2010 in Pictures

As a perfectionist, I always find it hard to say that a year was good,. A year is far too long an amount of time to be able to classify it as one thing. Parts were great, parts were utter rubbish, there were bits that made me laugh, bits that made me cry, bits I'll never forget, and bits I hope I don't remember.
I will say that 2010 was a year of change. Change is something I'm quite used to, but this is the first real year it's been change I've dealt with by myself. It's the first year I've gotten to do whatever I like and really just had myself to answer to. With that in mind, I'm happy with the choices I've made in this past year.
So without further rambling, here's a summary, in pictures, of where I went this year.

There was a little bit of England

And a lot of Scotland

Monaco

Santorini

Rome

Nice
And of course, I can't forget the beautiful west coast. Somewhere I still consider a bit like home.

There were also two weeks spent in Spain where I didn't take a single photo. You can just guess how lazy that holiday was.

So if I had to classify traveling in 2010, it would definitely go in the "good" category. Although there were no more regular family holidays, no more getting everything paid for, and we did get stranded in airports on a few occasions, I had fun, I got to choose where I wanted to go and do and I saw a lot of wonderful places.

Hopefully 2011 will bring lots of new adventures for all of us.
Thanks for reading!

Athens

(Academy of Athens)

(Athens University)(National Library)

As you have probably heard Athens has been having some economic/political problems which led to a few strikes earlier this year and the bombing of a bank which killed three people.
We stayed at the Melia Hotel Athens, which ended up being really close to where the bank bombing took place. It was still all black and there was piles of flowers and photos outside, it was really sad.The ground floor restaurant in our hotel was closed when we arrived as there were lots of cracks in the glass from where rocks had also been thrown. A little disconcerting.

Anyway, the first night we decided to go out and see Sex and the City 2 since it had just come out. When we left the theater at around 11:30 p.m. the feeling outside had dramatically changed, there was literally no one about, but there were police officers with large guns walking around and we encountered a few guys who made very lewd comments. Overall, it left us with a very uneasy feeling and we seriously considered leaving right then and going to Santorini early.
We decided to stay though but needless to say didn't walk anywhere at night again.

Athens is not a very pretty city but it was nice to see the Athens trilogy, which consists of the National Library, Athens University, and Academy of Athens (all pictured above). We had a wonderful dinner one night at a restaurant in Syntagma Square, where there are a few fancy hotels. It was hellishly expensive (and I think we were the only ones under the age of 30 in there paying for our own dinners) but seriously yummy and had a lovely view of the acropolis.

So I'm adding Athens to the list of places I won't be visiting again but am glad I saw once.

Pic of the sunset from the rooftop pool at the hotel.

Santorini, the most beautiful place on earth?

Okay, so I have to admit that what made me want to go to Santorini years ago was:
Yup, I am a sucker for bad chick flicks but The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants just made Greece look so beautiful. Combined with the fact that pictures of Santorini are absolutely everywhere, it's a place I've always wanted to go.

I think we chose the perfect time to go (late May) as we still got wonderful warm weather with mild nights but we avoided the scorching heat and hordes of tourists (something I was very surprised at, a couple of times a day big groups of tourists would come in from the cruise ships and then completely clear out a few hours later).

We stayed in the Aressana Hotel and Spa, which was a little cheaper than the original place we wanted to stay but I am glad we chose this one instead as it was in Thira and walking distance to everything we wanted to do (although Oia was a beautiful city too so I would stay there as well). The hotel itself was nice, it had everything a hotel needs. We didn't try the spa though as it was horrendously overpriced. Breakfast was included and was absolutely delicious, I'm already craving this pastry/ cake thing that was half sweet and savory and covered in powdered sugar mmmm I have no idea what it was, but it was delicious!

We went to Oia for the evening to watch the sunset from the ruins of the castle. It's supposed to be one of the most beautiful sunsets in the world. To be honest, the sunset was nice but nothing special. The coolest thing was actually seeing the hundreds of people who came to watch the sunset. Some brought picnics and sat there for hours to get that perfect view.
We also rented quad bikes which was great fun. Lots of tourists seem to rent quad bikes or dune buggies, as the island is pretty small it's a great way to get around!
There are also some great little boutiques in Thira which don't close until midnight so we spent a couple nights just wandering around through the winding streets trying on clothes. The beaches are nice in Santorini, but not the nicest I've ever seen. They are black sand because of the volcanic ash which is pretty cool. Overall, Santorini just had a lovely atmosphere. It was the perfect combination of authentic Greece and a tourist resort, I will definitely be back!
And now a few pictures for your viewing pleasure...