The past few days have been full of earth, water, and sunsets. We are finding ways to enjoy this beautiful island to its fullest. The other day started with an impromptu decision to go horseback riding. The girls and I kept hearing horses clog by our room which butts up next to the “street” (this is truly a village so the streets are about as small as the sidewalks that we are used to) and they got their mind set on riding some horses. So we figured out that there is a stable around 200 feet away and we booked a ride. It was lovely. The girls each got a horse and a guide who held onto their horses. It was an hour around this insanely beautiful village that we are staying in with some extra views of the caldera to boot. The girls were satisfied and I was thankful for another unique experience. After the ride we hopped in the pool to play just before our afternoon catamaran sunset cruise. The cruise itself started off VERY rocky, but we were all careful and did all the tricks not to get sea sick. Once the boat turned into the caldera part of the island the rockiness slowed and a quiet cruise full of new friends, food and drinks began. We stopped at a couple places close to the lava rocks in the center of the islands and felt how to ocean water was just a little bit warmer due to the hot springs on the bottom of the ocean. We had incredibly good Greek food and wonderful conversations. Then we ended it with an incredible sunset as we were cruising home. This island and its inhabitants and visitors are obsessed with sunsets, and I understand why. They are off the charts. The next morning we woke up and decided to go to a museum close by that explains in somewhat uncertain terms how Santorini is actually the Lost city of Atlantis. It was a great thing to see for kids- Autumn and Meadow loved it. And although I can totally see where they connect the dots between Atlantis and Santorini, me, Kyle and River were somewhat skeptical. That afternoon we decided to try our hand at the public bus, which was great once you got it figured out (and air conditioned, comfortable busses!) so we headed back to Oia for our final night in Santorini shopping and a reservation for a sunset dinner. Oia is so pretty but also SO crowded. We had a grand time walking around looking at shops but it made me even more thankful for our beautiful little town that we have called home for the past few days. So now, it is the morning of our departure from Santorini, and really from Greece. We fly back to Athens this evening, and then early tomorrow morning we head home. A vacation ending is always a little sad, but for this one, the first international jaunt in 3 years, and from such an incredibly beautiful place, this departure is harder than most. But, having this time here, together, has been precious. I will forever be thankful for this time and this place. And just as it happens outside our room every morning, the bell must toll for the end of our journey, but am excited for it to ring another day. Efharisto, beautiful Greece! We hope to meet with you again very soon.
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Greece Day 6 & 7 Today was our real Introduction to Santorini. I decided to get a private tour for the day so that we would have a good idea of what we wanted to do more of. It was a fabulous tour, and our guide, Dimitris was fantastic. I decided to do a later tour- starting at 2pm and it ended around 8pm Yea, the poor guy spent about 6 hours with us. We started by going to Oia which is the town where you see all the picturesque photos from Santorini being taken. We walked around and he showed us the sites. There were churches, old castle and beautiful views galore. You can really see the entire island (an old volcano) with the beautiful city in the foreground. Pictures don’t do it justice. We then hopped in the car and headed to go see from a distance the red beach, which has almost all red sand, a beautiful Lighthouse that was about 150 years old, and then the black beach. We stopped for snacks at that point which was relaxing and appreciated. Our final destination was the highest point on the island which had a monastery. At the top you could see for many miles and the island as a whole. Truly stunning views. By the time we got back to our hotel it was around 8:30, so we grabbed dinner in the square right outside our hotel. Our hotel is situated in the heart of Megalochori, one of the most beautiful villages on this island. I absolutely love our hotel and location and would do it again in a heartbeat. We are not in the busy areas like Oia or Fira, and it is a decent bus ride to get to those places, but I think this is so much better. I would recommend to anyone coming to stay here. The next day we decided on a beach day. Our hotel is not on the beach but they have a agreement with a hotel on the beach for us to be able to use their sun beds as well as a free shuttle drive down to the beach. So we hopped the shuttle at 10:30 and had some fun at the beach. Since Santorini is a old volcano, almost all beaches are not what we consider beaches because the sand is volcanic rock, therefore black and not quite small enough to be considered sand (in my book). We found out that the sand was HOT and just going from our sun bed to the beach is painful. But we still had a great time enjoying the sun and waves for a few hours before heading back to the hotel for the pool.
