Santorini and Ios

Annie and I have been having a great time together in Greece. In Athens we mostly slept and layed low cuz of her jet lag. On the island of Santorini we rented a quad and checked out the whole island, including the world renowned sunset. The island looks just like the postcards, white churches and houses with cobalt trim. The ocean is clean and glorious with black sand beaches. While we rode around we played a game of coiunting churches, we got to 39 before getting bored.

We have been on Ios staying at Far Out for a couple of days. Any wasn't exactly ready for the wild on spring break atmosphere, but she has handled it well. We have been laying poolside by day and partying by night. The only drawback is our crappy bungalow which is nothing more than a free standing round room with a thatched roof and no windows. Seriously weird.

On to Thessaloniki to visit family friends this weekend. Looking forward to some culture before heading back into the real world.

What is Urban Pigeon Hunting?

We all hate them, some more secretly than others, those filthy flying rats... Pigeons. Then there are the proud few of us who do something about them, we are the Urban Pigeon Hunters. In the National Gardens of Athens there we were, an engineer, a renaissance man, and your truly all with the same goal, to catch a pigeon.
First we did recon on our prey. They could not be those ferrel tree pigeons. No they would never approach a human. We had to go after those begger types, the ground peckers. A slip knot of twine and a few pieces of well placed bread later we were getting somewhere. They came, oh yes they came in droves, but only one stepped perfectly inside the ring of demise. SNAP, we had it flying around in all directions sometimes straight at the brave hunters. We were on the ground howling with amusement when some bleeding heart canadian teenage girls ran to see what we were doing. "Oh my god you are hurting that bird! Is this some kind of sick sport." Yes this is Urban Pigeon Hunting, and if you would like to see what dumb girl hog tying looks like we can arrange that. We cut the bird from the line and he flew off to a near by tree a string of glory hanging from his feet. We three proud hunters left the park safari glowing from a great day of urban pigeon hunting.

Ios

Hey everybody. So I took the bus from hell from the Pink Palace to Athens. They made it sounds like a really good comfy convenient bus but in reality it was an expensive ride from hell. You couldn't sleep and the seats were so uncomfortable that everyone had crazy neck cramps. Seriously stupid. So me and my fat camp squad Tony and Bryan rolled off the bus and dashed to the port to catch a ferry to Ios but there wasn't another one till midnight. So we sightsaw Athens for the day and I ended up falling asleep on the steps of the Archeological Museum... CLASSY! After a day in the hot sun we finally got to the ferry but they were trippers about letting people sleep on the couches. None of us had slept in 2 days so we passed out anyway. We made it out to Ios and slept and swam all day yesterday, not to mentioned partied at night. The people here are way more attractive than the Pink Palace crew and the island has better beaches. We are gonna party tongight and then catch a 4:45am ferry back to Athens where I will be meeting my sister. Very excited to see a familiar face and to get out of the crazy party modet that I have been maintaining for over a week now.

Love you all.

Get back on the crazy bus

Well my stay here at the pink palace is coming to an end. Tonight me and my cohorts are boarding the bus to athens for one final party. These last five days have consisted of a booze cruise, cliff jumping, a quad safari, a toga party, and lots and lots of alcohol. I am really almost tired of it... almost. Anyway the hardest partiers in the place are on the bus tonight and we just so happen to all be going to the island of Ios. I wish I could just sleep but it doesn't look like that is going to be happening anytime soon. Maybe by the time annie gets here we can have a relaxing vacation. A vacation from my vacation. Until next time.

Corfu Madness

Decided that I was OVER Italy, skipped Sicily and had to get to Greece. Couldn't be happier with the situation really. It actually would be better if I had slept since Sunday night, but so far my stay has been great. I left Marika's house in the south of Italy on Monday morning, rode on a train to Bari, took an overnight ferry to Igio...something in Greece, took another ferry to Corfu, arrived at the Pink Palace, took a shot of ouzo, checked into my room and am heading down to the beach. It's Tuesday at noon and I am out of my head. I bet I should catch a nap before the debauchery tonight, but some zzzz's on the sand might just have to do. The word is that this place is like a party summer camp that people just can't leave and I suspect that it is true. I booked 5 nights, my final night being a real deal toga party, and expect the craziest to occur. Now mom, I know what you are thinking, that this is totally not culturally Greek and that I am hanging with a bunch of drunk anglophones, well you are right. This is madness, utter hedonism. I will get to the cultural stuff later but for now I just need the beach, my bathing suit, and an ivory smile.

Pompeii and Lamezia Terme

Pompeii was cool I guess. I mean with the foot it was a bit of a challenge, and you are right Matt, those dogs are vicious. There are like 80 stray dogs laying all over the ruins with gooey eyes and frothing mouths. There was no way I was gonna touch those mangey mutts and I stopped a couple of little girls from playing with them. I couldn't save the japense tourist from sharing her sandwich with them tho, and when she ran out of food all hell broke lose. Let's just say that those dogs are thicker than theives and had their snarling vengence.
I liked the caster molds of the people dying. Pretty morbid but unlike anything I have ever seen. The coolest part of the ruins was all the freakin pornography saved from over 2000 years ago. Let's just say they had a thing for exagerated size.

