we just got back from a really awesome weekend -a vacation from our vacation i guess you could say. for tony's birthday weekend, we stayed at the vedema, which is one of the nicest places on the island, and probably the nicest place either of us have stayed at! we checked in on friday and were really excitd to stay in a place where we could walk aroudn and shower without flip flops on all of the time :)- AND flush toilet paper! (here in most places you have to dispose of it in a bin in the bathroom). although we've been having a lot of fun here, we really wanted to relax a bit, veg out by the pool, and soak in the temporary luxury :).
we were really impressed! when we checked in we were greeted with 2 glasses of champaigne and notice that we had been upgraded. we were taken on a brief tour of the hotel (more of a resort i guess), where all of the main walls are built out of volcanic rock. we got to our room and were blown away. for tony's bday they left us a complimentary bottle of wine and fruit basket. we walked around and had a living room with tv/dvd player/stereo (which was wired throughout the bathrooma nd bedroom too). the bathroom was also really nice... all covered in marble, with a jacuzzi tub, 2 sinks and a shower stall as well (with walls!!) we had a hallway with closets and then a bedroom. there was a private balcony connected to the bedroom and living room which had 2 sunbeds, a table and chairs, and a private jacuzzi!! not too shabby!!! everything was decorated in the traditional white and blue with some furnitures with accents.
we hung out by the pool on friday for a bit, and then went to fira for tony's bday dinner. we were really craving pizza so we found a restaurant with pizza and a great sunset view. it was probably one of the prettiest sunsets yet, though i think tony is gettting tired of watchign the sun set :). after that we went back to the hotel, watched a movie and relaxed. saturday we spend a good deal of time out at the pool - allowing me to catch up just a LITTLE to tony's 'i work in the sun all day every day' tan. i read a good deal of a book (the 3rd of my trip) - i already finished the te of piglet, memoirs of a geisha, and am now reading 'hard boiled wonderland and the end of the world'. i remembered how much i missed reading, but forgot just how much i missed it, and am so excited to have some time to read for fun (as opposed to decks, research, and school books!). after the pool, we got ready for a wine tasting we signed up for at the hotel. they have a 400 year old wine cellar there (the hotel was actually built around a winery) - turns out we were the only people to sign up, so we got a private wine tasting!! just wait till you see the pics! really cool, old candle- lit wine cellar. realllly nice evening. there was a really cool sommalier who told us all about the history of santorini wines, and we tried about 8 different local wines (mostly whites). after the 2 hour tasting, the sommalier had to leave to work in the restaurant, and he left every single bottle out and said 'have fun!'. we drank some more but had to leave for dinner. we had reservations at blues, which is where i work, and did their indian dinner. they bring a chef in from the uk who does really really really good indian food. unfortunately we were a bit full already from all the wine so didnn't eat as much as we would have liked, but ah well. after that we were pretty sleepy from the wine and went to bed pretty much right after dinner.
sunday we were really sad to have to leave. we had an AMAZING breakfast buffet, full with smoked salmon, figs, all kinds of fresh juices, greek traditional pies, prosscuto, cheeses, tarts, fruits, yogurts, etc. we then spent some time at the pool, on our private jacuzzi on the balcony (just to say we did), and walked around for a bit to explore and take pictures. we checked out at 4, and actually went off to meet the sommalier from the hotel at a bar on the beach, after we made good friends with him at the wine tasting.
the bar was INSANE. it's this place called jojo's, and it is crazier than all but MAYBE one bar here is at night. this place gets busy around noon, and actually closes at 11 pm - you go by around 3 or 4 pm and the place is slammed. there was a dj from the usa there, and people were just drinking, jumping in the pool, dancing in the bar, etc - fun way to end the weekend.
now we're back at the place we are staying (and they actually moved us to a worse room) and missing the vedema very much! i told the place i'm working at today that saturday will be my last day, and tony and i plan on putting the finishing touches on the tourist things we have to do on sunday. can't believe we're leaving so soon. we're sad to go but also very much missing home in many ways.. and excited for the adventures that await us in berkeley!!!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, July 7, 2008
pictures!
above left: me and tony watching the sunset from akrotiri; above right - tony at work. this is the beach he works on: note the black sand literally melted his flip flop! it gets to be over 100 F in the days and as you can imagine the sand gets super hot! bottom left: our friends from belgium : roxanne and jens. this is them and tony cooking this awesome dinner in their kitchen. jens' family has a house there and we hung out there a few times. we made lamb chops, chicken, burgers, tzaziki, feta, beans, salad.. yum..... bottom right - sunset from oia.
...try "writes" again :)
hey guys,
sorry i haven't posted in a while.. we've been settling in to the swing of things and also doing some more stuff after work. my fave thing we've done so far, and i think tony will agree, is see the sunset in oia. oia (pronounced EE ah) is on the other tip of the island, from which you can see the volcano, other small islands, fira (major city) and also, a great view of the sunset. it is also a very cute town, with a bunch of homes built into the mountains. i mean, literally built into the rock. i'm going to try downloading some pics from my camera to post as well. we took our second trip out there last night, and it was awesome. we went to a very cute cafe afterwards, with a great view and great food (which is very rare here). i got a yogurt with honey and fruit and it was HUGE (and soooo yummy). tony and i eat about three yogurts per day each here - greek yogurt is the best! tony got this really good chicken wrap. most of the food here sucks - its pretty much all the same thing - tourist "greek" food, which apparently half the time isn't authentic greek food (i.e. mousaka). luckily the restaurant i work in is reallly good- i've heard several people say its the best food they've ever had (i actually had the best french fries i ever had) - so it's nice to get my free meal there every day :). anyway, we're also really looking forward to our weekend that's coming up for tony's bday. our resort is supposed to be very nice and we're looking forward to some time off of work and staying in a pimped out hotel!! :)
will post pics in a minute...
