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Email sent on Friday 25 August
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Email sent on Friday 25 August
Hi everyone!
As you can see we are down in Greece at the moment. What you can't see is the sweat dripping off us as we write this email. It is extremely hot here, the worst heat we've experienced since leaving NZ. Since we last wrote we have been in the north of Italy in Venice where we spent four days loooking around. Fantastic place. We loved it.
From Venice we caught a ferry down to Athens which took 36 hours. We had passage only tickets which meant we slept on the deck, no bed, nothing! Sounds worse than it actually was. The ship had a pool on it, so we just lazed around that during the day to keep ourselves cool, and went to one of the three air conditioned bars at night. The trip down to Athens was very beautiful, coming down the Adriatic Sea. Very very calm waters, and dark blue to black in colour.
This is the outside of a shop in the Plaka area of
Athens. It sells sponges - real sea sponges, and they are
hanging up all over the walls and outside of the shop. They
are huge! I'd love to bring one home, but I can't fit it in
my pack!
We arrived in Athens yesterday and we are staying in the tourist area called the Plaka. We went up to the Acropolis and Pantheon today. Awesome is an understatement. These babies are around 1600 years old and not a drop of silicone or No More Gaps to be seen. They must leak something chronic!!!!!
San
Marcos square in Venice - full of pigeons!
Looking
through the trees at the Parthenon in Athens
Tonight we are going on an overnight boat out to the island called Santorini. We plan on spending around 8 days hopping between the Greek Islands before we travel back up through Italy. We can't get over the heat here. Last night was very uncomfortable. We lay there with sweat dripping through the whole night. It must be around 40 degrees during the day at least, and at night it doesn't seem to be much different. Anyway, must go. Thanks for the emails. Keep sending them! Take care.
Sarah and Lloyd =) xxx
Dear Room 15,
Thankyou for my lovely email. I really enjoyed reading it. I am in Greece at the moment, on a small island called Paros. It is very beautiful here. The water is so clear, it is just like swimming in a pool! It never rains on this island, so the land is very dry and barren. They do grow grapes and olives here though. They have donkeys that carry the farmers and the picked grapes around! I haven't ridden a donkey yet! I have been riding around the island on a scooter! It is lots of fun!
I know Greece wasn't on our itinerary, but we thought we would come here anyway for a week or so to have a holiday on our holiday!!! I have been having a great time in Europe. I don't have a favourite country because they all have so many unique and special things to offer. I'm glad you are enjoying studying Europe. Well done on getting into the semifinals! I'm proud of you!!!
Thankyou for sending the lovely photo. Must go. I will send another email to you soon.
Lots of love
Miss Baillie
Hi everyone!
I tried to send an email when we were in the Greek Islands the other day but I stuffed it up and accidentally deleted it, so this is going to be a long one!
We spent 10 days in the Greek Islands which was just fantastic to say the least. We had two days in Athens then went out to Santorini on an overnight ferry. Stayed two nights in Santorini, then went on to Paros where we had planned to stay only two or three nights but ended up staying seven! We hired scooters and explored the islands. Swam in the clearest water we'd ever seen and sunbaked during the day. Ate the wonderful Greek cuisine which included Giros, Souvlaaki and of course Moussaka.
This is one of the streets in Santorini. They were very
narrow and steep!
We have just been travelling nonstop for two and a half days to get to Sorrento which is in the south of Italy. We caught a ferry from Paros to Athens- 3 hours, bus from Athens to Patras- 3 hours. Straight on to an over night boat from Patras to Brindisi which was an absolute nightmare. We were in a boat that was not very big, and the sea was very rough. Water was going up on the top deck during the night. We were being tossed around like a toy boat in a bath tub for the whole journey. I honestly havent prayed as much in my life as I did that night. That wee trip on the ferry was 20 hours.
Then when we arrived in Brindisi we waited at the station for 5 hours and then caught another overnight train to Naples which took 8 hours. Then we had to transfer to another train to get to Sorrento which was 1 hour. While on the train a girl behind us had her day pack snatched and no one saw a thing. We had heard horror stories about the Italian trains, so all of us had hardly any sleep on the overnighter last night.
Finally arrived in Sorrento this morning at around 9 oclock. Went to the camping ground where we hired a caravan and went straight to sleep for 3 hours. This afternoon we have been to Pompei which we thoroughly enjoyed, although the weather here at the moment is not the best. Raining. First bit of rain for about 7 weeks we've seen.
We leave Sorrento tomorrow for Rome. Will be in Rome for 3 days then go on to Florence and make our way up to Switzerland then to Germany for the Beerfest. Better sign off. We haven't eaten for 2 days and are starving. A big bowl of pasta is in order I think.
Take care and we will email you again soon.
Lots of love, Sarah and Lloyd =)