So I've done the Greek Islands. They're really a prerequisite of any Europe trip I suppose and I have to say I've got some mixed feelings about them. Comparing them to the last few countries of my trip I'll say this - the Croatian islands and the West coast of Turkey are better (and cheaper!) Lets get the complaints out of the way first (cause I know you all love it when I whinge). Firstly, they don't look that crash hot at all. Barren rocks jutting out of the sea. The whitewashed cube houses help a little, but most of the time its like the Wild West. Santorini, the so called beautiful island was the worst, with ugly brown/grey cliffs everywhere and enough dust to sink a cruiseliner. Speaking of boats, another thing that sucks are the ferries. Either too slow, too expensive and they come and go at ridiculous hours. That being said, there were a few little things in the plus column. Ios was pretty cool. Staying right on the beach, with pools, waterslides and tasty cheap BBQ's for tea every night. The village was classic twisty turny alleyways woth a bar/cluc/resteraunt at every turn. Top marks to the Orange Bar with 100% rock music and chocolate bar themed shocks that were so realistic it hurts. Seriously, mint aero, turkish delight, snickers etc so good. And then there were gyros. What we'd call a souvlaki but half the size and with chips inside (really!). At 1.50 euro they were breakfastm, lunch and tea in Santorini! If you've got the dosh, there's also no shortage of things to do. We rented a windsurfer (not that hard, unless you want to turn around), and 4 wheelers (great for exploring). There was also waterskiing, diving, parasailing, the list goes on. So although there were negative, I pushed through them and was able to enjoy resting on a sunlounge, swimming in crystal clear water or repeatedly falling off a windsurfer. I guess this trip has proven that when the chips are down I can make the most of a bad situation!