Greece

After a speedy stay over in Ioannina in Northern Greece, we took a 6 hour bus journey to Athens, where we would be celebrating our friends Phaedra and Adriano's wedding. Upon arriving in the city, we made our way to an Air BnB that we shared for the next few days with our friends Janna, Owen, Annayah and Alex. We spent some time that afternoon catching up with Janna and Owen and sharing beers on the terrace, before heading out to find some dinner - average food but great company. The next morning we walked to the centre of Athens and enjoyed exploring the old town streets and shops. We then walked up a hill to a peak with great views over the acropolis. That evening we took a shuttle bus about an hour and a half out of the city to a beautiful and rustic beach bar for a pre-wedding party! We had an amazing evening catching up with old friends from Jem's university days, attempting a midnight swim (Sam managed it), and playing a relay race game across the beach. It was a great chance to spend time with the almost bride and groom before their big day. 

The next day we had a busy time sightseeing. First we went to see the acropolis, which was very impressive and grand, especially given that the major buildings were built around 500 BC. The history in Athens was noticeable everywhere you looked, with old ruins, statues and sites galore. We then took a bus tour to the Temple of Poseidon (about 1.5 hours away). We had a tour guide on the bus who filled us in on some history and legends of Greece (including that the wealth of Athens came from silver mines, and a legend about Hades which explained the 4 seasons). We explored the Temple of Poseidon and watched a beautiful sunset over the ruins and surrounding sea, before returning to Athens. We awoke early the next morning to go on a run around the Olympic stadium! The stadium was built on the site of an ancient arena, and was reopened to host the first ever modern Olympic games in 1896. We raced Janna and Owen around the track, and took a photo on the podium to celebrate our victory. We then got ready for Phaedra and Adriano's wedding, and took a shuttle bus to the venue. They had a beautiful ceremony with heartfelt vows read in both English and Greek (particularly impressive since Adriano doesn't speak Greek!) and both looked so happy and in love. We enjoyed a delicious buffet meal, yummy cocktails and lots of dancing. We celebrated with them until 1am, and then took the bus back to collapse (very tipsily) into bed. 

We awoke fairly hungover (well Jem anyway!) and said goodbye to our friends. We then made our way to the bus station and travelled to Nafplio (the previous capital of Greece). Nafplio was a very charming and laid back city, situated right by the sea. That evening we explored its winding streets and did some shopping, before finding some dinner. To make sure we were prepared for our sailing course in a few days' time, we decided to book onto a day's sailing trip to practise our skills. We went down to the port and met our skipper, Theodor, and a couple from the US who were also booked onto the trip. We set out to sail around the beautiful Greek coastline, and Theodor let us take the wheel (literally!) from the start. We really enjoyed putting the skills we had learnt into practice, and also had a great time snorkelling from the side of the boat, paddleboarding to nearby coves and swimming in the refreshing waters. Theodor made us an amazing lunch and kept us well supplied with snacks and beer. The American’s had a particularly great time, being from Kansas, and not having seen a lake or sea for many years! After a rewarding day of sailing, we headed back to land for a shower followed by a Lebanese dinner. 

The next morning we took a bus from Nafplio to Ioannina. Luckily this time we arrived before it got dark and actually managed to explore the city, which was on the edge of a lake and surrounded by mountains. The following day we hired a car in Ioannina to head into Pindos national park in the mountains for a few days. Before driving there however, we decided to do a day trip to Meteora (about 1.5 hours away). It was great having the freedom of a car again after 2 months of public transport! Meteora is a historic site famous for its monasteries, which are placed high on pillars of rock overlooking valleys far below. We went on a hike up to one monastery, which was unfortunately closed, but had great views from the top. We then drove to another monastery accessible by wooden bridge, and went in to explore. It was very beautiful and tasteful, and had incredible views of other monasteries perched on their cliffs. After visiting a couple of viewpoints and having a picnic, we drove back towards the national park and up into the mountains. We were staying for a few days in a village called Vitsa, which felt very remote and was full of pretty slate and stone houses nestled into the beautiful mountains. 

We spent our time there exploring the national park. We drove to the Papingo rock pools, a series of swimming pools naturally formed from the limestone. Unfortunately they were very cold and not very full at this time of year, but it was interesting seeing the rock formations. We then went on a hike through Vikos gorge, which is the world deepest canyon in proportion to its width. It was very impressive and beautiful, and we found some springs in the valley with turquoise blue pools. We also walked down the 'Vitsa steps', a hiking route that went right to the bottom of the valley and then back up the other side to another village. It was quite steep with some rough stone steps winding down and back up, and had some nice views from the tops. Further into the national park we saw the 'Stone forest', a collection of rock pillars of limestone strata (layers). Another highlight was a viewpoint overlooking the gorge, which had incredible views of the cliffs towering above and the valley far below. Our evenings were spent at a mushroom restaurant, which served a variety of mushroom focussed dishes - we couldn’t resist going back for a second meal!

It was time for our practical Day Skipper sailing course! During the course we lived on the yacht for a week and learnt the practical elements of being a skipper, hoping to be given our skippers licence at the end. We drove to the island of Lefkas and dropped off the hire car, before heading to the yacht marina in the town of Nikiana. That afternoon we settled into our cabin on the boat (an ensuite cabin at the bow) and met our coursemates. There were eight of us in total, with four on each yacht and an instructor on each. Our fellow sailors were very chatty and friendly, and we had an amazing time getting to know them and sharing the highs and lows of the week, lots of beers and even more banter. We met our instructor the next morning, an outgoing South African guy called Tryston. Each day we set out on the yachts and learnt loads of information from Tryston (including various knots, lasso techniques for man overboard incidents, how to plot our course on charts, navigation techniques, adjusting our sails and more). In the evenings we would stop on different Ionian islands and towns, enjoy the beautiful ocean scenery, and head out for dinner as a group to local restaurants. We also did a night sail where we navigated a channel by buoy lights, dropped anchor for a swim near private nature reserve islands, and went for a bar crawl one evening. It was really full on, with so much learning and non stop socialising, but we had an amazing time. Exhausted and exhilarated, we made it back to Nikiana harbour on the final night (amongst high storm winds of 30 knots!) and were awarded our skipper licences. We had some beers to celebrate, and watched England lose to South Africa at the Rugby World Cup (Tryston was delighted!). It was an incredibly fun week and we definitely plan to put our licences to use and go sailing again soon! 

We waved goodbye to our yacht and crewmembers, and took a bus to Thessaloniki. It felt nice to have a bit of luxury, with a proper bed, hot shower and no swaying! We relaxed for a while, then went out to dinner at a pan-asian restaurant. Thessaloniki is a fun and lively city with a big student population and lots of quirky bars and restaurants that we enjoyed exploring over the next couple of days. We spent our time there catching up on sleep, planning the next part of the trip, and enjoying the quirky city. We also had some good food, including a very indulgent brunch and a restaurant serving really great locally sourced artisan food, where we had one of our best meals in Greece. We then got ready for our next journey - a full day's bus trip to Istanbul!