In the last stages of sunset, we turned a corner and the magnificent shapes of the mountains ahead foretold that the clifftop monasteries we were coming to see, were going to be spectacular. We drove around the perimeter road of these monasteries in the fading light, awestruck and humbled. Built on impossibly high spiky peaks,what possessed the monks to attempt such difficult building projects in the 1300's? By the 16th century there were 13 monasteries in a...

After pouring over maps of Greece, both mainland and islands, reviewing the list of World Heritage sights and working out our days left here before we commence our Eastern European tour, we decided to bite the bullet and brave the Greek roads for a week of sightseeing on the mainland. Yes, we have hired a car! There have been transport strikes (and riots) since we have been here in Greece over the new austerity measures imposed, so driving ourselves makes sense....

 "What a beautiful bridge" I said to Avan as we crossed from the Peloponnese region across the sea to the next region in Greece. I took a couple of pictures and then up ahead, just at the exit we saw a toll booth. Now toll booths are everywhere in Greece. I am not sure how the Greeks can afford to drive on the freeways at all. We see many vehicles exiting freeways and re-entering, but without the knowledge of the side roads we are unable to dodge the tolls.12.90...

Welcome to Paradise!" says the handsome Greek man on reception. Paradise Resort and Camping that is - at Paradise Beach Mykonos. The sun is shining and bikini clad girls (well they seemed to have mislaid their tops!) laze on sun lounges while boys in board shorts paddle with beer in hand. Aussie and NZ accents abound amongst Canadian, American, Italian and of course Greek voices. Our accommodation is a cute little beach cabin, spitting distance from the beach and...

 "See you tomorrow and we will take some coffee and I will showa you the mappa" said Listeria who had picked us up from the ferry port of Santorini at 1.00am, and now just given us the key to room 13 at Antonia Hotel.We wearily climbed the white marble spiral stairs and dropped our packs. The first thing we noticed was we had double shuttered doors opening out to a gloriously big balcony AND a clothes line.For those of you who know we travel light and therefore ...