As many of you know, this summer we went on an adventure to Greece which has been high on our European bucket list. I know I’m super behind – work was far more encompassing this summer/fall than was alluded to by our companies which is a rant for a different blog. We had 4 stops in Greece over about 10 days – Athens, Mykonos, Paros, and Santorini. I’ll give a break down on each stop – prepare for all the pics!
Athens
Stop number one: Athens. I had humble expectations for this city based on feedback of our fellow travelers, some of which told us to not even bother staying there. I felt like that would be a missed opportunity though. Even if Athens wasn’t the spot there is so much history there and so many roots to our modern society. As a history fan, I wasn’t skipping out. Before we get into the dets let me just tell you we almost did not even make it to Athens. Backstory – Everyone said of Dutch summers are great, so chill, everyone takes holiday! Well false if you get assigned to a 6/30 year end. The reason I mention this is leading into the vacation I was up until 11 pm working (on my birthday) so I didn’t have time to pack the night before. As a result, I hurriedly threw things in a bag in the morning we left which caused us to leave maybe a little later than we should have given we were checking luggage. Cue us arriving at the airport, a mess from a gas shortage the day before combined with all the Dutch holiday travelers. We find a line to check our bag about 100 people deep. We instantly knew there was no way we would make it through this line before our flight left. Imagine Bill and I having debates on buying smaller luggage and storing the big bag so we could still make the flight. Ultimately, we decided I would wait with the bag and Bill would go ahead so at least he would make it and maybe he could plead with them to hold the plane. Thankfully everyone in the line ahead of us was in line for our flight so they ended up holding the plane to wait for all the passengers. Fast forward Bill and I make it to Athens but our bag does not. With no supplies (I was stupid and did not think to grab anything from our bag while waiting in the super long line at the airport) our first stop in this historic city was to find the essentials because new surprise our bags weren’t coming for 2 days.
With soap and underwear in hand we waited in the Airbnb for our travel companions Paula and Vartan (shout out). Once they arrived it was time to dip our feet into Greek cuisine. The first meal set the stage for an amazing 10 days of food ahead. Feta – amazing. Greek salad – keep it coming. Giant portions of grilled meats and seafood – delish. Add Greek food to one of my favorite cuisines. Bellies full we headed to bed before our full day discovering Athens.
The alarms went off early the next morning to head to the Acropolis museum when it opened. I think everyone knows the Acropolis museum is a must in Athens but most people head up to the Acropolis first and hit the museum right after. If you can, I would flip that order though. The museum has great information about the history of the Acropolis. Also we ate before we went but in retrospect the perfect way to do it is get there early, walk around the first level with most of the statues, then head to the second level for the cafe. You’ll be rewarded with excellent views of the Acropolis. Although we already had nommed on some Greek yogurt we capitalized on the gramable scene while we got an extra dose of caffeine.
Next up, we hit up the Rick Steves app for his Athens city walk. I always am a fan of Rick’s tour especially for the low cost of free. The tour started at Syntagma square where we met the Evzone guards who were rocking the latest trends.
At Syntagma Square there is also the parliament building with the tomb of the unknown soldier. The building was actually at first a palace to King Otto who took power after the Greeks were free of the Ottomans. He didn’t last too long in power though. He read the writing on the walls and gave Greece a democratic constitution shortly after taking power.
From here we walked down the pedestrian mall Ermou Street which used to hold cars until 2000 (hard to believe) until we reached the Church of Kapnikarea – an Orthodox Church built in the Byzantine era.
We kept winding until we reached the main Greek Orthodox cathedral of Athens and it’s square with a statue of the Greek Orthodox Archbishop Damaskinos. He spoke out of behalf of persecuted Jews during the Nazi occupation and suffered the fate of the firing squad.
From here we wandered through la Flaka which is what you would imagine Greece looks like based on scrolling through instagram. Therefore it is now invaded by tourists and full of trinket shops. From here we walked to a view of Hadrian’s arch which was meant to welcome people to Hadrianopolis which was a planned community in the Roman style.
Next up we walked up, circling the Acropolis for wonderful views of the city.
The last main stop was the Roman forum and the Tower of the winds. You can pay to enter the Roman forum but honestly if you do Rick’s tour, you basically see all there is to see for free! Just not close up. The forum itself was basically a Roman shopping mall and the tower of the winds was one part clock, on part weather station, one part guide to the planets. Neat!
Hot and hungry we finished the tour just in time for one of my favorite activities of the whole trip, a cooking class! The name is the Greek Kitchen on TripAdvisor/Viator and I highly highly recommend it! We were greeted by a bit of a grumpy young Greek woman who was one day away from her own holiday (she warmed up to us pretty quickly). She taught us how to make a few dishes Greek grandma style ie the best style! We started in the market to pick up our ingredients including feta brick (don’t get the crumbles apparently those are the left over bits and not as good), meat, homemade phyllo dough etc. Over the course of three hours we turned those ingredients into stuffed grape leaves, spanakopita, tzatziki, Imam Baildi, and orange pie. It. Was. Amazing.
That was the last activity of the day before we headed back to the apartment to rest up for another early morning climbing the Acropolis to see the Pantheon – which you can actually see from like everywhere in the city so don’t let restaurants/bars let you pay too much of a premium for views.
