Sziget, the music and smoking festival

Firstly, for anyone who hasn't heard of the Sziget festival (like us prior to this trip), it's one of the biggest music festivals in Europe - like the equivalent of Woodstock, only it's held in Hungary. The festival is held on an island in Budapest and goes for a week - you can either camp some or all of the time, or get day passes. We'd booked our week camping tickets way back in the start of the year after hearing about it from some friends and couchsurfers, and because of this, didn't bother checking out the lineup prior to actually getting to the festival.

We rolled into the festival on day one, only to join up with a massive crowd of fellow festival-goers and spent several hours waiting in the sun, then slowly inching forward towards the half-hearted security checks at the entrance. By the time we'd gotten in, the campsites were already chockers - anywhere that looked half decent was taken, with more tents crammed in next to those. Eventually we found a shady spot which at first didn't seem that great, but as days went past and we saw the spots people resorted to (like on the side of the road next to the toilets), it seemed like paradise.


Music wise there was a lot going on, so here's a bit of a summary of some of our highlights and disappointments:

Highlights

• Calexico - bit like a mariachi rock band. We heard them during sound check, were suitably impressed so we went back to watch the real thing.
• Miss Platinum - Romanian ex-pat based in Berlin, with a massive voice, solid band and very entertaining back-up singers with moves. With an opening song "Give me the food" and a cover of Justin Timberlake, she could do no wrong by us!
• Pendulum - a little taste from Oz (even if the Brit in the band wouldn't shut up), massive sound, perfect for the main stage and as a lead up to Prodigy (who weren't as good)
• Gitans - a gypsy band that was impossible not to dance to, and who produced the first genuine (ie. unplanned) encore we've seen in year. In fact, a lot of the music from the Roma (gypsy) tent was awesome - not something we've ever listened to before, but the bands had some amazingly talented musicians, and the music was catchy and intoxicating

Disappointments

• Lily Allen - the diva from the UK could barely muster an ounce of enthusiasm throughout her performance - except for in between songs when she dragged on a ciggie like her life depended on it
• Prodigy - after Pendulum? boring...
  
• Al Di Meola - without doubt an incredibly talented musician.. but the concert was all for his benefit, not the crowds. It was a case of 'now I'm going to play a song, and you're going to listen and enjoy it'. Biggest princess getting around, he stopped several times - in the middle of songs - to yell at the sound technician to 'Kill the subs' and adjust other things. What a princess!

Aside from the music, there was the food. Boy, was there the food! My god, so much food.... well maybe we just paid a lot of attention to it, but the food was good. Goulash soup and stews, langos (fried bread-like things with garlic and sour cream), hot dogs, cakes, chicken and mushroom stew, fresh watermelon, noodles (so spicy we nearly died).... we ate it all and then some... except for the rooster testicles stew.

Unfortunately, despite all the fantastic things about the festival, one thing that ruined it for us was the smoking. It seems that the youth of Europe is intent on killing itself with cigarettes, and along the way, kill plenty of people through passive smoking too. It was unescapable - we found 2 non-smoking areas; one was the internet room (where non-smoking was actually enforced), the other a tiny pergola that fit about 30 people - and people were smoking in the middle of it. Our tent was filled with smoke from the camps around us, and everywhere you walked smelt like a filthy ashtray. We had to leave the festival grounds to actually get some fresh air, and after suffering through it all it became unbearable, so we ended up leaving a day early.


Apart from the Sziget festival, we did very little - except visiting the public thermal baths for a long soak to get all that festival filth out of our pores, and checking out the Terror House museum (very graphic museum documenting the time of the Hungarian Arrow Cross party (Nazis) and later, the AVO an AVH) and Memento Park (politically themed sculptures from the Communist dictatorship era, including the boots from the toppled Stalin statue).

Next, we're off to Bulgaria for a short visit, complete with our very own Bulgarian guide, Marty.

Goodbye Greece

Following our departure from Rhodes we heading to the mainland, and went south to the area known as Peleponesos. We first visited Nafplia, which I read was the first capital of Greece. There was this massive castle on the hill overlooking the town and the coastline which was well worth the steep walk up the side of the mountain. We ended up staying in Nafplia for 4 nights, as we loved being able to cook for ourselves for the frst time in ages. It was a beautiful town, and definitely had a venetian feel to it.


