Greece

My first blog ever!! I am not one to blog, but thought that our vacation to Greece is a perfect reason to create one.  We really enjoyed our trip and want to share it with our friends and family. 

If you want to skip the blog and go straight to our 500+ pictures, here is a link: Greece Shutterfly Album

Day 1   Athens  Tuesday, Sept 9

After 22 hours of traveling, we finally arrived in Athens! Unfortunately my excitement dwindled when we got our luggage. There was a rain storm during our lay over in Atlanta and apparently our luggage was left out in the rain. Even after an 11 hour flight, all of our checked luggage (including our clothes inside) was still pretty wet. After all of this, all that we wanted to do was get to our hotel.

This is a picture of the elevator at our hotel. It is the smallest elevator that I have ever been in! When me and Chris checked in, we decided that this was not the most reliable elevator. We both went up the elevator solo with our bags- we did not want to chance it. 

Once we freshened up all that Chris wanted to do was go and see the Parthenon. We made our way to the metro and walked to the the base of Acropolis. The Acropolis is a hill overlooking Athens where the Parthenon and other ruins are located. Chris was very excited and wanted me to take a picture of his first look at the Acropolis. I grabbed my camera, clicked the shutter release and nothing happened. At first I thought that I just forgot to turn on my camera, still after turning it to "on" nothing happened. Turns out I brought the camera but I forgot the battery in the hotel room. So on our first day we have no pictures. 

Since we had no camera, we decided to wait for another day to explore the Acropolis. We ended up walking around the Plaka district in Athens. We found a great wine bar, called Bretto's. Bretto's is nearly 100 years old and carries several Greek wine and spirits, they also make several different types of liqueurs. It is the oldest distillery in Athens. Not to mention, the inside was so cool looking with the hundreds of liqueur bottles with light shining through them. Here are some pictures that I found on the internet:

The entrance of Bretto's

The inside 

A close up the liqueur bottles

The first night, after nearly falling asleep at dinner we decided to call it a night. We were asleep by 8 PM. 

Day 2   Athens to Mykonos  Wednesday, Sept 10

Once we woke up, we were on the move again. We had to catch a ferry to go to the island of Mykonos. To save a some cash, instead of taking a taxi we decided to take the subway to the port.  We were out of our hotel by 5:30 am- the sun hadn't risen yet, and we were the only ones out on the street. We got to the port with no problem and a lot of time to spare.

Chris at the port, bright and early.

On the deck of the ferry

The ferry ride was 5 hours long. We met a nice Greek family on the ride- a mother, grandmother, son and a daughter. The grandmother shared with us some home made sweet bread, the daughter kept speaking to us in Greek and the son played with Chris' PSP nearly the entire time. 

When we arrived at the Mykonos port we were greeted with a lot of commotion. Before we arrived, our plan was to hail a taxi but once we arrived there were none around. Having no clue where our hotel, taking the public bus was out of the question so we just started to walk hoping to find a taxi along the way. We were offered a ride for $75 to our hotel in a wonderful vehicle like this one:  

We laughed at the offer, imagining me and Chris sitting in the back with our luggage. We eventually did find a car rental place that offered a ride to our hotel for a small fee. By that time though, my hands were blistered. 

We stayed at Mykonos Beach hotel. Here are some pictures from our hotel:

As you walked to our room, there is a quaint chapel located at the hotel

Our balcony

Sunset from our balcony

We walked through the town on Mykonos. The town was so picturesque with the white washed buildings and tiny streets. We especially enjoyed a part of the town called Little Venice- its twisting streets made if fun to explore, but difficult to find your way out of.

I have never seen so many cats. This one was napping in front of a store.

Someone's home.

Another favorite was seeing the windmills. The windmills are more than 100 years old. They are no longer operational, but use to be used for milling flour. 

It was so windy. 

A view of the ocean from the windmills

For dinner we went to Petinos. On Wednesdays and Sundays they have traditional Greek dancing while you eat.  We really enjoyed ourselves, this was one of the highlights of our trip. 

A view of the beach at night from the restaurant. 

Yes, the Greek people are beautiful!

Lighting the floor on fire. Sorry for the bad picture

 Some how I got wrangled into dancing. 

 

                                           
                                           

                                                   Here is a video clip of the dancing. 

Day 3   Mykonos  Thursday, Sept 11

After traveling so much, all that we wanted to do was relax. We woke up at almost 11:00, missing breakfast but well rested. We decided to spend the day at Paradise Beach. With a large bottle of water, sun screen and Twilight (a book) we were ready for a nice and lazy day. We spent 5 hours laying out, swimming and napping. 

Chris' first swim in the Mediterranean  

The water was so gorgeous and crystal clear.

All the beaches are lined with chairs and umbrellas for rent. The beach was relatively quiet until later on when the beach bars started to blair techno music. When Chris heard a techno song made to a Barack Obama speech, he decided it was time to go.

