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- Hari 1
- Selasa, 04 April 2017
- ⛅ 18 °C
- Ketinggian: 86 mi
YunaniOmonoia37°59’5” N 23°43’53” E
We made it!
4 April 2017, Yunani ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
At check in we were stoked to be given exit seats for both flights - I was hopeful thinking this would
stop a lot of Will's winging but alas, he had a migraine the whole of the first flight :( The cabin crew were useless, it took them about 30 mins to locate panadol and then they wouldn't give him anymore even though it was a 15 hour flight so he was safe to have more -.-
Dinner was yum but breakfast was terrible - it reminded me of that hilarious Virgin airplane food complain letter that went viral. It looked like melded goop.
The man next to me was annoying and his English made me uncomfortable- he kept making comments that I could hardly understand and he had this air of arrogance.
As I said the staff where useless! They literally chatted the whole way and I'm pretty sure went out of their way to avoid eye contact.
The flights average age was about 9 I reckon. I've never had so many kids on one flight - all going to Lebanon and all extremely loud and annoying. They didn't help Wills headache or mood.
I slept for a lot of the flight luckily. In between my little cry because I felt so helpless regarding Will.
I always pee a thousand times more when I fly and feel so awkward walking to the toilet making eye contact with people "hi... me again"
I watched some Big Bang episodes and that was about it for the first flight.
We stayed an extra hour in the air before landing which stressed a lot of people out who had connecting flights - once we finally got off the plane we had 10 mins before our plane started boarding.
Doha looks so sterile - everything is made of metals - not natural materials and there is maybe 4 plants in the whole country.
So. Much. Sand.
The airport had some cool but random statues - we didn't Really get to explore unfortunately because we were rushed to find our flight - we had to get a tram. We planned on buying Will panadol but apparently only one place in the whole airport sells it and naturally that was on the other side..
We bought some croissants and waited for boarding.
There was this completely traditional Jewish family with the shaved head and pig tale side dangly bits and big black hat. I love seeing people in such traditional wear.
Got on the plane and this time it was only 5 hours thank heavens - I slept again and Wills headache returned but we made it!
After going through customs we decided that finding food and water was our first priority- we found a little cafe in the airport that was pretty cheap considering its location. Eventually we trudged on and found the station. The train ride cost 10€ each and took 40 mins - turns out we didn't even need the ticket but better safe than sorry.
On the train we enjoyed looking at the different terrain and flora. Very shrubby.
There was this gypsy girl that kept waking up and down the train playing the accordion.
The Greek alphabet stresses me out - because it's not bases off our Latin alphabet I can't even sound it out which makes me feel helpless but I'm sure I'll manage - luckily the English is normally written underneath.
We found our stop and walked out into Syntagma square.
Fuck me pigeons really do live everywhere!!
Immediately there was a lot of beggars and stalls selling souvenirs, food, books and other nick nacks. The square was very crowded so I clung onto my bags very tightly. We followed the directions given to us for our Bnb and found it on top of a cute little falofel shop. Our host, Lilly, is sweet and thankfully speaks clear English!!!
Our room is perfect and her house is awesome! It's from the 1860's and is like a maze. It has a beautiful terrace that I can't wait to check out later.
Will is currently having a well earned rest as I write this.
Just before, all hell broke loose - it was very Greek.
I heard this dog start howling and loosing its marbles so naturally I had a sticky beak out the window - there was this ridiculous congregation of "band" members playing music so so loudly! The dogs owner was trying to calm it and screaming at the gypsies to fuck off like 10 odd times before they actually moved on. It really was a bizarre scenario to watch. I enjoyed myself. What made me most happy was seeing that the dogs owner actually cared for him. I have been pre warned not to expect that sort of compassion from most Greek people regarding animals.
I am so tired.
Once will wakes up I think we are going for a walk.
Ok so went for a walk around town. There are so so many material shops. It's kind of silly. There's lots of shoe stores too.
It's weird hearing Greek, it's not a language I hear often - i still don't know how to say hi. Super rude of me!
I feel very blonde though.
Will is surprised by how many Gypsy kids we have seen. I'm not; it's only been 3. They did have a clever ploy though. They were sitting along the street playing the accordion and would purposely put their money tin in the middle of the road for people to kick, freak out when money went flying everywhere and then when they bent over to pick it up - that's when the 'striking' is suppose to happen I think. The kids do look like rats though. Literally rats - very Peter Pettigrew.
We found this pasta shop we decided to have dinner in - Will loved it, I didn't. There wasn't enough tomato in their bolognese which is probably why Will liked it.
Turns out we are very unprepared - we were trying to figure out if we are suppose to tip.. we decided to just round up the total until we find out.
There are so many mopeds.
Back at the Bnb now. It's only 6.30 but I think it's nearly time for bed. Earlier I booked us in for a free walking tour for tomorrow which I'm pretty keen for :D
YAYAYAY WE ARE ACTUALLY HERE :DBaca selengkapnya
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- Hari 2
- Rabu, 05 April 2017
- ⛅ 18 °C
- Ketinggian: 86 mi
- YunaniPlateía Karytsi37°58’41” N 23°43’57” E
Athens
5 April 2017, Yunani ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
Woke up several times during the night and had to pee but the toilet is next to one of owners room and I didn't want to wake him. - side note - he smokes a lottttt of weed, he has basically hotboxed his bedroom and I got a whiff every time I went to the loo. Made me feel a little queezy. The streets outside were very loud too.
We got up at 8 and had left by 8:30 - we decided we would find the meeting place for our tour and then get breakfast. Hadrians arch was about 1km away and easy to find. We had breakfast at some resturant nearby and it made Will feel sick. He got scrambled eggs and they were dripping in butter. I got pancakes and they were pretty shitty too.
We walked back for the start of our tour and got the tour guide we wanted - her name was Sam and she was originally from South Africa so her accent was easy to understand. She has lived in Greece for 26 years after coming for a 2 week holiday and meeting her husband.
She was a great guide, very enthusiast and good with dates.
We saw Hadrians Arch and Zeus temple. (Can't remember exact name but it's right next to the arch) we then walked on and came across an ancient bath they only discovered in 2004. I liked listening to the gross way they use to bathe by shaving their skin off into the water. Next we walked past the gardens which was the athletes village for the modern day Olympic Games - Sam painted a colorful picture of what it would have been like.
We saw the Olympic stadium, but didn't go in. We plan on doing it another day.
We went through another garden (there is only 2 in the whole of Athens) - Amalia, the queen and wife of Otto created the garden - seeds from all over the world were brought and planted there - there was also a zoo (mainly ducks and goats for kids), beautiful GINORMOUS bird nests and random parts from old buildings used as decorations. It was pretty.
Next we went past the prime ministers house / not where he lives but where he works. We were fortunate enough that something special was happening so there was tonnes of security and a special changing of the guard ceremony. It is compulsory is Greece for all males to do Military service. I got photos with a guard; he didn't blink once, was kinda creepy.
They do this ridiculous walk with Pom poms on their feet and a horse shoe on the bottom of their foot because king Otto was obsessed with horses. We waited for the prime minister/other to arrive but it took too long so we moved on but not before maybe 100 odd soldiers did a walking parade down the street.
We walked past the House of Parliament and the tomb of the unknown solider which I want to have a closer look at another day and then onto some churches one being the metropolitan cathedral of Athens.
We saw Hadrians library, the Roman Agora and this beautiful graffiti street. Street art is not illegal here - graffiti is.
There are heaps of cats, but they seem to be well looked after or at least they haven't been abused. They come happily for pats and arnt scared of people.
We walked through winding streets with little houses with breathtaking views. We finished our tour and tipped 10€. I found her to be a great guide.
We had lunch at a resturant nearby.
There was a cat in the resturant :)
We tried a Greek entree platter which was actually delicious. The sausage was great.
Will tried a few beer and he really enjoyed them too. I tried tomato soup for the first time, yum!
We then started walking down to the acropolis entrance. I fell down the hill and received little sympathy from William, he was highly embarrassed but my knees hurt so much I couldn't stand up so I just sat there for a moment having a little cry lol. I did scrape my knees though so lucky I was wearing pants or it would have been much worse.
We paid 20€ each to enter the acropolis which was expensive but it is one of the Main sites so..
what can I say other than it had a lot of broken marble pieces along the paths. The signs unfortunately were mainly in Greek and didn't really describe what we were looking at but talked about its restoration.
There was a fantastic theatre though and the Parthenon was super duper. Except again, disappointed in the lack of explanation regarding its purpose and how it would have been used.
"A temple for Athena" doesn't really tell me why it's so significant.
The rocks where very slippery though when we were walking back down, again, lots of cats and dogs. Will needed to pee really badly and so we stoped in an information center to use the facilities.
On the toilet door was a sign "please don't put toilet paper in the toilet" ....... gross.
We then went back home and I was so tired I fell asleep about 5pm without dinner and slept the whole way through. :)
We found out Coco had been attacked by Zeus/Athena and had to be put down tonight. I feel so, so sad for Coco. The poor little thing. She was such a sweet and happy soul. I'm honestly gutted. I hope the family is ok.Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 3
- Kamis, 06 April 2017
- ☀️ 19 °C
- Ketinggian: 88 mi
- YunaniExarcheia37°59’12” N 23°43’58” E
Athens
6 April 2017, Yunani ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
We woke early today - 7ish and just lounged around until about 8:30 when we left to find somewhere for breakfast.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIAM! the birthday boy chose McDonald's ( no complaints from me ) we both got Big Macs :D afterwards we headed off in search of the national archaeological museum. We got a little lost..
Their signage is honestly terrible. What was weird though is that our both our phones location worked when using maps even though neither of us have SIM cards. It came in handy though because we could figure out if we were walking down the street the wrong way - which we did, many times. After a lot of searching we found it. Just outside the entrance was a big bus full of policemen. We wondered if they were expecting a riot or something because they had the shields too.
We went inside and goodness gracious there was a lot of school classes. We managed though.
The sculptures were awesome! So detailed and well preserved considering just how old some of them were. We stumbled across a little ancient Egypt section and even though it shouldn't be (because we are in Greece), it was my favorite part. I think maybe because I don't know Greek history well at all so again, I didn't fully comprehend what I as looking at other than impressive artworks. Still, I enjoyed it.
There was 2 skeletons on display which I also enjoyed.
Me and Will both agreed that when we are billionaires we are going to buy a lot of pots and artworks. He said this and yet when I bought a little pot in the gift shop he went back on his word. Tough titties, William.
We also saw what's considered to be 'the first computer' - it was the first clock/calendar that didn't rely on the sun.
Didn't fully understand it but apparently it's significant and worth noting :)
Next we just explored the streets looking for somewhere to have lunch. Will is really lucking out with his food choices, his burger meat was basically raw mince and made him feel sick. My food was great :) heh while at the resturant we used the wifi to find the location of a monstrous hill that apparently has terrific views of Athens at the top and a church. It's supposedly where Athena lost her wings.
