Home soon

Hey everyone,
Well we are in Chile at the moment and will be home very shortly.
We have added in Greece (below Jamaica & New York) finally & have Equador, Peru & Chile to still write.
Look foward to seeing you all soon.
Manda & Darren

Jamaica

Arrived in Jamaica for a trip around the island. Spent six nights in Portland (in the east). Not a very busy or touristy place with a couple of grocery stores, a library, and a gas station. From here we went to Blue Lagoon where we went snorkelling around Monkey Island, visited Dragon Bay (where Cocktail was filmed), went up to Reach Falls, and as an added bonus got to go to the Boston Jerk Festival (we even got into the newspaper). Jerking of meat is basically barbequing with hot sauce. The festival included live music, loads of jerk meat (we even tried goat), bar tents & other stalls. We met Debbie in Portland, a really nice Jamaican lady who looked after us and cooked us good food in her little restaurant/bar. We even went to the local Friday night party with her.
We spent one night in Montego Bay, it was over developed and very tourist orientated, not so nice. We enjoyed Margaritaville (bouncing on the sea trampolines) and the markets.
Four nights in Negril was next, we stayed in the best place (Alfred’s Ocean Palace). It was right on the beach and had live reggae music on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. The Tuesday night show was the best with stage shows and fire dancing. We also went up to Rick’s café where Duff jumped off the cliffs and we swam around. We met some cool people, and spent most of the rest of the time floating around in the sea.
We then went to Treasure beach, which is in the south. It is very remote, everyone waves to you when they drive past. We rented a two-bedroom cottage on the beach. Went on a trip up the river at Alligator hole to see the sea cows (manatees) and checked out Lovers leap. We managed to catch the world cup final at a local supermarket as well. The last couple of nights we spent in Kingston where we went to Port Royal and to the Bob Marley museum.

New York

Flew to New York and stayed in Morningside Inn, Manhattan for 6 nights. We were right next to Central Park, which was great for getting lost in. We checked out what New York had to offer including; the Empire State Building; Times Square; Madison Square Garden; The Flatiron Building; Brooklyn Bridge; and Ground Zero.
The fire station next to Ground Zero was open and we got to see the memorial to the fire fighters and the Liberty fire engine as it was backing in.
We walked all around Little Italy and China Town, and Wall Street. Took the ferry over to Staten Island and got great views of the Statue of Liberty. We even tried to get on the David Letterman show as part of the audience.
On Saturday we went to the Mermaid Parade on Coney Island. We made a day of it, enjoyed the parade and walked along the boardwalk checking out all the rides.
We also caught up with Amanda’s Uncle Steve, ate loads of American food and did a bit of clothes shopping.

Greece

Flew into Iraklio, Crete, where we spent one night. We tried retsina (wine flavoured with pine resin) and ate a delicious traditional meal.
The next morning we took a ferry to Ios (the island we liked best last time we went) & found a place to stay at Mylopotas beach. We hired 4-wheelers and went for a cruise to Manganari beach, Homer's Tomb, Plakato beach and around. Spent another few days on Ios relaxing, soaking up the sun and enjoying the food and nightlife.
We caught a ferry to Santorini next, and spent a day exploring on 4-wheelers. We also took a tour to Nea Kameni (volcanic island) the next morning. We saw the craters and went for a swim in the thermal bay.
Back in Iraklio on Crete we visited Knossos and went to the Archaeological Museum before heading off to New York.

Ireland tour

We hired a car went on a 1 week tour of Ireland. We drove to Ennis & stayed the night, and from there it was a short drive in the morning to the Cliffs of Moher. We drove through the Burren, which is an area composed of limestone pavements. Within this region lies the Poulnabrone Portal tomb and the Paulawack Cairn. Next up was Galway, we went on a walking tour and saw the city´s historical sights.
The next day we thought about climbing Craigh Patrick, where St. Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland, however we settled for eating our lunch in front of it instead. We then drove to Achill Island which has beautiful beaches and a deserted village. We stayed at an interesting hostel that night called gyreum, the design was based on the shape of a cairn.
We went on a walking tour of Sligo next, went horseriding on the beach, swam at Glencolumbkille and visited the Killybegs Cottages. These were typical cottages showing how people lived between 1750 an 1950. We stayed at Letterkenny that night, and crossed over into Northern Ireland the next morning. We went for a black cab tour in Derry, our guide was a real character with some very interesting stories. That afternoon we visited Downhill house & Carrick-a-rede ropebridge before heading to Ballycastle for the night.
We went to the Giant´s Causeway which has amazing basalt columns. We also saw Antrim Round Tower, and went to a tropical butterfly house. The following day we went to Monasterboice, then to Knowth and Newgrange. Knowth and Newgrange were amazing sites with megalithic passage tombs and artwork. We walked around the Hills of Tara where the ancient High Kings of Ireland ruled for a thousand years.
The next day we went on a quick day trip to Youghal, and Nicola headed home the next day.