That night we went to Oasis Restaurant for dinner. Chris ate stuffed lamb and I had something that reminded me of stew (except for without the broth) with ground beef and vegetables- both were so good! Here is a picture of the restaurant:  

Day 4   Mykonos  Friday, Sept 12

This was the first day that we were able to eat breakfast at our hotel.  After eating, we took a 3o minute boat to the island of Delos. Delos is a small island, only about 3 miles long, but with so much history. For the ancient Greeks, it was believed to be a sacred place because Apollo and Artemis were believed to be born here. At its peak, the island had 30,000 inhabitants and was a commercial and religious center of the Aegean. Now, no one inhabits the island. It is an amazing place to see ruins that date back to 4th century BC.  

The rules as you enter. It was declared illegal 1,000 years ago for anyone to be born or die on the island.

One of the greatest thing about Delos was that we were able to explore the island on our own, most of the time with little to no people around. 

This pathway led to the highest point on the island. It was a very steep climb up crumbling steps, but there was a gorgeous view from the top.

Inside the museum on the island.

Once we got back to Mykonos we enjoyed walking around a bit more 

The town is full of little chapels- this is one at the port.

The Church of Panagia Parapportiani- built in the 15th century, it is the most photographed church on the island

Our daily lunch! The gyros were so good! While in Greece I fell in love with Green Apple Fanta, unfortunately it isn't available in the US. Yes, I have already e-mailed Fanta and urged them to bring it to the U.S.

Chris rented a quad, which he named "Athena". We explored the island a bit more. 

Day 5   Mykonos to Santorini  Saturday, Sept 13

We left Mykonos and were on our way to Santorini. The island has an active under water volcano, now part of the island has huge cliffs-- this makes for a very scary ride on the crowded public buses.

 

A picture of the port from the top. I was not expecting the scary bus ride to our hotel- buses passing each other on a narrow windy road.

The first night we took it easy, went to dinner and walked around the town of Fira.

  

One of the only pictures I have of the town of Fira, we weren't too impressed with it, plus the first night it was so overcast. 

Day 6   Santorini  Sunday, Sept 14 

We rented a car and drove around the island, which I am so happy that we did. We only had 2 1/2 days in Santorini and I had a list of things I wanted to do. 

We first drove up to the town of Oia (on the northern tip of the island). I really wish that we would have stayed in this town. It was gorgeous. 

Many of the churches in Greece have blue domes- I still have no idea why

Enjoying the view

Store front

After being in Oia for a very short while, we went swimming at Amoudi Bay. Santorini has several beaches, but I heard that swimming in Amoudi Bay beats going to any of the beaches. We were really happy that we took this advice- the water was crystal clear and there was only a couple of other people there. 

You can see just how blue the water is

Chris found a ledge to jump off

Chris mid air

We then headed to Santos Winery. The island of Santorini has several wineries on it, the island is particularly known for the white wines they produce.

You can see how overcast it was when we arrived. The fog quickly rolled in, then rolled out.

We really enjoyed their desert wines. We ordered several bottles to be shipped home, which was a bit of a cost. Unfortunately, there have been some issues and our wines are sitting somewhere in NY. =( Update: After waiting for 5 weeks, our package suddenly showed up at our door (for some reason after our package arrived in NY, USPS stopped tracking our package). We were both happy to get our wine, but we were bummed that the gorgeous wood boxes they were shipped in were crushed. 

View from the winery, still a bit overcast but a lot better than when we first arrived

Then we just drove around

Chris was excited to see Acapulco in Greece, especially listed under "ethnic"

After all of this we headed out to dinner reservation we made in Oia for the sunset. We ate at Kastro's restaurant, which was the best meal we had while in Greece. Oia is known for the sunsets. As you can see, it was gorgeous but I could only imagine how beautiful it would have been if it would have been a clearer day (instead of seeing the sun disappear behind the ocean we saw it disappear into clouds)

We did have an interesting bus ride to the restaurant. We returned our car rental, then had to run to catch the bus. When we got on the bus it was packed. At each stop more and more people got on. Chris' face was literally smashed against the bus door. After the 20 minute bus ride, Chris was drenched in sweat and refused to ride the bus ever again.

The crowd starting to form to see the sunset. Luckily we had reservations at a perfect restaurant, thanks to Trip Advisor.

As the sun set, the colors changed

The dogs enjoying the sunset with us. 

Day 7   Santorini  Monday, Sept 15

After the previous day being so jammed packed, we were able to relax today. I did want to do a morning 7 miles walk that hugs the cliffs. We woke up before the sun was up and were on our way. We weren't able to do the whole walk because on time constraints but we still enjoyed it.

Sunrise in Santorini

A view of the town we stayed in, Fira.

Along the way we had several dogs follow us. At first it started with 2, by then end we had 9 dogs with us. They were all so sweet. We did buy some food and water to feed them at the end.

My favorite dog! She was by my side the entire time. When I would be lagging behind Chris and the rest of the dogs, she would always wait for me. 