Our highlight of the evening, after spending all day in the sun, was the dinner. All food is amazing in Greece, but the restaurant we went to that in in our hotel was pretty special. It was a wine cellar and had been used for 400 years. Walking in it looks like you transported back to mid evil times. The food did not disappoint. Although very pricey, it was truly a special experience. We all loved to food and ambience! And since we are Americans and eat dinner before 10pm, we were the only ones there. Tomorrow we spend more time in the sun doing some horseback riding and a sunset sailboat ride. Thankful for this amazing experience and can’t believe we only have a few days left! Greece Day 4 & 5 Our last day in Athens… well, sort of. We were pretty exhausted from all the walking we have done, so thought it would be a fun idea to do a join a last minute tour to the temple of Poseidon which is about 1.5 hours away from Athens. I booked it the day before and was thankful I did! It was beautiful. We got picked up in the morning and joined about 10 people on our journey. Although the temple of Poseidon was our main destination, they took us to a couple other places as well. First, they stopped at a lake that was absolutely incredible. We did not go to its shores, but it was beautifully carved into the rock and it supposedly had the little fish that you see at spas that nibble your feet! Someday I hope to go back and check that out a little closer. Afterward we went to the temple that is right on the sea. It was a beautiful site that looked very similar to the Parthenon except for being significantly smaller. The area was gorgeous. It was a good prelude to our island portion of the trip that was coming up the next day. After an hour or so at the temple of Poseidon, we hopped in the van and headed to a close beach where we searched for sea glass and had a couple drinks and snacks. That evening, after a good dip in the pool, we headed down to the Plaka area and back to the neighborhood that we walked around during our food tour for shopping, dinner and dessert. We loved the area and I really wanted to try some baklava that our guide had told us about. It did not disappoint! The next morning we got up very early as we had a 7:30am departure from the port. What is nice is that the subway could take us all the way there on the 5 day metro passes that we bought the first day! We learned the metro system really well during our time in Athens, since it was our main form of transportation. There wasn’t a lot of foreigners on the metro typically, as they seemed to use mostly taxis, but we loved it!
We took the Blue Star Ferry to Santorini, and I’m so thankful for the experience! We booked cabins, since I didn’t want to worry about our luggage and I knew that it was early so then we could take naps. It was great and I would totally do it again! The cabins were clean and comfy and the restaurants on the boat were just fine. We walked around and enjoyed seeing some of the 6000 Greek islands on the way. This part of the world is truly beautiful. When we got to Santorini, we found our ride and got to our hotel which was pretty close to the port. It is gorgeous here- and even though the town we are staying in is not what you see in all the pictures, it seems just as picturesque. We played in the pool during the afternoon and walked just steps from our hotel to the heart of the town and had a delicious dinner. We certainly feel lucky to be here, and are looking forward to exploring the island in the days ahead! Greece Day 3
Today was DELICIOUS! We started off this morning with the one tour that River requested… a food tour. It was truly a magical tour, since without it we would have missed some amazing parts of this city. They started us off with some delicious breakfast and Greek coffee. Although I am not much of a coffee drinker I had to give it a go. It is served in a very small cup and it brewed differently. Traditionally, I believe they used to put the grounds and water together and bury it in hot sand. That being said, the grounds are at the bottom of the coffee so our guide, Rachel stated that when it starts to get gritty you stop drinking. You never put milk in the coffee, but a spoonful of sugar is okay. So, as you can imagine mine was quite sweet. Not something I could do everyday, but fun to try nonetheless. Our next stop was the olive store. And yes, that went over very well with most of my salt/olive loving family. We started with an olive oil tasting, which was quite a unique experience. If it is extra virgin olive oil it should be some what acidic so it burns while going down your throat. After that we tried various olives and honey and other yummy things that are grown/created on the shop owners farm. And yes, everything was made by the people who owned the shop! They have an olive farm in Sparta which is so fantastic. Needless to say we are coming home with many pounds of olive oil…. After that adventure for the tastebuds we went to the markets for an adventure of the nose and eyes. We started with fruit and spices and then turned off to the seafood and meat market. Autumn and then Meadow had a hard time with some of the latter