I think I’m kidding myself by forcing myself to post detailed accounts of Europe, to be frank, it’s already been a year LOL and I’m updating at crawling speed! Ridiculous! Feeling obliged to write about something is one of the things I have always despised, because it distracts from the purpose of writing in the first place (that I actually enjoy writing). It’s time for me to make space for this blog to start hosting things I actually love and for me to share my thoughts and all as I used to before. I do intend to fast track the remaining countries (Italy and France) to capture only the highlights that were really memorable for me, but this post deserves a special mention as it’s about the Harry Potter studios tour which is very important!!
eurotrip
London D3 | Experiencing the city life
Featured in this post:
Things to see/do: Old Spitalfields Market, Brick Lane
Things to eat: Hawksmoor (steak), Full stop. (cafe), Shoryu (ramen)
Others: Ladsbroke (betting)
This post is part of a 1-month Europe trip.
We took Day 3 slightly easier than the previous day, wanting to experience the city for what it is. Termanda had gone on a Manchester Stadium Tour so it was just me, the BF and Ying Neng who was also in London.
London D2 – Getting to know London
Featured in this post:
Things to see/do: London Walking Tour (various famous tourist spots), Primrose Hill
Things to eat: Dinner by Heston Blumenthal (2 Michelin Star), Flat Iron (steak)
This post is part of a 1-month Europe trip.
We started our first official full day in London with a walking tour that we found online. This walking tour is free, with the idea that they won’t make you pay for something you are not sure you’d like. At the end of the tour, you’re free to give as little or as much tip as you want to the tour guide.
London D1 | Burgers & Lobsters
The last day in Santorini was spent just enjoying breakfast and appreciating the last of the beautiful island before getting ready to go to the airport to catch our flight to London. Right before leaving the weather got pretty hot which was kinda ugh because that would have been the perfect weather to enjoy Santorini. Damn!!
Europe Pt.2 | Santorini D3 – Red Beach & Kamari Beach
Phew it has been rather hectic these days so I haven’t gotten around to updating. I’m so way behind time (almost a year late!) but I’m determined to get this done!
On our third day for Santorini, we went on a road trip to the beaches around town. We decided to rent a car since it was nearly the same as renting two ATVs (if I recall correctly, it was 60 Euros for one car which was good for four people). Plus the sun was merciless!
Euro Trip Pt.2 | Santorini D2 | Boat Tour
Our itinerary for the second day was the boat tour! There are plenty of tour services around so have a look and take plenty of pamphlets for comparison. I’m glad we did this because it brought us to many places we wouldn’t be able to access otherwise. These were the places we visited:
- Santorini Volcano
- Hot Springs
- Thirasia
- Oia
The tour ends in Oia and it’s free and easy after that.
Euro Trip Pt.1 | Athens – Hydra Island day trip
Continuing where I left off with Athens, here’s the post on Hydra Island!
Hydra is an island a little ways off Athens. Going there is pretty easy as there are many boats and online marketplaces where you can search for tickets, such as http://www.fantasticgreece.com/ports/hydra-port.aspx for example. Our tickets came up to 50 Euros per person for a two-way ferry ticket. Not a cheap price by any means so I don’t think this day trip is for the budget traveler, though it was a nice getaway from Athens. The island reminded me a lot of Santorini IMO, with its waters, neat little buildings and sunny touristy feel. Athens was a lot more quiet, not so touristy, and sometimes a little gloomy 😦
We booked our tickets online, collected them at the ticket counters near the docks, and off we go!
Port where we collected the tickets and boarded the ferry
Selfie complete with my skin peeling and shit
Idk why the sky looked gloomy here, it was really bright and sunny lol. And i’m too lazy to edit this photo heh. Anyways this was our Hellenic Seaways ferry
On the ferry – damn this is really reminiscent of that boat ride we took from Jeju to Udo?? With the Korean flag behind?
Aaaand we reached Hydra after an hour, where we’re treated to lovely blue skies and warm weathers.
Getting down from the ferry
Walking from the dock
Big boats
Came across donkeys
Our first stop was lunch, of course! There were many recommended places on Hydra but the place isn’t really big enough for each restaurant to have an exact location on the map. Mostly vague coordinates. So we wandered in and just told ourselves we’ll eat wherever.