mel
sorry i haven't posted in a while.. we've been settling in to the swing of things and also doing some more stuff after work. my fave thing we've done so far, and i think tony will agree, is see the sunset in oia. oia (pronounced EE ah) is on the other tip of the island, from which you can see the volcano, other small islands, fira (major city) and also, a great view of the sunset. it is also a very cute town, with a bunch of homes built into the mountains. i mean, literally built into the rock. i'm going to try downloading some pics from my camera to post as well. we took our second trip out there last night, and it was awesome. we went to a very cute cafe afterwards, with a great view and great food (which is very rare here). i got a yogurt with honey and fruit and it was HUGE (and soooo yummy). tony and i eat about three yogurts per day each here - greek yogurt is the best! tony got this really good chicken wrap. most of the food here sucks - its pretty much all the same thing - tourist "greek" food, which apparently half the time isn't authentic greek food (i.e. mousaka). luckily the restaurant i work in is reallly good- i've heard several people say its the best food they've ever had (i actually had the best french fries i ever had) - so it's nice to get my free meal there every day :). anyway, we're also really looking forward to our weekend that's coming up for tony's bday. our resort is supposed to be very nice and we're looking forward to some time off of work and staying in a pimped out hotel!! :)
will post pics in a minute...
mel
Saturday, July 5, 2008
TheZamm rides again..or should i say rights again
As Melissa wrote a lil bit ago, we are settled in. We are having a blast. I never knew I could drink so much. We became really good friends with this Belguim couple. Yanis and Roxanne. Jesus, the belguims are huge people. And guess what they love bacardi. As you all know that I do too. And you all also know that I have a big ego and I think I can take on the world. I decided to keep up with Yanis with bacardi's. ya that was the stupidest thing I did that week. The bars know him and have actually got buckets of bacardi and coke waiting for him. I fricking serious. It's crazy. I passed out the first night and got really wasted the second...he was barely buzzed. I have never been called a light weight before.
Anyway, I am a beach boy. I literally live the dream working in paradise. I serve cocktails to beautiful naked people all day and get paid for it. I work on the beach in Greece...and get paid for it! There are no laws or rules..this place was ment for me. Also, its been nice to settle in so now we can go back to working out and have some sort of normal life again. After looking at the pictures Mel had posted I was inspired to seriously work out again....lost a few pounds....hell yeah!
We have tons of pictures to show you all....over 500! So get ahold of us when we return. Friday is my Bday. We have a rocking hotel set up...I would tell you the cost but I dont want to make anyone jealous!JK. hah. But really we have this awesome place set up...the second nicest on the island for 2 days.
I am not as good at this stuff as Mel so I will have to team up with her to get a better entry to you all. anyway miss you all a ton and cant wait to toast a welcome home bacardi.
Anyway, I am a beach boy. I literally live the dream working in paradise. I serve cocktails to beautiful naked people all day and get paid for it. I work on the beach in Greece...and get paid for it! There are no laws or rules..this place was ment for me. Also, its been nice to settle in so now we can go back to working out and have some sort of normal life again. After looking at the pictures Mel had posted I was inspired to seriously work out again....lost a few pounds....hell yeah!
We have tons of pictures to show you all....over 500! So get ahold of us when we return. Friday is my Bday. We have a rocking hotel set up...I would tell you the cost but I dont want to make anyone jealous!JK. hah. But really we have this awesome place set up...the second nicest on the island for 2 days.
I am not as good at this stuff as Mel so I will have to team up with her to get a better entry to you all. anyway miss you all a ton and cant wait to toast a welcome home bacardi.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Settling in Santorini
Sorry it's been a while since we've written..
We are now getting settled here in Santorini and both of us have jobs. I ended up not taking that first one b/c the hours would have been 6 pm til 5 am, which is pretty crazy. Tony had a potential job at this place called Blues, and we ended up walking by there one day and the owner actually wanted a girl to work during the day and set me up with a trial shift. In the meantime, we went to a restaurant called Charlina for dinner one night and talked to the manager, who said he needed someone to serve drinks on the beach. I ended up getting the job at Blues and Tony at Charlina.
Tony works from 9-5 on the beach and is quite tan/red now :P. I work from 10-6 and luckily get an hour break for lunch, during which I take the 10 min walk to Tony's beach and we eat lunch together. Tony says that it is one of his favorite jobs - "I work on a mediterranean beach all day serving alcohol to various people from around the world - what is there not to like?" My job is cool - the mornings can be pretty busy with breakfast, but then from about 2-6 pm I have maybe 1 or 2 customers, so I pretty much walk around cleaning. We make pretty decent money for the island, just enough to cover our living expenses, which was the goal. We found an apartment that we were supposed to be in for the next month, but when we showed up the girl running it said she had forgotten that a tourist office had booked the rooms full starting the next week. So we will be there for the next 4 days or so and then need to find a new place for the remaining weeks. We have a couple of leads so hopefully all will go well.
