We’re sitting on the Emirates A380 flight back to Sydney from Dubai now so we’ve just about come full circle on our holiday. We finished up where we started - in Dubai - but this time staying for two nights. We arrived in Dubai at about 4 o’clock in the morning and we were lucky enough to be able to check in early to our hotel room and get a few hours sleep before taking a look around. It was about 2pm by the time we surfaced and got on to the Big Bus that takes you around Dubai giving you a running commentary and stopping at the major attractions. We got a 24-hour ticket and split it over two days. A couple of the highlights were the Dubai Museum, which gave a great history of the area from pearl divers and desert nomads to gold traders and oil tycoons; and the Atlantis Hotel, which is the one situated at the end of the islands shaped like a palm tree and is HUGE with an aquarium-sized fish tank inside complete with stingrays and a whale shark. We also took an evening boat cruise along the ‘creek’ on a traditional Arabic boat, which was included in the bus ticket.
The best thing we did in Dubai though was, without a doubt, the evening desert safari. A driver picked us up in a Toyota Landcruiser around 3.30pm and took us out to the desert for some insane “dune bashing”, which basically involved a procession of four-wheel-drives fanging it over the sand dunes sliding all over the place, plunging (sometimes sideways) off the edge of dunes and giving us awesome views of the desert. Our driver was amazing. There were so many moments that we thought he was going to tip the car, but he didn’t. We did end up with a flat tyre and an overheated engine though so we had to get rescued.
After the dune bashing we arrived at a traditional Bedouin camp where there were all sorts of free activities to partake in. We did most of them including a camel ride, sand boarding, getting henna tattoos and dressing up as Arabs. We then got fed a massive buffet BBQ dinner, which was really tasty, and were entertained by a belly dancer who, of course, chose both of us to get up on stage with her (at different times) and do embarrassing things…which we got on video! This was in front of a crowd of about 200 people! It was a fantastic Arabian night and a very fun way to finish off a great six-week adventure.
Now to get some photos on Facebook!
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Chilling out in hot and sunny Santorini
In the Aegean Sea off the coast of Greece there lies a partially submerged volcano called Santorini. The main town of Thira (or Fira or Thera depending on who you ask) is built on the rim of the volcano’s caldera, which plunges steeply into the sea. The buildings are all painted white in typical Greek Island style and blue church domes add contrast to the cityscape. Almost every café, restaurant and hotel has a sea view taking in either the dramatic caldera edge or the gently sloping eastern side of the island.
Our hotel had a fantastic view of the eastern side of the island with the white and blue buildings giving way to barren earth and scraggly grape vines as the island slopes down into the sea. From our rooftop balcony, even from our room window, we had a prime view of the sunrise over the sea and even saw some volcanic activity on a nearby island.
The weather was very hot and beautifully sunny the whole time we were there. We had a few dips in our hotel pool and also made trips to beaches - Black Sands Beach and Red Sands Beach - both appropriately named. Theresa swam out to a rock at Red Sands Beach and did her best mermaid impersonation.
As usual, we enjoyed a lot of good food including more mousaka, a variety of grilled meats and a couple of excellent Greek Salads. We ran out of money the second day we were there and found out that all the ATMs on the island had done the same. We were advised it was a bank holiday so nobody would be restocking the machines until the next day. Luckily we had enough money to get some supermarket food and we had a couple of nice home-prepared meals on our balcony.
Santorini is home to a lot of semi-stray cats and dogs. The council apparently encourages them by putting food out and, in Athens we were told the council gives all the dogs shots. Santorini had mostly cats, unlike Athens which had packs of wild dogs just hanging around looking intimidating. Theresa took lots of cat photos!
Our hotel had a fantastic view of the eastern side of the island with the white and blue buildings giving way to barren earth and scraggly grape vines as the island slopes down into the sea. From our rooftop balcony, even from our room window, we had a prime view of the sunrise over the sea and even saw some volcanic activity on a nearby island.
The weather was very hot and beautifully sunny the whole time we were there. We had a few dips in our hotel pool and also made trips to beaches - Black Sands Beach and Red Sands Beach - both appropriately named. Theresa swam out to a rock at Red Sands Beach and did her best mermaid impersonation.
As usual, we enjoyed a lot of good food including more mousaka, a variety of grilled meats and a couple of excellent Greek Salads. We ran out of money the second day we were there and found out that all the ATMs on the island had done the same. We were advised it was a bank holiday so nobody would be restocking the machines until the next day. Luckily we had enough money to get some supermarket food and we had a couple of nice home-prepared meals on our balcony.
Santorini is home to a lot of semi-stray cats and dogs. The council apparently encourages them by putting food out and, in Athens we were told the council gives all the dogs shots. Santorini had mostly cats, unlike Athens which had packs of wild dogs just hanging around looking intimidating. Theresa took lots of cat photos!
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Athens by night
By the time we arrived at our hotel in Athens it was about 5.30pm and just starting to cool down from the very sweaty 30-plus degrees it had been during the day. We didn’t get the view of the Acropolis that we’d asked for (or the baby cot!) and we only had the one night to see Athens before flying to Santorini the next day. So first on our hit list was to see the Acropolis / Parthenon, but not until after we’d devoured a massive mushroom risotto from room service.
The walk up the hill to the Acropolis followed a series of winding cobble-stoned alleys and stairways. We found our way to the entrance just as it was closing so couldn’t get in, but we did get some good photos from a rocky outcrop just next to it, where we watched the sun slowly setting over Athens. Very pretty.