By some stroke of luck though, we came across one of the restaurants we had starred on the maps! We had a moment’s hesitation as it was Italian and not Greek food, but at that point we were all craving pasta anyway so it worked out for the best haha.
Restaurant front
From the entrance
Pretty color tones!
Ze food!!
After scrumptious lunch we headed out to start exploring this lovely island!
Love love how the architecture all comes together
Splash of red
I suppose what sets this apart from Santorini is the brown and red mixed into the cool white/blue colors
😀
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Idk what’s going on here
Tentatively approaching the donkeys
Boats everywhere!!!!
Moar boatsss
Kittyyyy!!!
After exploring the area near the dock, we decided to do a mini hike to the beaches along Hydra Island.
Off we go on this mini hike!
Awesome views along the way
:O
We found the first beach!… which turned out a little lame. So we walked on some more.
Lovely stuff
How’d it get up there?
Along the way we came across something of a ghost town and there was this artist sitting there just painting. He stopped us to ask for some water for his water paint pen thing. Haha. Not even for himself.
Came across this cafe in the middle of said ghost town, and we settled down for a rest and chat with the owner!
That was when I wandered off on my own to see what I could find.
Ghost town~
Spotted the beach from above!
I tried to do my own photoshoot by propping the camera up on a rock omfg looking back at this is severely embarrassing
After some self explroation I went back to find the rest who were still chilling with the nice lady from the cafe. We all decided the nice weather was a waste and decided to change and head down to the deserted beach!
The beach we’re heading to! I’m listing to summer tracks now so this picture is making me excited.
Posing pretentiously
🙂
THe view of the little cafe/house
Everyone chilling
im fabulous
Honestly this little beach trip did uplift our spirits a lot. We’ve been in the cold too long! D:
Yays
Grabbed some ice cream afterwards to cool down near the harbor.
The BF and I decided to explore a little further while Termanda chilled with the ice cream. We hiked a little further up and had this weird self-photoshoot thing wherever we found a quiet spot haha. It’s a bit embarrassing esp when someone suddenly comes along and we had to pretend like we weren’t up to anything.
Example of a pretentious photoshoot hahahaha
Mother of pretentious photoshoots
Aaaaaand that concluded Hydra for us! Santorini coming up next!!
Euro Trip Pt. 1 | Athens – 5D4N
Finally I am back and blogging about my Eurotrip!! 😀 Super late to blog because work has just started and it’s been hectic trying to get back into the serious mood after such a long time traveling. We flew on the 22nd April at midnight heading to our first destination, Athens. Our plan was Athens -> Santorini -> London -> Rome -> Florence -day trips to Bologna and Venice-> Paris. If anyone has traveled Europe or is well-versed in geog would know that this is rather strange because we’re flying back and forth. It was the cheapest possibility with the best timings for all flights so we did that haha. Without further ado, this post Pt. 1 shall present and document our first stop in Athens, Greece!
Accommodation
Accommodation in Athens was pretty affordable even with an apartment located near the train station. Ours was booked through Airbnb and was an entire apartment to fit all 4 of us. Really loved this house because it was roomy and had complete facilities thanks to our host, Dimitri.
Funky lift! Had to open the door ourselves and all.
The Sofa Bed for two of us
The dining room area with the sofa bed and leading to the balcony
He was so kind to provide us with so many supplements!!
Fruits, too!
The neighborhood outside our place
For anyone interested, here are the details of our Airbnb accommodation:
Attiki Metro Station Penthouse
No. of guests – 4
Per night fee (SGD) – $64
One-time cleaning fee (SGD) – $39
All prices have been tallied for 4 people. So for $64 per night for 4 people we were getting a damn good deal! It helps that Athens in general is more affordable than the rest of Europe 🙂
Neighborhood
Our accomms was at a pretty residential area so there weren’t much stuff going on, but there’s a mart nearby and a nice huge bakery/cafe we always visit in the morning haha. Because coffee is so affordable!!! We were located near Attiki Metro Station and it was a pretty convenient place to stay in. Actually, Athens isn’t that big so you shouldn’t have to worry 🙂
Selfie, of course!
The coffee at the nearby cafe was super affordable omg it’s like 1.7 euros for a capp max, i can’t remember the exact amount. The barista was really friendly too!
