I had an awesome opportunity to go to Greece with my sister a few weeks back!
It was much more difficult to leave Charlotte than I had thought it was going to be. I’ve left her for weekends here and there and it’s been totally fine, but this was on a whole other level. I really think it was something about being sooooo far from her and having an entire ocean between us.
Aside from missing her (and Matt), I had a really nice time and am so thankful I was able to take this trip with my sister. We learned that we still drove each other crazy, but that our interests and similarities are still so alike :) We spent the first 3 days in Athens, the last 3 days in Santorini, then 28+ hours and 4 flights getting home!
The first day in Athens we headed to the Acropolis bright and early. It was hot and dusty, but pretty cool. Unfortunately our tour guide had such a thick accent that we didn’t really know what she was saying. She was so nice and we would understand words she was saying, but then trying to put them together quickly to figure out what she was actually talking about and keep up with her was a bit much. The Acropolis is much larger than I expected lots of different structures/buildings(?) around it. From what I gathered, it’s constantly in a state of rehab in order to make it look exactly as it did when it was first built. The 360 degree views of Athens down below were pretty awesome to see. The city looked so crowded from above.
After the Acropolis, we saw a City Sightseeing tour bus drive by, so we bought tickets for that. It was hop-on, hop-off for TWO days and it took us to all the main sites that we wanted to see and it got us from Point A to Point B without having to deal with cabs. By far, the best decision we made in Athens.
{At the Acropolis with a few other people.}
{One of the various stages/structures at the Acropolis.}
{There were rows and rows and rows and streets and alleys full of shops and restaurants at Monastiraki Flea Market.}
On day two we took the City Sightseeing bus a little ways outside of Athens to Lake Vouliagmeni. We didn’t really no what to expect, and were surprised to find out the lake was filled with the little minnows that eat your dead skin! The water was a bit chilly, so as soon as our free fish pedicures were over, we spent the rest of our time eating, drinking and relaxing.
{Lake Vouliagmeni from above.}
{Fish pedicure.}
After the lake we hopped-on the bus and took it back to the main part of Athens and did a self-guided tour through the Panathenaic Stadium, where the first modern Olympics were held.
{At the Panathenaic Stadium}
{In the queens (?) chair. Someone’s royal chair.}
{These trees provided so much relief from the sun.}
On Day 3, we took a train tour through the Athens streets/alley’s, did some shopping, had amazing gyros then headed to the airport for our flight to Santorini!
{Soooooo many sandals for sale. This one actually had a sign taped to it that “Do not try on. This is not your size.”}
{Motorcycles everywhere. And they could be driven on the sidewalk??}
On our first day in Santorini, we took a 14 mile bike ride with a tour group, through the southern part of the island. This was the highlight of the entire trip for both my sister and me. We learned the following things on our tour:
1. Pirates would attack this city, so it was built in such a way (a maze essentially- narrow paths, up, down, up, down, rough rocks) that when the pirates walked on the paths to find people, they would be led to the town center and be killed- lovely
2. Everything is painted white to ward off diseases and infections. Their form of vaccinations :)
3. Everything else is blue like the sky and ocean
4. Almost every family had a church, at one point
{Drinking coffee at our quaint little hotel.}
{The prettiest doorways.}
{Me and a church built into the side of a mountain that was not easy to get to.}
{Breathtaking view.}
{The famous heart in the rock.}
{Relaxing in our own cabana after the bike tour.}
{Dinner in Fira.}
On the second Day in Santorini, we took the bus to Kamari Beach. It got chilly a couple hours after we got there, but before the clouds rolled in we dipped our toes in the Aegean Sea. Cross that off the bucket list :) That night we went to Oia with 5,000 other tourists to see THE sunset that everyone raves about. It was pretty and I’m glad we went. There were lots and lots of shops and restaurants. We ate dinner at a restaurant with an amazing view, then had amazing dessert and walked through all the shops.
{Kamari Beach}
{The bright colors popped so much against all the white.}
{Oia}
On our last day in Santorini we took the 9km (5.5 miles) hike/walk from Fira to Oia. It was very hilly and very rocky and very hot, but so, so worth it. It’s along the cliff, so you have amazing views of the island the entire time.
{Just keep walking, just keep walking.}
{Nothing like a little perspective to see how high up you hiked.}
Along with the beautiful sites and fun activities, the food (and coffee!) was incredible. I had a Greek salad every day and totally prefer their version to our Americanized version- we added lettuce.