Todays topic: Greece. My good friend Kaitie and I decided to venture to Athens and the Greek Islands for a well needed holiday (well, she took a vacation from work and I took a vacation from unemployment). After spending a few days in Italy visiting Siena, Todi, Orvieto and Rome, we flew to Athens. Our trip consisted of the following: 3 nights in Athens, 2 nights on the island of Milos, 3 nights on the island of Santorini, and 3 nights on the island of Crete. I have decided to write about 10 things I loved and hated about Greece (in no particular order)
#1 Toilet Paper System (hated)
While I do not know the precise operation of the sewage systems on the greek islands, it is forbidden almost everywhere to put any kind of paper products in the toilet (including toilet paper). I will just say that putting used toilet paper in the garbage can was a little foreign to me and I am very happy to be back in Denmark which operates on a North American toilet paper-in-the-bowl system. Unfortunately I do not have a p
#2 Greek Salad (loved)
We ate at least one greek salad a day on our trip - they were always amazing and we could not get enough of them! This is actually the first greek salad photo I took, and my favourite from the trip.
#3 Villa Toula - Fira, Santorini (loved)
We both loved staying at Villa Toula in the town of Fira on Santorini. The price was a very very reasonable 30 euro a night for the two of us; it also included a wonderful breakfast on fresh bread and chocolate cakes. Toula was a wonderful host who helped us organize tours for our time in Santorini. The location of Villa Toula is also amazing for being right in the heart of Fira.
Kaitie enjoying breakfast with Toula in the background#4 Moussaka - Santorini (loved)
Everywhere we went, we checked reviews on tripadvisor for the best sites to see and best places to eat. One place in Fira caught our eye; a restaurant called Naoussa was lauded by many as having the best Moussaka on the island (and even in all of Greece). We had already had moussaka several times, but decided we could not pass up the opportunity to visit this restaurant. We arrived at around 8pm and there were only about 5 tables left empty in the medium sized restaurant/tavern - within 5 minutes there were no more tables and a line was forming outside (apparently many people had read the tripadvisor reviews). While the moussaka was amazing, I kept looking over at all the freshly caught fish dishes on other tables (another specialty of the restaurant). All in all, it was an amazing dining experience that was made even better when we received one of our bottles of wine on the house!
Kaitie and I at Naoussa#5 Volcanoes - Santorini (loved)
In Santorini, we did a day trip aboard a glass bottom boat that visited the volcano island, the hotsprings and the island across the way. The tour was a decent price for visiting all the sites. We had a guided tour of the volcano by one of the tour leaders; to showcase us how the volcanoes of the area had impacted the landscape he made little mountains out of rocks and would break them up over and over again and spray water all around! It was a very funny to watch, yet quite informative. There are several volcanoes in the area (a red one, a white one, a yellow one, a black one, a grey one and a green one) that have erupted at different points in history and have created the high cliffs of Santorini. When a volcano erupts, it leaves a rock layer with a colour specific to its volcano. So beautiful!
#6 Samaria Gorge - Crete (loved)
One of the most adventurous things we did was hike the Samarian Gorge on the island of Crete. After a later then expected night out (we received yet another bottle of complimentary wine and felt obligated to stay and drink it) we awoke at 5am for an early breakfast at our hotel. A shuttle bus picked us up at 6am and whisked us up into the beautiful mountains. Out guide explained the plan for the day, that he would start the hike half an hour after us to make sure we all made it through. He warned us to NOT walk and look at scenery at the same time, as this would lead to broken ankles and an unnecessary donkey ride out of the canyon. We wee told to ALWAYS be looking down at our feet. Strange - kinda. It all made sense when we started our 16 km hike down the canyon though; stray rocks were everywhere and you really needed to watch every step. Most of the other hikers were very well equipped with hiking boots and other gadgets; Kaitie and I were in sneakers that were not appropriate for the conditions. We managed through the gorge though in about 5 hours and came out at the beach (sea level) on the other side. It was a great hike with scenery so beautiful that no camera could fully capture it. Below is my attempt though.
Most narrow part of the gorge#7 Stray Dogs (loved and hated)
There were stray dogs everywhere in Greece. Every island, city and region seemed to have its own variety of stray dog. They all seemed very relaxed, content and well fed. Below is a picture of a stray dog in Athens that was disobeying the request of the guards to stay behind a specific line during the changing of the guards ceremony.
#8 Sunsets - everywhere (loved)
Greece has beautiful sunsets. Enough said.
#9 and #10 Boat tours of Milos (loved)
My absolute favourite day trip of our vacation was on the island of Milos. This island is famous for its remote beaches and beautiful waters. While Kaitie and I had debated taking a boat trip around the island, we had initially decided against it due to the possible high price of such adventure (our day trip to Delphi was 100 euro a person). Our minds changed when we met a lovely couple from London who told us about a tour they were going on the next day: only 45 euro a person for a full day trip around the island including a greek BBQ on a remote beach. We were in!
The boat only held ten tourists and it was at capacity. We started by taking a tour by a nearby island. The water was so crystal clear and blue and warm and wonderful! We stopped by a small beach to scuba dive for sea urchins that we would taste later. The captain of the boat was amazing - at one point he brought out special greek melons and grapes for us to try and basically kept feeding us until we could not stomach anymore. We then continued the boat trip with additional stops to venture into some caves where the captain said seals likes to hang out in the winter. We were then taken to the super secret private beach for our BBQ. Upon arriving at the island, the captain began shouting out "Filos! Filos!" and telling us his friend would be joining us. Eventually a wild goat and his family joined us and dined on the melon rinds from earlier. The BBQ consisted of bbq'ed pork, greek salad, bread, potato salad, bean salad, bbq'ed peppers, zucchini and onions as well as fresh cheese made by the captain's mother. We headed back to the boat just before sunset and had a beautiful ride back to the docks....beautiful at least until the captain brought out the ouzo! I was able to down my ouzo but I will say it is not my favourite drink (especially in the very large quantity that we were given).
Snorkeling for sea urchins
Preparing melons
BBQ on beach
Picnic!
My attempt at a Leo moment after the ouzo. Too windy though.