My god it was steep! We walked up these suspicious looking paths and the only reason I kept going was because they had bins set up which made it seem more legit, lol.
I nearly stepped on a tortoise along the way, it was a cute! Stupid Joshua, why is he a turtle and not a tortoise?
He was a little shy at first but then started munching on some leaves :)
We kept going - thighs burning at this point - until we reached a bench where we took some photos and noticed that many people had graffitied their names into the cactus leaves, so of course we did too. We wrote A+W <3 cause we are gay.
The cactus had a lot of juice and I pricked myself. Serves me right really.
When we FINALLY reached the top the view was spectacular. Athens itself is quite ugly but seeing so many buildings upon buildings for so far out was awesome. The church at the top wasn't worth the walk. Let's be real, the 2 tortoises were the highlight. Oh and my soon to be buns of steal.
Greek people are really quite rude. I have been barged into heaps and not a single person has said sorry. One lady even put up her hand to say stop, then walked on past like she had right of way. I made a very derisive laugh at her face. Not impressed. They also got no clue on how to drive and park where ever they want.
I'm not taken by Greece to be honest. Like, I like it well enough and I'm so happy I'm here and get to see things but when I leave, it's not going to be a place I need to come back to.
Back at the Bnb now, we played a few card games and later we will go out for birthday dinner :)
Went walking and found a cute little alleyway full of restaurants. Will picked one and we sat inside.
I was grossly underwhelmed by the food but it was edible. I had an ice cream after to fill the void . We walked back to our Bnb and sat in the falafel shop beneath our room. Will had a beer and I had pomegranate juice. Wills face of horror when he tried some was quite hilarious. Will wanted more beers so we went to the only bottle shop we have come across and he sampled 2 more. We have notice that "pubs" don't seem to be a thing. Maybe because alcohol is so accessible everywhere they don't need a designated drinking spot.
Back home now. So tired again. Tomorrow we fly to Italy so we have to pack which I can't be bothered to do :/ we have to get up early to make sure we get there in time and have time to organize our lockers.
I like where we are staying. It's pretty noisy though.Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 4
- Jumat, 07 April 2017
- ☀️ 18 °C
- Ketinggian: 38 mi
ItaliaSant'Andrea della Valle41°53’46” N 12°28’29” E
Rome
7 April 2017, Italia ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
Woke up at 5 -.-
Packed our bags and headed for the airport. We nearly missed the train cause we didn't have the correct change for the automatic machines So we had to go to the teller - some dude in front of us took sooo long. He was having like a picture I.d made and laminated or something -.-
Anyway, we ran for the train an made it. I said it before but I'll say it again - everyone is so damn miserable and rude. Not a single smile from anyone or really acknowledgment of my existence even when spoken to. We were 80% of the way there when suddenly the lights turned off and we were told to get off the train. A little confused we followed the instructions and waited on a platform with other confused people waiting for a new train. Still not sure why happened but eventually a new train came and we made it to the airport. We went searching for a place to store our luggage while we are in Italy. It was surprising easy to locate and the prices were reasonable - especially considering it was the only option so really, they could charge whatever they want.
Because everything went smoothly we are now just having some breakfast before we need to board in a hour.
So their airport security is atrocious. It was the same security as flying from Sydney to Brisbane only this flight was international :/ didn't even have my passport scanned and just walked straight off the plane.
The plane ride was 2 hours and boring because we weren't seated together. I tried learning some Italian on my app :) la Mela is apple :)
I'm Practically fluent.
Ate at the cafe - yuck.
Then caught a taxi to our Bnb which was expensive - 55€ I think but our hosts English wasn't the best so his instruction to us weren't very clear so we went with the safer option.
His verbal English is much clearer - really nice man. He is trusting us with his house - he has gone to the country side for the weekend. Our room is awesome and Will is happy we have an ensuite.
We went for a walk down the street for lunch. The flower shops on the side of the road are beautiful! We are staying really close to the Vatican so we saw its roof.
The restaurant we ate in was a disappointment. We aren't doing well. They didn't have spaghetti bolognese so I thought I'd branch out my palette but the sauce they used tasted like tinned spagettio tomato sauce.
We walked back to the hotel to have a nap ^.^
Our nap ended up being a huggggeeee sleep.
I slept from 3pm - 7am.
Good times.Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 5
- Sabtu, 08 April 2017
- ☀️ 19 °C
- Ketinggian: 34 mi
- ItaliaOrti Farnesiani sul Palatino41°53’27” N 12°29’11” E
Rome
8 April 2017, Italia ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C
Woke up at 7. Now lounging around waiting for it to get to 10 for our Skype date with the Pickering's :)
We booked a hotel for tomorrow night though so that's one less stress.
Oh but lucky me, hotmail has decided I don't live in Greece so must be a hacker and has blocked me out of my email. :/ a tad stressed but hopefully it's fixable once back on the laptop. I tried on my phone and I gave them "insufficient evidence" that it's me -.-
We Skyped Helen and Bill first. It was really nice to talk to them. We then called Jess and Jaxon. Jaxon gave us his award winning smile so he must have know who we were #favouriteaunty
It was great to talk to Jess too :)
We then walked in the general direction of the police station to find somewhere to have breakfast - we ended up in St Peters square where there was tonnes and tonnes of seats in preparation for Easter Sunday tomorrow. We were thinking about visiting the Vatican today but decided against it - the line was 200m+ long.
We ate a cute little resturant then went searching - this is when our day turned to shit.
We found the police station and said we were here to get our Visa's signed off. We were sent to some lady whose English was practically nonexistent - she kept saying we don't need to get signed off..
she sent us to someone else who sent us to some one else and then we finally spoke to what I think was the chief. His English wasn't great either..
basically long story short - I hate the Italian consulate, the information that have provided from the beginning has been total crap.
The police had no frigging idea what we were doing there and didn't understand what we wanted/needed. After lots of attempts at communication it turns out we need to go to the POST office not POLICE station. WHICH GUESS WHAT!? IS CLOSED UNTIL MONDAY BUT WE FLY BACK TO GREECE TOMORROW, WHICH IS SUNDAY........
we even have a damn piece of paper given to us by the consulate that states police station ....
So basically, we are going to have to fly back another time before June 13th.
We tried looking into cancelling our return flight and accommodation but getting a new return flight will cost us 250€.. not happening.
We are extremely annoyed and frustrated!
We tried finding the post office to make sure it wasn't open and first one we found said they couldn't help us and to ask the police..... wanting to scream at this point.. but we eventually figured out it was because they were the Vatican post office not the Italian one..
We found the Italian one, it was closed but we now know where to find it when we come back.
I guess we know what Will's birthday money is going towards -.-
We walked back to the Bnb to try and make arrangements and once we had got our thoughts together we decided to go for a walk to the trevi fountain.
Longggg walk. About 4km there. Rome is smashing Athens. Everything is so old and beautiful. Every building looks purposefully built and cared for with raw history. The alleyways we took to find the fountain were exactly what comes to mine when I think of Italy - cobbled stone streets, with vines up walls and little tables out front.
We both really enjoyed the fountain, it was peaceful and like everything else, beautifully constructed. Unfortunately very busy but we made our way through to grab a few photos and throw some coins in. Will says I did it wrong but he likes complaining.
Next we thought we would walk over to the colosseum. We walked around it once - we've agreed that when we come back this is one place I want to actually pay for a tour guide in because it's history/story really interests me. We sat for a while just thinking about how many people and animals had died inside and how scared they must have been in the waiting bays.
We took lots of selfies too :)
We then walked back to the hotel. On the way we past so many spectacular sights - I have no clue what they were but they were big, detailed and impressive!!
20 odd kilometers we walked today. Our feet and legs are very tired!!Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 6
- Minggu, 09 April 2017
- ☀️ 21 °C
- Ketinggian: 29 mi
- ItaliaAedes Herculis Musarum41°53’37” N 12°28’42” E
Rome
9 April 2017, Italia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
Packed our bags, cleaned the room and made our way out one final time through the bnb's dodgy lift.
We walked down the street the other direction this morning looking for breakfast. There was literally no shops until the wonderful Golden Arches appeared.
Romes breakfast menu kicks butt. They had all sorts of sweets, pastries and other fancy goodies.
While I admired it I ended up with a cheeseburger :D
We went walking in search of some big fancy pants garden with the intention of final getting SIM cards for our phone.On the way we went near the Vatican and Hooley Dooley was it packed! We kept walking and had a few breaks on the way. There are so many sausage dogs in Rome. <3 I'm trying to convince Will to let me one day have one called sizzle. I think he may crack if I persist for a year.
We have both decided we don't like their emergency vehicle sirens. The pitch is too high.
We walked over lots of bridges, past the da Vinci museum, before we reached the park. It's really hot. I don't understand everyone - in both countries they have been dressed for hardcore winter weather and we have been trotting around it shorts and T-shirts. We were both thirsty so we got drinks and I got a strawberry gelato. It was super tasty.
We walked around a bit and found a nice patch of grass for a snooze. While the grass was itchy because we didn't have a blanket it was nice knowing I wouldn't be attacked by 100 different types of insects.
We kept making our way slowly up the hill as the sun moved. We are now sitting at the top and have noticed a couple apparently indifferent that it's a public space and are getting uncomfortably close. She has mounted him and oh dear.... some people have moved away hahah
A lesbian couple have now seated themselves close and are going to town too. I would think it were some free for all sex park if we weren't surrounded by children.
There is heaps of people who try to sell you things and they are already annoying me. NO I DONT WANT YOUR STUPID ROSE.
They come right up into your face. GO AWAY.
I became too cold in the shade so I stood up and made a daisy chain necklace in the sun :)
We eventually left the park after 2 hours or so and strolled the street aimlessly. Our flight leaves at 9:30pm so we didn't have time to explore anywhere properly but had a lot of time to kill.
We found a Vodafone shop but the prices were ridiculous. They didn't have a pre paid plan, only monthly deals. We will try again in Greece but worst comes to worst for the moment if we need to contact each other we will find free wifi zones and Facebook call each other and if not - just go home and meet each other there.
The streets are so chaotic, there doesn't seem to be any sort of designated rules for cars or pedestrians. People walk where they want, don't look for cars and walk in zigzags.
We ate pizza for lunch - the sinks had pedals you had to stand on to activate the water.
We ended up in an Irish pub and spent a few hours there. Will had a few beers and I had a got chocolate with cream.
We got a taxi to the airport - much cheaper this time round, only 30€.
