors of your Lord will you deny? (55:16)

13/04/2016

We checked out from the suite at 1200h and took a seabuss to the Mykonos port (2 euro/pax). Our ferry, Hellenic seaway departed from the port at 1410h and we arrived Santorini at 1700h. Our hotel shuttle took us to Oia (pron: Ee-ya), which is located about 45 minutes away from Fira, the main town of Santorini. Once we arrived Oia, we checked in to our suite in Calderra villa (350 euro for 3 nights). Besides Little Venice suite, this is one of the best hotel I've ever stayed at.

Inside the ferry to Santorini, thanks for the super nice ride!

In front of reception area

Mini swimming pool. Gigih berenang dalam ni waktu malam.

These staircases look so cute but I bet you'll be so tired as f*uck using it, seriously.

Our white washed cave suite, overlooking the calderra.

In the evening, we joined the crowd to watch the sunset near the Saint Nikolas castle. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get good picture of sunset in Santorini because it was quite foggy/cloudy during dusk.

14/04/2016

Today I woke up early in the morning and I took a morning stroll after my morning prayer. There were not many people at this hour and it's a good time to take picture because otherwise this place will get very crowded as it is located at the main street.

Blue dome church

A church and memorial of the fallen soldiers during world war.

Typical view of Santorini

Taken from the Saint Nikolas castle ruin

Empty street, empty heart.

At 0800h, I went back to our suite for breakfast. We decided to join Beautiful Day and Romantic Sunset cruise arranged by the hotel. It is a 5 hours yacht cruise (and we were not using sunblock lotion dammit) and it costs 100 euro/pax with lunch provided. We stopped at few spots; Red beach, White beach, Mesapigadia beach (we had lunch here), Palilia Kameni hot spring and finally we watch sunset from the yacht deck. Oh my god, it was so lovely. Bukan selalu dapat acah acah macam orang kaya kan?

A church on an island inhabited by only 2-3 people and chickens.

Ultimate feeling

5 hours been grilled under the sun

15/04/2016

Basically today is our leisure day so we planned to take a bus ride to Fira town and Kamari beach (as recommended by many people). So in Fira we bought a lot of souvenirs and we visited the pre-historic museum (6 euro/pax). Next we took a bus ride to Kamari beach (black sand beach) but we were so surprised to see the place is so quiet with only few 'farangs' sunbathing on the super hot sand. We went 'krik krik' for 15 minutes and headed back to Fira town where I met Patricia, my drama sebabak here. She's an Indonesian from Jakarta, working in Netherlands and she went backpacking alone in Greece. *PATRICIA, IF YOU'RE READING THIS PLEASE CONTACT ME BY ANY MEANS* kehkeh.

Bus station in Oia

Liquor, olive oil and souvenir store

Fira town

Kamari beach is a bit overrated I guess?

We went back to Oia in the evening and this is the main street during dusk.

16/04/2016

Today we checked out from the hotel at 0830hours and the hotel shuttle send us to Santorini airport as we're going to our next destination, Istanbul via Athens. Our flight departed at 1200h with lay over in Athens and we arrived in Istanbul at 1515h to join Trip Adik Beradik for Turkey trip.

Overall, Greece is actually safe despite all the news we heard from the media. Mykonos is a must. Santorini is a bit overrated (personal opinion) because not every building is white washed, like in Mykonos. I just feel that Athens is a bit overcrowded, otherwise Greece is a fine place to go, the people especially in Mykonos and Santorini are very friendly and they speak good English and many of the shopkeepers can speak Bahasa Malaysia. The hotels are super great and their services are so good. Don't be afraid to visit Greece yeah people! Efcharisto poly Greek! Till then and thank you.

p/s: sorry for lack of information in this post