The other day we rented an ATV to go see a sunset in Oia, which is the major place that everyone goes to see the famous sunset. At the rental place however, the owner convinced us to go to Akrotiri, which is a lot closer and more beautiful, according to him. So we drove the thing to Akrotiri, had a nice dinner and saw the sunset... which was gorgeous. From the point we were ( a lighthouse), you could see Fira, Oia, and the volcano along with some other islands... great view. However, on the way back we realized that we hadn't filled the thing up with gas (and here when you rent a vehicle the tank is nearly empty). The ATV slowly putt putted and stopped. We were on a road kind of in the middle of nowhere and luckily the next car to go by was an AMerican guy. he was just about to check in to his hotel, so told us he would drop off his bags and come back (but not too happy about it). We spent about 10-15 mins driving around looking for a gas station. We filled up a water bottle with gas and went back to the ATV, but it wouldn't start. By this time it is night. The man took us back to his hotel, where we were (barely) able to communicate to the Greek owners that we needed a taxi to take us to Perissa. The woman who owned the hotel made us some dessert and gave us water, and fnally we made it home in a taxi, afer a 2 hour ordeal... at least its a funny story
We are now getting settled here in Santorini and both of us have jobs. I ended up not taking that first one b/c the hours would have been 6 pm til 5 am, which is pretty crazy. Tony had a potential job at this place called Blues, and we ended up walking by there one day and the owner actually wanted a girl to work during the day and set me up with a trial shift. In the meantime, we went to a restaurant called Charlina for dinner one night and talked to the manager, who said he needed someone to serve drinks on the beach. I ended up getting the job at Blues and Tony at Charlina.
Tony works from 9-5 on the beach and is quite tan/red now :P. I work from 10-6 and luckily get an hour break for lunch, during which I take the 10 min walk to Tony's beach and we eat lunch together. Tony says that it is one of his favorite jobs - "I work on a mediterranean beach all day serving alcohol to various people from around the world - what is there not to like?" My job is cool - the mornings can be pretty busy with breakfast, but then from about 2-6 pm I have maybe 1 or 2 customers, so I pretty much walk around cleaning. We make pretty decent money for the island, just enough to cover our living expenses, which was the goal. We found an apartment that we were supposed to be in for the next month, but when we showed up the girl running it said she had forgotten that a tourist office had booked the rooms full starting the next week. So we will be there for the next 4 days or so and then need to find a new place for the remaining weeks. We have a couple of leads so hopefully all will go well.
The other day we rented an ATV to go see a sunset in Oia, which is the major place that everyone goes to see the famous sunset. At the rental place however, the owner convinced us to go to Akrotiri, which is a lot closer and more beautiful, according to him. So we drove the thing to Akrotiri, had a nice dinner and saw the sunset... which was gorgeous. From the point we were ( a lighthouse), you could see Fira, Oia, and the volcano along with some other islands... great view. However, on the way back we realized that we hadn't filled the thing up with gas (and here when you rent a vehicle the tank is nearly empty). The ATV slowly putt putted and stopped. We were on a road kind of in the middle of nowhere and luckily the next car to go by was an AMerican guy. he was just about to check in to his hotel, so told us he would drop off his bags and come back (but not too happy about it). We spent about 10-15 mins driving around looking for a gas station. We filled up a water bottle with gas and went back to the ATV, but it wouldn't start. By this time it is night. The man took us back to his hotel, where we were (barely) able to communicate to the Greek owners that we needed a taxi to take us to Perissa. The woman who owned the hotel made us some dessert and gave us water, and fnally we made it home in a taxi, afer a 2 hour ordeal... at least its a funny story
Monday, June 16, 2008
Santorini!!
well, we decided that ios is just a litttlllleee too party-ish for us... after talking to four friends we made in the hostel (jason, anthony, david and justin), we decided to come to santorini for the rest of our stay. we took a ferry here yesterday from ios, and decided to stay at a hostel recommended by our ios hostel neighbors, a couple from canada (allister and rachel). we showed up at the place, which is called tony's villas. we walked in to the room and oh my goodness... by far it was the dirtiest place i have ever stayed. the accomodations weren't half bad, particularly for a hostel, but it looked like they hadn't cleaned it in ages. the sink had hair and marks in it, the whole place smelled like mold, and the bathroom smelled like a septic tank. we spent the rest of the day outside of the room and were pretty creeped out going to sleep. i don't think either of us slept very well- we both kept waking up uncomfortable and worried (i was a bit afraid that the place could have bed bugs). we decided to check out this morning and found a place called anny's studios, which was recommended to us by four good friends we made in ios (jason, anthony, justin and david). the place is super clean, we have a pretty decent room, there is free laundry (which is a major plus compared to the 9 euro per load in ios!!), 2 nice looking pools, a bar and a common area where people gather to watch tv and hang out. we are soooo much happier with this place and plan on staying for 2-3 nights, until we find a more long term place. santorini is really beautiful, and definitely more of our scene. we are staying in an area called perissa beach, which feels very much like a bummy beach town. there is one main road a block back from the beach, which has some mini-marts, restaurants, car rental places and travel agencies, and then a main road with restaurants, bars, etc. all of the bars and restaurants on the strip on the beach are super cool - they are all open air and covered with a thatch roof type thing, so you are sort of indoors and outside at the same time. they all have a trendy/loungy feel, which with both prefer to the crazy party places in ios. the beach is a black sand beach, which is pretty neat. i've seen one black sand beach in hawaii before but this is pretty different. the sand is actually pretty fine, almost like a regular beach, and the beach is super long!! we haven't even walked end to end yet. there is apparently a red-sand beach here too, that we want to go to at some point. the other big beach is called oia, at the other end of the island, which is supposed to be famous for viewing the sunset. i think tomorrow we are going to rent an ATV again (if any of you didn't catch what it is, it is a four wheeler), and head to fira, which is the big city here. we were originally going to come to santorini over the weekend of tony's birthday... i booked this super super nice hotel for 2 nights (runs 600-1000 euros per night!!