Mishthefish: paradise

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Greece: Mykonos, Ios, & Santorini

We're going back to last summer, when Mercedes (Merboo) and I went to one of the prettiest places, aka paradise, aka Greece. 10 days in the Greek Islands and it was a love love relationship. The beaches, greek food, people, sunsets, and views were some of the best I've experienced. We went to three islands: Mykonos, Ios, and Santorini...all beautiful but completely different from one another.

First stop was Mykonos. After arriving in Athens we took our first ferry to Mykonos. We arrived at a small, picturesque town with a maze full of tiny streets with shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, all gathered around its port. The buildings were the traditional Greek colors: white with blue windows and doors. In the day we had a calm and relaxing lifestyle, days starting with frappes (mmm!), the beach, shopping, eating hummus and pita and greek salads. At night we would watch the sunset from our rooftop at our hostel or from Paraportiani (the church), eat fabulous dinners, walk around Little Italy and see the windmills, and then file in with the crowds to the bars and clubs.

Paradise Beach

Rooftop Sunset

Little Italy

Sunset from Paraportiani

Frappes!

After 3 nights in Mykonos we headed to Ios. Ios was beautiful, bigger than Mykonos with beaches filling up the coastline. When we arrived we got to our hostel: Francesco's (one of the best hostels I have stayed at) and went to eat lunch. The town was dead, basically no one was outside and it was very quiet. We headed back to our hostel and layed out by the pool. That night we realized why it was so quiet earlier--the Ios night life. It was my birthday that night and Mer decided to tell the hostel...within an hour all of Ios knew I was Michelle and it was my birthday. The hostel takes you on a pub crawl...which is so fun. There are so many small bars/clubs all around Ios that open their doors at night to everyone ready to party. And party they do. The next days were spent at the beaches, pools, meeting new friends, going out, etc. It was a very crazy and fun 3 days in Ios.

Ios town

View from our room at Francescos

With Francesco himself :)

The last island we went to was Santorini (my favorite of the 3). It's a volcanic Island and was so so beautiful. We stayed right near the Black Beach at Stelio's Place. In Santorini we did lots of activities: took a boat across the island to visit the volcano which erupted years ago, swam in the hot springs, rode donkeys in Thirasia (my highlight), saw the prettiest sunsets from Oia (where Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is filmed & we liked it so much we went twice), and visit another island Fira. Of course we layed out on the Black Beach and did what we like best, eat very well. It was so hard for us to leave Santorini, but in life all good things must come to an end. We headed back to Athens for a night to catch our plane the next day. There were strikes all over the city--so all we did was sleep, eat, and go to the airport. I loved Greece and would love to go back and visit more islands!!

Boat ride to the volcano

On the volcano

Hot springs

Donkey ride!!

Thirasia

Oia

Fira

Oia

Dinner at Oia

Sunset at Oia

Oia

Black Beach

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Ibiza & Formentera

When most people think of Ibiza, they think party party. What I was most excited about were the pretty beaches. Two friends from the US visited me (Gena and Dana) and we traveled to a few places, our first stop was Ibiza. It was a beautiful island with an energetic crowd ready to enjoy the night festivities.
The life in Ibiza was something like this:
Lay out all day on the beach, swim in the water while dancing to the music from the beach parties, eat good meals, and get ready to go out all night long. Then head to the beach for sunrise. Repeat.

Our first night we went to a club called El Paradis for the fiesta de agua (water party) that friends had recommended to me. This was an incredible party and was like nothing I had done before. When I was told to wear a bathing suit and a dress I did not care for, I knew it would be completely different than the usual clubs I was used to. At first it was like any typical club, people dancing and go go dancers in 80's outfits dancing above your head. The dance floor was in the form of a circle and at around 4am water started pouring in from every direction and suddenly there was a pool beneath us. Bathing suits started coming out and people are dancing and playing in the water. It was great. One of the best clubs I have been to, hands down. After some hours in the water at the club, we headed to the beach in our wet bathing suits.

The next day we headed to Formentera by ferry. People had mentioned to me how beautiful this island was, but seeing it in person really had me blown away . As most of you know, I love going to the beach so when I see a beach like this, it's hard for me to leave. Its white sand feeling softer than ever and clear turquoise/blue water made it breathtaking. This was definitely the highlight of the trip for me. We also ate a delicious meal in Formentera- fresh caprese salad and pizza. As we were leaving, we had the chance to see the sunset which was very pretty.
Unfortunately we only had time to stay for the day and had to return to Ibiza for our last night out. We went to a club called Space which in my opinion was just okay. The next day was our last day, spent it on Playa d'en Bossa again enjoying the sun. My friend who lives in Ibiza came to visit and we all had lunch before heading back to Barcelona to get ready for our next trip.

Formentera