Amsterdam

We're here and loving it! More when we get stateside. We're enjoying our last week and surprisingly, finding wifi spots hard to come by!

Hope you all are well.

Made it to Germany!!!!

We've arrived - safe and sound - to Dusseldorf! Yesterday was a gorgeous day spent wandering the quiet, beautifully, (orderly) city. It feels a bit odd to be in such a western organized city as it's the first one in such a long time. Wide boulevards, designer shops, bike paths, public parks, and people who actually obey traffic signals! Very strange indeed. Yesterday we were blessed with beautiful sunshine as we strolled the streets, canals, the Rhine River and stumbled across a giant book fair.  We enjoyed our first real German Beer Garten and have thoroughly enjoyed the various beers. Today it was an antique fair (too bad we can't fit anything more into our packs!) Now of course, it's raining and everything is closed (it's Sunday and not a tourist town - oops) Tomorrow we head to Colone, then Amsterdam in the middle of the week. Later, We'll put up photos of mainland Greece. It was a great whirlwind visit so some great sites.

Last Post from Syros

We're leaving late tonight to catch a ferry to the mainland to begin the next page of our journey. We wanted to post one last one (filled with pictures) since we don't know when the next opportunity to post will come from. Now that it is time for us to leave the Cyclades, the weather has turned nice (read: hot and sunny) to give us a farewell gift for being such a poop most of the time! Yesterday - shock - we had our very first beach day! Hopefully after laundry, cleaning, and packing, we might sneak over in the afternoon for a last moment with the Aegean.

feeling a bit under the weather?

Octopus in Vinegar (actually quite good!)

someone else thought it looked good too! (the cat later ate bread off Mom's plate!!)

He's there every day we walk by.

Evidently I enjoy taking photos of the Syros animals...

So a quick itinerary for our last 2+ weeks (yikes!) or so goes like this: 5 days on mainland Greece seeing Delphi and jamming as many sites as possibly in on the Peloponnese followed by an (all to quick) trip back to Athens, to see a friend, and really see the Acropolis this time, before flying off to Germany. It's going to be a whirl-wind time there (just in the northwestern corner), packing in a few cities like sardines-in-a-can before taking a train over to the Netherlands where we have a blissful week to explore Amsterdam. We'll try to post when we can but basically we'll be running a marathon and might not have time for pit-stops. :)   (which is a good thing since both are feet at itchy to get moving again!)

Tinos

We did a bit of island hopping yesterday and spent the day on Tinos. We finally were graced with beautiful weather and enjoyed renting a car and taking in the sites. The island is about 3 times larger than Syros and much more lush, but with only 8,500 inhabitants, rather wild. We both fell in love with it, between the small villages, staggering coastline, and humble inhabitants. We're already thinking  of future trips back and to it's neighbor (even more lush and sparsely populated!) Andros.  Enjoy the photos!

Our Green Bug Car for the day!

View from Church

little girl chasing pigons outside church

Tinos the port town

amazing little harbor on the north side where we had lunch

before our ferry home

Ano Syros

We thought we might be able to hide from the wind up in the old Venetian town of Ano Syros. Ano Syros is filled with small walk-ways squeezed in between homes and shops, so we thought the walls of the buildings would provide some protection. (We were wrong!) It was built as a natural fortress into rock and mountain, with gates of the old castle still remaining. It is the oldest (currently still occupied) settlement on the island, claimed to be home to the ancient philosopher Ferekydes. It's currently form was built in the 13th and 14th century by (shock!) the Venetians.  On top of the hill, there is a great, beautiful Catholic church to St. George. Unfortunately for us, it was closed yesterday. 

Ano Syros is the settlement on the left going up the hill.

Signs to help us find our way.

Down the rabbit hole we go!

Bingo! (bad shot - I know)

Wasn't open, but still beautiful shot to Ermopolie and the bay below!

Mykonos!

Yesterday, we took a (long) day trip to the beautiful island of Mykonos. We were hoping to make it a beach trip, as Mykonos has famous beautiful beaches, but alas, the weather did not prove accommodating. Actually, besides not pouring rain on us, the weather was rather UN-accommodating yesterday. It was cold and windy the whole day, the sun going into hiding as soon as we arrived there and not returning until just before sunset. (But, what a beautiful sunset that was!)

So, rather than starting to work on those tans of ours again, we spent the day scurrying about the port town. We spent the morning and early afternoon window shopping and wandering around the windy stone-paved allies. We cuddled in a small taverna, eating a sumptuous tasting menu for lunch (sorry Morgan - no pictures this time).  Walking around, we realized how touristy Mykonos really is - after all, it is one of THE party destination islands in Europe, and really that crowd just isn't us. It didn't help that two giant cruise ships unloaded as we finished lunch, swarming the town like an invasion. Afterwords, found another cafe (hidden from the wind!) in "little Venice" to drink hot nescafes and watch the waves crash and stare at the infamous windmills. We finished wandering through the allies and streets back to the main port street, met the local pelican being harassed by tourists, and watched the sun set over the Mediterranean in the distance. Finally, our late night ferry came to sweep us back home to our beloved island of Syros. Enjoy the photos!

love the cats here! (for you Becs!)

note the waves - those of you who've been here know there are no waves in the Mediterranean!!!

before the weather turned

there's a secret garden taverna down there

Happy Mother's Day Mothers!

Not a bike ride

We did not go on a bike ride today as it is Sunday and most things are closed, including the rental shop. However, we did an awesome, rather intense, hike in the north section of the island down to a beautiful, rather secluded beach. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite warm enough for a dip, although it looks like an excellent swimming cove. James estimated that it was about a thousand feet vertical hike from where we parked down to the beach. (Hiking up went a bit slower than going down!) Happy May Day everyone!

pathway of daisies

the beach is between the second and third land spits and all the way down!