- thank you starwood points!!!), but are happy to be here for the rest of our time. on the way in, we passed the hotel, called the vedema, and the driver commented that its one of the nicest hotels on the island, and all of the celebrities stay there when they come - apparently angelina and brad stayed there not too long ago. this made us even more excited to stay there (especially after staying at tony's villas! :P)we already have a couple of leads on jobs (thanks to tony's networking skills), though will def keep looking. tony has a lead at one of the nicer restaurants here, on the main street, as a server. he has to go back on thurs b/c the owner already is "trying out" someone on a trial shift on thursday. i have a lead at a place called beach bar on the strip on the beach, and have to do a trial run tomorrow. will be interesting since i've never truly served before, but we'll see how it goes. not too excited about the hours, which would be 6 pm or 9 pm depending on the night, until 4 or 5 am (yuck). the upside is that i'd make half decent money probably, with the tips and all (although people do not tip much here like in the US), and that at least i'd have the days free to sight see, go to the beach, etc. tony is off chatting with some people now, but will see if he wants to post anything else. hope everyone is well and we love reading comments, so post some if you can!!!
best,mel and tony
best,mel and tony
hahah oops
umm sorry about the captions (above left, etc) - when i posted the pictures and the comments, they appeared completely differently than they look in the post... hope you can follow along!
finally--- pictures!!!!
hey guys,
as per popular request, we are uploading some pictures. they came up in a funky order, but i tried to put captions so you can see what they are. we couldn't post to many as they upload REALLY REALLY slowly. hope you enjoy!
above left: boat houses embedded in the limestone mountains in malta. right - tony strolling the main beach in ios. bottom left; our friends during our ATV adventure... jason, david, justin and anthony. bottom right: the beautiful secluded beach we visited during our ATV adventure
above left: the black sand beach in santorini
above : in valletta, the capital city of malta
as per popular request, we are uploading some pictures. they came up in a funky order, but i tried to put captions so you can see what they are. we couldn't post to many as they upload REALLY REALLY slowly. hope you enjoy!
above left: boat houses embedded in the limestone mountains in malta. right - tony strolling the main beach in ios. bottom left; our friends during our ATV adventure... jason, david, justin and anthony. bottom right: the beautiful secluded beach we visited during our ATV adventure
above left: the black sand beach in santorini
above right: tony with his family in malta. from left: tony, then laurie (his cousin), his grand daughter, daugter, son in law and then josephine, his wife.
left: tony on the rock beach by our hotel. there was a boat race this day so there were tons of people out. these boats apparently go over 100 mph, and literally "fly"over the water... pretty cool.
above right: on this same rock beach, there were these small man made "swimming pools"that looked ancient! they were right in the ocean where the water meets the rock -super cool~! right - there were these rocks all over, that appear to be really dried up sand from who knows how long ago.
above : in valletta, the capital city of malta
above: mel and tony in the upper gardens of valletta
left: never heard the last name zammitt in the usa outside of tony's family, but zammit is apparently one of the most popular last names in malta; we saw it everywhere!!!
below: this is a view from right outside of our hotel in malta...
Thursday, June 12, 2008
ATV adventure
last night tony and i both worked at this bar. i thought it was pretty fun but tony didn't like his job (standing at door trying to get people to come in). we did walk by this cool loungy looking place after dinner, and the owner said she may be in need of a bartender/server next week, so tony is going to check back then.
unfortunately at the end of the night (or early morning i guess), tony was carrying out the trash with some people and cut his finger and his toe pretty badly. of course being as squeamish as i am i was freaking out a bit (though i think i did a good job of helping him wash the wounds...).
today we woke up late due to the late night, but just in time to meet up with four really cool guys we have befriended- a set of very funny brothers named david and justin, and these other 2 guys in the us army stationed in germany - jason and anthony. we rented some atvs and drove to this beach that is supposed to be the best on the island. it was probably about an hour drive one way, but had some BEAUTIFUL views. we were driving through mountains the whole time with some gorgeous views of the ocean (and goats :P). at certain points we could even see several other islands. the beach was gorgeous - again, had views of other islands, and the water was a million and a half tones of blue. there were very few people on the beach, and a bunch of little tiki=-looking umbrellas all over. we swam for a bit, laid out and got a bite to eat before heading back. we're about to head out to this cool loungy place on the beach where you can sit in hammocks and drink!! very nice! high five!!!
