The rest of Santorini was unreal. We rented the quad bike and drove around the island which was beautiful but no where near as fun as a scooter... the maximum speed of the quad (going down hill with full acceleration) was 33km per hour. We visited a bunch of little towns all over the island, went snorkeling through caves, and then made our was to oia to see the famous sunset which was pretty amazing. The rest of our time on the island involved swimming, snorkeling, drinking and playing card games. We watched the sunrise over the water one morning which was even more amazing than the sunset. From Santorini we went to Ios, an island about an hour away. This was where we had planned to settle for a month and work. We were offered 4 jobs in the first 2 days of being on the island, and also found somewhere to live which we moved into on the second night. All was good and we had a trial at a bar called Flames on our second night. The island is basically a party island and the tiny village is covered with hole-in-the-wall bars that open at 11pm and close at 5am. So we were to be there at midnight. We got there after a few drinks and found out all about our job which was titled 'Floor Whores'. Our job was basically to get drunk for free and dance in the bar and make people feel welcome and make the bar look like it had people in it. Translation: flirt with guys. It was a little bit ridiculous because everyone knows about floor whores and any guys in the bars know that if a girl comes up and dances with them, she's likely to work there (there are floor whores at every bar in the village). So it wasn't too bad but it was just gross work and it was a tiny bar so you couldn't get away from people and we didn't like it at all. So we left after a few hours and quit. We had a few other trials lined up but they were the exact same type of work and that's not really our thing so we cancelled our trials and decided not to work on Ios. So for the rest of the week we went out and partied. We made friends with a lot of the people who worked in the bars so it was free shots and cheap drinks everywhere. We later found out that the alcohol on the island is watered down and then made stronger with methylated spirits which is absolutely disgusting and if we knew that at the time we would NOT have been taking the free shots but we didn't. So we drank them. That was really all we did on the island, there wasn't much else to do. We went to the beach or a pool bar every day and then went out at night. We left Ios feeling absolutely disgusting (metho will do that to you) and run down and a little sick. We got a 9 hour ferry to Athens which got us in at midnight and found out there were no ferries to Italy until the morning. We didn't want to pay for accommodation at the port because it was so expensive so we just sat at the port all night and played cards and slept a bit. At 6am we went to the first travel agent that opened and bought a ferry ticket to Italy. First we had to get a 3 hour bus ride to Patras, then wait for 4 hours and then we got on our 20 hour ferry ride to Ancona, Italy. The boat was great and had a pool so we sun baked all day and then slept on the deck during the night! From Ancona we got a train and finally got to Rome. We didn't get in until 8pm and we were absolutely exhausted but too excited to sit in the hostel, so we went and payed a visit to the Trevi fountain. It is absolutely beautiful at night and was the perfect introduction to Rome for Rosie (I've been to Rome but it still blows me away). In our 3 days in Rome we did all the sites; The Trevi, Colosseum, Wedding cake building, Spanish steps, etc. It's such an amazing city. We also went to St. Peters Square and the Vatican, and just happened to arrive as the pope was doing his weekly address in the square. So that was a nice surprise (once we realised it was actually the pope and not just an old man in a white robe... it took about 20 minutes). Another highlight in Rome was the 100 flavour gelato shop. It was mind-blowing. We spend about an hour in the shop just deciding what to have and it was well worth it. After 3 days in Rome (we wished it was longer but Italy is just so expensive) we got on a train to Florence. I have been to Florence twice and never really enjoyed it that much but this time I really liked it. My perspective on cities must have changed quite a bit on my travels. We had one and a half days there, and our full day was spent exploring the city. We started at the statue of David, went to the markets (where we both bought matching leather jackets!), visited the Duomo which is a huge basilica, and then crossed the river and walked up a lot of stairs to Piazza Michelangelo which has the most amazing view of Florence. From Florence, we had planned to get a train to Ancona which would get us there an hour before an overnight ferry left to Croatia. Unfortunately we watched the train go past and didn't get on because we thought it was the wrong one, and then of course because we missed that train we also missed the ferry. So we got the next train to Ancona and spend the night there, planning to get the ferry the next day. We didn't realise that the next day was Sunday which is the only day the ferry doesn't go, so we went to the beach for the day and spent another night in Ancona. That was last night and we are finally going to make the boat to Croatia tonight. Heading to Split and depending on how much we like it, we may try and get a job there. This Internet is expensive so time to go!
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