We hung around in the cafe, I made friendly chat with an Irish girl as I charged my phone. She was freaking out because her phone was on 2% and wasn't charging but had her boarding pass on it. Hope she made it into the plane. I wasn't hungry so I had a kinder surprise for dinner heheh :)
We were seated apart again. I had a window seat - yay :) I was next to 2 American boys who I don't think were 21 because the were unnecessarily excited about buying 3 beers each. They did the smelliest burps for the remainder of the flight :/
We got off and collected our big bags.
We went to get s taxi it first we had to get cash out because no one takes card because they don't want to pay taxes..
our taxi stunk of smoke. No one in Europe seems to have gotten the 'smoking is bad for you' memo.
It was a 54€ flat rate to get us to our $40 hotel - this has been a stupidly expensive waste of time.
We were just thankful to find somewhere to stay because we flew in at 1am... not many places were willing to wait up for us.
Our hotel was good enough for what we paid. What I thought was weird was that reception not only handed us our room key but the Tv control and air conditioning remote which we had to return at checkout. I've never had to do that before.
We bother crashes when we finally lay down.Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 7
- Senin, 10 April 2017
- ⛅ 16 °C
- Ketinggian: 104 mi
- YunaniPlateía Klathmónos37°58’58” N 23°43’57” E
Athens
10 April 2017, Yunani ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
Our hotel did free breakfast but we were both just so exhausted we slept through til 11 because checkout was at 12 not 10! woo!!
We asked the hotel to order us a taxi which we caught to our next Bnb. It only cost 7€. Our host is so beautiful. She gave us a full-on 30 minute orientation to her house and how to get around she offered us a home made sweet that I had in one mouthful and oh my did I regret it. In Greece there is this citrus fruit I can't remember the name of but it is more sour than a lemon so they only cook the skin. It was horrible. Will didn't even touch his. Don't blame him even though it was rude.
Our host made up this big booklet which has maps and is info, it's really cute. After our orientation we went for a walk in search for breakfast/lunch. We found this place were they were the friendliest Greeks I have yet encountered. The man was so loud and happy and enthusiastic about us trying his coffee and pizza. Both were great - or so Will said the coffee was.
"42 years the receipt has not changed" he kept telling us about his pizza.
We nearly walked out with out paying by habit because they expect you to pay after and not before which we are use to so we ran back in and apologized. We then went to a little convenience store and stocked up on local chips etc. we fist ate this DELICIOUS peanut butter flavored chip balls. Amazing! :)
We then had a 3 hour nap...
we are now trying to go get dinner but can't for the life of us figure out how to open the front door. So we are waiting...
30 minutes past and we thought we would give it one last try before accepting the fact we would have to share a snickers bar for dinner.
We did it! :)
Will doesn't know what he did, I think it was by accident but I don't care, we're free :D
We tried locating an ATM but again they avoid electronic money like nothing else so we failed which meant we ended up at dominos. I got a Greek salad because I'm in Greece ^.^
I did my first weekly Facebook update and uploaded some pictures. We're now lying in bed watching shawshank redemption.
Earlier I send a very long email to the Italian consulate asking them to explain and review our tour and previous Bnbs :)
I'm pretty excited to skype my parents, do washing and go to the Olympic stadium tomorrow :)Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 8
- Selasa, 11 April 2017
- ⛅ 18 °C
- Ketinggian: 80 mi
- YunaniVathi37°59’9” N 23°43’39” E
Athens
11 April 2017, Yunani ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C
We were told yesterday that our hosts would be providing us breakfast. It was an uncomfortable morning. We just sat there staring at it for 30 minutes. The bread was stale, the apples old and mushy and there was 2 random eggs. We ate as much as we could but barely made a dent. Luckily they weren't there to watch us. They have a dog which I was super excited to see on the balcony. They let him inside so I could have a pat :)
Our first job of the day was to get some money out so we went searching for an ATM and took our dirty laundry with us to take to the laundromat after. Will got the shits big time because i accidentally closed the maps on my phone so we couldn't find the laundromat and had to go back home. We asked our hosts if we could borrow there washer which they agreed to - or rather the daughter volunteered her mum. Lol
We then Skyped mum and dad. It bowl was sooo good to see/talk with them. I asked mum to get the cat so I could say hello. I like to think he was uninterested because the computer froze so he didn't see me properly............
We said bye then we set off for the Stadium.
We caught our first international bus. Woohoo!
I find buses scary, even Australian ones, but we managed. We got off at syntagma square and walked towards the stadium, on the way we stopped at the Zappeion which is where the head of the man who payed for the rebuilding/fixing of the Olympic stadium is buried and it is now just used for official ceremonies and meetings. It hosted the fencing in the 1896 games.
We arrived at the panathenaic stadium and the tickets only cost 5€, winning! I was super excited, I love the olympics. We got free audio guides and started our tour. It talked about the reconstruction of the stadium then showed us the designated seats for the king and queen to watch from. We went through this random tunnel and found all the past torched from the Olympic Games and some of the winter games as well. Compared to many others I though our torch was one of the better ones. Seoul's was my favorite. The beacon they use to light the torch was there too.
It also had history on the battle of the marathon.
The marathon was created to commemorate a Greek runner who was sent to run 26.2 miles to share the news of victory over the Turks to the Athenians but died upon arrival.
It was the Main event in the Olympics for many years.
I did a 400 meter run around the track and got photos on the podium.
The track is an unusual shape, it's 185m straight with 15m curves.
I loved the stadium, Will got bored pretty quickly though.
Afterwards we went to browse the flea markets.
Will, the big IDIOT got conned BIG TIME and bet 50€ on some stupid gambling card trick that was set up on the side of the road on a cardboard box......
the dealer would place 3 cards down and then the aim of the game was to pick the card with colour. The people around us kept getting it wrong and Will kept getting it right.
He bet and lost...
They were all working together and in on the ploy.....
We had some stiff words.
We went to a cafe to just sit for a while. I had a delicious Greek salad and Will had some beers. I liked this cafe. It was the first time I think we both were really content in Greece. We then went back to the flea markets to buy oil I had spotted earlier. They do some GREAT oil. I don't know why it's different but it is. We are going to send it home along with the few other things we've bought some time before we head up to Thessaloniki.
On our way we found a fish foot spa. I have always wanted to do it but didn't think I'd be able to cause I HATE being tickled. I can't handle it. It was only 10€ for 10 minutes though and we thought we might as well try something new to add to our adventure.
We had to wash our feet first then they checked for open wounds to help stop the spread of infection.
It was the most bizarre feeling, sort of like pins and needles. Will had done it before in Thailand and said these fish weren't nearly as bed because they were bigger and not as many.
I only squealed half a dozen times and kept my feet in the tank the whole time. So proud.
We chatted with some Canadians while we were just sitting.
I LOVED IT AND SO HAPPY I DID IT :D
I bough a small magnet of 'the evil eye' which is super Greek. Its basically mythology that wards of negativity.
Will bought a sponge. I don't know why but he is excited. It's very Greek too but I'm surprised at his interest in it.
Our phone search has been unsuccessful again today. If we bought sims they only work in Greece? -.- stupid.
We then went walking, trying to figure out how to get home. We forgot to look at the bus number in the morning so we dedicated to walk in the right general direction looking for somewhere for dinner for Will.
It's ridiculously hard to find Greek food. Everywhere that sells it only has menus in Greek which isn't helpful.
We were lucky tonight though. SO HAPPY. I got some tzatziki :D Will got a kebab. We then got a taxi home.
Glad the day is over but it was my favorite day so far :)
Penis up/dangles story of the toiletBaca selengkapnya
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- Hari 9
- Rabu, 12 April 2017
- ⛅ 19 °C
- Ketinggian: 100 mi
- YunaniPlateía Klathmónos37°58’58” N 23°43’60” E
Athens
12 April 2017, Yunani ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C
Had a small sleep in. We've planned for today to be a lazy day. First though we had another uncomfortable breakfast eating stale food. To be fair, the jam was amazing.
We then left the house to go to their Woolworths equivalent to buy Will shaving cream and me some moisturizer because my skin is so so dry!
We (Will) stopped in for a coffee on the way.
We are liking Greece more and more but we think it's to do with the area. People are much nicer and smile. We got a free treat at the bakery. Oh and last night Will got a beer on the house too.
We bought the stuff then went home. Im a little over the walk now I've done it a few times. Its like looking at a concrete city with only a little greenery. Boring. A lot of Athens looks like, or rather reminds me of abandoned mental institutions. Clearly run down, abandoned, graffiti covered sterile buildings.
We bought more of the peanut balls for our movie day in bed. We patted a cat on the way home :D
As I wrote my journal for yesterday Will looked up how to get to Thessaloniki on Friday and bought train tickets. It will take 5.5 hours on the train. Eh.
We then had some snacks as we watched X men on the laptop.
Our host family is hilarious. They are literally yelling at each other every 5 mins. The Main host will be talking to us and the mum will swoop in and starting speaking in Greek to her and the girls face is always like "omg mum, shut up just give me a minute"
It's very Greek. We cant tell if they are fighting Or if that's just how they communicate haha.
I then had a very long nap. :)
Dinner time now. Our host family has ordered us some delivery food. MORE TZATSIKI YAY! We are also going to try Moussaka, which is a traditional dish I'm not expecting to like.
It took 45 mins to come. The Greek salad and tzatziki was great. The moussaka was alright, it tasted like potato but our host said it looked different so maybe it wasn't mousakka after all.
We watched V for vendetta then went to bed. A very uneventful day but enjoyable all the same :)Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 10
- Kamis, 13 April 2017
- ☀️ 21 °C
- Ketinggian: 84 mi
- YunaniOmonoia37°59’4” N 23°43’44” E
Athens
13 April 2017, Yunani ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
I had my left over tzatziki for breakfast to help mask the terrible bread. We then booked our air Bnb for tomorrow night, and headed to the bus stop to get to Syntagma square. We went to the post office first because we had 4 postcards and 2 packages to send. We had no idea what to do. Terrible signage. What needed to be in English wasn't but useless crap was. We had to pick an option A or B - we had no idea what to pick so we went with A. Our number eventually got called. I've notice people are less bitchy if you just ask them straight away if they speak English. It's like admitting your own incompetency cheers them up.
We eventually figured out what to do.
Will has sent postcards to Sachin and Grandma/Grandad and I have sent 1 to each of my works for the kids :)
We also sent one box to my house with the things we have bought so far and a present for Grandma/Grandad.
It was a little expensive - 30€ - in the future we will wait until we have more things before sending home but we had things made of glass and isn't want them breaking.
We then walked up to the tomb of the unknown soldier. We only just missed the changing of the guard. The soldiers are actually guarding the memorial site and not parliament which is right behind it.
Next up we walked the the acropolis museum. Entry was only 5€ :)
I love museums. I think Will gets bored much quicker that I do though because he doesn't like reading. We watched a long video which was very informative and interesting. It was about the different countries taking artworks from the acropolis.
