2025 - Greece

Kalimera from the largest of the Greek islands, the mighty Crete. Yes, that's right folks, the land of the Minotaur and birthplace of many Cretan legends.  Our flight to Chania - pronounced Hania - was easy, and we got a 2.5 Euro bus ticket to the old town. A beautiful stroll past shops, restaurants and cafes, and we came around the corner to the 700 year old Venetian Harbour of Chania, to find our new place, Hotel Lucia was front row! The hotel was old - the elevator was bui

Kalispera Malakas - we's in SAN TOE REE KNEE! The ferry from Naxos took two easy hours before we disembarked at Fira pier. We'd been to Santorini 10 years ago, and I remembered the road from the pier to the town. We jumped on the coach, and then I closed my eyes as we went up the numerous switchbacks to the top of the island. A bus change, a 5-minute walk and we were on top of the island - literally - and looking at the first of a hundred staircases at Andromeda Villas. A qui

Kalimera from Naxos, After a rather pleasant ferry ride, our host Nikos picked us up from the dock and drove us to the very cool Nikos Verikokos in the Old Town of Naxos. This was actually only about a 10-minute walk from the dock, but with suitcases and cobblestones, it was much easier for us to get picked up. Nikos drove us around town and gave us a mini-tour because Jen wanted to know where to buy good wine. Most places were shut because it was Sunday - and then he told us

Kalispera Malakas from Paros (and Anti-Paros) So the day after I hit the Big 5-0, we set sail (on the ferry) for the 5-hour easy as ride to the island of Paros.  We arrived in the port town of Perikia at 8.30 pm, and the first thing we noticed as the big ferry drawbridge descended was a beautiful old town square of grey marble, resplendent with trees and obligatory statues. Or hotel - Hotel Kontes was right at the port and within minutes we were into our new rooms and explori

Kalispera from Pollonia on the NE tip of Milos. We bid Maria adieu and jumped in the Corsa for the 20-minute windy road trip to Pollonia. The old town on the beach at Pollonia was just fishing villages, but are all now villas. We stayed right in the heart of the restaurant district above a café that served breaky to us in the morning. Our host, George, was a hospitable young dude and helped me carry our bags from the public carpark a few hundred metres away to our room. He to

Kalimera from the island of Milos in Greece, After the epic “Festival of Sedge” i.e. my 50 th  birthday celebrations, we packed up the house, packed off the stragglers, packed the car and drove to Sarah’s in Newcastle. A quiet night ensured before we embarked on some epic travel. ·       Newcastle to Sydney – 4 hours – including check-in ·       Sydney to Singapore – 8.5 hours ·       Singapore layover – 6 hours ·       Singapore to Athens – 11.5 hours ·       Athens layover