After the walk, we boarded a catamaran to cruise around the island. We were on the boat for 5 hours with 6 other people. It was so relaxing and one of the highlights of our trip. The tour was done through Captain Ted. Captain Ted and the crew were simply amazing.

This wasn't the actual boat we were on, but this was the sister boat and exactly the same. 

This was in the "warm spring" which was a big joke because there was barely a temperature change from the other water

When I first jumped in the water I wasn't expecting how high the salt content was, hence this wonderful picture

A little better, but I still wasn't able to open my eyes

 

A star fish Chris caught while snorkeling 

The food spread- calamari, shrimp, pork chops, fresh vegetables, pasta, bread and wine.

Day 8   Santorini to Athens  Tuesday, Sept 16

We caught a 7:00 am flight from Santorini to Athens. We originally were book to take a ferry back, but once we saw that the ferry ride was 9 hours and the flight was 45 minutes we changed our plans. When we got into Athens Airport we took the metro back to the hotel and we were determined to finally see the Parthenon. 

Finally!! We were at the Acropolis and about to walk up to the Parthenon, with a working camera in hand

I had to include this picture. This is what we saw when we turned around after seeing the Acropolis. It is amazing seeing the contrast of old vs new. Although Athens was great with the ruins, I was actually unimpressed with the city. Comparing it with Rome or Madrid, I was disappointed with the city. I didn't see the old, beautiful architecture that Rome or Madrid has. 

I am sitting in the theatre of Dionysos Eleuthereus

The theater of Herod Atticus. They still have concerts here! If we would have had more time in Athens, we would have definantly tried to go to one. 

A view of the city of Athens from atop the Acropolis 

Waiting in line to see the ruins. As you can tell, it was very hot (about 95 degrees)

The Parthenon!

Us in front of the Parthenon

View from the Acropolis of the ocean

Chris enjoying the view of the Parthenon 

Another shot of the Parthenon

Some detail of the Parthenon. You can also see the scaffolding- as they are reconstructing the crumbling structures.

Me in front of the Pandroseion, a temple dedicated to the first king of Athens

Another side of the Pandroseion. 

Leaving the Acropoils, it was so great to see but with all the people and the heat we were ready to grab something to eat.

If you walk down from the Acropolis, there are more ruins- I am not sure what the grounds are called. 

The Acropolis Museum

A prettier part of the city of Athens

Tired and waiting for the subway

After taking a nap, all that we wanted was a sandwich. We headed to the Hard Rock, then did some more walking around the city!

Parliament

We went to a part of town called the Gazi District. It was a really lively, fun part of town. Sorry for the blurry picture. At this point, this sign summed up how I felt.

I wish I took this picture, but I got it from the restaurant's web site. We went to a restaurant called GazArte for their rooftop bar. By this time, we were done taking pictures. This part of town was really unique and artsy. If we would have had more time I would have loved to explore it during the day. 

Another picture that I took from the restaurant's website. This is a picture of the rooftop bar, with the Acropolis in the distance

Day 9   Athens  Wednesday, Sept 17

This was our last day in Greece. I do have to admit that we were really getting tired of being on the go.  We didn't make it to all the sights in Athens because we were just too tired. Chris did see the Parthenon, so he was a happy man. 

Temple of Zeus

The site of the first modern day Olympics

I really wanted to see the president's house. Chris was really tired, but decided to hang in there a little longer. We were both really happy that we went cause there was a lot of commotion going on. From what we understand Greece has a Prime Minister and a President. This is in front of the President's house.  There were reporters waiting for the President to leave/enter.

Next to the President's house is the Prime Minister's house. This was really great to see, since there were dignitaries arriving. Soldiers were marching down the street and a band was playing.

I told Chris to get in closer with the soldier, but he was intimidated by the bayonet. 

Chris was really tired so he headed back to the room, I wanted to explore the city more so I wondered around on my own. Here are some pictures of the National Library.

Since it was our last night I made reservations at Filistron, a restaurant that overlooks the Acropolis. After dinner we headed out to the Gazi district again (we don't have any pictures of this because by this time we were both tired of taking pictures). Chris and I were in search of comfortable chairs. We really loved Greece, but our main gripe was that all their chairs were of weaved wicker- after 9 days all that we wanted to sit on was a cushion. 

The view from the restaurant. This is a picture of Areopagus Hill- we didn't have enough time to explore it, but from afar it was gorgeous. 

Another view from the restaurant- the Acropolis at night

Chris with his plate of moussaka. This was his favorite dinner- it is made with layers of potatoes, egg plant, ground meat, and topped of with cheese. It is so good!

Our last bottle of Greek wine in Greece.

We enjoyed our time in Greece. It was a once in a lifetime trip! The Greek people really added to the experience, everyone was so nice and accommodating- at most of the restaurants the owners greeted us and everyone was extremely helpful. Now we are on to planning our next adventure.