parts, but in the end they were all real troopers. It was fascinating to see all of the insanely fresh fish and meat, but I think it made most of us a little queasy. We might enjoy meat, but seeing all every part of the animal can be a little much sometimes. Our last stop was a delicious restaurant for lunch. We sat for hours and talked with our group of people from all around the world. From Singapore, England, Australia, Canada and us. It was a lovely group to spend a few hours exploring Athens with. After that truly fulfilling tour, we went to hotel for a short while before heading to the Athens Archeological Museum. At that point my people were getting really tired but I thought we could get this in since, I mean, we are in Athens. It didn’t disappoint. There were pieces in that museum that were 6000-7000 years old that I am pretty sure I have seen in my World History textbooks that I’ve taught out of. We saw gold and bronze from the time when Greece was known as the Mycenaean civilization and even before. We saw statues of the Greek gods and goddesses and more ancient clay pots than I could count. But in the end Meadow was sleeping standing up and Autumn and River were not much better (okay and maybe me as well) so we headed out to lay down (or nap, depending on which family member you are talking to) before dinner. I can’t believe all that we have seen in this amazing city, and am so in love with all the history that just permeates every inch. Tomorrow we decided on a last minute tour to see the temple of Poseidon since we are enjoying our tours so much. There is just so much to see and so little time! Greece Day 2
Today we woke up on our own time after a much more restful night of sleep. Thankful for the yummy buffet breakfast at our hotel, we wandered out to walk to our first destination of the day. Every hour on the hour at the Athens parliament building they hold a changing of the guard ceremony at the tomb of the unknown soldier. We watched some YouTube videos on it and thought it would be a fun adventure. As we stood to watch we loved the outfits - which are traditional outfits of soldiers (called, Evzones) who had fought battles throughout Greece’s modern history. We particularly loved the shoes, which meadow deemed “tinker bell shoes” because of the little puff ball at the toe. The changing of the guards “dance” was obviously different than the one that River and I saw at Arlington National Cemetery, but the idea behind it was the same. Same dance, just a little different take. Afterward we walked to the Acropolis museum stopping briefly at a beautiful garden near the parliament building. The Acropolis museum is just that- a museum that houses all of the artifacts that are found at or very near the acropolis itself. It is FILLED with amazing antiquities. Lots of pots, statues, tools, etc. Four floors filled to the brim with beautiful pieces of history. All except for those artifacts that were stolen and are now housed in the British museum. Seriously, look it up. After our exploration of the museum for a few hours, it was time for rest and snacks. We then decided that a double decker bus ride around the city would be easy to do, so we hopped on a bus and drove around town. After it got too hot (it’s 95 degrees here today- supposedly unusually hot for this early in the summer) the bus stopped at the square at our hotel and we got off to put our feet up and enjoy some air conditioned hotel rooms. Tonight we will head out to a restaurant that is supposed to be very kid friendly (although it seems ALL restaurants so far are incredibly kid friendly!) and we will be able to explore a different part of the city. We are truly enjoying our time here. So Much beauty and history all in one city! Walking the roads…Greece Day 1 We’re here! Travel is always long- and with 3 kids I understand it’s not any longer but sometimes being responsible for these mostly small(er) humans makes it feel longer! But complaining aside, it was a relatively easy flight. Denver to Germany and Germany to Athens with not much of a layover. And really, the kids completely took care of themselves. I arranged a car pickup since I knew I’d be tired and didn’t want to think much once I got here, so it all was very smooth. I think I’ve got this travel with kids thing down. When we arrived at our hotel all we wanted to do was go to sleep- but I knew dinner needed to be had so at Kyle’s request we headed out of the hotel and found a gem right outside. Alexander the Great restaurant was yummy and cheap considering how much we ate. My favorite was probably the grilled feta cheese with spices, tomatoes, and other yummyness. This country has great food. The next morning, after our not so great sleep (all of us seeming to get woken up and then not being able to fall back asleep) we got up bright and early to head to our first tour of the trip. It was a mythological tour that I reserved because I know the kids have all spent time studying Greek gods and goddesses. Actually, it was Meadows last unit in 2nd grade that she completed about a week ago. Because of that, if our tour guide wasn’t close, I would just turn to Meadow for information on Greece if I needed it!