After Nafplia we made a pilgrimage to Ancient Olympia to visit the site of the original Olympic Games. Although it was actually a really small town, there was a ridiculous amount of accommodation which was pretty cheap compared to other places we have been and is surrounded by beautiful hills with trees, something that can't be said for some of the islands (particularly those in the Cyclades group). The site of the Olympics was fantastic and we managed to find the exact place where the flame is lit each Olympiad. We also managed to have a run on the old dirt stadium. Olympia itself was pretty cheap and we tracked down some really good homestyle food, which was a welcome change from everything being fried in olive oil.


I can definitely recommend a visit to both of these towns (and the Peleponesos), and it was so nice to see trees again.

Although the mention of Greece conjures images of white deserted beaches, beautiful views over the oceans, fantastic food and welcoming hospitality, unfortunately this is not reality, well at least not from our experiences anyway. Don't get me wrong, at certain times you may and probably will find any or each of these things, however these times are not as frequent as you might expect.

We saw some absolutely beautiful places such as parts of Naxos, the cliffs of Santorini, the Dodecanese islands of Kos and Rhodes, the Peleponesos and parts of northern Greece and met some really nice genuine people who were interesting and welcoming. Unfortunately the more attention I paid to things and the more Greek I learnt the more I came to realise that we were being conned, scammed or ripped off under the guise of good hospitality most of the time. While Greece once had a reputation for being reasonably cheap, that is all but a memory. They are very generous in rounding up (one restaurant owner did me a 'favour' by rounding EU$17.80 up to an even EU$20), and demanding tips for appalling 'service' (the waiters with cigarettes). Occasionally something was well priced, but that was an oddity...I even noticed a big difference from when I was here 2 years ago.

While we've seen some nice places and met some people, I think I've had about enough of the Greeks for the moment.

Engaging moments in Rhodes

How refreshing to once again visit an island with trees, grass and culture that isn't purely tourism. We liked Rhodes pretty much instantly. Rhodes old town is one of the best preserved medieval castles in all of Europe - on all of the entrances you pass through spectacular castle gates, built in walls 12m thick in parts. And unlike all the package tourists who stay in highrises in the new town, we checked into a tiny little pension right in the heart of the old town's cobbled passageways.

Apart from wandering among the marketstalls in the old town streets, we also rented a scooter and explored a little of the rest of the island. This included a trip to the Valley of the Butterflies - a fresh pocket of green nestled along a tiny stream, with the masses of butterflies resting on rocks and trees in the cool shade - followed by lunch at the refreshingly non-tourist Alexandros cafe looking out over the valley. We only briefly stopped at a beach for a quick swim, before retreating back to the sanctuary of our airconditioned room :-)

The best part of our visit (and holiday so far!), was a wonderful moment we shared on Saturday night - sitting out on the beachfront watching the Arabian nights sunset with Turkey in the distance, Lecky placed a ring on his guitar, got down on one knee and asked for my hand in marriage. Of course I said yes! After sharing the great news with family (sorry for the early morning calls everyone!), we celebrated by demolishing the best all-you-can-eat Greek buffet in the whole of Greece.
I'm pretty sure we'll be back to visit Rhodes again after the wonderful time we've had, but for now, we're saying goodbye to the islands, and heading to the Peleponeses for a bit over a week.

Island hopping

After a healthy dose of over-eating and under-exercising, we departed northern Greece bound for islands, with a brief stop in Athens to take in the sights. Athens was surprisingly nice, and with Lecky having visted 2 years ago and leading the way, we were able to take in the Acropolis, Ancient Agora, Theatre of Dionysis, Temple of Olympian Zeus and Stadion (site of the first modern Olympics) in one day, and the new Acropolis museum and Plaka marketplace on the next.