The amount of stuff they have recovered is fantastic!
I really enjoy learning about the mythology. I was considering buying a book in the gift shop but decided I'll have a look and see if there is anything I can download onto my kindle about it instead.
We got frozen chocolate drinks in the cafe which is under the acropolis hill. We sat there watching pigeons fight over bread.
We then went back to the cafe we liked from 2 days ago and sat there for a few hours chatting. Will wanted to smoke some hubbily bubbly so we looked for hookah stores and found one close by.
People have been staring at me since I arrived in Greece. At first I thought it was my hair but now I think it's because I'm wearing shorts. Not a single person par me is wearing shorts. They are all dressed for -10 weather?
We got to the hookah store and first had double apple and then peach flavored. We chatted for hours about crap, enjoyed a few drinks and had a terrific night. I liked the peach flavor better. My lungs are going to protest tomorrow.
We caught a taxi home because we really couldn't be bothered to figure out the buses. On the way to the taxi rank we were approached by Africans saying "hey man, we are having a show here tomorrow night, have a free bracket" they shut up when Will said "you said that yesterday and the day before... haven't seen a single show yet"... heheh he walked away.
We both pretty much passed out once home :)Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 11
- Jumat, 14 April 2017
- ☀️ 21 °C
- Ketinggian: 20 mi
- YunaniÁgios Pávlos40°37’33” N 22°57’19” E
Train to Thessaloniki
14 April 2017, Yunani ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
We woke up at 9 because we thought we had to check out by 10.
The bread was awful once again. I've mention it everyday because it honestly is so bad. I said hi/bye to the dog. He doesn't really like me but I've decided that's cause he only understands Greek words. Yep.
Irene came in to the kitchen and helped us figure out where we needed to get the train from later today. She tried turning off her mums god awful Greek church music. The kind of music/sounds that make you think of monks worshipping. Ooahhhhhooo In very deep voices.
The mum walked back in and turned it straight back on -.- it hasn't been turned off the whole 4 days. I believe in God and yet even I feel quite uncomfortable about how religious this house is. Paintings and statues everywhere.
Have I mentioned they don't have a tv? Just a bunch of old lady furniture. I kept thinking of Joeys quote off friends "you don't have a tv?? but what does all your furniture point at??" Hahah
We figured out we needed to get to Larissa station which was an easy enough task. We chatted for a bit and talked about the different countries she had been too and her studies to become a doctor. She was horrified to learn about the bugs in Australia.
Because they didn't have any more guests scheduled for the day we were allowed to stay as long as we wanted so we didn't have to carry our luggage everywhere with us.
We spent the time listening to music, transferring photos from my phone to laptop, replying to messages, contacting our Bulgaria Workaway and booking a hostel in Macedonia for 4 nights.
Time to go - eh our backpacks are heavy but manageable. Will finds it harder than I do which is weird cause our bags are only 1kg different in weight. We got to the station and had to buy a ticket, the man was a complete and total wanker. The ticket was 1.40€.
I gave him 50€ he said it was too much money and tried to give me 30cents as change.........
I was like UHM NO. Will then realized what was happening and said he had 5€ I could use instead.
So I gave the man the 5€ expecting to get the 50€ back.
Haha nope.
I had to have a yelling match where he kept doing aggressive Greek hand gestures which were clear as day telling me to " fuck off stupid woman" he asked "what do you want" where we both had to tell him 10 times WE WANT THE 50.
Total toss pot.
He angrily threw it back.
For the 5€ we paid we got 30 cents change.
Absolute horrid human.
And theft.
We found the right side of the station and caught 2 trains to Larissa.
Our train is at 4 so it was a 2 hour wait.
When the train came we took a real gamble. We had no idea if it was the right train - only Greek came over the loudspeaker and there were no signs. We found our seats and sat. I am so nosey. There was a ka-fuffle up front and I sooooo wish I could speak Greek. There was yelling and crying and phone calls! It got even more exciting when the ticket check guy came. More yelling.
We think they over booked the train. One man had the same seat number as Will another man kicked a lady out of her seat then she kicked someone else out of there's. We had no clue what was going on but we're relieved when the ticket man had no problem with our tickets.
THERE WAS A CAT BEHIND US :D he meowed the whole way hahahah he didn't like being in a box. I don't think he was allowed because when the ticket guy came they covered him with jackets and bags and told him to shush hahahahaha he got through! It was so nerve racking seeing if he would stay quite or not - he did! Woohoo! Yay kitty!
The scenery was nice. I'm disappointed I had a sleep and apparently missed going through the mountains.
I went to the loo and when you press flush it opens up onto the track. I'm disappointed I didn't have a poo hahahah.
Really gross though.
The country is much nicer than the city. The olive trees stand out in the fields.
I have a headache now :( we should arrive soon - it's been 4.5 hours.
I had a boogie to some music on my iPod and I think I embarrassed Will :) hehe.
Arrived at Thessaloniki 20 mins later than scheduled - only 5 people left on our carriage now. We made it out to the street and not a single taxi was around. It was so dark and abandoned. Will was more stressed than I was.
We decided to go for a walk towards some bells that where ringing because that probably meant people. It was the end of a church service and thankfully a random taxi drove by that we flagged down. Our Bnb was only 5 mins away in the heart of the city. Our host is like a Buddha. So cute and randomly has blue eyes.
He showed us around then him and his son left. We have the whole apartment to ourselves wooo!
Will was starving so we got food nearby. We couldn't open the door when we got back. We have struggled with every door so far -.-
5 minutes later we got in. Now BED TIME, YAY!Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 12
- Sabtu, 15 April 2017
- ☀️ 22 °C
- Ketinggian: 30 mi
- YunaniThessaloniki Ferry Port40°37’49” N 22°56’44” E
Thessaloniki
15 April 2017, Yunani ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C
We had a mini sleep in today. Our bed was awful. It's a $3 sponge mattress. We headed to Aristotelous Square. I like Thessaloniki more than Athens already. It has grass. The square was great, so spacious! People were doing yoga and playing with their dogs. It was a combo of park and walkways, It had a statue of Aristotle too.
No one has their dog on a lead but we saw our first couple of stray dogs without collars. They are so clever, they lined up with everyone to cross the road and waited until the green man hahah. They seem so well fed. Everyone treats them with well and no one yells at them. They are just a part of society lol.
We walked down to the water, we found a TGI Friday's so we had some brunch. I LOVE BUFFALO WINGS. There was a cat in the resturant and a man got out some ham from his bag and fed it <3 <3
Not sure if it's there policy to refill drinks or they just gave us a free round but we got soft drink for free :)
We went for a walk down the port. Lots of people trying to sell crap. More Africans saying they were having another concert tonight..
We visited the White Tower. 4€ entry with a free audio guide. It basically showed the journey of Thessaloniki and how it came to be how it is today. At one point it was used as a jail and place people were executed but they didn't have any info on that. More info of the city itself.
The view from the top was lovely. The water was a nice change from Athens. The water did have brown lines in it. Will is convinced its human poo. I'm undecided however it sure did look like it -.-
We had drinks at the cafe next door. We walked by a tour bus company which we are thinking of doing tomorrow.
It took us 10 minutes to open the front door. It's going in my review. Shocking.
I had a nap when we got home and Will went to the gym, or at least that was his plan - he returned soon after very disappointed because it was closed for Easter holidays.
I had to open the door for him... GAH!
I had an hour snooze, needed it!
We went looking for dinner but EVERYWHERE was closed, or only sold drinks. Lots of dogs in the park - there were groups of the that made me happy cause they had a friend but a few random individuals that I wanted to hug.
We walked a few km a found a lovely resturant.
Greek food.
We had an awkward moment when paying where they misheard Will so they brought the wrong change back so we had to ask for money.
The walk back was quick and now we are home and probably going to watch a movie.Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 13
- Minggu, 16 April 2017
- ☀️ 20 °C
- Ketinggian: 10 mi
- YunaniToumba40°37’29” N 22°57’19” E
Thessaloniki
16 April 2017, Yunani ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C
We both had a TERRIBLE night sleep. Mosquitos kept biting us and we think fireworks might not be illegal here because every bloke and his dog was setting them off all through the night. -.-
We had a small sleep in then spoke to Bill/Helen, Jess/Jaxon & Mum/Dad on Skype. We didn't really have much to say because everyone is pretty up to date because of my journal :) we were happy to hear about their trip to the Easter show though and to see Pippin inside <3 Boots doesn't like it and keeps staring at him hahaha.
I said hi to Gerty, Aggie and Thad too :D
After we said bye we had a lot of organizing to do. Turns out the bus does not run to Macedonia tomorrow (Monday) so we have booked a bus for Wednesday morning, contacted the hostel in Macedonia to let them know we need to change/cancel our reservation which they said was fine and won't charge us - woo! Then we checked to see if the place we are currently in was available for another 2 nights... IT WAS! So much less stress!
So after we got everything sorted it was about 1:30pm and we were starving!
But as it was Easter Sunday everything was closed wahhhh.
It was an abandoned city. We found one place and sat down but turns out the kitchen was closed so after Will had a coffee we moved on. We eventually found a little cafe that didn't have great variety but at this point we didn't care. The smoothie I had was fab! It was pineapple, pomegranate and banana. We then walked over to where the tour bus company was to see if they were running and our luck continued - they were. We had a 30 min wait before our tour started. It was 10€ each, lasted 70 mins, and had audio guides in 8 different languages. Will thought it was good but I thought it was pretty crap to be honest. The audio didn't always match up with the drivers location..
I much prefer actual person guides.
There was this stupid elevator music that played in between sites too that got annoying.
It took us to 8 sites - white tower, archaeological museum ( where Alexander the Greats fathers tomb is), church of Agustin Sofia, church of Agios Dimitries, Kastra, Galerius Arch, Aristotleous square and the port.
Tour was rubbish but has helped us decide what we are going to do tomorrow - see a monastery and the castle we saw along the way.
Afterwards we went for a long walk along the pier and came across and Alexander the Great statue. the city of Thessaloniki is named after his step sister.
I went to use a public toilet and OH MY GOD IT WAS NOT OK.
Piss was EVERYWHERE, as in it's been raining for 10 days straight sized PUDDLES.
I was like ok, I'll try the disabled toilet maybe people use that less.
I nearly died.
There was poo on the wall, floor and seat.
There was a cleaning ladies bucket in there too. I think it's possible that she saw the situation and quit her job on the spot without returning the bucket.
We kept walking up the pier.
Will was right, it's poo in the water. We saw many very obvious logs today.
More walking more walking..
We had dinner at the first place we found because we didn't want to push our luck and assume other places would be open.
I tried lentil soup cause they didn't have tomato but I hated the texture. Will had a burger.
We saw someone feeding a stray dog. Warms my heart every time.