The tour was fantastic. We started at the temple of Zeus where we learned about the amazingly large building built to honor the God of Gods and then after an hour or so headed to the acropolis. There was SO much to see as we were heading up the hill- the first amphitheater that held up to 70,000 people (the size of Athens way back in the day was only 80,000- so almost the entire city population!) and various temples dedicated to the different gods and goddesses of the time. Obviously much of the acropolis is dedicated to Athena since that is who the city is named after. We had a lovely (and incredibly hot) time up on the mountain, and heading down we were excited to find shade and cold water. Once we walked down, we headed to our last stop - a Greek forum/ market. It is a archeological site where there used to be a market for food and goods, and a completely reconstructed building that would have been used for shops, etc. The reconstructed building was beautiful and I could imagine myself there thousands of years ago. Only thing is that women never went to the market, or anywhere else for that matter (other than getting water) so that’s another check on the list as to why I’m thankful to be living today. After we left our fantastic tour guide we headed to a great restaurant in the Plaka. The much needed food, water and chairs were wonderful along with Souvlaki. Afterwards we did a little shopping and had some ice cream and finally headed back to the hotel to put our feet up and head to the pool. I think one too many naps might have been had so sleeping this evening might be difficult again. Oh well, we are soon going to eat at our hotel and lay low tonight, and relish in the fact that we walked the roads that the ancient Greek Gods and Goddesses did on our first day in Greece. 3 years. Not what I expected to wait for our next international travel experience since Thailand! Now... I am NOT complaining- even with the crazy pandemic years we have been super lucky to travel more often than many (mostly because I couldn't stand it otherwise) but for the most part the travels have been in country. I guess the only real international piece has been when we were on our Disney Cruise this past February (yes, at the height of the Omicron variant!) But we all tested negative so we were able to enjoy the not even half full ship. Something I am not sure we would ever get to experience again. Last summer, when the pandemic seemed to be waining ("seemed" being the key word here!) we took our family cultural trip to one of my favorite in-country locations, New Orleans. There were a lot of reasons for this spot, but one of them being that Meadow's birth family is from the beautiful state of Luisiana. We truly had a wonderful time exploring the city and it's surrounding spots for the week, and I am so thankful we had that time to travel as a family to such a culturally rich place only a few hours flight away. As for the summer so far, we were hoping to travel to Minnesota this weekend, but in the last second decided against it and switch our travels to labor day weekend instead. I guess we have been looking forward to this trip to Greece for so long now, we didn't think risking getting COVID now was the best idea. So we are laying low (didn't even do the Bolder Boulder today!) which is a little sad, but I am certainly hopeful that this first trip across the pond in 3 years will make the rescheduling worth it.
So here we go again. We are leaving in just a few days and are slowly but surely packing and gearing up for our first really big international travel excursion since the pandemic started. We can't wait to see this beautiful country that we had hoped to see a few years ago! I guess it's better late than never, right? |