Blue and White, Sun and... winter rain...

Hello from Paros !
In the Cyclade islands.

The previous update from this web blog journal was from Turkey, Bodrum.
It is more than 1 week now that i am in Greece, but only today i have time in front of a computer !

So Monday the 4th i took a ferry at 9:30 am from Bodrum city center, which means that i had to wake up at 6 something and leave at 7 to have time to ride from Bitez to the city center (i was afraid of hill but actually needed 40 minutes only to go), buy my ferry ticket for 60 TL, change my rest of liras, and buy a few things with my coins...
So at 8:30 i was ready to change my money but... banks and exchange offices were all closed.... and i could not buy Euros for 2.18 TL as i expected to. Too bad but i anyway had to get rid of my coins and bought bread and other foods for the day.
At 9am i was ready to pass the customs, did it without any problem in Turkey, just a dog smelling my panniers and a passport controller surprised that i spent 6 weeks or so in Turkey alone... but he did stamp my passport and made no problem really. So i confirm, French citizens do not need a visa to go to Turkey less than 3 month!
On the boat i met Jean Yves, a Canadian Quebecois who is used to spend his winters in Bodrum and who was having a 1 day trip to Greece to renew his visa as he was in Turkey for 3 month nearly... A national sport for tourist that want to stay more than 3 month, and a free tour for the ones who know the guy at the border control who knows the guy at the ferry company who.... gives a free ticket... And 2 free teas for JY and I on the trip, too ! Y told me that this ferry and border was a huge door to drug trafic and this was why i had been smelled by a dog.

Then arriving in the Euro Zone and Shengen Zone, i had the great chance to have confirmation of what Jy said : I had to open each of my panniers, empty them, open each plastic bag and explain what was everything... for around 1 hour. Welcome to Europe :-)

Starting the day around 12 then, i had a few missions...
1)Go to a travel agency and see how i could go to Crete or to Amorgos then Paros islands
2)Try to get infos about the SIM cards for Greece.
3)Decide what to do... until January the 11th when i was welcome to Paros island at some Csers place.
So the travel agencies came to the point that i could
leave the island on the next morning to go to Rhodos then reach Crete on Wednesday morning. Then the idea was to meed some people who would be in another city on the island and.... finally i found it too difficult and too much transportation for a short time on the island as i did not expect to spend a long time there and the more i heard about the island, the more i realized i would need to spend at least 1 week there and enjoy the mountains (up to 2000m high), without having any hosts as all the surfers were on holiday, busy, or having exams soon and not willing to host anybody
Leave the island the very same day or Wednesday evening to go to Santorini
Leave on Tuesday to go to Siros, then go from there to Paros or Naxos then possibly to Amorgos...
After realising i would have no host in Crete i decided to go around Kos by bike and have a trip to Santorini !
On Monday evening then i started to ride in Kos, found a few supermarkets to prepare a camping survival kit, saw some beautiful beaches and found a great camping spot close to the sea where some joggers were practicing, and where some trees made a natural protection against wind and human sight.
On Tuesday i rode south to Kefalos, with a passage to the castle of Antimachia and its beautiful view over the surrounding islands, then up again to the North but along the West coast and through some unpaved and empty sandy roads... which lead me to a perfect camping spot in the evening along the sea on the dunes. There i had a bath, managed to put my tent in the sand, and made a bone fire even if i knew it is illegal and could strike attention, but i was so much alone... that no one came to punish me.
On Wednesday i went a bit on the other side of the Kos city, along the coast, on the wetlands, then hanged out in the city, booked my ticket to Santorini and saw that 2 other tourist were going there. Waiting for the ferry i started to chat with these 2 Korean guys and we continued talk and... finally at the arrival of the ferry we ended up going to a place where we rented a room for 10E per person and per night. The place was south of the island (Perissa) but my colleagues wanted to rent a car to visit and they did it for 25E a day. I did pay 10E petrol and drove them the next day around the island.

On Thursday we drove around to Fira then to the top of the island and its monastery, then went to the ancient city of Thia (because of the Korean advertisement for i do not know what...) but it was going to close so... we just had a small walk around on the hill to a small cave. Then we started to go along the East coast and its black sand beaches, to finally arrive in Ia for the sunset. All the tourists on the island were there, so around 15 fellows included us. And all of them went to Fira then to try to eat something (finally we found a place to have Pitas), and this is where i started to talk to some guy i imagined to be a tourist and who was acutely a Greek guy living on the island most of the time and working as a guide for the volcano visits, in the summer. After asking where we could go out for a drink or a disco (the Koreans would have liked it and why not me too!), Sofo suggested us to buy some drink and go on a cliff or on the roof of a 4 star hotel to enjoy the scenery. We finally followed his suggestion and he did provide the Metaxa drink and showed us the roof of the hotel to go.