I plucked one eyebrow this morning and then Will rushed me out the door so I've looked stupid all day. It's really quite obvious and makes my face even more lopsided than usual haha
We decided we would have another movie night and bought some snacks on the way home.
Movie choice: South Paw.
It required to much concentration so I've come to bed before it's finished. Will is still watching.
The sweet chili Doritos were delicious!Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 14
- Senin, 17 April 2017
- ⛅ 13 °C
- Ketinggian: 5 mi
- YunaniToumba40°37’24” N 22°57’6” E
Thessaloniki
17 April 2017, Yunani ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C
Wills alarm went off at 9:45 which was immediately turned off and we slept through until 12:30 when I finally got up and had a long shower. I sit in the shower though because they don't have a wall hook so it's easier and more fun hah :)
I've decided not to take my iron pill today because I had such a good sleep and might not sleep tonight otherwise.
Will can't be bothered to do anything today so a lazy day it is. We are about to watch the spongebob squarepants movie :D :D
We went and got breakfast - we had such good intentions on buying food and storing it in our fridge/pantry at first but everything has been shut since we arrived so it hasn't been possible.
We got a pizza to share for 5€ which was fantastic value because between the 2 of us we didn't even finish it.
When we were eating it the people in the apartment above us were having very loud sex and it was very uncomfortable. We tried coming up with other possible scenarios like comforting a baby on a rocking chair.. but in reality it's the only one that fit. God it was awkward I felt like I was intruding.
We watched 'spongebob' and then 'baked in brooklyn'
We've had left over pizza for dinner and played a few games of Big 2 with our newly bought, erotic Greek art playing cards.
I'm writing this on the loo and have just had a distaste avoided. While doing a number 2 I messaged Will to tell him we were out of toilet paper.
It was ok though because he knew the special location. :D phew!
While Will had a shower I did our first attempt at using the scrubba wash bag. I think I did it right? I had a few hiccups along the way so I watched a YouTube tutorial afterwards and they did it the same way so we will see if they smell once dry lol.
We've watched some more comedy skits on YouTube and now it's time for bed :)Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 15
- Selasa, 18 April 2017
- ☀️ 16 °C
- Ketinggian: 5 mi
- YunaniÁgios Pávlos40°37’34” N 22°57’7” E
Thessaloniki
18 April 2017, Yunani ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C
We slept in again :)
Our clothes aren't dry so we have left them hanging up. In our next hostel we have an ensuite so we will do the rest when we get there - don't want to carry around wet clothes.
Will wants me to tell everyone he hasn't seen a single Subaru.
Fascinating I know.
We facetimed Jess and then after a lot of pleading from me, we went to TGI Friday's again ! Wool woop.
Delicious.
We then went to the center square and bought bird food for 1 euro each to feed the pigeons. There was this annoying little kid who kept running and scaring the birds - granted I would find it fun if i was 7 too. So I moved away from her and made my own little bird club :) there was a dove pigeon too :)
We caught the taxi up the mountain to Heptapyrgion Castle which unfortunately was closed but we still enjoyed walking around it and sitting on some of the old wall. As we were sitting though Will noticed that there was lots of little red bugs. I've never seen anything like them before, it was flea sized but it's entire body was Fluro red. Once we noticed them we naturally started to feel itchy and moved on.
I find the walls really interesting with all the rocks just mashed together. Collecting and transporting them would have been a bitch.
I desperately needed to wee but there wasn't a toilet in sight so we walked quickly down the hill In The direction of the Vlatadon monastery which hopefully had a toilet - we came across a cafe with an spectacular view of Thessaloniki and toilets so we decided to get a drink here to gain access to the loo. The toilet was ridiculous, if you had longer legs then me then you wouldn't be able to close the door - my knees were touching the door when sitting...
we then popped over to the monastery but it too was closed but we admired the beautiful artistry on the outside of the building.
We've now walked home.
Clothes still not dry -.-
Will is off to the Gym while I pretend I'm packing but will probably watch a cartoon.
Well, I started to watch land before time.. I told Will to take the key but he said no he will just knock when we comes back but now I've realized that he won't be able to get into the building at all without the first set of keys so his knocking plan won't work. So, I've popped over to the grocery store across the street with the aim of buying toilet paper and sunscreen but they didn't have either? Thy didn't even sell tissues. I ended up buying coke and a snickers hahahah I always have good intentions but it never goes well for me lol.
I got through check out without mentioning I didn't speak Greek once. She rambled on to me and I just paid silently. So proud.
So now I'm sitting at the bottom of the stairs just inside the front door waiting for Will to come back. He could be 10 minutes, he could be 3 hours :\ I was hoping it would be closed cause it would mean he should be back by now, but alas, he is not.
The coke isn't even cold so I can't drink it. Poo.
It's been 40 minutes.. still waiting.
There is a buzzer outside that he could press which would let me know when he was back..
but as I'm the one that pressed it on day one, I'm not sure if he knows which one to press and I'm not willing to take the risk, because if he doesn't know then I won't hear the end of it.
BUT I just know that because I'm sitting here being a good human he is going to come home and be like "uhm I could have just pressed the buzzer"
We will see.
1hour35.
So what happens?
A man opens the front door and Will waltzes on in with a small "thankyou" to him.
ARE YOU KIDDING. -.-
Gah! Waste of time.
Will stunk so he had a shower while I packed and had a little iddy biddy baby whinge. I AM SO PROUD HE SAID HE SHOULD HAVE TAKEN THE KEY.
This is a real personal growth moment.
As an I'm 'sorry' to me ( not an apologize cause he didn't do anything wrong but rather sorry because I had to sit on the stairs due to circumstances ) he said I could get some sweet chili Doritos :D they are so good.
We went to dinner at the place we found on TripAdvisor with terrific ratings that's been closed since we arrived - it's worth the hoo-ha.
Fantastic atmosphere, fast service, yummy food, and super friendly waiters. First time we have tipped in ages.
One guy asked us where we were from so we said Sydney. And he repeated back "Melbourne city" so happily and walked off.
He returned later to say woooo Melbourne city and added a fist pump hahah.
Because it was our last night in Greece we agreed we would both try an Olive.
Will had a bite and then spat it out.
I thought it was a slightly melodramatic reaction until it was my turn and spat mine out too. It was atrocious! So bitter and yuck! Blehh!
I bought my Doritos for our bus trip tomorrow and we have basically packed. Only our toiletries are out.
I've liked Thessaloniki- granted I'm quite bored with it but it does have its beauty. The atmosphere tonight helped me see that.
I'm happy to change countries though - so much still to explore!
Thessaloniki, with a fresh coat of paint, really could be beautiful.Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 16
- Rabu, 19 April 2017
- ⛅ 11 °C
- Ketinggian: 277 mi
Makedonia UtaraSkopje42°0’12” N 21°26’5” E
Skopje
19 April 2017, Makedonia Utara ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C
Not good not good. We spent the night scratching. We brushed our teeth, made the bed, collected the rubbish and did a final scan of everything. We were instructed to leave our key in the room so we did.. we walked downstairs and found the front door locked, we needed the key.
We were stuck.
Will once again was far more stressed than me. It really surprises me, I thought I'd be the one having anxiety.
We waited and luckily one of the residence came down for his morning smoke so he let us out.
We went to the taxi rank and asked to be taken to Thessaloniki station. He was not happy but agreed. I think he was cranky because it's not a big/long job and they have designated pickup stations so once he dropped us off he would have join the back of the queue again So it's a big waste of time for him. He was a miserable sod and overcharged us but I tipped and extra euro anyway which cheered him up. To his credit he could have said no to us so I'm thankful he drove us.
We were an hour early for the bus so we waited in the only open coffee shop.
We couldn't help but notice the difference between counties. It was 7:30 on a weekday and the station hadn't opened yet. There was like 5 people around and this is the main station of the city...
we waited where we thought we were suppose to - there was a sign with our bus company on it but the rest was in Greek. Eventually after time had past and still no one else had turned up I went searching for another potential bus stop and found one. We rushed over - lucky we checked it was nearly time to go.
It was only a little shuttle bus type vehicle but we fit.
When we got to the Greek border our driver took our passports and went inside, they got stamped and we went through. They didn't check to see if the passports matched those on the vehicle lol.
There was a duty free shop one of the girls on the bus wanted to go to so we stoped there and I made friends with a dog.
It broke my heart. He was so so so wet. And he was so happy when I game him a pat. I think he was hungry, he tried to get on the bus :( :( I wish I could take him home.
He must have been so cold.
I had to pay 50c to use the toilet, Will refused but I couldn't because they had hoarded all the toilet paper -.- it's ridiculous. I really don't think you should have to pay for a toilet. Especially if you are going to get in trouble for going on the street? What if I had no money? So stupid I wish I hadn't paid but the man started getting cross so I caved.
We've crossed into Macedonia now and within the first 2 kilometers we saw 4 casinos hahah.
We have both had a small nap - Will is still asleep.
I think we should arrive soon. I already like Macedonia better, the buildings are like little rundown farm houses. I've seen some chickens and so much grass and lush greenery. Didn't realize how much I like plants until this trip.
The leaves are a funny lime green color.
So we arrived and there was this really friendly guy helping our driver get everyone's bags out and he asked if we needed a taxi so we said yes.
We followed him to his car and he drove us to the hostel. He was hilarious! His English was very clear. He made a few good comments but I think the main one that will stick with me is when he asked us how old we were and we said 24/25 and he responded "oh guys this is the best time of your life, live it. Smoke a joint, eat some ribs, enjoy it! His accent and enthusiasm made it all the more funnier. It was unexpected. He was really lovely so we tipped him 5€.
He has given us his his number if we have any questions or I suppose if we need a driver we could call him too.
His name was Toni :)
We got an upgrade at our hostel so we have an apartment to ourselves. It's really nice. It has a fridge and washing machine which is great!
The hostel has a fish tank :D
I was so frighten exhausted so I had a 3 hour snooze while Will researched Macedonia and he updated me when I woke up.
We hadn't eaten at all today so we went for a walk to the main square looking for a place for dinner.
I LOVE the main square. They have a ridiculous amount of statues. Like it's beyond stupid.
Easily 30 in the one place but a big one of Alexander the Great in the middle surrounded by lions and such.
There was a cool water feature nearby too with colored lights. We walked across the stone bridge and back.
We found a spot to eat which had traditional Baulkan food.
Will is regretting his decision to not buy waterproof shoes. He said I jumped the gun buying hiking boots but tonight it was raining and FREEZING and my feet were toasty while his toes were numb.
We ate an entree of mixed meats that's intended for 4 hehe. We made a solid attempt.
We tipped our waited the equivalent of 6€ and he was so so ecstatic and appreciated it. He shook both our hands.
The walk back was COLD.
I love Macedonia already. We have collected all the brochures from the hostel to have a look at and make plans for the week. We also bought cereal and milk on our way home.
