Back track Greece II Meteora & Thessaloniki

We reached meteora and with only directions from a passing taxi driver,we walked to hotel King.

The hotel was wayy beyond expectations.

We got a double bed in a room without wifi but the kind man at e reception told us he would look into changing it for us if possible.

We met a new friend here,YoungRan! From korea,with my minimal korean she was sooo overjoyed that she could blabber some to me! She was 28!

We did an old church on the first day and then the legendary monasteries the next.

It was a 6hr climb up and down.

But it was entirely worth it.

 

That was all there was to it and off we went to Thessaloniki!

We saw the white tower (nothing much) and a thousand more churches.

This place.. Was another 'Dubai',didnt enjoy it cept tt i bout a pair of cheap trousers here.

It was mostly closed and we had 4full days there!

But the breakfast at e hotel was delish!

Boiled eggs,ham,loads of bread and cake!

The only fun thing was on the last day where we ran outta things to do,i went to Insectopia!

I dunno where the guts to hold such things came from but i loved every moment!

And then.. I shaved my hair.

Lol.. Spur of e moment decision but it was very.. Invigorating! 

And then we finally got outta thessaloniki and headed to Rome! 

Back track Greece Athens,Ios,Santorini

We started out in Athens. Sad to say,i had expected much more from this "magical greek goddess" place.

But it seems slightly on the dirty side.

No doubt,the acropolis is beautiful but not as breathtaking as i had thought.

My fault with the high expectations i guess.

We paid 12€ for this ticket,it entitled us to visit 6 sites,that is if you an find them all.

We did 4 and that was all we could find. You have 2days to make full use of the tkts :)

This was our Hotel's lift. Our FIRST european lift where we had to open the door only when it reached and there was another door inside.

I have been to europe before but nvr used these old school lifts before! We had a tough time figuring them out.

I also met a grp of PRC girls who got pickpocketed on e train. Said they didnt know anything,only when they got off,she realised her bag was open and her wallet was missing!

Our guards have been up since then. Just thankful we didnt have a first hand experience.

From Athens,we left our hugeass backpacks in e hotel for 6days and headed to Ios Island. 

It was a 5 hr cruise ride.

The cruise had 2 restaurants,an Archade and more but it was THE WORST cryise ive been due to my motion sickness.

Funny how all my year in star cruise never caused a problem but thisss was madness.

I never felt so sick in my life. 

Finally we reached Ios and there to welcome us was the host of Galini Pensions and his adorable son at the port.

 The port at Ios.

ios is known for being a party island but then we were there off peak therefore not much parties,at least none that we heard of!

We stayed near e port and away from e village where the parties START at 3am!

Lol.. 

The 800steps from e port to the village was a killer.

I had nvr been so exhausted in my life!

But at e village there was a church panaroma.

Omgosh. It was so beautiful.

We also climbed up the opposite mountain to catch the sunset. <3

Next up we made our way to Santorini.

Santorini is not all whitewashed houses on cliffs but much more.

We stayed at e bottom,Kamari beach where its famous black sand was.

Our hotel was a crazy track uphill but had amazing views!

Sadly the 3nights we were there,the sunrise couldnt be seen.

We took a tour which brought us to a volcano and a area for springs n swimming.

We then hiked up to Oia,i chose to take a donkey.

That bloody donkey almost killed me!

Lol

It insisted to take over e lead donkey who tried to kick it once the first time and bite it e second time. -.-

And then it slipped.

Stupid donkey.

Nvr in my life again.

After that we climbed the ancient Thira which was... Another mad climb but e view was soo awesome as well!

I found my Atlanis bookstore!

The sunset from e hotel..

This was also my first meeting with my beloved, Mojito icecream!

A tired selfie w the rainbow just before it got dark. Weird no?

So moving back to Athens,i took more motion sickness meds and stayed at the back of the cruise.

It was a much more tolerable rude back!

Slept for one night and off we went,trained to Meteora.

^^

Backtrack Dubai

After Pakistan,we flew straight to Dubai.

This country,i did not enjoy. But maybe it was because it was similar to SG and we had JUST left home?

Only diff was the scorching heat!