Up before the heat we ascended the Acropolis to spend more time with our dear friend Rick Steve’s who has another free podcast for the Acropolis itself. Highly recommend. I will spare you from reading too many facts and will instead focus mostly of pictures.
Overall, you have to climb the Acropolis and see the Pantheon up close if you’re in Athens but I will say it was a bit of a let down for me. Most of the artifacts from the buildings are now in the museum itself to shield from the elements (including pollution) and the Pantheon was basically all but destroyed in an explosion by the Venetians so it’s really a ruin. Like I said, you gotta go but I would say have realistic expectations.
Already sweating, we ventured down the Acropolis and actually went back to the museum for a cup of coffee. Fun fact you can access the cafe for free without a museum ticket. The biggest reason for the pit stop (besides the ac and caffeine) was for us to figure out where the heck our bags were. After some hardy boys level detective work and almost two hours, Bill learned our bags were still in Amsterdam. Not Athens. This was a bit of a pickle considering we left for Mykonos the following day. We were assured they would be on the last flight of the day, however, and available for pick up when we returned to Athens airport for our flight out. Joy.
Relieved we at least knew the location of our luggage, we hit the streets headed towards the ancient agora (complete with another tour with Rick).
Ancient jury duty selection machine above
I would definitely recommend a stop to the agora using this free podcast but we literally melted in the afternoon sun so we went a hide in the shade afterwards with some bevies followed by some delicious ice cream before heading to dinner then back to the apartment to pack up for stop 2…
Mykonos
Landing in Mykonos was a far cry from the city of Athens. The number of people I saw in swim suits at the airport was astounding to me. We found a cab and headed to the next Airbnb – the most expensive and smallest apartment of the trip. It was on this walk to the Airbnb that we learned an important lesson I will share with any fellow travelers looking to head to the Greek islands – there are so many stairs. We quickly were regretting bringing a large heavy bag. So if you’re coming to the Greek islands my biggest piece of advice is pack light and pack something you can carry and not just wheel around.
Back to fun stuff, the Airbnb was just as you’d imagine from Instagram, white washed with colorful details and flowers. Basically the whole area is straight out of the gram.
Once we were free of our luggage it was off to the beach for some r and r. It wasn’t the most picturesque beach but it got the job done and was less than five minutes from the apartment.
The relaxation was critical because we had a long evening ahead. It started with a beautiful sunset dinner.
Then it was a survival game until the late night Diplo club appearance. Our first stop was a cute (and super pricey) patio bar looking out over “little Venice” ie the area with the iconic windmills all in a row.
Then Bill lead us to a bar called the Scandinavian bar. When we arrived we were the oldest bar goers by at least 10-15 years. I felt a little like I was chaperoning a high school dance and all the students were making questionable decisions. Thankfully as the time passed the crowd became more age appropriate and the music was getting us warmed up for the main event.
We left Scandinavia and headed to the club – arriving around 1:30 am and still were some of the first to arrive. We sipped over priced cocktails until about 3 when it finally start picking up. Diplo didn’t grace is with his presence until after 3:30 and we had a hard out at 4:30 because we are only moderately crazy people. Once he started playing it was a bit of a let down because it was a lot of noises and not a lot of words which is not my favorite type of techno. Overall it was a fun experience though!
The next day was namely us nursing hangovers after such a late night so it was basically just us sitting on some beach chairs. In the Harbor were about 30 yachts. I like to pretend we were at the beach with some fabulous celebrities.
Our last night was capped off with another beautiful sunset. I will digress for a moment to tell you the sunsets of Greece are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Every island. So so so beautiful.
Next up…
Paros
This is probably the stop on our trip some of you are less familiar with. While Santorini and Mykonos have all the name recognition, Paros does not disappoint and I would add it to anyone’s itinerary. We stayed in the less touristy part of the island which was a refreshing change of pace and still gorgeous. As you can see from more photos
We did make a trip up to the more touristy area for dinner which was also stunning and I even got bold and ate a fish eyeball.
We also had two days to check out all the fabulous beaches Paros had to offer. One day by sea and the other day by four wheeler.
Our time in Paros came to an end too quickly and it was time to head to our final stop…
Santorini
I was a little worried the hype around Santorini was going to set me up for disappointment but Santorini was in no way a disappointment. It is one of the most stunning places I have ever been. The two main cities are at the edge of the caldera (the island is an extinct volcano) and they look like they are just clinging to the edge of the world.
We didn’t have that long in Santorini – only one full day – so we wasted no time and greeted the morning with a hike from Thira to Oía (the two main cities of the island). I would suggest this to anyone visiting Santorini. If you google you will probably come across a blog by “Santorini Dave” who will lead you through all the twists and turns of the hike. I will warn you this is more of a hike than a leisurely stroll so wear tennis shoes, bring water, etc. Also, start early especially if you visiting in the summer. That sun is NO joke. The views are incredible though. You gotta go. And think how much more Greek good you can eat with all the calories you burn!
After the hike we found a pool to spend the day at which looked out over the ocean. It was the perfect last stop on the trip. We capped it off with a sunset dinner with fresh octopus. And that’s the end! You’ve made it to the end of the blog. Thanks for sticking it out. I hope you enjoyed at least the photos. I will leave you with the time lapse of our last sunset. Hopefully all you will now be inspired to go see the sunsets of the Greek islands for yourself.
Have Passport Will Travel 