Honestly though, it's already kicking Greece' ass and I've been here all of 5 minutes.
I have noticed that there are no stray dogs here. Will has said that he read that out in the villages they hang stray dogs from trees.
Oh god.
I pray I don't see it.
It's forecast to snow in 2 mornings time. Exciting!Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 17
- Kamis, 20 April 2017
- ⛅ 9 °C
- Ketinggian: 278 mi
- Makedonia UtaraSkopje42°0’12” N 21°26’7” E
Skopje
20 April 2017, Makedonia Utara ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C
I don't know why, we haven't even done anything but we are both just so tired. We got up at 12.30 today which yesterday, in Greece would be 1:30 :S
We ate cereal for breakfast and we are now waiting for our first load of washing to finish before we put on another. I hope I did it right.. it hadn't exploded yet so that's a good start.
Later today we are thinking of visiting the mother Theresa memorial house.
We have just contacted a bike tour company who do rides through the country side. Will is really interested in doing it. We also are going to ask reception if we can extend our stay by 3 nights so we have enough time to do all the tours we want to.
We (ha, me) hung up the washing and put on a second load, organized with Sachin to Skype him later tonight and then went on our way. It's about a 2km walk to the main square. We found the Mother Theresa memorial and I actually really enjoyed it, more than I thought I would. I didn't realize she had been recently made a saint so that's kinda cool.
It had lots of pictures of her, items such as her head scarf, documents she had written and other things like her certificate of baptism and Nobel peace prize. It had a small chapel too but we didn't go in. We walked back to the main square and had lunch. I had the most DELICIOUS tomato soup!!! I ordered a second bowl and drained it hehe. :D I also caught a Mr Mime on Pokémon go which I have been trying to do since we arrived so I'm very happy. (You can only catch him in Europe). I booked us onto the free tour for Saturday and wrote some reviews on TripAdvisor - im now level 3 haha.
On the walk home we wanted to buy toilet paper, pegs, conditioner and more napisan sachets.
Apparently these people do not use conditioner. It surprisingly hard to find. Will also has extremely sore shoulders - partly because he went to the Gym and partly because he is stupid sized and doesn't fit anything; So we got some muscle rub for him too. Everything is so cheap!!!! The cocktails at the lunch place were roughly $4.50 each and the muscle rub was only like $3.
Woohoo!
We're back home and we have just finished talking to Sachin. He is doing good :)
I've hung the 2nd load out - the first load has practically dried because the apartment is so warm!
Just booked us onto a half day tour of "Skopje's surrounding beauties"
We went over to reception and have booked a few more days here so we will now check out on Wednesday AND we get to keep our upgraded room for the same price ( well technical 2€ a day more but big woop)
they printed off our tour receipts for us too :)
YAYAYAY so keen for tomorrow, I think I'll be getting the thermals out though.
We got told we have a maintenance person coming tomorrow to fix our shower door because at the moment half is missing which makes a big mess on the floor so we are quite pleased :)
Went out to dinner at this burger place Will wanted to try. It cost 99 Denar each which is 1.6€. BARGAIN! Burger was average but for the price is was amazing!
It is so so cold! My phones weather app says it's 5 degrees but feels like 2. I have to agree with it.
I really like the juice we bought yesterday. It's tropical flavor but a thinner texture than normal juice.
We have to do another load of washing because we forgot to wash Wills disgusting gym shirt because it was in its own quarantine section. It smells so bad.
I think I put too much napisan in before because some of the clothes have come out with white powder type stains on them so we will wash those shirts again too.
We got our Wills GoPro and are charging it for tomorrow and looking at his old photos from his caravan trip to Cairns with Tim. There is a great video he got of him swimming after a reef shark.
I am doing my first iCloud backup ever right now and so happy about it. I thought the day would never come :,) I was able to change my Apple ID so all my past problem are gone!!! :D
Off to bed shortly :)Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 18
- Jumat, 21 April 2017
- ⛅ 6 °C
- Ketinggian: 266 mi
- Makedonia UtaraSkopje42°0’9” N 21°26’11” E
Skopje
21 April 2017, Makedonia Utara ⋅ ⛅ 6 °C
Our shower fixing guy hadn't arrived before we left so we hid the laptop.
We walked and got more money out, had lunch then went to find our tour meeting spot - we walked through Old Baazar and I can't wait to go back and explore it (the old main square). We were told to meet in the car park on fortress kale. This instruction was not helpful and we spent about 30 minutes stressed not knowing if we were in the right place or not because let's just say the "carpark" is not a legit space. It's more like where people felt like putting there car. There was a mosque nearby so there was loud prayers blaring over a speaker. We were in the right place and first to arrive. An English couple joined us next, they were nice. We waited for 2 Canadian ladies to turn up. They had a fantastic reason for being late though - the Princess of Thailand is staying in there hotel and and the hotel went into lockdown for her arrival and wouldn't let them out. An unexpected but very valid reason lol.
We picked up another couple who are very odd, don't speak much and both have bowl hair cuts.
First we drove to millennium cross. Apparently the overworked staff who press a button to operate the cable cars take 30 minute breaks every half hour... so we had to wait and the tour had a coffee in a shop nearby. The hot chocolate I had was a packet mix not stirred in properly :/
We went up the cable cars with the British couple and our guide. It takes about 8-9 minutes to reach the top. The cross was built in 2011 to celebrate 2000 years of Jesus and the cable car was added in 2011. Construction of the cross is not completely finished yet though - they are building a resturant. There was play equipment and a spectacular view!! I WAS BEYOND FREEZING THOUGH. I was wearing my thermal top, a long sleeve shirt and my windbreaker jacket but had to get out my big boofy jacket - I was still cold!!!
There was a dog at the top of the mountain which surprised me. We went back down the cable car and took the bus to a church - Will became very grandad Pickering on the Bus. He asked if it was a working church and was told yes. He then went on to very LOUDLY tell everyone on the bus that that was wrong and as a Christian he shouldn't have to paid yada yada yada making a small scene. It was a touch embarrassing.
The church had beautiful frescos in it. It cost 120 denar each to enter. The paint had such strong colour and it hadn't been restored so even more impressive. There was goats me and Will wanted to pat but we didn't :(
Next up was canyon Matka. It was exquisite. The water was so blue but it was so cold - I had trouble taking photos because my fingers couldn't really move. We had the choice to sit in the resturant, go for a walk on one of the trails or take a boat to a cave, we did the latter. We were joined by 2 other guys. 1 of them had just had a beer and was doing disgusting beer burps -.-
The cave wasn't really worth the trip but the boat ride was enough in itself. I loved going through the gorge. Apparently it's known for its butterflies but unfortunately it was too cold to see any.
I liked the people on our tour and our guide. They were super friendly. The bob cut people not so much though but I don't think English was their first language so they are excused.
As we were leaving canyon matka was saw a traditional Albanian Wedding celebration ( or so we think) they were all dancing and wearing fancy outfits. It looked very gypsy-like but they had the Albanian flag. We were suppose to get dropped off at the Macedonia gate but apparently there is a demonstration that takes place at 5pm everyday and all the streets get closed by the police. We haven't realized cause we have been going everywhere by foot.
So our bus dropped us close enough and our guide stayed with us to walk us to the main square.
Macedonia hasn't had a government since December 11. It's obviously a complicated issue but from what the guide said is everyone was angry cause the government has spent so much money on pointless things like the 700 statues which is ridiculous when 1/3 of people are below the poverty line.
She said something about Albanian being made a national language too - not sure if the protest was for or against that point but I (granted I don't know much on the subject) don't think it should be. The argument they have is that 40% of Macedonian citizens are Albanian but I think if 40% of Australia was Chinese and I was told Mandarin should be a national language I'd be outraged too.
Walking through the demonstration was fun. Lots of flags and thousands of people.
I like that they do it everyday AFTER work. I think that shows a glimpse into what type of people they are - hard working and not just having a whinge.
We ate dinner at the resturant from the first night again. Will ordered a chunk of cheese. It's not why he thought it was going to be,
but it was a literal slab of cheese.
I had curry chicken and it was great. I wanted a dessert, Will didn't think he could finish one on his own - I thought this meant he would have 1 or 2 bites of mine but ended up eating half of my crepe -.-
HAVE I MENTIONED IT IS COLD.
At the hostel we did 2 loads of washing cause the first one must have had a tissue in it.
We then watch Hamish and Andy gap year videos .Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 19
- Sabtu, 22 April 2017
- ⛅ 8 °C
- Ketinggian: 297 mi
- Makedonia UtaraSkopje42°0’18” N 21°25’58” E
Skopje
22 April 2017, Makedonia Utara ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C
Will finished all the cereal last night so we had to buy breakfast/lunch - we went for the cheap option and went back to 'burger friends'
I don't understand why no one puts salt on their chips.
We arrived at the meeting spot a half hour early so we waited - at first in the shade but then in the sun cause we were cold again.
Our tour guide, Zoran arrived - his teeth were awful! Rotten, half missing and I think the top ones he did have was a plate of sorts. He did spit a bit too - apart from that distracting feature he was great - super friendly and spoke English clearly enough:) we waited a little, but because he changed his usual tour time he didn't expect anyone to show - we only knew about the change of time because we booked and received an email - but the website actually specifies that you don't need to book. So lucky we did. A Spanish man came over and enquired about the free tour umbrella and joined too.
Our first stop was mother Theresa's birth place - the 1963 earthquake destroyed the house but there are gold outlines on the floor to mark where it stood. There is also a tree that she planted too.
Next up was an arch, variety of statues and parliament building. The parliament building still had some signs of the protests from last year. They didn't graffiti like most people, instead they covered the building in paintballs hahah.
We went to the old train station which is now museums and had some of the Thousands of statues explained.
Next we went to the main square - that ridiculously large Alexander the Great statue cost the government 9 million euros - no wonder they are cranky.
We looked at stone bridge and learnt about the explosives that were hidden in there during the war, and looked at another 2 bridges one covered in significant Macedonian artists and the other important Macedonian figures be it politics or philosophy etc. Most of the city is new because in 1963 there was a massive earthquake which destroyed 80% of the city.
we went through the old bazaar to reach fortress kale. We went inside today but there want much to see, it's still under construction. We went to a mosque (the one making a racquet yesterday) and then we went back through the old bazaar again where our guide, Zoran bought us some traditional Turkish sweets - delightful! Everyone else didn't like them as much so I got 3! ^.^
The Spanish dude - who btw was a knob at the start had warmed up and bought a sweet for himself and offered me a bite - it wasn't chocolate like expected but full of dates or similar. The old bazaar is my new favorite spot. It honestly looks like a theme park with matching shop fronts and clean streets but with people selling silly things.
