Day 23: Crete/Santorini

Day 23: Crete/Santorini

This morning, we all woke up super early, so that we could pack. Once we were all ready, we checked out of our room, and drove 1 hour to where we we returning our car, and then another 5 minutes to the ferry warf. We got a two hour ferry with all our luggage to Santorini! On the ferry, we got breakfast, played games and watched glee. When we arrived in Santorini, it was SO hot, and there was a miss communication with the hotel. They said that when our ferry came in at midday, they would send someone to come pick us up, and hold our names up on a sign. We searched the whole area, and couldn’t find them, so mum called them. They basically said that they forgot, so we had to stand in the boiling, hot sun for 30 minutes until someone arrived. After a 20 minute drive, we arrived at the beautiful hotel, where we’re going to be staying for the next 3 nights. By the time we checked in, we were completely sweaty, and hot so we decided to go swimming in the resort. There are 4 huge pools, and a stunning, private beach. We relaxed, and had lunch by the pool. Around sunset, we walked along the beach and dipped our feet in the water, trying to find somewhere to eat. We found an amazing, authentic Greek restaurant to eat at, which was delicious! Crete was absolutely stunning, and one of my favourite places I’ve ever been. As we were driving here in Santorini , we saw all of the cute houses, with the blue and white domes on top. Greece, place #2: here we come!

Day 22: Crete

Day 22: Crete

We were all so exhausted this morning, we stayed in bed until 10:00, while dad went to the bakery to pick us up some Greek pastries. At 10:00 am, we quickly went down to the hotel’s private beach to save 5 deck chairs. The 4 pools are right above the beach, so we just kept going from beach to pool all day. At midday, we ate lunch at the hotel’s restaurant. We all ate Gyros with yoghurt sauce and pita bread, which was outstanding! For most of the day, we watched people go on inflatable rings, and sofa’s and get towed by a boat, so finally in the afternoon, we convinced mum and dad to let us go on one! Because is only seated 4 people, dad went on the boat with driver at took photos, while we had a ball! After our ride, we went back to our room, and shortly after that, we headed off into town for a nice dinner. We found a great, authentic Greek restaurant which had an incredible Greek salad with feta and olives. We got back to the hotel at about 10:00pm, and all plonked into bed!

Day 21: Crete, Greece

We woke up this morning, realising that we had no food at home, so we had to go to the  supermarket that’s part of the hotel. For the past two days, I’d been feeling quite sick with stomachaches, and gastro. I’ve felt sick like 5 times in the past month, and because Greece is one of the longest places that we’re staying in, mum decided to take me to the hospital. In the hospital, not a single thing was in English, and barely anyone spoke English. Finally, when we found the right doctor, he looked at me, and said nothing was wrong, and that I’m healthy. For the rest of the day, we just hung out by the pool, and ate heaps of delicious Greek yoghurt, feta, and baklava. For dinner, Polly, Audrey and I got food from the supermarket to eat in our room, and mum and dad had a date night in town by themselves. 

Day 20: Palermo, Sicily/Napoli, Italy/Crete, Greece

I set my alarm for 6am this morning, knowing that I had to pack all my belongings for the planes today. After we all packed and returned the house keys to the landlord, we set off to find a granita and brioche for breakfast. After we had the best granita’s we’ve ever had, we walked around, and explored the suburbs of Palermo. Once we started heading back to the car, at 11am, we realised that we had cut our time a bit fine. Our first flight to Napoli left at 1:20, and started boarding at 1:05pm. We got to the airport right on time, at ran to check our luggage in. At this point, we had two very stressed parents! Because we were leaving Sicily, we wanted to have one last Canoli before we boarded, soon to realise that the boarding closed in 5 minutes. We made it safely, on time on our flight on easyjet which was only 40 minutes. Polly and I had already to Napoli on a field trip l, but mum and dad made us all walk one meter out of the airport, to say they’ve been to Napoli. The process to get on two the second flight to Crete went very smoothly, and painless. One minute, we sat down on the plane, and three hours later, we were preparing for landing. The staff on this airline were super friendly, so gave us a tour of the plane, and let us into the cockpit! When we arrived in Crete, there was a man from the car rental place, with our names on a sign. We went with him, and picked up our fiat minivan that we’re going to be driving only for the next 3 days. After an hour drive, and at 9:45pm because Greece is ahead of Italy by 1 hour, we checked in to the hotel, found our room and then went to eat dinner at the hotel restaurant. On the way down from the air, Greece looked STUNNING, and I can’t wait for the next 12 days here!

Day 19: Palermo/Montereale, Sicily

Our last full day in Italy! We had a very slow morning: everyone only woke up at about 8:00. We researched heaps of different bakeries, and found the best one to go to, of course, which was a five minute drive from the villa. There, I got a chocolate granita with cream, and a brioche (una chocolata granita com panna, e un brioche). There was nothing within a two hour drive of us that we wanted to do today, so we decided to just go it for breakfast, and sunset/dinner. We spent most of the day relaxing and swimming the pool, along with playing games. At 7:00pm, we headed out to a town called Montreale. We found a nice bar for drinks, as we watched the sunset, and had street food for dinner. We only got home at about 11:00pm, completely exhausted!