First stop on the island hopping agenda was Naxos. It's a reasonably quiet island popular with families and groups (especially loud annoying French teenagers), but Naxos town is buzzing with bars and restaurants right through the night. We found ourselves a nice shady campground as our base, and then in Lecky's new love, Buggy, we zipped up and down the coast swimming in the azure blue water and sunning ourselves on gorgeous beaches. We drove Buggy to and from the open air cinema, through farmland areas and up to the Temple of Dimitri. In Buggy we found ourselves the envy of other mere pedestrians - that is, until our rental period finished and we were once again relegated to the status of wheel-less plebs.Next stop - Ios. This small, barren looking island has a reputation for partying, and as soon as we rolled into our beachfront campsite we realised that we were stepping into a permanent schoolies week / spring break gig, complete with the mandatory wet t-shirt competetion (predictably, won by blonde twins). The only problem being that the average age was about 20, so we felt a bit like toolies arriving 5 years too late. The campsite was chockers with tents, bungalows and sleeping bag campers, with a massive pool, bar and restaurant out the front and hip tunes cranking until late so everyone had a beat to strut to. And were there some posers getting around! The highlight of Ios for me however had nothing to do with the beach, posers or even alcohol. While walking along the beach road I spotted a guy on horseback trying to lead another horse, which wasn't co-operating. When the horse broke free I went and caught it, and then spent the next 2 hours riding up through the narrow cobbled streets of the classic white village, along the side of hills overlooking the ocean, and finally down winding country roads to the paddock where the horses lived. Ater the guy gave me a lift back on his scooter, I met back up with Lecky just in time to catch the second half of Origin 3 online. What a morning!After several nights of broken sleep and sore throats, it was on to Santorini. There really is nowhere else we've seen that is like this place - sitting out on a restaurant balcony you look out over the ocean sunset, the volcano, and the white buildings perched atop spectacular sheer cliffs, while lines of donkeys draped in bells amble their way up the cobbled lanes after a hard days' work traversing the switchback path down to the small port. It's magical! Less magical is the campsite - after a night of gale force winds and choking dust we packed up and opted for a cheap pension tucked away in the backstreets. The cool clean tiles, crisp white sheets and our very own bathroom feel like million dollar luxury after weeks of hot, dusty campgrounds and cramped hostels. We also rented an ATV (4 wheeler) to check out the rest of the island. The beaches can't compare to those on the other islands - the water is still fantastic and blue, but the beaches are sizzling black volcanic sand which burns your feet. We took a day cruise out to the volcano, hiked around the rocks in the heat, and then cruised on to the hot springs - which may have been slightly exaggerated, the water was warm, but it looked like there were pipes heading into the water where the volcanic gases bubbled up. Regardless, it was good fun, and we got to ride the donkeys up the hill in a mad crush of donkeys and legs.
After experiencing a decent taste of the Cyclades islands, we hopped on the midnight red eye ferry to Kos, near Turkey (part of the Dodecanese islands). This island was really pretty and nice, with actual trees and grass, and ruins scattered all through Kos town. Immediately the difference from the previous islands was noticable - the Turkish influence in the buildings, date palms lining the streets, and it felt like people actually lived on the island, as opposed to working through high season. Having come down with a bout of flu, we spent most of our time resting up indoors watching old 90210 and Baywatch episodes, and cooking some meals for the first time in months.
Off to Rhodes next, and who knows after that...

Our Big Fat Greek Visit

I never realised how easy it is to return to a place where you know how everything works. Our arrival into Greece at Thessaloniki was exactly that. I have to confess that it was a little funny watching nervous travellers almost getting off buses at the wrong stop....mainly because that was what I did a few years ago.

Apart from being a bit chaotic, and the shock of a completely different alphabet, everything went very smoothly for our first stop in Rahia, near Veria. This is the village my Grandad comes from, and we stayed with his brother Yianni and wife Domna, two of the friendliest people in the country I reckon. We were a little nervous about our arrival having already eaten lunch...our concerns were well founded as before we had even brought our bags inside we were sitting at the dinner table eating a meal big enough for a large family. My stomach and the organs it presses on copped a real hammering the whole time we were there.


Apart from eating, we did manage to squeeze in a few activities. We went for a day trip with Eva and Babi (a relative and husband) to St. Nikolas park in Naoussa which has a stream that is freezing cold even on the hottest day, owing to the fact that it spring out of the mountain just up the path. We also got to Edessa which is a beatiful town on top of a cliff looking out over the plain towards the sea that has a few waterfalls to boot.


Another Aunty and Uncle (Kostas and Yolanda) took us around to Pella, home of Alexander the Great, and to the tomb of Phillip of Macedonia (his father). They also took us down the second finger of Chalkidiki to Eva and Babi's holiday house near Marmaras and Porto Carras. Apart from the fact that they don't speak english, and we don't speak much greek we had a great time and managed to communicate on most things. Sometimes we had conversations in mime, if that's possible (we'd be a shoe-in for a game of charades right now!). The beaches there were fantastic and the water absolutely beautiful.


After 2 weeks in Veria, uncomparable hospitality, Anita's Greek cooking lessons, my Greek language and eating lessons, and a million games of backgammon we jumped the train headed for Athens. We'll spend a couple of nights here before we head to the islands for the next month or so.