Was looking through some pictures from Summer today, mostly wishing I bought a DSLR sooner, but somehow found myself yearning for some unexplainable dose of Greek. Putting on a CD with bouzouki music that Miss M and I picked up for this very reason is probably the worst idea. Ever. I know I may have wildly romantic notions about the place but the rumours are all true – there is a little bit of magic in the Aegean. I have to make my way back there soon.

By the way these pictures are unretouched in any way. Hope you enjoy! x

On the weekend W and I went up to Boomerang beach (fondly known as “Boomers” to the locals) that was right next to Blueys beach and on the doorstep of Booti Booti National Park.. Australia sure has a way with names! It was nice to get away for a couple of days. I only seem to ever eat junk food on roadtrips and had a record breaking two meals at Maccas.. urk! And our digs were a lot nicer than it looked in the pictures which is a first!

On Sunday we made our way to Shelly beach through a short bush walk. It is so pristine and beautiful and there were some nude sunbathers (already!) which was not unexpected since it was quite hard to get to. Felt like a little slice of paradise, but the water is still too cold for a dip so we sat in the sun for a while. We stopped by Seal Rocks the next day – I thought I saw some seals but they turned out to be rocks! Everyone tells me that seals actually do come to shore but we didn’t see any that day.

My fav espadrille wedges from Bettye Muller.. they are so comfy! I’m trying to get used to wearing more heels again. The last couple of pictures are from Sugarloaf Point. The views from the lighthouse are amazing and if you’re in the area it’s definitely worth the walk up. It was so nice to recharge and spend some time outside, also there was no WiFi and hardly any 3G so W and I had no choice but to disconnect.. and it was nice! :)

Some pictures from our roadtrip to the Blue Mountains to celebrate Dad’s birthday.

It isn’t quite Spring yet but the cherry blossoms were starting to bloom.

There was a storm coming in about an hour before we decided to start our walk but thankfully it started clearing up and we just decided to go for it. We went down the giant steps at Echo Point – 600+ very steep steps from the top to the base of the Three Sisters.. not quite for the acrophobic!

The views were amazing!

From the bottom of the steps it was another 3km walk to where the Katoomba scenic railyway, the steepest railway in the world, would take us back up.

After the white-knuckle 52-degree train ride, we took the cable car back to Echo Point where we first started our walk. There was a glass bottom!

It was still pretty cold for this time of the year, my hands were frozen by the end of the 5-hour trek! I thought I was decently fit but my legs were sore for a couple of days after this trip! Fairly gruelling, I think, especially without proper shoes!

This is one of the most interesting night club designs I’ve come across – my party animal days are long over but I’d still like to make a pit stop at Josefine/Roxy in Belo Horizonte in southeastern Brazil when I’m there. I’m such a sucker for geometry! It was previously designed by Brazilian architect Fred Mafra, then redesigned again by him!

Images from here.

I’d seen so many pictures of Santorini from M’s blog but I didn’t realise they were mostly of Oia.. imagine my surprise when I arrived to high, imposing cliffs on a ferry I thought was big when I left Mykonos but felt quite small sailing into the port.. the smattering of white buildings clinging to the tops looked like snow from below.

The entrance to Perivolas Suites (we didn’t stay there):

The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants house:

Miss M and I spent ten days on the island and it felt altogether too short. I didn’t think the Cycladic islands could differ so much from one another but they do. Coming from Mykonos it wasn’t a big change, but leaving Santorini for Naxos was a bit of a mistake..

Some people told me that ten days was far too long to spend in one place. We found plenty to do, places to explore, food to eat.. in actuality ten days wasn’t quite long enough. In fact my entire trip was just over three weeks, in one country, and even that was quite short. There are so many things I’d love to have done and places I’d love to have visited but I guess there’s always next time. Greece is such a beautiful country, with amazing people, and so much character and history that it’s quite hard to absorb everything in a short holiday. I don’t think I will ever understand people who go on those crazy tours that take you to 10 countries in 14 days..

Food was amazing throughout. The sun and the lava-rich environment does some crazy things to the local produce.. it was here I discovered Vinsanto, a traditional Santorini wine (different from the Italian Vin Santo) and given my love for dessert wine made me a little crazy too. I love the Mediterranean diet and Miss M makes a great breakfast/lunch/dinner/supper date!

Goats cheese and filo pastry starter at Nectar and Ambrosia:

Eggplant, in a million incarnations (here, baked with feta):

Seafood, by the water (and what a view that is):

A local specialty, Santorini fava:

And lots of love to Greek bakeries throughout.. so many amazing pastries, biscuits, all kinds of heaven!

It’s one of those places you have to go at least once in your life, to see it in person, but the problem with that is that once you’ve been there, it forever sticks in your mind and you will want to go back again..

The most amazing bookstore:

I had quite a lot to say about the island but I guess the pictures can do the talking. I took over 3,800 pictures in three weeks.. excessive! Thankfully I have the sense not to make anyone sit through them :)

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You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place, I told him, like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again”

–Azar Nafisi from Reading Lolita in Tehran

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My other Greek post: Καλοκαίρι στην Ελλάδα – Summer in Greece