After my trek thru the ruins I jumped on a train to Naples then on another train to Lamezia Terme, the home of my old roommate Marika. If Italy is a boot then I am chillin on the top of the foot. Let's just say that I have died and gone to heaven. She actually lives in one of the adjoining towns of Lamezia in the Calabria region. Her house is in the country side and OFF THE HOOK! Her mom has been cooking every meal with all homemade ingredients, the shower has more bells and whistles than a mercedes dealership, and her family is so sweet although we have no common language. This is just the vacation from backpacking I have needed. Today we are going into town and I am getting a full body masssage for only, count em, 21 euros! I just gotta make sure to keep the chick away from my busted foot. By the end of this weekend I should be fully recouperated and ready for Sicily and then... dun dun dun... GREECE!

My foot in Sorrento

UPDATE ON INJURY: Today I went to the hospital in Rome to make sure I wasn't going to have some horrible turn of luck when I was up Mt. Vesuvius. Word is all is well, the docs checked me out and wrapped me up. No stitches! They did say to stay off my feet for five days, at which I just laughed. Best part was they let me go without paying a cent! Once again, yippee for socialized medicine.

Made it to Sorrento and after checking out the town I decided to only stay one day. It is nice and mellow but since I can't enjoy the beach there is really no point treking out to Capri. The town itself if beautiful, perched on the Bay of Naples with Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background. Tomorrow I am going to wonder around Pompeii and then head down to my girl Marika's house in Lamezia Terme. I am not sure how long I am going to spend there but according to doctor's orders I need to take a rest.

Bad Luck in Rome

Well I wasn't going to come here. I was going to skip it and say to hell with the tourist hype, but no I fell into the trap. The past 24 hours have been rather unfortunate for Miss Shaw.
It all began with some nutella and my Swiss army knife. I was trying to clean the sticky substance off my knife when... slit... cut my finger wide open. If that were only the end of it.
Later that night after the pub crawl I was walking home. I slipped out of my flip flops and slit THE BOTTOM OF MY FOOT wide open. Now maybe for a normal person with a car and health coverage this may only be a minor accident. But for me, a backpacker with a first aid kit and no money to go to the doctor this is like a death sentence. So I bandage my foot up cuz there is a lot of Rome I hadn't seen yet and go walking thru Vatican city today. I let a guy I just met at the hostel hold onto my swiss army knife while I went into see what every one else comes here to see cuz of security and all. Well I guess I did a poor wrap job on my foot cuz it layered the the top of my afflicted foot with blisters.
And the freakin cherry on top, the guy never gave me back my swiss army knife. Nope, he just got on a train and left for Florence. So not am I physically disabled now I also don't have the best tool a traveler could ask for.

I am over the city and can't wait to leave. Gonna go try to do Pompeii tomorrow. Hopefully will get better soon and get back to having fun. Keeping my chin up and my foot clean.

Leaving Croatia

A few days in Split made me realize that there is a lot more to the major port of Croatia than the tour books let on to. It is a beautiful walled city situated on the bay and has a fair amount of stuff to do. It is not seedy like many other port towns and has great shopping. Counterfit everything sold openly, as opposed to cardboard boxes on Italian street corners.

I headed down to Dubrovnik on Friday 3 June with Sarah and Nathan, our newest travel buddy we picked up at Plivtice Lakes park. Dubrovnik is hands down my FAVORITE CROATIAN CITY and I wished that I had started there. It has complete fortified city walls, a rich history, and the recent turmoil of the bombings in 1991 lend it an interesting story. When one stands on the city walls one can see all the direct hits from Yugoslav bombs on the roof tops cuz the tiles are different colors, 166 direct hits in total. Mind you these are peoples homes and not military bases. The city has been completely rebuilt and shows few scars of it's troubled past. We swam off the shores and never made it to more islands. Although the water was so lovely I didn't really care. It is so clear that you can see the ocean floor as if it were right under your feet but when you try to dive and touch the bottom it is impossible.

Took a bus back to Split today and am going back to Italy tonight. Will be arriving in Rome tomorrow to go see what everyone else sees just to say yes when people ask me if I saw it. Freakin tourists.

Get on the Bus!

Just got off a 7 hour bus ride. That is better than the 12 hour one I did two days ago.

So the rhythm of Croatia goes as such. Take a bus to where you are
going. Get off and negotiate a room to stay in with a random person
at the bus stop. End up paying 12-15 euro to stay in a double room
with a private bathroom in someone's house. Go out to eat. Go to the
beach. Get on another bus and do it all over again. Internet is hard
to come by and can be expensive but right now I am in the major port
of Split and this internet place RULES. Cheap, clean, and american
keyboards. Can't go wrong.

Another funny thing about Croatia is that no one speaks English. Everyone speaks freaking german. Me and the girl I have been traveling with only spoke to eachother the first week. Then as soon as we remarked that we met three aussie guys, one of who is now traveling the rest of Croatia with us. So as I have said a million times, I am traveling Europe by myself but am never alone for very long.

The waterfalls were great. As beautiful as all the pictures that we saw. The colors were unreal and turned out to be a really peaceful place. Going to more islands tomorrow. Will it ever get old?