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Avoiding the heat EU tour

September 2023 - January 2024
A 127-day adventure by Bec & Phill Read more
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  • 130footprints
  • 18countries
  • 127days
  • 2.1kphotos
  • 141videos
  • 68.6kkilometers
  • 40.9kkilometers
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  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
    21
    Day 29

    Cruisin' n boozin'

    October 2, 2023 in Greece ⋅ 🌬 22 °C

    Today began by us running around trying to figure out how to send a parcel internationally from Athens before breakfast.

    We ended up scoring a box from a local supermarket and buying tape from the same place to go back to the post office to send it off.

    After our adventure we headed for breakfast then onto our bus to the dock where we boarded our home for the next few days - the cruise ship Celeste.

    After a big lunch and some "free" cocktails we arrived at our first stop: Mykonos.

    We explored the thin cobblestone streets,, swam and took some photos before ending the night in a bar where we had too many more cocktails.

    Finally, we boarded our shuttle and ended up on board for a very late buffet dinner before bed.

    Step count: 17k    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
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    Day 30

    A quick trip to Asia

    October 3, 2023 in Turkey ⋅ 🌙 21 °C

    Today began in Turkey. We docked super early at Kusadasi and made our way to the ruins of the ancient city of Ephesus which was built in the neolithic period and came to full glory under the Roman empire. This site was stunning, considering the site is only 17% excavated it truly felt like we were walking through a city. Here we saw the lavish Library of Celsus, a gigantic 25,000 seat amphitheatre, and the well-preserved Hadrian Temple.

    After our tour of this ancient city we headed to a Turkish rug consignment warehouse that specializes in silk rugs. We were shown how silk is extracted as well as how they actually weave the designs into the rugs. This was very cool, and I now understand why they are so beautiful and expensive (I'm selling a kidney if someone needs one).

    After a bit more walking around Turkey we headed back into the ship before we started sail for Patmos.

    On Patmos we visited a beach and enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the township before relaxing with a coffee and watching the world pass by.

    The night ended with a very impressive cabaret show on the cruise ship and a 'Greek bbq' for dinner

    Step count: around 19k

    PS. On our short trip we did try Turkish coffee (it's just Greek coffee), Turkish delight, lions milk and haggling.    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
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    112
    Day 31

    On the Rhode again

    October 4, 2023 in Greece ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    This morning we jumped out of bed for a 7am call time as we had a full day at Rhodes ahead of us.

    We began our adventure at Lindos, about 55km from Rhodes Town and high above the local village at the Acropolis of Lindos with the Doric Temple of Athena, built in 300 BC. After exploring these ruins and the local town we headed to one of my favorite locations to date: Rhodes Old Town.

    The Old City is surrounded by 4km long walls and is one of the biggest and best-preserved Medieval settlements of Europe. This fortified medieval city is full of buildings showing the history of the island, from the antiquity, the Byzantine times, the Middle Ages, and to Turkish rule.

    After strolling through and checking out the Palace of the Grand Master, the hospital of the Knights, the inns that were used by the Knights, and the Gothic churches, along with the narrow stone-paved alleyways, the stone arches and apses, the various mosques, churches and houses we headed back to the boat for lunch.

    After our (included, aka free) lunch we donned our bathers and headed out in search of a beach.

    On the way we stopped at the supposed location of the Colossus of Rhodes - which for those following at home that know what that is: Apparently the statue wasn't actually standing with his legs apart? Apparently that was an artist impression many moons ago that people just ran with.

    We finally got to a pebbled beach where we had a refreshing swim and sunbath before going back aboard.

    The day ended with a cocktail party with the captain and a show about the Greek gods.

    Step count: 27k    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
    2221
    Day 32

    Isle miss you, seaya Aegean soon

    October 5, 2023 in Greece ⋅ 🌙 20 °C

    Today we started off in Heraklion, Crete. We left the ship and followed a yellow line to
    Rocca a Mare, a 16th century Fortress. Then continued on to the city to explore and enjoy the area.

    We again boarded and headed to a 'cocktail party' with our tour guide where he explained the disembarkation process and what is happening tour as it was the final day of our 2 week tour.

    After some cocktails and coffees we headed to the on board casino for our traditional pokie session. When I say traditional, I mean we did it on the only other cruise we've been on where we won $40 off $20. This time we picked out our lucky machine, and inserted a crisp 10 euro note, after about 2 minutes of playing we walked away with 104 euros. So that is a 100% win streak for us with cruise ship pokies.

    We then arrived at our final stop - Santorini, The 'Black Pearl of the Aegean' specifically we went to the cliff-top village of Oia. The views here were absolutely stunning.

    We expected to see a lot of tourists, but I don't think we fully comprehended how popular this island is, in peak season they see up to 160,000 visitors a day. Now that's a lot of people for these tiny streets where there's only 15k permanent residents.

    Once we got back on board we enjoyed Mexican for dinner and enjoyed the views from the volcanic islands as we sailed away.

    Step count: 22k    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
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    112
    Day 33

    Disembarkation

    October 6, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    This morning we disembarked from the cruise nice and early, made the hour bus trip back to Athens and said Goodbye to our tour guide Pavlos.