-mel and tony
unfortunately at the end of the night (or early morning i guess), tony was carrying out the trash with some people and cut his finger and his toe pretty badly. of course being as squeamish as i am i was freaking out a bit (though i think i did a good job of helping him wash the wounds...).
today we woke up late due to the late night, but just in time to meet up with four really cool guys we have befriended- a set of very funny brothers named david and justin, and these other 2 guys in the us army stationed in germany - jason and anthony. we rented some atvs and drove to this beach that is supposed to be the best on the island. it was probably about an hour drive one way, but had some BEAUTIFUL views. we were driving through mountains the whole time with some gorgeous views of the ocean (and goats :P). at certain points we could even see several other islands. the beach was gorgeous - again, had views of other islands, and the water was a million and a half tones of blue. there were very few people on the beach, and a bunch of little tiki=-looking umbrellas all over. we swam for a bit, laid out and got a bite to eat before heading back. we're about to head out to this cool loungy place on the beach where you can sit in hammocks and drink!! very nice! high five!!!
-mel and tony
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Ios!
so tony and i are in ios now... our posts may be a little less frequent than we would like now b/c internet is quite expensive here (4 euro per hour... about 6-7 dollars!). we'll take a shot at remembering what we did during our last day in malta and first couple of days here:
last day of malta:
tony's cousin (laurie) and his wife josephine were nice enough to call us at the hotel our 2nd to last day and offer to take us on a drive to see a few things. we thought we would go out with them for a couple of hours or so, but we ended up spending most of the day with them. they literally took us all over the country!! in about 5 hours we saw the entire perimeter of the island, and even stopped at a few sights, including some beaches, and also stopped for lunch (which they were nice enough to buy for us!). highlights were realizing there probably isn't a bad view from anywhere in malta - there is water almost everywhere you go! we saw some old tombs that were probably constructed in the stone ages, that they relatively recently discovered and are working to preserve. we also saw gozo and comino, which are the 2 other islands in the country (comino is uninhabited but tony's great grandmother is actually from gozo.) while we didn't get to go on the islands, we saw them from malta (the main island). the day before, we actually went to m'dina, which is the old capital city. how cool! the streets were very narrow (constructed before cars were around). it was actually constructed as a fortress, so has barrier walls around it and is up on a hill, but people still live in some of the buildings!! that was a big surprise to both of us. we also went in to a dungeon there, which had pretty creepy displays of ancient torture mechanisms - guys having their hearts pulled out with pliers, limbs cut off for stealing, tongues poked, people in cages, etc. i was quite worried about having nightmares that night!!!
back to our journey with laurie and josephine- we had a great time and they were very very hospitable- definitely better than any bus tour we could have taken. thanks again to them!
now for our journey to ios... it all started with a 2 hour flight, which served as our 'bed' for the night. well, before that... it all starts in the line at the airport, which was a zoo of old people! there was this huge group of probably 50 senior citizens, and oh my goodness... they were less mature than a group of elementary school kids! we got shoved, cut in line and sworn at in greek so many times! if that wasn't enough to frustrate us, our 1 am flight was an hour delayed. we arrived in athens at about 4 am and almost got locked in one section of the airport before getting our bags. unsure of which ferry we were going to take to ios, we decided to take one at 7:30 AM. worried that the bus would take too long, we decided to take a taxi and found a nice english couple in the taxi line who were also taking our ferry, and decided to split a cab. i knew that the athens taxi drivers were notorious for taking advantage of tourists, and found a sign posted that said the fare to the port we were going was 25 euros. we got in the cab with the couple, and verified the fare with the driver, who angrily in broken english said NO ITS 55 EUROS!!! the four of us pretty much blew up at him and said we saw the sign for 25. he still would not concede and insisted on turning on the meter, saying he would charge us an extra 7 euros for using the meter. finally we arrived at the port, and the fare via the meter was only 19 euros!! the english couple gave him 20 and he yelled "taxi is not a mini bus!! i see you talk in line blah blah.. taxi not minibus""! - but he drove away and tony and i ended up paying 10 euros for a ride to the port, probably what we would have paid anyway using public transport. the ferry ride was pretty nice, but long. we had stolen some blankets and pillows from our flight (credit to tony), which were great for naps on the benches of the ferry ride (which was 9 hours)!! we arrived in ios and got picked up by people from francescos, which is the hostel we ar staying at. you can barely call this place a hostel though.. we got a pretty nice private room with a balcony almost the size of the room... and you can't beat the view!! we are very close (right on the perimeter) of the village, which is where all of the shopping and nightlife happens. what a nightlife this place has... places don't even open until midnight, and places close around 6 am (and these are the early places!). after going out last night, and being so tired from all of the travel, we woke up around 12 today. we went to the beach around 2, and tony was worried that noone would be there anymore. we found some friends there that we met yesterday, and apparently most people don't even wake up until 2 or 3 pm.
we had gone to the beach yesterday, and made a very interesting friend... a german shepard we nicknamed sam. this dog kind of found us on the way to the beach and literally showed us how to get to the beach!! apparently he hangs out on the island and doesn't really have an owner, but befriends a bunch of people. when we got to the beach he started barking, and brough us a rock so we could play fetch with him!!! he then started digging these massive holes in the sand!! so odd... it was almost a little creepy becasue the dog woudln't leave us alone.. i think we have a stalker!