Day 18: Palermo/Cefalu, Sicily

Day 18: Palermo/Cefalu, Sicily

We woke up this morning COVERED in mosquito bites, soon to realise that we had no food. At about 9:00am, we decided to drive to a bakery to get pastries for breakfast, and just have leftover pizza for lunch. We also drove to a supermarket to get mossie cream for all our bites. We didn’t fully leave the house until 3:00pm, cause we were swimming, playing games and just pottering (making the most of our huge villa)! There was nothing actually in Palermo that we wanted to do today, so we drove 1 hour to Cefalu to go to the beach, walk around the town, and have dinner. We had quite low expectations for this beach, as we thought it would be like most other Italian beaches, but no: it was beautiful, with sand and actual waves! We stayed down at the water on our rented chairs until sunset, and we ate dinner at a place right on the water where we watched the sun set. Now, we are all in the car, driving 1 hour back to our villa, after an awesome, relaxing day!

Day 17: Siricusa/Scale dei Turchi/Palermo, Sicily

Today was a big driving day! Because we left the hotel today, we packed up all or belongings, and headed to the buffet for breakfast. At 10:00, we left the hotel, and drove 3 hours to Scala dei Turchi, which had some stunning, crystal clear beaches, and this huge piece of rock, made out of limestone. There, we had lunch and then drove 2 hours to the big villa that we are staying at in Palermo (the capital of Sicily). After we checked in, we decided we needed a swim in our private pool, which was very refreshing, although Audrey did decide to go skinny dipping. Mum and I are currently in the car, on the way to the pizzeria near by to pick up some pizzas, for the rest of the family. Tonight, we are planning on having a movie night, and snuggling in bed!

Day 16: Siricusa, Sicily

Day 16: Siricusa, Sicily

Our last full day in Siricusa! As per usual, the buffet breakfast was delicious. After watching glee for about 2 and a half hours, we decided to head off to Ortigia to the markets. We walked around, bought some fresh produce, and got lunch: the best, biggest sandwiches ever! When we were really hot, we drove 10 minutes back to the hotel, to swim, and sit by the pool. We then went out for aperitivo and drinks to the local bar near us, shortly followed by a gelato back in Ortigia. Siricusa is well known for it’s puppet shows, and puppeteers, so we decided to go to a 40 minute show that started at 9:00pm (we all thought it was so Italian)! The whole show was in Italian, but the details of the puppets were incredible, and the puppeteers were very talented! We were all exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel, that we went to bed straight away!

Day 15: Siricusa, Sicily

Day 15: Siricusa, Sicily

We woke up this morning, to find out there was buffet breakfast waiting for us downstairs. It was amazing to finally have eggs for breakfast, not a pastry! Then, we drove 40 minutes to a town called Noto to walk around, look at all the cute shops, and old churches, which was very interesting. When we were all boiling hot and sweaty, we drove another 40 minutes to a town called Marzamemi to go swimming in the ocean, and have lunch. We found this really cute restaurant that overlooked the water, and horizon that we decided to eat at. The view was stunning! We ended the day with a nice, refreshing swim back at the hotel. We’re just about go get dinner at a local bar, then come back to the room, snuggle, and watch GLEE.

Day 13: Messina/Siricusa, Sicily

Day 13: Messina/Siricusa, Sicily

We left our apartment this morning at 10:30, after having breakfast; a brioche with granita. We then drove 2 hours to Siricusa, with a brief 20 minute stop at a shopping centre on the way. We arrived to Siricusa at 1 pm, and then drove another 30 minutes to our hotel (Grand Hotel Villa Politi), where we checked in and unpacked. After we had lunch by the pool, we went swimming, and read for a few hours by the pool. We had a short amount of down time in the room, and then headed to Ortigia-a small island of the coast of Siricusa. There, we walked around by the sea, and had drinks and dinner, with the view of the sunset. The hotel we’re staying at is beautiful, and modern. So far, Siricusa is stunning, and we hope we enjoy our 4 days here before moving to the next place in Sicily!

Day 13: Messina-Sicily

This has been a very busy day! This morning, we found out that we got complementary breakfast at the breakfast across the road. We researched what a traditional Sicilian breakfast is, and tried to order as if we were locals: granita with cream, and a dry brioche. We had an hour down time, and then drove 40 minutes to Taormina; a town with lots of shops, and some great beaches (so we thought). After walking around in the heat, we decided to go to the beach for a swim, soon to realise that it was infested with jellyfish...so we rented a peddle boat for an hour, to go look around the caves/grottos. At 5:00 pm, we wanted to do another activity, and stumbled upon a donkey trekking tour. We drove 30 minutes to the foothills of Mt Etna, to where the donkey trekking was. We then met our guide, who was SO nice, and enthusiastic about his donkeys, and he got us all saddled up on our individual donkeys. The trekking was extremely fun, through vineyards, with the constant view of Etna. Sadly, this came to an end, and we were all so tired that we quickly grabbed some pizza and the nearest cafe, and are currently driving 1 hour back to our house. I’m going to very well tonight!

