Greece wrap-up

Whew. So, that was our trip. It was fabulous. Such a wonderful way to celebrate 25 years of marriage!

Along the way, we had a number of observations and thoughts. Rather than try to work them into all the previous posts, I figured I'd just make some lists here at the end...

Things we were thankful for:

• Europeans speaking English...Seriously, so impressed by how many languages most Europeans speak and thankful that pretty much everyone we encountered also spoke English, making things so much easier for us. (Truly, we felt like we should apologize for only speaking English. <hanging our heads>)
• towel warmers...Our AirBNB in Kalampaka had a towel warmer rack in the bathroom. I want one. For real.
• wide angle lenses...Our iPhones have wide angle lenses that came in very handy!
• smart phones...Relatedly, what did we do before smart phones? Numerous times we were thankful for having that technology in our pockets...for directions, websites, translations, keeping in touch with boys, etc.
• international credit cards...Travelers checks? What are those? lol...very thankful for the convenience of international credit cards.
• artists...In more than one museum, we noted that artists were to be applauded, not only for artwork itself but for their work historically making renditions of sites and works so that we now know what they looked like.
• good health & mobility...Also thankful for our good health and mobility. Being able to walk everywhere, climb all the steps and carry all our own stuff is very handy. It's a good motivator to stay in shape. ;) 
• tracking things...So glad we got Apple AirTags before this trip and put one in each bag. We'd never had a bag misplaced by the airline before (and we usually only travel with carry ons but knew the smaller airline would require checking a bag anyhow), but it was so valuable to know that our misplaced bag was in the building and not back in Athens or in some other city. 
• alpacas...For Christmas, I received a wonderful new sweater and also bought myself one of the same brand's base layers. They came in sooo handy in the cold weather! They're soft and comfy and warm and perfect.
• new shoes...Before the trip, both Nathan and I got these new shoes...specifically for this trip. We knew it was likely to be wet and that we'd still need traction for the walking and climbing and didn't have footwear that would work for that and yet also be comfortable enough on other just walking around days. (One pair of shoes for both purposes was preferable over taking both sneakers and hiking boots given our packing space.) They performed fantastically! We literally proclaimed our thankfulness regularly...as we were climbing uneven terrain in Athens and managing slippery streets in Santorini and actually hiking in wet conditions in Meteora. (By the way, marble and cobblestone are really slippery when wet!)
• Nathan's long arms...I don't know about you but I'm not good at taking selfies. My arms are short like a t-rex and it makes selfies look weird, lol. Thankfully, Nathan has long arms so was in charge of all of our selfies on our trip. :)  
• online manuals...It's so useful to be able to look up manuals for things online. When we were in Kalampaka, we did some laundry since our AirBNB had a washing machine. There were no instructions, though, and the labels weren't in English. Fortunately, I was able to look up the manual on my phone and figure it out. Yay!
• google maps...For whatever reason, Apple maps didn't work too well for us in Greece (and Siri really can't pronounce Greek places and street names well, lol). Google maps only led us wrong a couple of times and was much appreciated!

Things about Europe/Greece: 

• The EU digital covid vaccine passes are so much more convenient than our paper cards that don't fit in wallets. Whenever we went into a restaurant or museum or even some shops, we were asked to show our vaccine pass. For everyone else, this involved scanning something on their phones...easy, peasy. We felt a bit silly having to explain that the US doesn't have those and then having the person have to stop and read our little pieces of paper. (By the way, our handy passport/vaccination card holders that we picked up just before this trip came in very handy since we had to show our card so often.)
• Does anyone know what the deal is with speed limits through tunnels in Greece? When we were driving from Athens to Kalampaka, we went through numerous tunnels and they all had extensive warnings and signage and such to make sure you slowed down to 80kph. Inside those tunnels, there were also excessive emergency phones and fire extinguishers. It felt like something really bad had happened in a tunnel and this was the attempt to prevent it ever happening again.
• Apparently, Greece is the land of stray cats. They were everywhere. We took pictures, and Nathan made a friend in Oia that he even started feeding. (We're wondering whether Noah would have had a problem since he's allergic to cats...)
• In each of our AirBNBs, we had to turn on a switch before we needed hot water and wait a bit before using it (for a shower usually). We then flipped the switch back off when done. It took us a bit to remember but we figured it out and felt it was a good reminder about water and energy conservation. We've been trying to do better since being home.
• I'm so impressed by people's parking abilities in Europe. I literally would not have been able to drive or park there. I have depth perception issues and those roads and spots are tight. (Course, their cars are also generally smaller than here, which helps.)
• Other places are so much better at portion sizes than the US. You could tell which places were clearly tourist traps used to American tourists by the sizes of their meals. 
• It was lovely never having to hand our credit cards over to other people. Everywhere we went had card readers that they brought to you. You could just tap it. It would spit out your receipt. Done. Why isn't that the norm here?