Friendly barista who was younger than us
Pretty seating area with the natural sunlight
Nostalgic looking at this pic T.T The very beginning, first full day at Athens, eating breakfast.
So this is some iced freddo cappuccino drink, my first time having it too haha. It wasn’t fantastic though, i still prefer a normal one I’d think.
Wine was also really cheap as we saw from the mart.
Check out this 1.49 euros wine! That’s about SGD $2. Lol. But apparently it tasted pretty crappy so
Pickpockets
Before delving into the things to see in Athens, I’d have to warn readers first of pickpockets in Europe. It’s not like I didn’t know, but I probably got really complacent thinking that it wouldn’t happen to me, and it did. Plus, it happened on the way from the airport to our accomms so that was REALLY demoralizing. I didn’t feel a thing and didn’t notice it till I reached our accomms. To make it worse, it seemed that the pickpocket was purely planned and not by chance, because both my wallet and the $100 i deliberately took out to put in a separate compartment in the bag were taken. Probably means he/she was already watching from pretty far off ugh. Just be careful, be very careful. And buy insurance if you can, it’s gonna be well worth it. I bought NTUC Income and successfully claimed for that loss. (+1 to NTUC Income)
Also, make sure to make a police report immediately wherever you are. Without a police report it’d be really bothersome to try claiming insurance.
Food
I’m doing this format for the first time so forgive me if it’s really confusing! I’m gonna do food first because the attractions are gonna be pretty darn long haha. In Athens, one of the most popular types of food we noticed (may not be true to what Athens is truly popular for) was the Souvlaki.
Souvlaki
Pita bread with grilled meat, onions, fries, tomatoes and some sort of sour cream sauce. Greek version of fast food. Many variations of this food! Cost – around 2 euros.
Really delicious stuff. This one above here was obtained from one of the stalls at Monastiraki. 😀 Tip: don’t sit down at fancy restaurants for souvlakis (esp if they don’t specialize in it), you’d get an overpriced one (like 10 euros) served on a plate which you really don’t need, unless you’re really looking to dine properly. Grab a souvlaki from a street stall, sit on the stone benches, watch your stuff well, protect your food from the birds, and dig in. It’s kinda oily so be careful not to let it drip on your clothes.
Besides souvlakis, we came across a couple of restaurants in Athens which served really good food. They are not really cheap because they ARE kinda casual fine-dining style restaurants, but they were good and I’d recommend them if you’re not on a tight budget!
Strofi Tavern
Classic Greek fare in a simple, airy space with a roof terrace for amazing Acropolis views.
Address: Rovertou Galli, Athens,11742 25, Athens 117 42, Greece
Strofi was one of our favorite places, or maybe because we were extremely biased as it’s our first dining location haha. I didn’t manage to capture that many pictures because HUNGRY and the BF owes me 10000 photos from his iPhone, but anyway I’ll make do with whatever I have!
Sitting demurely and color coding with the tables
Appetizers! Pita bread was really good but the the anchovies were odd
Moussaka, a popular dish in Athens
Main course – fried fish with boiled vegetables. This wasn’t that fantastic and turned out a lot larger than we thought LOL.
The beautiful view of the Acropolis from Strofi~
Overall, we spent maybe around 30 Euros. That’s really affordable for fine dining! 🙂 The food was also really delightful.
Ariston
Bakery selling savory and sweet pies.
Address: Voulis 10, Athens, Greece
Quite a favorite on tripadvisor, we located Ariston bakery one fine morning before our sightseeing.
Savory pies
Sweet pies
They’re quite well known for their savory pies but I wasn’t really feeling it so I got myself a sweet one. Banana chocolate, if I remember correctly.
Quite happy indeed.
Good bakery to visit for breakfast or a quick snack!
Oineas Restaurant
Retro-style Greek food
Address: Aisopou 9, Psyrri Square, Athens 105 54, Greece
This is one of our favorites ever! The food was not only good, but the service of the restaurant owners and staff were exceptional. We were greeted by a woman with short silver hair (I forgot her name :() and she continued to serve us throughout the night. She gave great recommendations and knew how to joke with us. When she asked if we wanted more bread and Calvin said only he wanted to eat more, she came back a moment later with a basket saying it’s just for him and it’s on the house! And later on she caught Terence eating one piece and she sneaked up on him and slyly questioned why he was eating when he wasn’t hungry. Hahaha. Really lovely woman.
