• Darcy B
Mei 2023 – Mei 2024

Euro Year

Spencer and darcy on another whirlwind adventure Baca lagi
  • Athens apartment

    1 Ogos 2023, Greece ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C

    Nice place that's half underground. Not much light gets in but it's nice n cool so good trade-off :) Not much privacy either were kinda sharing one big room lol

  • First day in athens

    2 Ogos 2023, Greece ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    Spencer didn't get up until 2pm today so I had a heap of time to explore around the neighbourhood by myself. For breakfast, I got one of those dense, syrup drenched cakes that come in the baklava packs. I'd forgotten about them but they literally sell them everywhere here, I'm very excited to have a bunch everyday because they're great ahaha. The fruit n veg in the shops looked amazing, I'll be able to make some great salads this month :). While I was getting breakfast, I noticed we live near a big hill, so I walked up that to get a view of the city. At the top there's a church and a bar that im very keen to have a beer at at some point. I saw the acropolis and an old looking Olympic arena. I was blown away by how densely-packed and vast the city was, all the buildings look quintessentially Greek as far as the eye can see (apart from a few business buildings), it was very pretty to look at. Once I got back from my walk I woke spencer up and we went for lunch. I got a Greek salad which was OK but it was really just onions, tomato and feta, not too much to get excited about but it did taste very fresh. We then took a bus to the beach and stayed there for the rest of the day. It was so good to have a swim in the ocean again, Id missed it a lot :)). We kinda balled out at the beach bar lol, grossly overpaid for some chairs and daiquiris but we were just so excited to be back near the ocean so it had to happen. We smuggled a bottle of ouzo in so I got to have my first greek ouzo at the beach, which was perfect :).
    The water was very warm, a bit like bali. We wanted to go out afterwards but did some research and found that athens seems to be more of a fri, sat, sun place. Found a place on milos Island called Sarakiniko which i think I wanna go to, the ferrys cost 250 bucks tho oof.
    Baca lagi

  • Saw some ancient ruins and city at night

    4 Ogos 2023, Greece ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    We bought dj decks yesterday so spent all morning learning that. In the afternoon we explored the city again but this time got a much better view of the acropolis. We chose not to go up there today because it was too hot, instead we checked out some of the other ruins underneath it (Temple of Hephaestus). There was a fair bit to look at and it was pretty cool! The buildings we saw were made in 400 bc and to my surprise almost entirely out of marble! For some reason I always thought they were limestone so i was just walking around imagining how sick all these huge shiny buildings would've looked when they were new. We got to see a bunch of cool artefacts from that time as well. The most interesting to me was the broken bits of pottery that people had used to use to vote. I couldn't believe that I was looking at peoples actual ballots from 2000 years ago! It was also interesting to learn that back then they would vote for the politician they hated the most too, and whoever got the most of those votes was banished from athens for 10 years lol. Had a bunch of dips for lunch, Greek tzatziki is the same as Perths. At night we climbed back up the hill near our house and had a few beers up there. The view was so much cooler at night. Hopefully spencer gets some tinder dates here coz thatd be a perfect spot ahahaha. You can see the hill im talking about in some of the pictures I took in the city, it's the big pointy one.Baca lagi

  • Just a myriad of things

    8 Ogos 2023, Greece ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    It's quite hot in Greece so we've been a little less tempted to leave the house recently. On the weekend we went to a bar crawl. It was full of Aussies, mostly from Perth. It was fun and got quite messy towards the end but Athens's equivalent of northbridge felt felt a little drab compared to Warsaw. It's a bit like bali here with all the tourists. I made giant servings of lasagne and mac n cheese so we've been chipping away at those instead of restaurants, still having salads most days too. We went out yesterday to try loukoumades which are little fried donut balls drenched in honey sugar syrup. They're so sweet and crispy and they explode in your mouth when you bite them. We both agreed that they're the best foreign food we've had this trip by a mile. I've also been eating a ton of the dense sugar cakes (they're called revani I think), so many that I haven't had time to try a proper baklava yet, I'll have to soon! I think Greek desserts are my favourite in the world. We've got a plumber coming today coz the house has been leaking and the clothes washer doesn't work. Yesterday I got to go into the upstairs apartment and it was nicer than ours so I'm gonna try and weasel my way into a room swap. My leg got infected for a bit too but all good now. Other than that we've just been spending all our time throwing little dj parties in the apartment, it's been fun as :)). Booked our airbnb in istanbul for next month and I think after that we're gonna try get a surf in bulgaria. They have a comp there every year and the wave is a fast steep shoulder high left so I reckon I can win it ahahahahaBaca lagi