General travel thoughts/tips (aka notes to ourselves):

• In the future, we want to find (and take) some local postcards or something to leave with thank you notes for our AirBNB hosts.
• We must remember to pack necessities in our carry on's. On our first flight (from home to Athens), I'd packed a spare outfit along with all my necessary toiletries in my carry on. From Athens to Santorini (where my checked bag got lost for a day), of course, I took the extra outfit out of my carry on and put it in the checked bag. So, I was without a change of clothes for a day. Fortunately, at least I had everything else I needed. 
• Course, it would be easier to just not check bags anyhow. I really must pack lighter. (Honestly, we packed lighter when we went on our Europe trip in May 2018 and that was a longer trip. We think that the season makes a difference. Sweaters take up more space than tank tops. Plus, on our 2018 trip we knew we were going to do laundry. We didn't actually plan to do laundry on this trip so packed more.)
• If you have an early flight, don't assume places will be open at the airport. Come prepared with snacks, water, book, etc.
• Keep a rough list as you go for the customs form when you're coming home. (I actually made a list when we were repacking everything to go home, so that came in very handy, but it would have been easier to just keep a running list on my phone.)
• If possible, pack all declared items for customs together so that, if they pull your bags for searching, everything is all together and accessible...and then you don't have to repack multiple bags. (Not talking from direct experience here or anything, lol.)
• Take a screen shot and/or save travel documents to your phone in case you can't access the internet at the airport. Fortunately, this didn't happen to us, but we saw others having issues. 
• Always pack pocket flashlights. Ours came in incredibly handy walking to our places in the dark and worked better than phone flashlight apps in the rain. 
• We're so glad that we rented cars on this trip. Even though driving in foreign countries can be scary, doing so gave us so much more flexibility and freedom and let us experience things that we couldn't have if we'd been reliant only on public transportation. Relatedly, I find it concerning that they'll just let us rent cars without providing any sort of instruction or a booklet with keys to the foreign traffic signs and rules. That would have been incredibly helpful.
• From now on we'll be adding a small travel pharmacy to take with us. We were totally fine, but we'd read ahead of time that it was a good idea to pack some meds since it might be tricky or inconvenient to find things...so we had Advil, Sudafed, Dramamine, and Tums with us. But I didn't pack any Claritin. And in the last couple of days, Nathan probably would have taken some if we'd had any. (Something seemed to have bloomed and was causing some allergies...which also reminded me that Benadryl might not be a bad idea to have, too.) 
• I rarely use cash these days. Cash was more necessary in Greece, though. And change in Europe is more often in coins than here. So having a coin purse would have been handy. (Ironically, I made myself a mental note of this after our Europe trip in 2018 and totally forgot.) I ended up with just a jacket pocket dedicated to cash and change.

Other:

• Archaeologists are cool. Indiana Jones had already done great things for the profession but visiting all these places really makes you appreciate archaeologists. They must have such patience and be so good at puzzles. 
• Wow. I have more white hair than I thought. :) My white hair is more prominent in the back...where I can't see it. Seeing pictures that Nathan took that showed all the white hairs surprised me, lol. 
• I must remember that things take longer to dry in places with more humidity. Fortunately, all of our places had hair dryers, so that was good. But if you do a load of wash and there's no dryer, hanging things to dry takes longer than it would here in fairly dry Colorado. Also fortunately, the AirBNB where we did a load of laundry also had wonderful radiators throughout the space which we hung things on (from hangers). 
• Thankful, too, that we could take this trip without boys. It's good to have older kids. :) Noah and Asher were obviously fine, as they live away from home in the first place. And Micah's pretty self-sufficient. Given the length of our trip, though, we asked Noah to come home and stay with Micah. Between the two of them, they managed to stay fed and (mostly) get to classes. (Noah appreciated the warmth and convenience of getting to class in a car instead of having to walk or bike.) They also managed a vehicle breakdown (Micah figured out the problem with the help of a friend and bought the parts, and then he and Noah got it to the shop and picked it up), and Micah even applied for and started a new job. Yay!

And, finally, I'll leave you with some random pictures of food we enjoyed during our trip...

Um, yum. :)

So, that was Greece. Lots of pictures. Lots of memories. We're so incredibly blessed to have been able to take this trip...and so incredibly blessed to celebrate 25 years of marriage! Tremendously thankful for my wonderful husband for so many reasons...

And, as usual, traveling just makes us want to travel even more. :)

Delphi & Athens again

And, finally, after we left Kalampaka, we drove about 3.5 hours to Delphi. We drove through fog, snow, rain and sunshine and arrived to a downpour that started about as we stepped out of the car. It just made sense, then, to start our visit there by going through the Delphi Archaeological Museum. (I have pictures but didn't include them here.)

