Wrap-up of Greece with Athens!

After some amazing times in Chania, Crete, Santorini, we finally were off to Athens - home of the Parthenon and other amazing ruins!

At the Parthenon

Actually, before we boarded the ferry to Athens, we went to a winery in Santorini - Santos Wine.  Turns out Santorini is home to dessert wines - Vinsanto is actually from the phrase "vino di Santorini."  Not a bad view for a winery...

Santorini - Volcano Exploration and Perfect Sunsets and...too much to name!

After the first half of our trip we could not wait to see how the next part stacked up.  When we first started telling people about our Greece trip, one of Nick's coworkers suggested that we do an excursion that takes you out to the volcano where you can hike up to the craters, followed by a stop at the hot sulfur springs, dinner on the boat and a sail to the coast of Oia to watch one of the most beautiful sunsets.

Sunset off of Oia

After being picked up by our transfer we headed down to the port and were welcomed by our ship, Aphrodite.  Rather than being some yucky old boat, this was a three mast wooden sailboat, which just sets the mood for the perfect afternoon/evening.

Santorini - maybe the most fantastic place!

After spending a few lovely days in Crete we took the ferry from Heraklion to Santorini!  We were greeted by a representative of the travel agency who found us our driver and we were off to our hotel, Suites of the Gods, which happened to be right above the port and had the most beautiful view of the caldera. 

View from our balcony

Sea and the volcano

After settling into our rooms and enjoying a bit of lunch on the balcony (how can you not just stare at the view?) we enjoyed a little poolside relaxation and tried to figure out what to do for dinner that night.  Our hotel was actually not in either of the two main towns of Fira or Oia, but the former was a short cab ride away.

In Crete - Chania to Heraklion: Palaces, Ruins and a Winery

After enjoying some fantastic beach days in Chania, we had to travel to Heraklion, a port city in Crete.  Driving in Crete was an experience to say the least.  We had to travel on the one and only "highway" to get to Heraklion, a large two lane road with big shoulder lanes.  Turns out, those shoulder lanes are actually travel lanes where slower drivers (ie, cars traveling the speed limit) stay while the rest of the world passes them, to the point where there can be three cars all passing each other!  The drive itself was beautiful as most of it was along the coast and beautiful flowering bushes lined the roads - it all made the two and a half hour trip go by pretty quickly.

Rather than going directly to our hotel we stopped at Knossos, which is an ancient Minoan palace.  Interestingly the location of the palace was known for a while during the Turkish occupation of Crete but it was somewhat hidden as a result.  Not until Crete gained its independence did the unearthing of the palace begin.

There has been some criticism of the excavation process because rather than just digging out the remains there have been attempts to restore the palace to what it may have looked like - they added walls and colors that would have been common at the time.

Greece: First stop - Chania, Crete

After a very long trip from Boston through London to Athens (and a wait for our luggage) we were off to Crete where we picked up a car and headed to the beach area of Chania, specifically the Thalassa Beach Resort.  Now, I have to give a disclaimer here: I did not put together this itinerary at all.  Lucky for our group I have an "in" with a travel agency from Greece, Amphitrion Holidays.  While we gave them the islands we wanted to see, they found the hotels, prepared the transfers, cars (as needed) - basically, all the details.  Having all of that in place, we did not really know what we were in for.  We drove about 30 minutes down the coast road of Chania with our trusty map (the GPS at Hertz was broken!).  Honestly, I drove only really hoping that we would run into the hotel, and lucky for us we did!  That night we settled in, grabbed a bottle of wine and we (Nick, Erica S., Mike and I) drank it, enjoying the fact we made it and toasted to the fun to come.

Nick and I knew we had a beach view from our hotel, and the night before, we saw the pool but not much beyond that.  Waking up that morning and opening the curtain to look out on the beautiful sea and this uninhabited island with a little cave, we planned on sitting out on the balcony any chance we got.

View from our room

The hotel here was great - very modern, and breakfast included.  Our rooms were really large, and actually were lofts with plenty of head space (no ducking needed), which only added to the fun.  The pool area was really nice and relaxing with comfy beach chairs.  The pool even had a swim up bar, but the water was pretty chilly to enjoy that for too long.  At the resort you have to rent the beach chairs for the day, which would have been just fine, but the beaches there are not fine sand but rather little rocks that were a bit difficult to walk on.

Off to Greece!!!!

For the next 10 days I will be enjoying all the sites, food and amazingness that Greece has to offer!  Needless to say, I probably will not have much of an opportunity to blog while I am traveling, but I am hoping to at least update everyone with some photos here or on my twitter page!

We are actually flying directly to Crete to spend some time Chania and Heraklion.  Since Crete is closer to Turkey, there are a lot of Turkish influences throughout the island, so it should be impressive!  Other than enjoying the beaches, Chania itself has a lot of national parks that are filled with all sorts or flora and fauna to enjoy.  

Chania (from Wikipedia)

One stop we may make it at the Palace of Knossos, which in Minoan times was the largest centre of population in Crete.

Santorini (from Wikipedia)

We will be staying right on the Caldera and are planning on enjoying the amazing sunset every night!  Santorini offers beaches of all types of sand: white, black and even red.  While we probably won't be riding and donkeys, we will be getting an up close and personal view of the volcanic crater :).

Finally, we will be making our last stop in Athens!  While I have been to Athens before, it was back in 2002 when they were still preparing for the Olympics, so I am excited to see how the city has changed since then.  

Athens (from Wikipedia)

We will be taking a tour to help see as many sites as possible in not too much time.  The city is just so amazingly old and to see the Acropolis in person, you finally realize what an impressive feat it was to build at the time. 

Obviously we will also be gorging on Greek food our entire trip.  I am really looking forward to the feta, the lamb, the octopus and some baklava!  It won't get much better than that.  So, if you are in any of these locations and see four Americans wondering around looking like they are having the best time ever, that will be my group!!!