  • Best kebabs, beach club, soccer

    13 Ogos 2023, Greece ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We found the best kebab shop ever!! The kebabs they sell are a bit smaller than the ones at home but the falafel is perfect and they put in this mystery sauce that slightly tastes like mango (sounds weird but it works so good). We've been getting multiple everyday since we discovered the place because its literally the best thing I've ever tasted and only 5 bucks! I also finally tried a proper bakery baklava, it was good but definitely not better than peters by the sea. The thing that's really been getting me going lately is an orange version of the sugar syrup cakes. It tastes like orange and poppyseed and I'm addicted. Two days ago we went back up to the church on top of the hill too catch a sunset. It was packed so unfortunately therell be no sunset pic with the acropolis in it. We ended up chilling half way down the hill again where there were some more people trying to do burnouts lol. Yesterday we went to an Aussie bar to watch the matildas beat France (after about 40 rounds of pens) and then we went out to the main beach bar club here. It was a great night, the dj was sick :)).Baca lagi

  • Athens v man city

    17 Ogos 2023, Greece ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    We went to a proper soccer game!! It was Sevilla athens vs man city. They were playing for the super cup which is when the best team from the champions league verses the best team from the league with the next 4 best teams from every league. I got there and immediately changed teams and started going for athens. They were real underdogs, man city had more fans there and it wasn't even their home game ahahaha. It went to pens and then city won. The crowd was super loud but they weren't all doing the chants like I expected. Either way it was still super exciting being a part of it :)). I've been living off kebabs for the past week, all from the same shop coz its the best. We kinda went hungry Monday and Tuesday coz they were public holidays and all the shops were shut lol.Baca lagi

  • Greek islands boat day

    19 Ogos 2023, Greece

    On Saturday we went on a boat tour to check out some of the islands around athens. The boat was kinda like a Rottnest ferry but it was covered in deck chairs so it was real nice and comfy. We went to 2 islands, agistri and aegina, they were both fabulous! At both places we kinda just chilled at the beach and went swimming. The water was so beautiful and turquoise, it was the perfect temperature too, just a little bit cooler than Bali. Spencer had a tummy bug so he had to do an aqua dump at one of the spots which tainted the serenity a little ahahaha. The boat had a dj and they were serving free goon which made it feel like home :). We had a buffet for lunch where I got to try Greek fish for the first time, it was super yum. There were heaps of yachts and big rich people boats cruising around. I'd really like to come back here one day and take a boat around to check out some more of the islands.Baca lagi

  • First modern olympic venue & locked out

    23 Ogos 2023, Greece ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    A few days ago I made fish pie. I had to buy whole fish and get it filleted but they left bones everywhere and the skin on. The only knife we have here is a bread knife so I needed to fix it with that, it was very messy ahaha. The pie tasted great tho! The next day we locked ourselves out of the apartment so we had to go have a big lunch while we waited for petros to reply, we got pizza and a bunch of beers. The place we went to had a great outdoor area shaded with vines. We ended up getting more keys from the cleaning company. It was a very very nice afternoon. Today we checked out the venue that hosted the first modern Olympic games, we didn't stay long but it was pretty cool. We then took a walk through a botanical garden, there were a bunch of ponds with heaps of tortoises swimming in them. Afterwards we got a meze type lunch, everything sucked except the octopus lol (but the octopus was v v good so it was chill).Baca lagi

  • Acropolis

    24 Ogos 2023, Greece ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C

    We went to athens's biggest attraction today, the acropolis. Woke up bright n early so we could beat the crowd but somehow managed to get lost on the way so that was kinda for nothing ahaha. It was a little bit spectacular but lowkey after walking past ancient ruins for a whole month I feel like they've lost a bit of their wow factor, I'm sure I'll look back on it later and be impressed tho. I was shocked to learn that 16000 people visit every day!! That means they earn like 240,000 euros a day (costs 10 to 20 euros per person). I think there was a fire somewhere cos it was a little smokey but we did get an awesome view of the hill near our house, the smoke made it look even more majestic than usual. Afterwards we had pancakes for breakfast where we spent the majority of the meal trying to justify only staying up there for half an hour ahahaha.Baca lagi

  • Movies, festival, rock climbing

    27 Ogos 2023, Greece ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C

    Went to see Oppenheimer the other day, it was aight, didn't really care for it too much if im honest. One noteworthy thing was that in Greece they have intermissions during movies so there was a point where the movie just paused and the lights came on and everyone just left to go buy more popcorn, we were very confused ahaha. On Saturday night we went to a music festival, which was a blast! One of the people from swedish house mafia was playing which was really cool but all the sets were super fun! Today we were hungover n didn't really get out of bed until it was almost night. In the evening we went to get some loukoumades. On the way we came across a random cave and then ended up climbing on top of it. The view from the top was magnificent, it would have to be one of the best views in the whole city I think. It was sunset and we chilled up there for a fair while, the only thing that slightly tainted the experience was that the climb was quite sketchy and the rock was pretty big, so it was hard to completely enjoy the sunset when we were both quite worried about whether or not we were gonna be able to get down ahahah.Baca lagi