Retro style restaurant!
Starter 1 was mussels!!!!!! This was a real delight to have not only because it was so tasty, but also because it’s so comforting to have soup after a couple of days eating Souvlaki and the likes.
The second starter was a really surprising mushroom dish. I don’t really like mushrooms but this looked hella tasty and I had to try it. And it did prove itself to be hella tasty! I no longer remember the details but it was positively cheese and a very light, tasty cream. Very pleasant! My favorite mushrooms ever, and that says a lot.
For the mains, I didn’t really order the right dish because it was a very thick cheese base and I’m not really fond of that. I guess I kinda ordered it for the rice?? Haha.
Doesn’t look quite THAT appetizing haha
However!!! Terence’s steak dish with wine sauce looked and tasted spectacular!!!
Calvin’s dish was some special fish of the day
Karamanlidika
Cured meat and ham, sausages, cheese… you get the drill.
Address: Sokrates 1, Evripides 52, Athens 10554, Greece
This restaurant is pretty much self-explanatory. If you love meat and cheese, there’s no doubt you’d love this place.
The building
Interior, sorry for the poor quality
Again a poor pic (whatever happened to my photography) anyway this was where we were seated, right in front of the food cooking!
Some appetizers to start off~~
Main course! This was Pastirma with tomatoes and eggs, one of their best-sellers.
The BF and I shared the main course. It was delicious but I liked Terence’s dish better…
Terence’s dish! Beef Kavourma meat with potatoes and peppers. This was was an absolute delight to eat!
The waiter also served us complimentary dessert because we were so happy with the food 🙂
Greek yogurt with some sort of sweet carrot marmalade. It was surprisingly flavorful for something that looks ordinary!!!! Safely one of the best yogurts we’ve tasted on the trip.
Souvlaki Bar
Modern eatery joint serving classic souvlaki and Greek food
Address: Andrianou 7 & Thissiou 15, Monastiraki, Athens 105 55, Greece
I have to give a fair warning first regarding this one. Earlier on I said don’t eat Souvlaki on a plate because they overcharge you, well, except this one…. haha. That’s because this isn’t really a restaurant, it’s more like an eatery joint and it’s almost semi fast-food style, except more fancy decor and waiters serving you. But the food is dirt cheap and understandably so the place is packed with kids hanging out after school. It’s not the best place to go on a weekend lunch, you probably CAN get seats but waiters are so busy sometimes it takes you a while to be served. Nevertheless, I’m putting this in because this was one of my most affordable and enjoyable meal in Athens!
Served! I didn’t order Souvlaki (left) though, I ordered a chicken skewer (which was the most tasty shit ever) with pita bread. Perfect portion plus it was only 1.40 euros which is slightly over SGD $2, making it the most affordable lunch I’ve ever had in Athens!
Fresko Yogurt Bar
Cafe serving smoothies & Greek yogurts with toppings, fruit preserves & honey.
Address: 3 Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, Athens 11742, Greece
When in Greece how can we miss out yogurt?? Since it’s Greece I kinda believed all yogurt must taste good so I guess that’s why we didn’t really go hunting for yogurt. We did however manage to try Fresko which had positive reviews online and was on the way during our sightseeing quests.
Store front
This was SO refreshing and I really love Greek yogurt with raspberries!!! Yums.
And that’s about it for food! There are good food all around but well I’ve picked my most memorable few from the couple of days we had in Athens 🙂 Time to move on to sightseeing~
Things to see
The Acropolis & The Parthenon
An ancient citadel located on a high rocky outcrop above the city of Athens and contains the remains of several ancient buildings including the Parthenon, a temple dedicated to the goddess Athena.
Entrance fee: 12 Euros (this is a multi-pass that gives you access to 6 archaeological sites) – we didn’t have time to explore all so it was pricey for us, do make time if you can, 6 Euros for students
Address: Dionysiou Areopagitou Street, Athens 10558,Greece
Most people would have heard about the Acropolis at some point when discussing Athens, and rightfully so. As one of the UNESCO world heritage sites, it is symbolic of true architectural brilliance and thousands of untold stories in history.
OTW to the Acropolis
Ruins errywhere
Spot what i was trying to take. TIll now I’m not very sure what that building is, could have been one of the library ruins but I’m not sure.