Back in the day there was a designated street for each thing but now there is only one still doing that tradition which is the street selling gold/jewelry which we walked down.
The Spanish dude said bye to us, we tipped 1000 denar which is about 16 euro (the tour was free in theory - it's all tipped based) then we sat at a shop Zoran recommended. He came and sat with us for a while. He really is lovely but makes too many jokes haha and many of them sexual - the Spanish man and Will found them funnier than I did lol.
I had a traditional salad called a shopska * salad.
It's tomato, cucumber and onion covered in white cheese.
We were meant to go on a pub crawl but we went to the meeting point and no one was there. So we have now strolled through the city and are stopped at traditional Turkish place in the old bazaar.
Will is pretty devo.
We had traditional Turkish tea, it needed a lot of sugar to be yum. Will liked it and ordered another one but we got it on the house. :)
We also had some Melon hookah which was yum.
I feel uncomfortable, not unsafe but uncomfortable. I feel like my hair an eye colour really give me away and a lot of people look at me.
There were a lot of beggar kids walking around.
We gave a big tip again because the waiters were really nice and there money is worth squat. He was so appreciative and supposed.
I plan on buying dog/cat food tomorrow cause I can't deal with all the sad animals :(
We are currently watching Bear Grylls and will go to bed soon.
We both have obvious wind chafing on our faces.Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 20
- Minggu, 23 April 2017
- ⛅ 16 °C
- Ketinggian: 276 mi
- Makedonia UtaraSkopje42°0’6” N 21°26’8” E
Skopje
23 April 2017, Makedonia Utara ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C
Woke up to the sounds of Will making noises to Jaxon on Skype.
I was so beyond happy because when I finally got a change to get my face into frame Jaxon leant in as if to try and eat my nose - I'm interpreting this as recognition <3 he didn't try to do it to Will. Our little thing hahahah
I miss him and my cat. The 2 things that don't miss me at all.
After we spoke to Jess I spoke to mum and dad for an hour which was great - told them all about Macedonia and how much we like it. No real news on there end except for dad continuing to train for Kokoda track - I'm honestly very proud of him.
We said bye then headed into town - as much as I don't mind walking, I am getting over the 2.2km walk to town. It's not convenient - we walked a couple of hundred meters before Will decided to run back and use the toilet at home and so I took the opportunity to buy 2 bags of cat food and some chews for dogs. I also got blue Fanta which has a picture of a lemon and flower on the front and tastes how toilet cleaner smells.
It was drinkable though.
We ate lunch at a traditional Macedonian place and it was eh. I had the traditional salad again which was great but the chicken I had for my main was bleh. Will had a sort of patty and didn't like his either.
We walked across the bridge to the Jewish holocaust memorial. It was free entry - as you walk in you are hit with hundreds of victims faces.
Of the 7000 people from Skopje who were carted away in ww2, none returned. There are no Jews in the city anymore.
There was a carriage/friet train on display that was used to transport the people, artworks and poems.
A section of the memorial was filled with artworks by a boy/man who's story is - his mother gave birth to him outside of Skopje for the reasons of cleaner air - it was during that time everyone was taken - the family returned and everyone screamed at them to run and hide. They are the only known Jews to have escaped. The artworks are his memories as a boy hiding and although not at a concentration camp, the trauma and fear.
Upstairs was history of Jewish persecution throughout history and then the 3rd floor was more pictures of victims and information about the holocausts effect on Skopje. It was very humbling and I was close to tears on several occasions when imagining their fear.
We didn't speak a word to each other the entire time.
After wards we went to old town to try and buy more of the delicious Turkish sweets/Pastry from the tour but her shop was shut :(
It started to sprinkle so we quickly walked home. We bought some groceries on the way and had a nap hahah it must be the weather. There is no valid reason for us to both be so buggered.
Once we woke up we had cereal for dinner and I sorted out my cat food so it will be easier to access if I come across a stray.
I really need to wash my hair but the shower still hasn't been fixed and I just think water will go everywhere if I try.
We where going to put Wills clothes in to the dry cleaners today but they were closed.
We also had a look at trains to lake Ohrid but it was too complicated so we are going to ask reception to help us organize it tomorrow.
Will must have really enjoyed the holocaust museum because he has been looking up concentration camps all evening. We watched a 45 minute Auschwitz documentary which was really interesting. I'm looking forward to visiting.Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 21
- Senin, 24 April 2017
- ☀️ 12 °C
- Ketinggian: 259 mi
- Makedonia UtaraSkopje42°0’12” N 21°26’14” E
Skopje
24 April 2017, Makedonia Utara ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C
Instead of Jaxon, today I woke up to Will speaking to Helen.
Afterwards we collected the tissue covered clothing and walked to the local laundromat- neither worker spoke English but after a game of charades I think they understood what we wanted - I guess we will find out tomorrow when we pick them up.
We then went to reception and asked for help on how to get to get to Ohrid lake on Wednesday - they said that you couldn't buy them online and that we had to go to the bus station to buy tickets. We walked to the main square and decided to have lunch at a new place. It looked a little fancy but it's food was mediocre at best.
I finally tried the infamous 'Alexandria' Macedonian red wine. I found it to be very dry but was pleased that it came in a mini bottle so I didn't have to finish it - I've stored the remaining half in my bag.
On our walk I came across the first stray cat :) it was hesitant at first but eventually realized I was trying to feed it and came over :D yay!
The bus stop was a fair walk away but doable.
The lady we bought our tickets off wasn't the strongest English speaker so we are going to check with reception when we get home that our tickets are going to the right place.
On the way back we popped into a big shopping center - Will bought an SD card for his phone so he has more storage for photos and we finally got phone numbers! We don't really know how the system works... I know that once we leave Macedonia it will count as international calls/texts but I'm relieved because the lady in Bulgaria will need to be able to contact us when she has to pick us up from the station to go pick roses. Also a lot of the reservations for things have required a phone number so I'm happy to have a European one.
We don't really know if we will be able to top up our credit if we go over but at least I can be called. We are with a company called vip. I know that they are also in Austria and Croatia. So that's something.
We then went to the old town to see if the the Turkish sweet ladies store was open - it was !! :D and it was only 50 denar! A stupid gypsy lady was asking for money and I said no like 10 times but she is smart cause she knew I had to get my wallet out to pay so she stayed put. I gave her 10 denar to make her piss off.
I bought a Macedonia magnet too :) it was only 1€ ^.^
We went back to the Turkish place to have tea and to pass time more hookah hahaha this time grape which is my favorite flavor but I was sad because they meant grape like black currant, not grape grape. I don't like black currant :( but I persevered :D haha.
We were going to go get Will a beer but the place looked too cold so we ended back at the tomato soup place woohoo! But before we did I found 2 more cats to feed. There was a black mangy one who I fed first but I don't think he knew it was food. It wasn't until the other one started eating did he figure it out.
Will said "come on Harry they are coming from everywhere" which was a tad dramatic, only one more cat appeared - I fed it too :D so pleased with myself ^.^
I had a cocktail with my soup.
We walked home and I fed 4 more cats :) :)
We have now booked accommodation for the lake. We will be 8km away from the city but will have a view of the lake and can canoe to town hahah.
I think I might have diabetes from the treats (don't know there actual name) but I feel funny.
I have a sugar headache.
Macedonia had a ridiculous amount of pollen in the air and we both are sneezing more than usual.Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 22
- Selasa, 25 April 2017
- ⛅ 17 °C
- Ketinggian: 281 mi
- Makedonia UtaraSkopje42°0’13” N 21°26’5” E
Skopje
25 April 2017, Makedonia Utara ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Was up half the night with bad heartburn - too many sweets haha so I was tired.
We went and collected the washing - the lady was so cute - she didn't understand we were trying to tip her and she was freaking out that she didn't have the right change. It took a few attempts before she understood.
We then took our washing home - it's so neatly wrapped and folded :) we then we headed into town.
I fed some cats along the way. Teehee.
We decided to have lunch before going to the museum - Will had the best pizza he has had in Europe so far. I got the shopska salad again which I'm loving. It's tomato and cucumber covered in white cheese. The cheese acts as a dressing.
We then went to the Macedonian archaeological museum which was fantastic! Probably the best museum I've been to. I found out after, we paid extra for entry because we are tourists but oh well, it was still only 300 denar each (locals it's 100 denar)
The first room had skulls and then above it, clay remodellings and drawings of what the people would have looked like. It also had a shit-tonne of coins which were cute looking and explanations of the different values.
The next room had your basic old tomb stones and marble figurines - it also had a replica of Alexander the Greats sarcophagus which was cool.
Upstairs was the best bit. It was two separate floors - the walls were covered in paintings which were scenes of the people using the archaeological artifacts that are in those glass cases (that after you have seen 10 you've seen them all and stop really reading.) the pictures really added colour to the room and help spark your imagination.
There was a few other skeletons throughout with what they were buried with still with them. I always like that kind of stuff. It's weird thinking it was an actual person.
On the upper floor they also integrated wax figurines of important Macedonian figures which was also very engaging. There was weapons, jewelry and a kings carriage.
It had relevant background music playing the whole time which added to the effect and in some spots it had digital pictures on the walls.
It was just colorful and engaging. I actually really like it and I think Will did too, he didn't try to rush out and because of the other types of displays he didn't have to read as much :)
The staff were annoying though. We were the only ones there so they followed us everywhere - I understand why they did but it was still too close for comfort. They could have been more sly.
We then went to get Will his craft beers which he had been dying to try. He tried 3. They all sucked. With the 3rd one he asked for something but they didn't have it so they gave him something else - it was dark beer which he doesn't like so he barely touched it. It smelt like Vegemite..
I had a mojito.
Will has also been dying to try the casinos because they are everywhere.
We tried 1 place but it was closed so we walked 100m and went to the next one lol.
We played roulette and the pokies.
A standard loss but we hardly spent anything - all in the experience. Will was horrified that they didn't serve alcohol so we went to an Irish pub. While Will had more drinks I went cat hunting. I found several more :D
We then went back to our favourite Turkish tea place.
On the way Will found a dog which we both petted and I tried to feed but he didn't really know what to do with a shmacko.
We had so much tea, it really grows on you. Will was embarrassing at first - too many beers hahaha he just talks to loudly.
We paid the bill and Tipped a few euro and the guy was so thankful we got 2 more teas on the house. I think that's why we both like the place so much - beautiful workers with genuine gratitude. Good service, tea and hookah too.
On our walk home we found 2 more dogs which I fed :)
The stall owners nearby laughed at me then spoke to me in clear English. Apparently the dog had just finished eating 6 sausages hahahah good puppy <3
We took some photos in the main square with the selfie stick then walked home and continued my cat hunting :)
We've packed our bags and are keen for Ohrid lake tomorrow :)Baca selengkapnya
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- Hari 23
- Rabu, 26 April 2017
- ☀️ 15 °C
- Ketinggian: 716 mi
- Makedonia UtaraOhrid41°7’13” N 20°48’48” E
Lake Ohrid
26 April 2017, Makedonia Utara ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
Woke up and packed up our final things, returned our key, payed and had reception order us a taxi.
