On Sunday afternoon we went for drive up to the Rheinfall (Rhine Falls). It’s up to the north of Switzerland, on the border with Germany, near Schaffhausen.
It’s pretty epic…
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When we first arrived on Paros (one of the Cyclades islands, like Santorini). I was wondering what our hotel would be like. When I saw it I noticed all the many colours. The building was white but the doors and windows had colours. Like red and blue, green and yellow.
While in Greece, we tried some of the cuisine. Especially the souvlaki with pita, which we ate at least once a day! The souvlaki (which is what we called it for short) is meat cooked on a gyro or a kebab stick and salad wrapped in pita bread with tzatziki, It’s like a cross between a taco and a kebab. The Greeks also add a few fried potatoes (fries) into the souvlaki. It’s so good. Greek salad is good too, especially if you like olives. The feta is made from goats and sheeps milk.
Today we walked to a metro stop at 5am. When we arrived at our stop we hopped off and got some breakfast from a delicious cafe full of Greek yoghurt and baked goods.
We weren’t sure the ferry was going to leave because the last few days it didn’t leave because of stormy weather.
- Coffee shops, bakeries, pharmacies, shoe stores.
- Cats and dogs.
- An incessant stream of traffic, 24/7. No gridlock, just heavy traffic flow.
- Friendly and super-helpful locals.
- Graffiti; much of it political as far as I can tell, and probably for good reason.
- Lots of lovely ‘old’ buildings (‘old’ is a relative term, here in Athens), many neglected.
- Quite a bit of really new retail, with tasteful, clever, fresh, brand aesthetic. It feels like there’s a youthfulness growing up amongst ancient roots.
- Wind. I think the last few days have been unusually windy. And wind over a dry ground means…
- Dust. The archaeological sites – particularly on the exposed Acropolis – were swirling with dust whipped up by the wind. Many an eye was smarted, and many a hat was chased.
To go into a bit more detail on subjects that take my fancy:
Wow, where to start? Perhaps I’ll let the photos do the talking for now.
Athens is crazy cool. So much history – buildings that date back to before Christ! Like 2500 years ago! Amazing to be able to stand on the Areopagus, where the apostle Paul stood and had a wee korero with the Greeks about their ‘unknown God’
And the food! That might have to be another post. It’s so so good, healthy and cheap.
Ok some photos…
We love the Saas region. They call themselves the ‘free republic of holidays’ a bit Swiss cheesy but I like it anyway. When you stay here in any accommodation you get access to the gondolas and buses for free. As many times as you like. So it’s awesome for families.
They boast views of 18 mountains that are over 4000m high, and have the worlds highest glacier run. And the ski slopes are 3600m above sea level so you can ski all year round. It was a bit strange seeing skiers walking through the gorgeous, car-free village in 20 degree weather, kitted out with all their gear.
On our way to the Saas-Valley, we went through some impressive mountain ranges, including driving through the famous (infamous?) Gotthard Tunnel. Our GPS didn’t have much to say because we were pretty much following one road. We then came to a stop at a toll. We paid the fee (which thought was a bit strange as we already had the license to take toll roads in Switzerland) and passed on through.
Today we went on a bus to Saas Fee, a mountain region in Switzerland. Then we went up a gondola and walked down a path. There we spotted some marmots. We slowly crept up to them and gave them peanuts. We fed two marmots and they were really friendly. One of them was hiding in it’s hole and when it finished it’s peanut, I would feed it another peanut by holding my hand out and it would slowly come out the hole, grab the peanut and go back in. Both of my brothers gave the marmot a kiss.
Marmots live high up in the mountains in Switzerland and they look like giant guinea pigs but way fluffier.
We’re spending a few days in the Saas valley.
It’s great when your work is the internet, as the whole world is your office. Sometimes the view out your window is a brick wall.
Benjamin Willis
Daniel
Michelle
Noah Willis
Tobias Willis