Day 12: Puglia/Materna/Messina-Sicily

Day 12: Puglia/ Materna/

Messina-Sicily

Our first destination in Sicily! We left Puglia and our little Trulli house at 8:00 this morning. We then drove 90 mins to Materna, which is a great, old town with stunning views! There, we had breakfast and a snack. After, we drove four hours to where we were getting a 20 minute ferry to Messina, Sicily. We were running a bit late for the ferry, and just managed to squeeze on to the 4:10 pm one. We then settled into the apartment that we are staying in for the next 2 nights, and then decided to explore the neighbourhood, and eat out at a very fancy restaurant, where the waiter was SO enthusiastic about his dishes, it was crazy! Messina is not a Great town, with lots of pollution, and Graffiti, but overall, we’re going to have a lot of fun!

Day 11: Puglia

Our last full day in Puglia! This morning, we woke up to an odd surprise... in the umbrella bucket, lay a small mouse. We decided to let it outside, only when we couldn’t see the cats. After that, we drove 40 minutes to see 3 huge caves, all 60-70 metres below ground! The walk was only 2k, and we got to see all the algae that has stayed on the rock, and the coral that has formed since the cave was below sea level. After that, we drove to Cisternino, which was beautiful! There were heaps of ornaments, flowers, and ceramic shops on the streets, plus lots of the doors on houses were painted aqua. It then started to rain, so we spent the rest of the day at home, snuggling watching movies. We’ve all loved the uniqueness of Puglia, and could easily stay another week. 

Day 10: Puglia

This morning, we headed to Lamapecora; a farm, with animals and fresh cheeses, There were heaps of farm animals that we got to look at and pat. There was also a cheese shop with all fresh cheeses, and a room in the shop where a man was making cheeses. The workers let us go into the room to see how they make the cheese from scratch, with the fresh cow milk they collect everyday. That was awesome!! After, they gave us a whole platter of the cheese we saw him just make; Mozzarella, Bocconcini, Stracciatella, Ricotta, Burrata, Fior di latte. In the afternoon, Audrey, mum and I headed off to Monopoli to explore, walk around and of course, get a gelato. We then met Pol and dad to go for a quick dip in the sea; Porto Ghiacciolo Beach, and aperitif by the water. Busy, but awesome day!

Day 9: Puglia

Day 9: Puglia

Like yesterday, today was HOT! We didn’t even leave the house until midday, cause we all wanted to stay in the AC. First, we went to Bari, where there were heaps of Nona’s outside their houses, making pasta from scratch. We couldn’t bare the heat any longer, so decided to drive 30 mins to the beach, which was beautiful. We quickly had lunch, and then rushed to the water. Tonight, we’re gonna have a simple, leftover dinner (probably eggs and bacon). Super fun day!

Day 8: Puglia

Our first day in Puglia! Today, we decided to go to a variety of towns; Alberobello, Ostuni, Martina Fanca, and locorotondo. We saw all of the gorgeous, cute Trulli houses that people still live in today. The weather: the heat was unbareable, and  because we were inland, it was extremely humid, which reminded us of the Sydney heat, but WORSE! Of course, it wouldn’t be a day without gelato, and at this point everyone was SO hot that we could use a pit stop. There’s so much food that’s local to Puglia, so we’re trying to eat as much of it as we can! Super fun day, and are now sitting in the AC, having cocktails. 

Day 7: Positano/Puglia

Day 7: Positano/Puglia

Our last time in Positano! After experiencing severe difficulty with trying to carry our suitcases down the steps of Positano, we finally made it on our 10:00 ferry (all a sweaty mess)! We had a 1 hour ferry trip, and then a 3 hour drive, to get to Puglia. We are currently staying in a ‘Trulli’ house, which is SO cool, and completely made of stone, with three cone-shaped roofs. We’ve got a large pool, which everyone is very happy with! We’re all exhausted, but are powering through.

Day 6: Positano

Day 6: Positano

The last full day in our first destination! We finally got to spend the day in Positano, on the beach, where we paid 25 euros per beach chair. For lunch, Audrey and I shared a ‘calzone’ and we finally found an international food; a chicken mayonnaise sandwich!! At the beach, there were HEAPS of jellyfish, so all of us were a bit freaked out. Of course, dad and I went with a bucket in the water, trying to catch the small fellows. We ended the day with having drinks with the landlord of the apartment we’re staying at, and his wife. We are currently sitting at a delicious, small restaurant having dinner; pizza, pasta, and more pizza. Only half a day left! It’s been an incredible destination!

Day 5: Positano

Day 5: Positano

Since we arrived in Positano, we’ve been at the beach non stop, so we decided to take a break, and go to a pool in a hotel near us. The view from the pool was stunning, and overlooked the whole town of Positano. We also ate at the hotel restaurant which was absolutely delicious! GREAT day!

Day 4: Positano/Amalfi

Day 4: Positano/Amalfi

This morning, we set of on an exiting day to the Amalfi coast! After waiting in the blazing, hot sun for 40 minutes, we finally boarded the ferry and had an awesome day on deck chairs at the beach. To end the day, we all went out for drinks, overlooking the stunning view of Positano!