Adventure in Greece!

Hello Everyone! It’s hard to believe, but Zach and I have been traveling now for over two months!  In this update I would like to share our adventures in Greece with you. We started in Athens, explored the islands of Milos, Santorini and Naxos, and then ferried back to Athens to fly to our next destination. 

Athens had so much history that we couldn’t wait to see and we didn’t have to wait long.  The city is built around a huge hilltop with the Acropolis right on top. The views are spectacular from all around, particularly from a rooftop bar at night. The city can be very grimy and intense. Drivers and motorcycles are zipping around and don’t often stop for pedestrians! Our apartment host, Akis, was incredible in helping us plan our time and even picked us up from the airport making it a smoother transition into the city. It was interesting hearing his local perspective about what life is like in Athens. Even though he is proud to be Greek, he hopes for a better life for his children away from Greece. Both of his children are learning German and English in preparation for other opportunities elsewhere. We stayed in a neighborhood away from the tourist areas and were able to get a local feel.  The food was incredible and I think we had a greek salad everyday we were there!  

We spent most of our time walking around the city and my favorite site hands down was the Acropolis. It was as awe inspiring as expected. Dating back to the 5th century BC, the Acropolis contains the remains of several ancient buildings of great architectural and historic significance, the most famous being the Parthenon. We also spent some time in the Acropolis Museum, which was helpful for understanding the importance of what we were seeing. 

From Athens, we took a ferry to the Island of Milos. Milos is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea. The island is famous for unique beaches with white volcanic cliffs and the best way to really see the island is by boat.  We set sail for an all day excursion that took us all around Milos. We stopped at 3 different locations throughout the day. Kleftiko was my favorite! We jumped off the boat and swam in the crystal clear water surrounded by amazing cliffs.  Our captain prepared a delicious lunch of hummus, olives and grape leaves. Our group took turns going on a dingy that took us in and out of the amazing caves. Our last stop of the day was the hidden beach, Tsigrado. If you are feeling adventurous there is a tiny ladder at the top of the cliff you can use to hike down to the beach.  Otherwise, it’s only accessible by boat. We had a quick swim to the shore and it was so beautiful to basically have this beach to ourselves! Another must see is Sarakiniko beach. It feels otherworldly and the white rocky cliffs somewhere resemble moon rocks! If you’re going to Greece, I highly recommend visiting this island. 

From there we took the ferry to Santorini. Coming from the calmness of Milos, we were not prepared for the intensity of Santoini.  Thousands of people were arriving in the port from ferries and cruise ships and just getting out of the port was crazy! Up, up and up you drive through many switch backs and the views did not disappoint.  We stayed just on the far side of Oia and it would have been lovely, except that it was a bit too remote. We needed a car and we had a bit of travel fiasco renting one (they gave us a car with almost no gas and we almost ran out going up steep mountain roads!!!) We can laugh about it now, but it was pretty scary at the time. The town of Oia is as lovely as you would think and the views of the white villas with the blue domes are spectacular.  What you don’t always see are the thousands of people fighting to get that same shot! We went into the town early and it was beautiful to walk the narrow streets and enjoy the epic views. By 11:00 am it was time to get out of there as the cruise ships had arrived for the day. There was a heaviness to the locals we met in Santorini and most had not had a day off since April. It was a reminder that over tourism is real and it made Zach and I stop to think about how can we experience these incredible places, without being part of the problem. 

The last island we visited was Naxos. Ahhhhhh we were back to calm! It was the last week of the season for many places and you could feel that many were ready to shut down and get some rest.  We used this as a time to rest and mostly just read at the beach. Zach did his work, I did our laundry and we had some time to regroup and think about where we wanted to head next. Our plan was to head to Istanbul, but with everything going on we decided to save that for another time.  We completely changed course and hopped on a plane to London! 

I can’t wait for next time to share our adventures in England with you!  Thanks so much for reading. See you soon!

Best, 

Ashley

Travel Tip #5

When traveling around the islands its helpful to pre-arrange pickups at the port to take you to your hotel or apartment.