before going to the beach today, we walked around the village for a bit and looked for help wanted signs. we walked in to one bar, and the guy there asked us to come back at 11:30 pm, when the manager would be there. and the second bar we went to... i got a job in under 60 seconds. hah. didn't know it would be that easy. pay isn't great but i doubt it is anywhere here (25 euros per 6 hour shift)... and my shift is from 11:30 PM to 5:30 am! hah! prime time at the bars. my job will basically be to walk around and talk to people and dance, and clear cups from the bar... it'll be fun though, and give me enough money to live without dipping in to my savings - and hopefully drink for free as well! :) tony may have a job as well - same place mentioned they may need someone to basically stand in the doorway and try to draw people inside- he's going to come with me when i start tonight and ask the manager then. this will be interesting!! next thing we need to do is find an inexpensive place- we've seen some signs for seasonal and monthly rentals which we will inquire about tomorrow.
will post again soon- miss everyone!!!
mel and tony
last day of malta:
tony's cousin (laurie) and his wife josephine were nice enough to call us at the hotel our 2nd to last day and offer to take us on a drive to see a few things. we thought we would go out with them for a couple of hours or so, but we ended up spending most of the day with them. they literally took us all over the country!! in about 5 hours we saw the entire perimeter of the island, and even stopped at a few sights, including some beaches, and also stopped for lunch (which they were nice enough to buy for us!). highlights were realizing there probably isn't a bad view from anywhere in malta - there is water almost everywhere you go! we saw some old tombs that were probably constructed in the stone ages, that they relatively recently discovered and are working to preserve. we also saw gozo and comino, which are the 2 other islands in the country (comino is uninhabited but tony's great grandmother is actually from gozo.) while we didn't get to go on the islands, we saw them from malta (the main island). the day before, we actually went to m'dina, which is the old capital city. how cool! the streets were very narrow (constructed before cars were around). it was actually constructed as a fortress, so has barrier walls around it and is up on a hill, but people still live in some of the buildings!! that was a big surprise to both of us. we also went in to a dungeon there, which had pretty creepy displays of ancient torture mechanisms - guys having their hearts pulled out with pliers, limbs cut off for stealing, tongues poked, people in cages, etc. i was quite worried about having nightmares that night!!!
back to our journey with laurie and josephine- we had a great time and they were very very hospitable- definitely better than any bus tour we could have taken. thanks again to them!
now for our journey to ios... it all started with a 2 hour flight, which served as our 'bed' for the night. well, before that... it all starts in the line at the airport, which was a zoo of old people! there was this huge group of probably 50 senior citizens, and oh my goodness... they were less mature than a group of elementary school kids! we got shoved, cut in line and sworn at in greek so many times! if that wasn't enough to frustrate us, our 1 am flight was an hour delayed. we arrived in athens at about 4 am and almost got locked in one section of the airport before getting our bags. unsure of which ferry we were going to take to ios, we decided to take one at 7:30 AM. worried that the bus would take too long, we decided to take a taxi and found a nice english couple in the taxi line who were also taking our ferry, and decided to split a cab. i knew that the athens taxi drivers were notorious for taking advantage of tourists, and found a sign posted that said the fare to the port we were going was 25 euros. we got in the cab with the couple, and verified the fare with the driver, who angrily in broken english said NO ITS 55 EUROS!!! the four of us pretty much blew up at him and said we saw the sign for 25. he still would not concede and insisted on turning on the meter, saying he would charge us an extra 7 euros for using the meter. finally we arrived at the port, and the fare via the meter was only 19 euros!! the english couple gave him 20 and he yelled "taxi is not a mini bus!! i see you talk in line blah blah.. taxi not minibus""! - but he drove away and tony and i ended up paying 10 euros for a ride to the port, probably what we would have paid anyway using public transport. the ferry ride was pretty nice, but long. we had stolen some blankets and pillows from our flight (credit to tony), which were great for naps on the benches of the ferry ride (which was 9 hours)!! we arrived in ios and got picked up by people from francescos, which is the hostel we ar staying at. you can barely call this place a hostel though.. we got a pretty nice private room with a balcony almost the size of the room... and you can't beat the view!! we are very close (right on the perimeter) of the village, which is where all of the shopping and nightlife happens. what a nightlife this place has... places don't even open until midnight, and places close around 6 am (and these are the early places!). after going out last night, and being so tired from all of the travel, we woke up around 12 today. we went to the beach around 2, and tony was worried that noone would be there anymore. we found some friends there that we met yesterday, and apparently most people don't even wake up until 2 or 3 pm.
we had gone to the beach yesterday, and made a very interesting friend... a german shepard we nicknamed sam. this dog kind of found us on the way to the beach and literally showed us how to get to the beach!! apparently he hangs out on the island and doesn't really have an owner, but befriends a bunch of people. when we got to the beach he started barking, and brough us a rock so we could play fetch with him!!! he then started digging these massive holes in the sand!! so odd... it was almost a little creepy becasue the dog woudln't leave us alone.. i think we have a stalker!
before going to the beach today, we walked around the village for a bit and looked for help wanted signs. we walked in to one bar, and the guy there asked us to come back at 11:30 pm, when the manager would be there. and the second bar we went to... i got a job in under 60 seconds. hah. didn't know it would be that easy. pay isn't great but i doubt it is anywhere here (25 euros per 6 hour shift)... and my shift is from 11:30 PM to 5:30 am! hah! prime time at the bars. my job will basically be to walk around and talk to people and dance, and clear cups from the bar... it'll be fun though, and give me enough money to live without dipping in to my savings - and hopefully drink for free as well! :) tony may have a job as well - same place mentioned they may need someone to basically stand in the doorway and try to draw people inside- he's going to come with me when i start tonight and ask the manager then. this will be interesting!! next thing we need to do is find an inexpensive place- we've seen some signs for seasonal and monthly rentals which we will inquire about tomorrow.
will post again soon- miss everyone!!!
mel and tony
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Tonys turn
well its now my turn. This place is incredible. Not at all what I had expected. As you already know we spend the better part of friday in the capitol city of Valetta. what an interesting city. it was built to be a fortress. You can definately see it too! valetta is a bit touristy. I am not much for touristy. I was supprised at the extent of shopping they have here. with italy so close all the clothing is totally inspired.