    As it was only 9am and we couldn't book in yet we dropped our bags off and set off on an adventure.

    After wandering around we headed into the Acropolis museum. The museum was great and had heaps of artifacts and pieces from the acropolis which we visited just a week ago.

    After some more walking and a successful post office trip we ended the day just relaxing in the room watching the historical Greek movie - Mumma mia, with dinner which was a mix grill.

    Step count - 26k    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
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    Day 34

    That's a wrap on Greece

    October 7, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Today we said goodbye to our included tour accomodation. No more 4 star hotels for us....

    After our midday checkout time we headed to our favorite laundry mat, for the third time this Greece trip. After our clothes were successfully cleaned we headed to our final hotel in Athens to drop off our bags before a stroll through the city.

    After 3 when we were able to check in we headed to our room and continued with booking and researching the rest of this month.

    We took a quick break and headed towards the acropolis for cocktails with a view - before grabbing a final gyros and heading to bed for a early night.

    Seeya in Italy

    Step count: 17k    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
    21
    Day 35

    αντιο σας Greece, Ciao Italy

    October 8, 2023 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 19 °C

    Today we said goodbye to Athens and spent most of the day in the airport.

    After a very quick flight we landed in Bari. After some Google maps and train issues we ended up not going to our original accommodation and booked a last minute room in the towns center.

    After dropping our things off we went in search for the areas best rated pizza on trip advisor and Google. This took us to SpizziPizza, where as we were waiting we heard some fellow Australians talking about the mushroom 'incident' of Leongatha.

    After enjoying our very first Italian pizza - which was delicious, we went for a late night stroll around the town and headed back to the accommodation.

    Step count: 19k    Read more

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    Day 36

    Oldie but a goodie

    October 9, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    For our first morning in Italy we woke up, packed our things and headed to our included breakfast - a cappuccino, a croissant and freshly squeezed OJ 👌

    We then wandered around Bari, enjoyed another cappuccino and had one of the most delicious lunch rolls ever: A prosciutto, sun dried tomatoes, pistachio spread and burrata roll.

    After more aimless walking we headed for our bus which took us to the 3rd oldest city in the world and the oldest in Europe - Matera.

    After some back and forth with our hotel/b&b owner she informed us we couldn't check in until 19:30, we got off the bus at 15:30. So we had a good chunk of time to kill and places to explore with our lovely packs, as we couldn't drop them anywhere either.

    Phill got stuck chatting (listening) to a local for almost an hour, before we explored an old underground water tank. We then walked through Sassi de Matera which is a cave network inhabited since the Paleolithic era with excavations & expansions over the years. But more on that tomorrow!

    It was 20 past 7 at this point and we had just walked what felt like 2000 steps (with our packs still on) so we decided to get some gelato. Now this chocolate gelato was the best thing I had ever tasted, 10/10 will be going back tomorrow.

    After it finally hit 19:30 and we could check in, we dumped our packs and peeled off our very VERY sweaty Tshirts and headed to complimentary drinks at the attached restaurant where we also enjoyed a tagliere di salumi e formaggi (meat and cheese tray).

    Once we got back to the room we booked a walking tour for tomorrow morning, we also washed the clothes we wore today as they were a biohazard.

    Step count: 21k

    PS. If you're a fan of James bond, the latest one from 2019 was apparently filmed here    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
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    Day 37

    Do tomatoes count as fruit?

    October 10, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    Today began with a walking tour of the Sassi de Matera and the ancient cave dwellings. We toured a cave church as well as checking out some remodeled houses as well as seeing the old abandoned buildings.

    For lunch we enjoyed a focaccia and more delicious gelato, before heading to a supermarket and back to the accommodation for 'Riposo' like the locals (everything is closed for 3 hours).

    We had an afternoon explore, where we walked down a ravine that we were very unequiped for - before heading to dinner of bolognese, bruschetta and a limoncello spritz.

    Step count: 21k    Read more

  • Avoiding the heat EU tour
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    Day 38

    Coasting along

    October 11, 2023 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    This morning we jumped on a 3 hour bus ride to Salerno before jumping on another 50 minute bus to Minori on the Amalfi coast.

    Being a bus driver in this area should be an Olympic sport - it's even more windy than the Great Ocean road and pretty sure it's thinner too, with even stupider tourists. There were at least 6 occasions I thought we were going to crash or roll.

    We went to check in to our hotel and spent 20 solid minutes trying to get the owners attention (he was sleeping on the couch in the next room which we could see into).
    After we got set up in our room that looks straight out the 70's we donned our togs and headed for the beach.

    After swimming and sunbathing until the sun went down, we walked the 2 minutes to our hotel to shower before embarking to find dinner, which ended up being a miscellaneous spread of hot fried food that we enjoyed on our balcony.

    We decided to head back to the street for a late night walk where we made our way to a chocolate/ dessert store where we spent too much money on delicious food we didn't need.

    Steps: 16.3k

    PS. Smokes are so cheap here - and in vending machines? No wonder everyone still smokes    Read more

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