We probably should have left a little earlier because there was way more traffic than expected.. but we made it onto the bus in time
:)
Ew, what a horrible journey. The driver should be fired. Not only were the roads so bendy but he was thumping the break pedal.
Me and Will both felt so sick. And sleepy.
We had a 10 minute stop essentially for the driver to eat because I'm quite confident he would have driven off without us had I not been watching him. We sped back to the bus just in time.
The food was good but we didn't get to finish it. We asked for lemonade but we're given a bitter lemon which was disgusting and tasted exactly as the name suggests.
I think I slept for maybe 30 mins out of the 3.5hr drive. I kept banging my head against the wall with his terrible driving.
I was getting very agitated but nothing compared to Will. He was quickly losing it.
We did finally arrive - at which time the bus driver nearly ran into us - he was a real dick.
We needed to sit for a while because we both wanted to vomit. Will had a cappuccino in a local store so we could sit and have access to the toilets.
After, we caught a taxi from Ohrid to our hostel.
Our taxi driver was great - we are possibly going to call him later in the week to take us for a private tour around the lake which crosses into Albania.
Our hostel is cute, like little handmade cottages.
We had a 4 hour sleep then finally were ready to get going.
We met an English guy (not really fussed by him) and went to dinner at a local resturant together - pretty uneventful. The lake is STUNNING. And huge. Over 300m deep.
On the way to the resturant there was a dog i patted so it happily followed us for a long while.
Back at the hostel I had a shower and FINALLY washed my hair. The shower is a little bit better than the last place but still not great. Will doesn't fit this one either hahaha.
We then went up and sat with a few people around a table. One girl was polish and the others worked at the place.
The others went on a hike today and picked some thyme so we all had a pot of thyme tea :) I quite liked it. Will hated it.
We then went inside and watched a terrible terrible Macedonian movie. It was so bad I couldn't look away.
The polish girl has given us some spots to visit in Poland so that's exciting :)
There is a dog here who I had a play with - Labrador :D
There is a bee in our room but we have lost it now :S I don't want to get stung.
Our room is small but cosy.
Today was another waste day. Tomorrow we will hopefully pick up the pace again :)Baca selengkapnya
- Tampilkan perjalanan
- Tambahkan ke daftar bucketHapus dari daftar bucket
- Bagikan
- Hari 24
- Kamis, 27 April 2017
- ☀️ 15 °C
- Ketinggian: 704 mi
- Makedonia UtaraBelina41°4’6” N 20°48’7” E
Lake Ohrid
27 April 2017, Makedonia Utara ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C
Asked for directions on how to get to town (supposedly 8km away) then caught the bus in. The bus is more like a school bus and the driver didn't give us our change but oh well. It was like 20c. We dropped most of the bus people off at a school, it was like 12:30.. not sure what the go is but it looked like they were just about to start school?
If school in Australia started at 12:30 I would have been on time more often.
The town is friggen stunning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am in love.
Cobbled streets, cute stores and trees that back onto the most beautiful scenic lake. Can't deal. STUNNING.
We first had crappy breakfast (that's the one thing Greece does better - food) then went for a walk. We walked onto the dock - amazing! We were pestered a lot for boat rides though which was annoying.
There was so many fish in the bay and one very clever but extremely random swan.
We kept walking and came across St Sophia's which was a nice church with frescoes, a lot have unfortunately been destroyed with time but still lovely all the same. It cost 100 denars to get in for international visitors and cheaper for domestic but it didn't annoy me cause at least they had a sign specifying it rather than some cheapo door man seemingly making up his own rules. We kept walking with no real aim up steep hills and came across another church - St Clements monastery of St Paneleimon. It was pretty dull, the highlight was that a stray cat caught a lizard to eat. I walked over to have a look at the gift shop outside and instantly regretted it. The man came to life, he was probably so excited to have a visitor. I walked away awkwardly. I felt bad for him.
There are so many lizards it's weird.
What's even weirder is the ticket guy gave us student discounts for no reason. He was like
" are you students" and I said " super technically I am but can't prove it" and he said " naaa you look like students" and gave us half price entry.
It's not usual for a discount here, normally the complete opposite where they try to rip you off. It was refreshing.
We then kept walking us the hill to St samuels fortress which was boring itself but the views were S.P.E.C.T.A.C.U.L.A.R.
We walked back down the hill and came across an "antique theatre" not ancient but antique haha.
It looks as if it might still be used. I just thought it would be a great stage to dance on. It is super old though so we think the holes in some of the rows might be for pooing into, then someone collects your bucket hahah.
On our stroll down the hill I bought a macedonia T-shirt and made a dog friend. I gave him a shmacko. He doesn't belong to the shop owner but has basically been adopted - they feed her and she hangs out with the' everyday :)
We went for a quick shop with the intention of buying pegs, a drink, sunscreen, cereal and hair detangler cause I had a hissy fit this morning cause my hair has lost the plot.
We finally found pegs but sunscreen seems to be an impossible task.
I can feel my face turning into a giant cancer.
We then went and sat at a resturant for hours chatting and looking at the view. Will has beer and I had dessert :D
We got chatting to this English couple next to us. The man had me in stitches several times.
Mainly when another man appeared wearing a silver leather jacket. The commentary for that particular Moment was hysterical. He looked liked he'd been wrapped in alfoil.
We caught a taxi home and are now having some alone time. We chatted to them for hours.
We had a wonderful day.
Omg yuck Will was holding my hand for ages and I thought he was either scratching or cleaning my nails but he was using my nails to clean his nails. Not cool.Baca selengkapnya
- Tampilkan perjalanan
- Tambahkan ke daftar bucketHapus dari daftar bucket
- Bagikan
- Hari 25
- Jumat, 28 April 2017
- ⛅ 17 °C
- Ketinggian: 708 mi
- Makedonia UtaraOhrid41°7’14” N 20°48’45” E
Lake Ohrid
28 April 2017, Makedonia Utara ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C
Woke up and turned the alarm clock off before Will could hear it muahaha.
Dad called this morning to make sure the number I gave him worked so that was good :) was nice to hear his voice but we had to hang up or else it would have cost a fortune. I had a shower and washed some of my clothes in with me then hung them out to dry.
We went and had breakfast over in the eating area which had a nice vibe. There are 2 new German girls but we didn't talk.
We wanted to go on a hike in the mountains so we filled up our camel packs and put shorts on.
There is an ongoing disagreement about this but just for the official record - my camel pack is better than Wills.
We found the hostel owners and asked them where the trail started - instead they organized to drive us up the mountain to meet up with a group that had already begun.
We met up with the two male workers and 2 new Swiss girls at the spot which was what felt like miles up the mountain through twists and turns. It was a cafe of the most basic kind. Will got a coffee and I got a tea but they weren't normal either. Mine was organic and made from some herb with lemon and Wills was just odd in appearance but tasted alright.
The Swiss girls are nice. Clear English. I like listening to them speaking French to each other.
I was given a walking stick but it's annoying to hold.
After a long time we started walking and ended up at two old peoples house (one of the workers - Michails - adopted grandparents) in the middle of an amazing, abandoned tradition village. Only 7 people still live here. It was awesome! It reminded me a little of the Kenyan villages.
It was thatched house styles and lots of barns with holes in walls. I loved it. I think Will loved it too. It was authentic. There was realness that can't be faked.
The 2 people didn't speak English but god they were cute. The woman was so small and wrinkly. She came up to Wills belly button hahahah.
So Macedonia has this thing called radka** and a bottle got pulled out at the house along with a sandwich. It was in a vodka bottle and I was originally pleased to learn it wasn't vodka... that was until I had a sniff. It was nail polish remover. O.o
Me and Will were quietly trying to psych ourselves up to be able to shot it.
Everyone was given a shot glass - we were suppose to sip it not shot it. We both managed to finish it but it nearly killed us. It was so horrible. If there hadn't have been bread to scoff down afterwards I would have puked for sure.
I've been having the most awful burps ever since.
We stayed for around 40 mins. I had a lot of fun. It was wonderful to watch them interact in their native tongue and see how these people live. Most people have left the village due to lack of water. I asked how the couple survives and apparently one of there son visits every 3 days with food.
The old lady had the littlest but broken hands. They were cute to look at but probably have caused her a lot of pain.
I wanted to put her in my pocket.
They had a dog in the shed tied up that I went and patted because I think it was getting stressed it couldn't get to us and wanted to say hi :)
"Booba" the dog had come on the hike with us. They call her boobie. :)
She is so well trained.
We walked through the village - I would like to re highlight how much I loved it.
And through this field with flowers that came up to just below my knee. I'm genuinely surprised I wasn't stung by a bee because it's spring at the moment and the amount of pollen and BUGS is ridiculous.
We saw a donkey carrying a lot of wood down the street and walked past a small cemetery. There was also the most random church/alter in the middle of nowhere.
The hike was easy - all downhill. Woohoo!
We came across a patch of thyme and collected a lot for more tea.
We also came across a snake. The workers blocked the path until I reminded them we were Australian then they let us pass hahah.
There is a dead animal down by the side of the road near the entrance to the hostel - I asked them what it was - it's a badger. I hope I see a live one at some point.
The views were of course breathtaking.
Will has taken my walking stick so I don't have to carry it anymore :) it wasn't doing anything to help.
We have arrived at a place for lunch. They have cooked a traditional Macedonian Lunch. Moussaka, a tzatziki type duo, chilly/egg dip and breads. It was tasty but Will LOVED it and cobbled down 2 massive serves.
We have only walked about an hour ropes and this is our 4th break...
typical Macedonian people we have eating and everyone else is currently having a siesta before dessert - they will probably have another one after that too hahah.
This is why nothing gets done. At the start of the hike we were told it would take 5 hours and they questioned our level of fitness.
Overall we ended up walking for 75 mins then sitting/eating for 300 minutes.
We were offered dessert of baklava which was yum, walked some the mountain for a bit and then got picked up and driven back to hostel. Will got out at the bottom to buy beer with the workers and dog. I got driven up with the Swiss girls. Until I got to the room and realized Will had the key -.-
so I waited 30 minutes for him to get back to be told he didn't even lock it to begin with......... gah!
We both showered and checked ourselves for ticks - all clear!
We then sat up at the eating area cause I think Will is really keen to make friends but there was no one there really. We ended up playing cards and I'm now going to read some of my book :)
Will just moved and knocked the laptop off the bed - it's a bunk bed type setup so the fall was extra large. If I had done it he would have lost his shit.
Thankfully the laptop is fine.Baca selengkapnya