We really wanted to experience the most we could. thanks to the help of Mr. Borg (our silversmith friend) we were able to pick out the "must see's". We went to the upper garden with the most awesome views of the bay. the upper garden is accually an armoury so we cannons and such around. but the real excitement is with the views. we took a number of pics so we will try to post them soon.
We then went to the Malta experience. It told of the complete history of Malt...pretty incredible. Malta is one of the oldest civilizations in the word!
We then had to meet with my family. This was quite an experience for me. I have a pretty big family in the states and we are pretty close..even with some of us moving around. so meeting family for the first time was a bit surreal for me. Laurie( pronounced Louie) was the father. he is cousins with my granfather. he was in his mid 60s id say. His wife Josephine..who is typical meditearanien...she cooks and cooks and cooks...really can make you drunk. he has two kids in the early to mid 30s. we met the youngest and his beautiful wife with there two beautiful children. they had great personalities and sooo hospitable. It was an honor to for me to spend the evening with all of them.Thank you to them for being such great friends.
We then went to St. Julians. OMG! that place was insane. there were thousands of people crowded into this small 3-4 block radious of bars and clubs. the drinking age here is 16 so it was full of people of all ages from literaly all over the world. Do many different fasions and styles. We definaltly felt a bit old but we were not the oldest by any means. in fact we were very much in the middle. the bars close around 4am so it gets a bit crazy. we left at 3am and this place was still banging like nothing else...people who know me know that I can party and this was intimidating. I am going saturday with my game face and ready to show them how its done in the States!
This morning I slept till about 2pm. I have NEVER come close to sleeping that late. Between the flying and the partying I was hurting. well its time to get ready for this night of partying.
We really wanted to experience the most we could. thanks to the help of Mr. Borg (our silversmith friend) we were able to pick out the "must see's". We went to the upper garden with the most awesome views of the bay. the upper garden is accually an armoury so we cannons and such around. but the real excitement is with the views. we took a number of pics so we will try to post them soon.
We then went to the Malta experience. It told of the complete history of Malt...pretty incredible. Malta is one of the oldest civilizations in the word!
We then had to meet with my family. This was quite an experience for me. I have a pretty big family in the states and we are pretty close..even with some of us moving around. so meeting family for the first time was a bit surreal for me. Laurie( pronounced Louie) was the father. he is cousins with my granfather. he was in his mid 60s id say. His wife Josephine..who is typical meditearanien...she cooks and cooks and cooks...really can make you drunk. he has two kids in the early to mid 30s. we met the youngest and his beautiful wife with there two beautiful children. they had great personalities and sooo hospitable. It was an honor to for me to spend the evening with all of them.Thank you to them for being such great friends.
We then went to St. Julians. OMG! that place was insane. there were thousands of people crowded into this small 3-4 block radious of bars and clubs. the drinking age here is 16 so it was full of people of all ages from literaly all over the world. Do many different fasions and styles. We definaltly felt a bit old but we were not the oldest by any means. in fact we were very much in the middle. the bars close around 4am so it gets a bit crazy. we left at 3am and this place was still banging like nothing else...people who know me know that I can party and this was intimidating. I am going saturday with my game face and ready to show them how its done in the States!
This morning I slept till about 2pm. I have NEVER come close to sleeping that late. Between the flying and the partying I was hurting. well its time to get ready for this night of partying.
first day in malta
so tony and i decided to separately post our first comments on malta, so we can then compare impressions :). we arrived 2 nights ago, and tony's relatives (some cousin through another generation) picked us up at the airport and brought us to the hotel. hotel is actually pretty decent, considering the price we're paying, and in a great area. a block away from the water, 20 min walk to all of the nightlife,a nd 20 minute bus ride to valletta, the capitol city. malta is really beautiful - definitely more densly populated than i would have thought...even the suberbs have buildings one after the other, with no greenspace in between, like in manhattan. the buildings are pretty much all built out of stone, and tony commented that in the usa, probably about half of them would be condemned (a lot are very old, falling apart - apparently malta suffered HUGE damage during WWII). there is water almost everywhere you go - the whole island is only about 40 mi around I hear.
we spent yesterday in valletta, which is quite touristy but still pretty cool. i don't think we've met a single american here (though quite a few people from UK and other parts of europe). we walked around valletta yesterday and took TONS of pictures (probably about 100) - will try to post some later. the water is gorgeous, and surrounds valletta on 3 sides (it's a peninsula). the whole of valletta is very walkable - went from one side to the other a couple of times. we saw the upper gardens (barracca i belive), which is this really pretty garden at the top of the city (city slopes down as you move towards the water) , and it overlooks the water on 2 sides. there were 2 huge cruise ships there, and we saw quite a few speed boats, which were practicing for this huge race on sunday. the water is very blue, and although i don't think i've seen any sand, has these rocks going in to the water (kind of cliffy). we stuck our feet in the water- a bit chilly but not too bad. we also went and saw the outside of saint john's cathedral, but didn't go in as the line was very long. went and saw the 'malta experience', which is a 45 minute movie on the history of malta. thanks to tony's 'befriending skills' :) we met this older couple who conned us in to the movie. haha. we started talking to this guy and his wife before the show, and when we got there found it was sold out. he completely lied to the people working there and told them he reserved 4 spots in the morning, through his hotel calling in - and we actually got in at the last minute! i'll let tony tell more of the actual history of malta...
