After a great stay in Croatia I headed to Greece to meet my friends from Corvallis, Kelli and Laura! Doing very little research for this part of the trip, pretty much all I knew about Greece was from the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding and a lunch spot I used to frequent in Colorado Springs called the Med Cafe. Way to be prepared Anna. Luckily, Kelli and Laura really carried the team booking the majority of our housing and transportation (thanks guys).
Here are some of our highlights:
- Santorini - What. A. Place! Kelli surprised Laura and I by booking an amazing airbnb in the town of Oia right on the cliffs. Like the cliffs that come up on google when you type in Santorini. It was quite possibly the coolest place I have ever stayed! I felt like I was on MTV Cribs or something. We had a view of the whole cliff side of the town of Oia, a view of the ocean, two terraces, a hot tub and our own kitchen. We soaked up every minute in this place - enjoying the hot tub until late in the night, waking up for sunrise, and staying until they kicked us out at 11am check out. This was definitely a highlight of our time in Santorini, but on our first day we also happened upon the best (and cheapest) Gyros ever. They had French fries in them. Genius, I know. All my Greek dreams came true that very first day. We joked that after that day, everything else would be downhill from there. The rest of our time in Santorini we stayed in the town of Perissa, which had a huge, awesome, black sand beach. It stretched for miles (we know because we walked the whole length of it...with all our luggage...) and had tons of restaurants along it - and every one had nice big shaded umbrellas on their section of the beach. Right up my alley! It was here we discovered another major highlight - Greek Fro Yo. America really needs to get on board with this stuff because it is heavenly. We would proceed to have it nearly every day for the rest of our stay in Greece. While here we also ventured over to the main part of the island, Fira. We walked around the town, scoped out the awesome views and happened upon a nice little walk down to a church on the edge of a cliff! No clue how they built this thing - it took us a solid 30 minutes to walk out to it, but it looked like it was still a working church!
- Paros - the little island of Paros was just adorable. We stayed in a town called Aliki, which was a small fishing village that had a few shops and restaurants right along the water. During our time here we did a hike to a neighboring town called Drios, hit the beach, and enjoyed some local cuisine on the water. Paros was described as a lower key (and less expensive) Mykonos. While I've never been to Mykonos, I did really enjoy the nice low key vibe of Paros. We spent some time wandering the streets of the Old Town area in Parikia (where the ferry comes in and out of) and this town looked like it was straight out of a magazine. Everything was so bright white and there were colorful flowers, doors and decor everywhere. Just how you picture Greece to be.
- Athens - we had just about an afternoon here, but luckily Laura and Kelli had already been here so they knew what high points to hit in our short time frame. The afternoon we were here it was a real scorcher...high 90s. Yowza. We checked out Old Town Athens, saw The Panathenaic Staduim (the original Olympic Stadium), and watched the sunset with a view of the Acropolis. While I didn't have a ton of time here, it was fun to see some of the high points from afar.
Highlights:
- Getting to spend time with Kelli and Laura! It was a great mini lady Sparts reunion.
- Greek Salads - they were delicious and everywhere.
- Greek Frozen Yogurt - this stuff was to die for. And I am missing it desperately.
- Weather - it was not as hot as I thought it was going to be! Major score. The weather gods were good to us.
- Santorini - it is just as good as everyone says it is. My favorite little part was Oia - definitely worth a visit!
Lessons Learned:
- Apparently hummus is not really a thing in Greece. I was so looking forward to hummus at every restaurant but only saw it offered at a few.
- Update: I'm still not a seafood person.
- White and Blue is a consistent theme here - all the houses are white with blue doors and shutters. We learned that when Greece was occupied by the Ottomans they didn't allow them to fly the Greek flag. So in defiance, everyone painted their houses the color of the Greek flag. And now it has stuck. So cool.
- There were scooters, mopeds and four wheelers everywhere on the islands! That seems to be the preferred method of transport. We stuck to the bus but that might be on the list next time if I can muster up the courage to drive my own moped.
- My friends are the best! So thankful for all the friends that met me along the way this trip.
Kelli and Laura on our patio in Oia.
Santorini Views.
Adorable Paros.