Haha those two
Attempt at being artistic shit
OTW up to The Acropolis we came across this mini hill where you could climb up and see a fantastic view. Rocks were a bit slippery and only when we stumbled to the top did we realize there were staircases on the left LOL.
The sign?
Loads of people resting up here
Aaaaand a fantastic view of the Acropolis under reconstruction
The Acropolis under permanent construction
View from the top
After spending a significant amount of time admiring the view and taking selfies, we finally moved our butts to head on further up towards the Acropolis itself.
Entrance to the Acropolis. We were warned not to touch the pillars all but we badass so
I think this was a significance space but I didn’t read the guides well enough 
The Parthenon under construction atop the Acropolis
The BF trying to do some artistic shit
Greece flag atop the Acropolis
Weather at the time that we went (late April), was really fussy as it went from hot to cold and back to hot again. At the peak of Acropolis it was blazing hot.
Detracting from the Acropolis for a moment, since I saw this in my photos might as well share. While weaving our way through the alleys of Athens, we noticed this particular graffiti that’s basically everywhere.
Where is my mind????
Kinda creepy actually. The rest were saying it’s like a cult thing.
Plaka
An old historical neighbourhood of Athens, clustered around the northern and eastern slopes of the Acropolis.
Address: The Plaka, Athens 10556, Greece
We kinda chanced upon Plaka by accident while walking back from Acropolis. It was in our itinerary but we didn’t intentionally go out of the way to find it, especially since the trip to the Acropolis had drained us a bit and we were looking for food and rest more than anything else. But oh wells how convenient right! 😀
A race track thingy at Plaka
Eh I think I was saving battery on my camera which probably explains the severe lack of pictures of Plaka 😦 Do check it out though it’s a pretty neighborhood.
We stopped by and had a rest after our long walk.
Bread and some moussaka
I learned a lot a lot later on that Frappe in Greece is basically pre-mixed coffee blended with sugar or something. Biggest mistake because it wasn’t tasty at all, probably because we’re too used to the Frappe we’re exposed to?
Cats at Plaka
National Gardens
Public park
Address: Amalias St., Athens 999-20, Greece
Not something I’d recommend making a detour to visit. This wasn’t in our itinerary and we just happened to walk through it on our way, so guess I’d just share a little bit! The park was rather empty except for one or two elderly people, and a bunch of schoolkids on an outing.
Quiet and nice
Good spot for photos
We walked past this mini zoo where there were goats and rabbits HAHA the goat was so awesome. spirit animal tbh
Spirit animal hi
/Selfie break/
/end Selfie/
Panathenaic Stadium
Multi-purpose stadium that used to host Panathenaic Games, Olympic Games and more.
Entrance fee: 5 Euros
Address: Vassileos Konstantinou Avenue, Athens 999-20, Greece
Description sounds rather underwhelming but it was actually one of my favorite sightseeing spots in Athens. I suppose part of it was because we did an audio guide which really gave new perspective to an otherwise flat place. Definitely recommend getting the audio guide which is free.
From across the road
Look out for these little signs where you can stop, sit and listen to the corresponding guide.
Audio guide
From the inner end of the stadium
View from slightly higher up
The spot where the king and queen used to sit at
Yay
The Acropolis Museum
Not to be confused with the Acropolis itself. They are located in two separate places.
Entrance fee: 5 Euros for adults, 3 Euros for students
Address: Dionysiou Areopagitou 15, Makriyianni,Athens 11742, Greece
Museums are almost a must-have on the list, rightfully so because of the rich stories they can tell about any place’s culture. In Athens, the Acropolis museum is one of those destination places.
OTW to the museum
Entrance to the museum
The Acropolis from inside the museum
The entrance, from inside the museum
Photos were not allowed inside the museum so just take in the moments!
I’d admit it got pretty boring after a while. The sculptures were fun to look at for a while, but when we reached the more artsy parts where they were recovering old paintings, we were pretty spent and just sat there stoning for a bit. Hahaha. Too much info to absorb about a country in just a few hours.
If you’re willing to spend a bit, you can check out the terrace restaurant with a good view of The Acropolis itself.
Where to shop
Melissinos Art -The Poet Sandal Maker
Long-standing sandal maker with famous clients such as The Beatles.
