holidays Archives - THE VIENNESE GIRL

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Bright side of life

Photos above were snapped on my holidays in Santorini by Antonio Giannakos.

My return to Vienna hadn’t been as good as I would’ve liked. It was raining nonstop for two days and that didn’t help me at all to adapt myself smoothly to the city life. Leaving a place which has 30 degrees to go to a place which has 14 was very disappointing. I wanted to hide myself under a duvet, or even better, to press a button that would teleport me back to the magic Cyclades, but instead of that, I had to run errands all day in rain. September can be a cruel month for many people, I guess. Kids get back to school and adults get back to work. Whatever happens, always look on the bright side of life.

“Happiness is simply a habit of looking on the brighter side of everything.”Richelle E. Goodrich

Bright side of life

September 8, 2014 by silia | 0 comment

Every summer has a story

Greece, Travel

Photos by Antonio Giannakos

Every summer has a story, Santorini has the best…

The first time I visited Santorini was in 1998 with my pen pal friend from Holland (Bianca, if you are reading this, where are you?). Second time I visited Santorini was in 2003 with another friend of mine. Now I am about to tell you a crazy story. That friend of mine, in the summer of 2003, fell for a guy whom she met in Mykonos. That guy told her that at the end of August he would be working in a bar in Santorini. So now you can imagine why I went to Santorini in August 2003. I had to sacrifice myself to accompany my friend who was in search of her love. It was the last weekend of August, the end of the summer. My friend and I were sitting in the living room and the school was closed. There was nothing to do, we were listening to radio music, we didn’t talk. We were little sad that the summer was coming to an end and that the school was about to start again. Suddenly someone (I don’t remember whether it was me or her) popped the idea to go to Santorini for the weekend. It was around 18.00 and the ship was departing from the port of Piraeus at 22.00. I went home, put some things on a sac voyage and we both met at the harbor, a little bit before the departure of the ship. Don’t ask me where we found accommodation because I don’t remember at all. We had a specific mission to carry out. We didn’t even care that much for issues such as accommodation. But don’t worry, we didn’t stay on the streets.

10 years later I am back to Santorini. What is that thing that makes you love a place forever? What is that thing that makes you keep a place forever sealed in your heart? What is that thing that makes you wanting to come back to a place over and over again? I guess that magic in the air in combination with the mind-blowing landscape. Once I arrived this summer in Santorini, I pinched myself, still hardly believed it, but yes I was back again.

You might wonder now if we met that guy, the reason for the trip to Santorini in 2003….No, we didn’t. It was just a summer love. It stayed in my friend’s memory like that. You know, one of those summer loves that you wish you could have next to you in the cold winter nights.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain

September 7, 2014 by silia | 0 comment

Holidays in the Greek islands

Greece, Travel

20 things I enjoy when I am on holidays in the Greek islands:

1. Closing the eyes and listening to the waves of sea.

2. Endless beach parties.

3. Having breakfast, lunch, and dinner next to the sea.

4. Looking at the endless blue of the sky and sea without thinking anything.

5. Smelling the aroma of Greek bakery in the middle of the night that challenges you to go there and taste everything. The choice is difficult. Begin with tiropita, spanakopita and for something sweet take a bugatsa.

6. Climbing on the roof of a white church in Santorini.

7. Eat eat eat. Fish, Suvlaki, musaka, greek salads, and fresh fruits.

8. Discovering a hidden cave and swimming naked.

9. Renting a motor yacht and having a hop on hop off tour from island to the next island.

10. Spending the whole day with bikini and pareo.

11. Listening to Greek music such as the song of Melina Merkouri that says that the moon is made from paper and the beach is fake. But if you had believed her just a little bit, everything would be real.

12. Feeling the sea salt sensation all over your body.

13. Looking around myself and seeing happy carefree people.

14. Losing the sense of time. What time is it? Is it Monday or Sunday? Where did you say that we are now?

15. Participating in a Panigiri!!! Eat and drink like a local and dance Syrtaki or Kalamatiano with strangers.

16. Letting myself enjoy the Greek hospitality. It will sound strange, but only when I lived in foreign countries, I really understood what Greek hospitality is. When you live in Greece, you don’t really understand it because you take it for granted, but when you go to live in a foreign country, then you get it. Only if you compare it with other countries, only if you see a different side, you understand what Greek hospitality is all about.

17. Window shopping jewelleries that are inspired from the ancient Greek architecture.

18. Having a hot tan. Going there with a skin which has the colour of milk and coming back home with a chocolate skin.

19. Walking barefoot in hot sand.

20. Coming back to your country, looking at the photos that you took in Greece and spontaneously having a big smile in your face that makes you desperately want to have a bit of Greece in your life and forever.

Do you have similar experiences in Greece?