We stayed at a friend's place and met her african "mama" who was so adorable.

Had an awesome steamboat there which was delish no matter how i hate lamb,it was GOOOOD!

We also had dinner at hardrock which was..wasnt good but still.

jac,an singaporean emirates stewardess,drove us up to Javer Hafeet (not sure of e spelling,but its a hill) where it was even hotter but views were good.

We did e desert safari which was my fav!

Rode a camel,saw the sun set,the prettiest so far and watched stars at night. 

Saying goodbye to Dubai wasnt sad at all,in fact i couldnt wait!

But at e DXB airport,the checkin lady INISISTED we have an exit tkt outta greece which we didnt have! 

So we had to rush for internet and to book a flight outta greece within an hour!

But we did it~ 

Swiss Alps

Switzerland has been a good break from Greece and Italy.

Despite the smokers here,the air really is fresh. But it could be psychological. ^^ 

We chose to stay in Bern as it was closer to Interlaken,a place my L had on her list. So Milano-Bern-Innsbruck was the plan.

The first two days in Bern was boring. The city is so small,we could walk anywhere and they even provided free transport for travelers. 

The hostel was good,clean and with comfy beds. Sadly,we had to make our own sheets -.- which is lame. But do-able.

The real fun if switzerland started on day 3 where we trained to Interlaken then to Lautenbrunnen then to Klein to head up to JungFrauJoch.

The view in Lautenbrunnen is unbelievable i actually teared. Probably too much beauty for a small city girl.

We took many head-out-the-train shots with e alps in e bg and we finally made ot to the highest train station in Europe.

It was similar to Germany's Zugspitz but not as big or fun. This was some scary shit with slippery entrances and exits. -.-

Made friends w another korean who helped us take pics and vice versa.

On e train back,we sat opp a singaporean couple! They were super nice. Talked and talked til we reached Klein and headed to Grindelwald! This was a place i wanted to go to for the name soley. (Potter fan) but it turned out slightly disappointing.

Maybe Lautenbrunnen was too amazing. 

From Grindelwald w trained back to Interlaken w brokebackcowboy,the new korean friend and had dinner at hooters

tgt.

The sunset,though behind us,reflected a wonderful pink onto the alps infront of us. *my heart.

It was 9.30pm by the time we headed to e Interlaken west train station to go back to Bern (1hr journey) 10pm was e train,we hopped on and after e doors closed,we realised we were on e wrong train,it was bringing us back to Interlaken OST where we started out! So the station master was like, get off at OST and run as fast as u can for the opp platform train as THAT is going to Bern. If we missed that,it was another 1hr wait for the next train.

Boy.. Did we run! We had to run down a flight and run up another. Huffing and puffing by the time we reached the train,thank god we made it.

Once we boarded,guess who we saw sitting there facing us? The singaporean couple! But they goy off at Interlaken west.

:)

Fate as they call it.

We got back to e hotel at about 11 and knocked out. 

Yesterday,we had a free day so we took a tram and headed to Wabern,a small suburb of the bern city. We didnt expect anything but were rewarded by astounding views of the alps and the city.

It was gorgeous! 

Today,we leave Bern for Innsbruck in a 6hr busride.

God,pls let this be a smooth one.

Switzerland.

Many people's bucket list: Swiss Alps.

Now i get it.

Today we spent sgd500 to go to the top of europe in switzerland. JungFrauJoch via train.

We had to change 4 trains.

Bern-interlaken- lauterbrunnen-klein-jungfrau-klein-grindelwald-interlaken-bern Boyy was it a long trip.

The best place: Lauterbrunnen.

The beauty of a magneficent waterfall with the backdrop of the swiss alps were too much for me to handle.

I cried. Weird but i did.

It was too overwhelming 

It was so amazing.

At e top if jungfrau,the wind was blowing and it was scary shit.

Maybe seeing others scared of e slippery floor caused my fear to heighten as well.

We met a friend,sean a korean american at e top of it and even explored grindelwand and dined at interlaken together. 

We also met a singaporean couple who were so kind and it was fate that we met them again on e train back to bern!

All in all,it was an awesome day.

And in thankful for it.