  • Rock climbing 3

    27 Ogos 2023, Greece ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C
  • Last days in athens

    30 Ogos 2023, Greece ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Tried the cheesy pastries mum was raving about finally!! Theyre called tiropitas and honestly they wouldve been fire but it was too soon after georgia for me to be having creamy cheese based dishes so it did make me feel a little sick. The pastry was amazing tho.
    We also went to the beach and went back to the rock climbing spot for a proper sunset (legit best view in athens im sure of it!)

    I pushed the music making a little too hard here I think n gave myself bed sores

    I'm writing this after a long travel day getting to instanbul so it's a bit short soz
    Baca lagi

  • Istanbul apartment

    31 Ogos 2023, Turki ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Best apartment so far!

  • Exploring the area around our house

    2 September 2023, Turki ⋅ 🌬 27 °C

    Our house is very close to Taksim Square which is a very busy tourist street in the europe side of istanbul. The first time we went there there were Turkish flags everywhere which we later learned was because it was turkey day! We tried Turkish coffee (decent) and Turkish delight (hell good). I got a spinach pastie too which was delicious. There are kebab shops literally everywhere here, like every 2nd shop is a kebab shop ahaha.

    Today we went to buy a fan for our apartment and then met spencers Turkish girlfriend for lunch. She ordered us manti, which is a Turkish tortellini type pasta with a yoghurt sauce which was exceptional :). She also recommended a drink called ayrani, which was just thin yoghurt in a bottle but really sour, it was disgusting. I got a rice pudding for dessert which was yummy.

    For dinner we got some rice from a street stall nearby. We were a little concerned about getting diahorrea but it ended up being fine which is good coz its close, filling and super cheap :)).
    Baca lagi

  • Island trip

    3 September 2023, Turki ⋅ 🌬 27 °C

    Today we went to an island with başak (spencers girl) and some of her friends. We started off getting a ferry to the Asian side of istanbul where we had an amazing breakfast/lunch. We got shakshuka, tzatziki, gozleme and about 10 other kinds of dips and pastries. I think its probably the best meal I've had on this trip so far :)) (the shakshuka at the subi markets is definitely better tho). Then we met başak's friends and took another ferry to the island. The beach was rocky and a little uncomfortable but we had a lot of fun drinking beers n listening to music on the beach. The water was a little colder than it is in Greece so the swimming was wayy more refreshing and enjoyable. One of the other girls (her name was irem which means heavenly garden ahaha) spoke really good English which was awesome for me coz it meant I didn't have to spend the whole day being a third wheel :)). We stayed at the beach for the entire afternoon, the sunset was magnificent. For dinner we went to a fast food pasta place where I got a great big bowl of garlicy pesto for $5. It was a super duper awesome day :).Baca lagi

  • Went to the place from inferno

    6 September 2023, Turki ⋅ 🌬 28 °C

    Today we went to the blue mosque, the hagia Sophia and the basilica cistern. I'd say that the cistern was my favourite just coz that's where zobrist hid his bag of pathogenic chemicals in inferno. Unfortunately but unsurprisingly they didn't make reference to this at all at the actual place, I suppose they're trying to present themselves as a high class venue where you can watch operas or whatever. The mosques were very cool too tho! They were built in the 1600s and are probably the best preserved old buildings I've seen so far. As we were roaming around the gardens it kinda felt like we were on the planet naboo from star wars. The mosques were also free to get into which was really nice :). After that we went out for lunch nearby and got extremely ripped off (spencer paid $32 for 5 squid rings lol). After that we just hung around the apartment, there were a bunch of hoons driving past all arvo which was entertaining for a little while.Baca lagi

  • Big techno event and massage

    11 September 2023, Turki ⋅ 🌬 24 °C

    This Friday we went to see charlie sparks with Basak and a bunch of her friends. We had a pres at our house with basak and irem which was super fun. Both of them just started smoking inside without even asking us which was a bit of a culture shock for me and spencer ahaha. The venue was an arena similar to HBF Stadium, and it was completely packed, but this time, it seemed like most of the people were actually from Istanbul! It was a fun crowd :)). A group of us came back to ours for afters but the commute took a while so we were all quite tired once we got back. Basak works for her parents and told them she went on a camping trip to get out of work for the event. She ended up staying at our place until Tuesday. It was fine though, she showed us a lot of great places to eat. We also went for a massage yesterday :)).Baca lagi