we also met this very cool jewler when we stopped in this shop to buy some souveniers. he started asking us why we were visiting, etc and was super excited when he found out tony's last name is zammitt, which is a very common name here (like smith in the usa) - but here spelled with just one T. we each got a necklace and the guy told us some cool places to go in valletta.
we spent the early part of the evening with tony's family - his cousin, cousin's wife, son, 2 granddaughters, son's wife and another lady. they were really nice and hospitable and told us a lot about malta, it's history etc. pretty crazy that tony was able to connect with this cousin - he is actually tony's great grandmother's sister's grandson i believe. i think the experience was pretty incredible, for tony especially! later at night we went out to st.julians, which is a very popular night spot. on a friday night (which is way less busy than a sat night), this place makes anything in the US look like a joke! there is about a 4 block square area that is full of clubs, bars, etc- tons of people hanging out in the street and stuff. we went to a few places, walked around a bit, bought a beer in the open-air mall (haha) and talked to this egyptian guy about europeans' views of american politics.. and when we left at 3 AM, the place was still in full swing! we did feel a bit old though! :P
back to the hotel now... tony will post something later...
best,
mel
we spent yesterday in valletta, which is quite touristy but still pretty cool. i don't think we've met a single american here (though quite a few people from UK and other parts of europe). we walked around valletta yesterday and took TONS of pictures (probably about 100) - will try to post some later. the water is gorgeous, and surrounds valletta on 3 sides (it's a peninsula). the whole of valletta is very walkable - went from one side to the other a couple of times. we saw the upper gardens (barracca i belive), which is this really pretty garden at the top of the city (city slopes down as you move towards the water) , and it overlooks the water on 2 sides. there were 2 huge cruise ships there, and we saw quite a few speed boats, which were practicing for this huge race on sunday. the water is very blue, and although i don't think i've seen any sand, has these rocks going in to the water (kind of cliffy). we stuck our feet in the water- a bit chilly but not too bad. we also went and saw the outside of saint john's cathedral, but didn't go in as the line was very long. went and saw the 'malta experience', which is a 45 minute movie on the history of malta. thanks to tony's 'befriending skills' :) we met this older couple who conned us in to the movie. haha. we started talking to this guy and his wife before the show, and when we got there found it was sold out. he completely lied to the people working there and told them he reserved 4 spots in the morning, through his hotel calling in - and we actually got in at the last minute! i'll let tony tell more of the actual history of malta...
we also met this very cool jewler when we stopped in this shop to buy some souveniers. he started asking us why we were visiting, etc and was super excited when he found out tony's last name is zammitt, which is a very common name here (like smith in the usa) - but here spelled with just one T. we each got a necklace and the guy told us some cool places to go in valletta.
we spent the early part of the evening with tony's family - his cousin, cousin's wife, son, 2 granddaughters, son's wife and another lady. they were really nice and hospitable and told us a lot about malta, it's history etc. pretty crazy that tony was able to connect with this cousin - he is actually tony's great grandmother's sister's grandson i believe. i think the experience was pretty incredible, for tony especially! later at night we went out to st.julians, which is a very popular night spot. on a friday night (which is way less busy than a sat night), this place makes anything in the US look like a joke! there is about a 4 block square area that is full of clubs, bars, etc- tons of people hanging out in the street and stuff. we went to a few places, walked around a bit, bought a beer in the open-air mall (haha) and talked to this egyptian guy about europeans' views of american politics.. and when we left at 3 AM, the place was still in full swing! we did feel a bit old though! :P
back to the hotel now... tony will post something later...
best,
mel
Thursday, June 5, 2008
london to malta
hi everyone!
tony and i are in the aiport in london now, about to board our flight to malta. we are both exhausted, after not sleeping much 2 nights ago and sleeping a few hours on a red eye on the way here. we spent yesterday in nj with my mom, got some good pizza and went to the iris gardens, and pretty much spent the day traveling here. looking forward to arriving in malta tonight!
best
mel
tony and i are in the aiport in london now, about to board our flight to malta. we are both exhausted, after not sleeping much 2 nights ago and sleeping a few hours on a red eye on the way here. we spent yesterday in nj with my mom, got some good pizza and went to the iris gardens, and pretty much spent the day traveling here. looking forward to arriving in malta tonight!
best
mel
Monday, June 2, 2008
Welcome!
Hi all,
Welcome to our blog. We will be updating you with news from our travels to Malta and the Greek Islands over the next couple of months. Sorry that this is such an impersonal format, but we will likely have very limited time in internet cafes and wanted to be able to keep everyone updated on our whereabouts. Hope you enjoy!!!
Mel
Welcome to our blog. We will be updating you with news from our travels to Malta and the Greek Islands over the next couple of months. Sorry that this is such an impersonal format, but we will likely have very limited time in internet cafes and wanted to be able to keep everyone updated on our whereabouts. Hope you enjoy!!!
Mel
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