Before the sun completely disappeared we also managed to pass by some more recent (only about 2000 years old) Roman ruins on our way to the stadium that hosted the first modern Olympic Games. The stadium was originally built about 400 BC, but has clearly been restored since. We couldn’t get in to do a victory lap around the stadium but it was interesting to see and there was a nice square next to it with kids playing with paper aeroplanes.
We finally got around to having dinner (the risotto was just a “snack”) about 10pm…not too late by European standards. We ate at a really nice restaurant on the side of the hill leading up to the Acropolis. Live music was provided by two guys playing traditional Greek music with a guitar and mandalin. We had Mousaka (layered minced beef, mashed potato, eggplant and cheese…looks like lasagna), Lamb Souvlaki (shish kebab) and a big Ceasar salad. Served up with a basket of fresh bread with olive spread. Very yum! The best dinner in Europe so far.
Could easily have spent more time in Athens.
The walk up the hill to the Acropolis followed a series of winding cobble-stoned alleys and stairways. We found our way to the entrance just as it was closing so couldn’t get in, but we did get some good photos from a rocky outcrop just next to it, where we watched the sun slowly setting over Athens. Very pretty.
Before the sun completely disappeared we also managed to pass by some more recent (only about 2000 years old) Roman ruins on our way to the stadium that hosted the first modern Olympic Games. The stadium was originally built about 400 BC, but has clearly been restored since. We couldn’t get in to do a victory lap around the stadium but it was interesting to see and there was a nice square next to it with kids playing with paper aeroplanes.
We finally got around to having dinner (the risotto was just a “snack”) about 10pm…not too late by European standards. We ate at a really nice restaurant on the side of the hill leading up to the Acropolis. Live music was provided by two guys playing traditional Greek music with a guitar and mandalin. We had Mousaka (layered minced beef, mashed potato, eggplant and cheese…looks like lasagna), Lamb Souvlaki (shish kebab) and a big Ceasar salad. Served up with a basket of fresh bread with olive spread. Very yum! The best dinner in Europe so far.
Could easily have spent more time in Athens.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Pizza, Pasta and lots of Gelati!
We kicked off our Italy trip in Florence where we met up with our tour group of 18 mostly Aussies and a few Canadians. We saw Michelangelo’s David and had a really yummy dinner with an American couple that we met at the Laundromat. The “entrée” was a big bowl of their house specialty pasta, which Theresa reckons is the best pasta she’s ever had. In Italy they generally have pasta (a full plate) as an “entrée” and then a main and dessert, always accompanied by a basket of bread (very dry with no butter) and sometimes starting with antipesto. They also serve house wine by the litre or half litre and is often cheaper than soft drink. The wine is very light tasting so easy to drink, but just as potent as our wine.
Our next stop was Cinque Terre (five towns perched on sea cliffs) where we walked along the cliffs from town to town taking in the dramatic scenery of ocean, cliffs, vineyards and pastel-colored houses. We also had a very nice lunch by the water - scampi penne and seafood spaghetti.
From their it was a very scenic coach trip to Venice via Lake Garda, which we took a ferry across, and Verona, where Juliette lived. Venice was probably the highlight of the trip, particularly the gondola ride and sitting (illegally) on the steps of St Mark’s Square listening to the rivaling mini orchestras.
Our final stop was in Rome where we were given a walking tour of all the main sights - the Colloseum, the forums, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, the Trevy Fountain - all amazing! One great thing about Italy is the number of fresh springs where you can fill up your water bottle with great tasting water at no cost! Even the water in the spectacular Trevy Fountain is drinkable and piped kilometres from fresh springs.
After our tour, we briefly visited the Vatican City…got into the Sistine Chapel just before it closed…at least there was hardly any queue!
Oh yeah, we tried a few flavours of gelato (“gelati”) too...rice, hazelnut, pistachio, tiramisu, panna cotta, strawberry cheesecake, milk, coconut, banana & kiwi, cherry, strawberry, blueberry, melon and pineapple. Our favourite was the massive scoop of rice (“riso”) gelati we got at Verona for 1 Euro. It had actual rice in it and tasted a bit like rice pudding on a cone! Yummm!!!!
Our next stop was Cinque Terre (five towns perched on sea cliffs) where we walked along the cliffs from town to town taking in the dramatic scenery of ocean, cliffs, vineyards and pastel-colored houses. We also had a very nice lunch by the water - scampi penne and seafood spaghetti.
From their it was a very scenic coach trip to Venice via Lake Garda, which we took a ferry across, and Verona, where Juliette lived. Venice was probably the highlight of the trip, particularly the gondola ride and sitting (illegally) on the steps of St Mark’s Square listening to the rivaling mini orchestras.
Our final stop was in Rome where we were given a walking tour of all the main sights - the Colloseum, the forums, the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, the Trevy Fountain - all amazing! One great thing about Italy is the number of fresh springs where you can fill up your water bottle with great tasting water at no cost! Even the water in the spectacular Trevy Fountain is drinkable and piped kilometres from fresh springs.
After our tour, we briefly visited the Vatican City…got into the Sistine Chapel just before it closed…at least there was hardly any queue!
Oh yeah, we tried a few flavours of gelato (“gelati”) too...rice, hazelnut, pistachio, tiramisu, panna cotta, strawberry cheesecake, milk, coconut, banana & kiwi, cherry, strawberry, blueberry, melon and pineapple. Our favourite was the massive scoop of rice (“riso”) gelati we got at Verona for 1 Euro. It had actual rice in it and tasted a bit like rice pudding on a cone! Yummm!!!!
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