  • Some stuff

    17 September 2023, Turki ⋅ 🌬 26 °C

    I got a haircut the other day and am now officially a brunette again! We've gotten in a bit of a routine lately: grab some menemen for breakfast(last photo), go for an explore, and then try find a good place for dinner. The other day we saw the galata tower, we stumbled upon it while we were going for lunch. I was too hungry to be bothered reading why it's a noteworthy place but there were people everywhere so it must be. I still cant get over how cool everything looks here, istanbul has the most amazing streets to walk through, very picturesque. I found a nice park near our house the other day, it was a perfect spot for reading. Ive finished shuggie now so I need to find a new book! We've been playing it a little too fast and loose with our dining choices and unfortunely have both become a bit sick :/ we're fine tho. Last night we went to another dj event to see Boris brejcha. It was awesome but my phone went all weird so no photos. Spencer and Baśak disagreed on how to get to the venue and were being so petty about it which was pretty funny.Baca lagi

  • Discovered rooftop restaurants

    21 September 2023, Turki ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Since my last post we've been to a bunch of rooftop bars and restaurants. I didn't realise this for a fair while, but apparently a big portion of the buildings here have some sort of venue on the roof, it's so sick! Tonight we went to a bar called monkeyistanbul, it was the best one so far. We watched the sun set over the river and had a perfect, uninterupted view of the big istanbul flag, like 6 mosques, and all the cool houses and buildings that are stacked up on top of each other around the river. We went to the bar with basak and she gave us a bunch of presents to say thankyou for the fun month. We're gonna have to do something awesome for her before we go because she's been fab! Today we also went to a beach on the Asian side. It was a lovely hot day and the water was cool and refreshing. Not sure if I've mentioned this already, but one of the main things ive found interesting about istanbul is its unusual layout. It's so big theyve decided to have loads of mini cbd areas surrounded by houses instead of one gigantic area made up of a billion skyscrapers. We passed like 3 cbds on the way to the beach, there must be 100s over the whole city. Yesterday we tried some fried seafood sticks for dinner and surprisingly didn't get sick! The actual food was kinda garbage tho. Spencer had a guy come over to record some vocals last night and I got to experience what Ethan's life has been like living next to me ahahaha.Baca lagi

  • Dinner in the tall tower and house party

    23 September 2023, Turki ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    On Saturday we took Başak to the really tall tower on the Asian side to have dinner and thank her for being such a great tour guide. The restaurant vibe was kinda like the Atrium, they were trying to be fancy but failing coz it was all just tourists taking photos and the food was the same as every other place we'd been to. The views from the restaurant were awesome, up until that point i found istanbul really disorientating and I never really knew where anything was, but now I kinda do. We stayed for the sunset which was pretty wicked and then went to a secret house party event type thing where they tell you the location a couple of hours before it starts. It was a very arduous journey of ubers and terrible traffic to get there but it was so worth it. The venue was a sick mansion with a huge backyard and the dance floor was in an underground bunker area under the yard. The ventilation wasn't the best down there so it was kinda like having a rave in a sauna but the music was sick and the lights were super intense so we were all stoked. The party got cut short because someone fell down the stairs and the police got called. Spencer and I both agreed that it was probably the best party we've been to so far on this trip :))Baca lagi

  • Gallipoli pt1

    28 September 2023, Turki ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    Today we went on a tour to Gallipoli. It took almost 6 hours to get there but it was so worth it. The first thing we did was go to see the beaches where the ANZACs first landed. I was surprised how small the landing zone was, the whole thing would barely be longer than half way to the drain from our track at the beach. The mood at the beaches was pretty solemn, there was a mural talking about all the soldiers that died which was very touching, I'm surprised nobody cried. From the beach we could see the hill that the soldiers had to climb on the first day, apparently it used to be more mellow, but even so, it was extremely tall and daunting. After the beaches, we drove up the hill, stopping by all the graves on the way. It was nice to see all the effort that's going into finding lost soldiers and making graves for them. The tour guide said there're 60 grave sites right now but if we came back in a few years there would be something like 80. The coolest part of the place was definitely the trenches, they were incredibly well preserved and made the whole experience way more immersive. The amount of trenches really put into perspective the magnitude of the war, it was actually insane how many there were, it looked like an ant farm. Both of spencers granddads went to Gallipoli and we got to see the place where one of them got grazed by a bullet in the head while trying to charge the Turkish trenches. His grandparents, with 600 other mostly West Australian soliders were ordered to repetitively charge up the hill and 370 of them died, everyone else got wounded.Baca lagi

  • Gallipoli pt2

    28 September 2023, Turki ⋅ 🌧 22 °C