Address: 2, Aghias Theklas St., Athens 10554, Greece
For a shop with such a famous clientele, I was surprised that they sold their sandals for only around 38 Euros. That comes up to around $50-$60 SGD which is really an alright price given that it’s custom-fit to your shoes, handmade with real leather, and has such a long history of quality sandals. So many sandals in Singapore are sold at that price purely based on aesthetics!
Entrance to the shop
There were only a couple of staff around and the shop is perpetually packed, so we spent a long time there. Around 2 hours? When you come in you’re given the brochure to look at. You choose the designs, they bring you your sizes, and you decide. Then they will bring you a fresh piece that hasn’t been assembled yet, so they can take measurements to custom fit. Then you wait for them to finish making.
The designs – simple yet elegant
Designs on display
The trick to get by fastest is to be decisive with the designs. They keep their designs consistent I think, so take a look at the brochure above and decide before you even step in. It’s a lot easier to ask for 3 designs in your size at one shot. We were indecisive so we had to have multiple rounds of asking for designs to try.
Monastiraki Flea Market
A flea market neighborhood and one of the principal shopping districts in Athens. Visit on a Sunday.
Address: Monastiraki, Athens, Greece
Monastiraki is one of the most well-known tourist attractions in Athens. Officially it’s a flea market neighborhood but more than anything, I think Monastiraki becomes so iconic because it’s so central and is close by many other tourist attractions. For us too it became one of our checkpoints.
Monastiraki
When visiting on a Sunday, it becomes a flea marketplace and it stretches really long. We kept walking wherever there were booths set up to window shop a bit. We got some things at a steal (e.g. 1 Euro), and got a bit cheated (e.g. 12 Euros) out of some items we really wanted to have. In my case, it was this solid green fountain pen that looked hipster and expensive but turned out to be a commercial French brand that doesn’t even sell pens as the main product (they sell knives). Hahahaha. But I really really really liked the pen tho Idk how i’m going to find the refill to actually use it, plus I wasn’t joking about its solidity! Really felt like a well-crafted piece and anyway this design wasn’t anywhere online okay! /defensive mode/
Anyway, the next series of photos I’m going to have to apologize first in advance. For some reason that day I decided to be on Team Portrait as though the best way to capture the flea market is to include the vendor and some fair bit of the ground instead of the actual range of the products. Sorry for the eyesore.
Old watches and chargers
Old cameras and covers
Old mobile phones
This photo is a crime, what is with the angle. On the bright side, yay for little sculptures.
Have a stroll through the market on a Sunday afternoon, I promise it’s very therapeutic. Perhaps it’s because there’s no pressure of looking for anything you need, and because there are no comparisons you need to make since the stuff are so vintage – if you like it, ask for the price, bargain as much as you can, and buy if it’s a worthy price. No worrying about being able to find something ‘better’ or ‘cheaper’ or online, which is usually the cause of my contemplations that takes away all the joy part of shopping. It’s the kind of shopping I personally enjoyed a lot. Plus, you get to see lots of cool stuff that are either before your time or reminiscent of your childhood!
Go go go. 🙂
The Mall
One of the largest shopping centers in Greece.
Address: Andrea Papandreou 35, Marousi 151 22, Greece
Adding this to the list purely for emergency purposes. Hahaha. Nothing outstanding about this mall, but it has all the standard shops and brands you’d find in a typical mall in Singapore. Pull & Bear, Bershka, H&M etc. It was also rather out of the way so it’s not really the kind of place you’d happen to drop by at Athens.
We headed over to The Mall on the second day when we finally admitted that we underpacked. At that point only Calvin had a proper jacket and I was wielding cardigans and sweaters in layers. It was much colder than expected, plus I underestimated. On hindsight that really was stupid of me, as I should have used Korea as a gauge. At 16 degrees in Korea I was still wearing a spring jacket, or sometimes even my winter jacket with a single layer underneath. Cuz I’m not very cold resistant.
Hence, this emergency trip to The Mall.
Looking rather pretty here.
Okay, I think I’m done with this post on Athens! I am missing Hydra Island which deserves its own separate post since it’s a day trip 🙂 But more or less, yay! I hope this format works, although I’m not sure I’ll replicate for the rest of the destinations. Let’s see!
darmawanders 