One Week In Greece

October 1999

Here are the photos I took when I was in Greece. It was a great time. Click here to see the dairy narrative. Page down to check out the photos.

Running Around Athens At Night

I pulled in to Athens airport at 2 or 3 am in the morning. Got to the hostel but no bed for the night. Met up with an american guy called Eric and ended up running around Athens. it was pretty crazy at 3am.

Blurry shot of Athens at night. No idea what it is.

Some ruins not far from the hotel.

More ruins. Could be part of some roman forum. Can't remember.

Totally way to close for flash photo of me sitting on a rock near the Acropolis waiting for the sun to come up.

Hills of Athens at dawn.

It's really amazing watching the sun come up. Normally I'm walking home after a big night out.

The Acropolis At Dawn

Eric and I with nothing else to do and no bed to go to thought it would be pretty cool to watch the sun come up over the Acropolis. It was pretty cool - too bad the photos were dodgy.

Dawn and me.

Sun rise over the acropolis.

It really irritates me that every time I go somewhere, the sights are covered in scaffolding. End up having to settle for some postcard instead.

Crete - Hania

Hania I must say is absolutely gorgeous. Old Venetian/Greek architecture, houses with brightly painted doors and shutters, rambling streets and alley ways, pastry shops, the remains of a fort, cafes all around the harbour, old boat houses from 1400s where they used to bring Venetian galleys in for repair and an old light house on the tip of the harbour entrance where you can just sit and watch the day go by. Highly recommended.

I have to say I fell in love with all the alley ways. Here's a few. When I went to Venice six months later, I remember thinking how much Venice looked like Hania. Actually, Hania looks like Venice. The Venetians ruled Crete for several hundred years before being thrown out by the Turks.

Here's another one.

Yet...another one.

One view of the harbour. Check out the sheds behind where they used to run out the Venetian galleys. Hundreds of years old.

Me having a swim off the harbour wall. Very hot day. Set camera to timer and jumped on in. Check out the cafes in the background. Beautiful.

Me trying to do an imitation of thinking on the tower at the mouth of the harbour. It's currently being restored - hence the timber. What a great day. The place was fantastic. Could easily go again. Again, beautiful harbour side cafes. Lots of fish.

Two figurines of a snake cult goddess that caught my eye in a the archaeological museum in Hania. Have to say that you eventually get sick of seeing museums in Greece as they are absolutely everywhere.

The harbour side. Just down the walk there is an excellent selection of cafes.

Crete - Iraklio

There's only one reason to go to Iraklio - Knossos - home of the legendary minotaur. The rest of the city is pretty dirty with construction going on everywhere.

The palace at Knossos, for better or worse, was partially reconstructed by an english archaeologist. The orginal owners were wiped out but but no-one knows by what or whom. Some say maurading bands of mainlaid greeks - others say the volcano at Santorini really stuffed them.

Love the colours and the sky behind.

The problem with solo travel is that you have no one to take your photo. Here's my proof that I went there photo. It was a really hot day and there was hundreds of german bus tourists - I got pretty irritated by them all.

Okay, eventually managed to get someone to take a photo of me.

Cats hanging around the old Venetian fort at the mouth of the Iraklio harbour. Cats are everywhere in Greece.

Iraklio Harbour taken from the end of the sea wall.

Delphi

Delphi. Was really desperate to check this place out as you often read about the Oracle of Dephi in novels and history books about ancient Greece. The temple complex is built on the slopes of Mt Parnassos and relatively free from civilisation and large numbers of tourists.

The stadium over looking the temple complex. All the scenary reminded me of the Guns of Navarone.

Stadium was just amazing. I guess that's why I took so many photos of it.

Stadium and me being stupid.

Stadium again.

Me pretending to be a status in the alcove.

The theatre.

The temple of Apollo.

The temple of Apollo from above.

Temple of Apollo again. Great photo.

Santorini

Got to the fabulous island of Santorini, crawled up the hill and watched the sun go down while sipping Pina Coladas. I guess I'm what they call a 'flash packer'.

What you see below is the volcanic crater with an isalnd in the middle.