Next morning, Friday, we woke up at 7 and went to Perissa beach for the sun rise, then rode to the West part of the island, to the Red beach 1st, then to the lighthouse, and came back to the hotel before the end of our full day of rental of the car, then had breakfast, then... i left my colleagues to go to the port and catch the 3:30 ferry to Naxos. I chatted with Zoe, one of the tourist of previous evening in Ia (having a 1 week holiday in Greece as she was having winter break from a financial univercity of Nice, France, but she is with Chinese origins), and realized that as the ferry was late, i would have to find a place to camp in Naxos, but in the night...

Arriving in Naxos i discouraged the pension guys telling then i could have a room but for 10E only, and no one accepted ! 15 could have been ok but....
I found a car rental agency which provided me with a map of the island and a guide book with what to see and know about the island.

So Saturday morning, after having slept on the dunes without a tent, and with mosquitoes around, i went for a short ride on the flat part of the island around the main city called Chora. I saw a few traditional villages and the temple of Dyonisos (the 1st one of the Hellenistic period), then hanged out in the port before taking a ferry to Amorgos island, Katapola port. During this time i went to a Vodafone shop and asked about SIM cards again, and i was given for free a SIM and number ! OK... i have 1E credit per month for 5 months then nothing... but this is for free, and my number is +306951126794 if you want to give me a call ;)
I had contacted Christos, a guy who was proposing to lend me his place for a few days as he was not there. But once i arrived and tried to find his friend who should have given me the keys, we realized that i had arrived to the other port of the island, not the one close to his place! So i had to take a taxi (as it was night and the road to take was a 23 km one with a mountain at 600m to cross on the way) and finally arrived and found the friend and the place, and gave the taxi 20E... Shit happens...

Sunday i woke up late, hanged around in the house as it was not really sunny, washed some clothes, then decided to go out and realized the weather was not so bat but the house was facing north or so, and was not full of light because of this! I went around to the supermarket, on a few roads and paths and on the beach, then cooked some crepes and ate them, and finally night arrived and DVD time with it.

On Monday the 11th i went to the travel agency before 10 am as i suspected there would be a bus leaving to the central city of the island, Chora (again), at 10am. I learned that some boats could leave from the port i was staying close to, on Mondays, Wednesdays etc, at 6:55 in the morning.
I tried to catch a bus... waited for 20 minutes, tried hitch hiking but felt like if i was in Lapland, then got on my bike by 11 in the morning and started to ride the 15 km to the city. A good way up, but with an empty bike it was nearly a pleasure and 1h45 later i was on my feet walking around the old town of Chora, buying some stamps and some food, and event going a bit further on the road to the road leading to the bay where the Big Blue movie was shot. I hesitated to go down the 3 km and maybe 260m high... then finally went back hame and preferred to go up one of the villages around the bay.
In the evening i cooked spaghetti then watched another DVD then hardly managed to sleep as the alarm clock was set to 5:50...
On Tuesday i woke up, packed, left the place and got on th ferry to go to Paros, as some rain drops were showing up....

10:15 in Paros on January the 12th, 1st day of rain since.... Canakkale, Turkey (or Izmir maybe). But some good rain, the one that goes deep into the shoes after 10 minutes... and you know the shoes will need 2 days to dry...
After having a short walk around in Parikia, the main city of Paros island, i had a phone call from Mona my host on the island, to tell me that Yannis her boyfriend was in town with a car and, as the weather was not so friendly, he could give me a ride to their place 20 km away. So i met him and we went through the mountain and Lefkes village.
Arriving home we had a cheese lunch and as my host had siesta i went to the beach to enjoy the last minutes of daylight (rain had decided to stop!). Back home i learned that Yannis was going to leave for a few weeks to Athens, so i was glad i had met him. We talked a bit then Mona and Yannis left, one to go to teach Italian, one to take the ferry. And i staid home reading guide books about Crete, Italy, or the Michael Moore book called Stupid White Men.

Today Wednesday the 13th i went cycling along the East coast to go from Drios to Naousa, through some typical villages lake Marpisa or Prodhromos. I ate in Naousa then Mona gave me a lift to Lefkes in the center of the island and on a big hill. From there i took the Byzantine
route to Prodhromos, walking most of the time with the bike on the side or on the shoulders as the path was really narrow rocky and sometimes dangerous. I eventually got home before the night and could write this journal. Tonight we should go to a restaurant with friends of Mona. Next days are a big question to me... what to do and where to go... we will see !

Pictures from Kos.

Pictures from Santorini.

From Naxos.

From Amorgos.

From Paros.