Fortunately, the rain let up while we were inside the museum, so we grabbed some quick sandwiches from the gift shop area then headed to the outdoor sites...

Pictured above: The Treasury of Athenians, the Temple of Apollo (where the oracle would sit), an engraved wall, the theater, random impressive stuff, us in front of the Temple of Apollo, and the Temple of Athena (where one had to go initially to get permission to see the Oracle). Sadly, the stadium at the main site and the gymnasium on the way to the Temple of Athena were both closed for the season.

From there, we drove the 2.5 hours to Athens (with a stop for coffee and snacks, of course) and found our AirBNB (near the airport, just outside of Athens) just after dark. We met with our enthusiastic host, walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner (upon our host's recommendation), and finished out the day. 

Wednesday, we set out in the gusty wind to get our required covid tests for our flight the following day (thankful for the lab recommendation from our host!), stopped at a couple bakeries, and drove to the airport. We parked there, went inside for some paperwork we'd need for the flight and then took the metro into the city. (Driving and trying to park in the city did not sound appealing.)

Above: Nathan walking in the Athens Flea Market, us having figured out the metro system well, a view of our rental car and AirBNB, us across the street from our AirBNB (in front of the Aegean Sea), the view from our AirBNB, and me freezing in the wind before hurrying back to our place. 

For what it's worth, it seemed like March 1 was the magic day when a great number of the shops that had been closed when we first arrived in Greece decided to open. The Athens Flea Market and neighborhood shopping areas were notably busier and there were a lot more people out and about. (It looked, too, like it might be spring break for a number of European colleges and schools based on the number of young person groups we saw.) It was fun seeing more things open but we actually preferred the quieter time when we had first arrived, when things were still closed for the season and there were fewer people. :)

And then we somehow managed to pack everything back into all our bags, wake up crazy early to get to the airport, and fly home. Whew.

Back in a bit with more wrap-up sorts of things...

Meteora

From Santorini, we flew back to Athens, rented a car, and drove about four hours to the town of Kalampaka (also written as Kalabaka). We checked into our AirBNB then took advantage of the remaining daylight to drive the Meteora loop. (Similar to when we arrived in Santorini, the forecast indicated this might be our only good weather day. It's almost like the bad weather was following us, right?)

Meteora is a rock formation/area and home to amazing Eastern Orthodox monasteries built precipitously on immense natural pillars and boulders. It's also a UNESCO World Heritage site (as was the Acropolis). 

It was amazing. The pictures don't even do it justice. Wow.

The next day, we were scheduled to do a scramble tour with Visit Meteora but it was raining and windy and yucky. In the end, the scramble tour was cancelled and we were offered the option of going on the hiking tour instead...which we considered but ultimately decided against, in favor of waiting a day to see if the weather improved enough to do the scramble tour. Instead, then, we spent a quiet day enjoying the comforts of our AirBNB--doing some laundry and reading and just relaxing. We headed out for lunch and to drive the loop again in the misty conditions (and ventured over the crest and found snow). We also found some short hikes after the rain had mostly stopped...to hidden monasteries in the rocks and caves and ruins.

Again, the pictures don't do it justice. It was eerily cool. Oh, and that bottom right photo is the town square in Kastriki, a nearby village. We were trying to go to a geologic museum there but it was closed.

The next morning, the scramble was still canceled (the rocks were too wet) but it wasn't actively raining or windy. So, we went on the hiking tour...which turned out to be a private tour with just us and our awesome guide, Kostas. He led us around the area, sharing stories and background and his love for the place. 

As part of the tour, we also went into one of the monasteries (Varlaam) before finishing our fabulous hike. It was a lovely way to spend our morning and one of our favorite things.

The rest of the day was spent back at our AirBNB, getting a late lunch, and checking out an interesting mushroom museum. (Technically, it's the Natural History Museum and Mushroom Museum.)

And we ended our evening as we did every evening during our stay in Kalampaka...enjoying a fabulous dinner at the Meteoron Panorama restaurant. This place was recommended to us by our AirBNB hosts and was so delicious the first night that we went back every night. Here's a sampling of what we ate and drank there:

Yum! And that last shot is the view from the restaurant. Amazing.

Sidenote here to comment about the pace of dinners in Europe. They definitely enjoy dinners and meals at a different pace than here. We knew this from our time in Europe before and really embraced it this time...which was wonderful. We thoroughly enjoyed our dinner experiences...particularly on Santorini and here. Places would bring us some combination of shots of pre-dinner drinks, dishes of olives, shots of post-dinner drinks (often made specifically at that restaurant), and small desserts...just as a matter of course (without any extra charge). If we'd been typical Americans and just asked for the check as soon as we'd finished eating (which we saw some others do), we'd have missed out on so much goodness. Also, our waitresses at both Meteoron Panorama and Kokkalo Restaurant in Fira were fabulous and we had a great time chatting with them!

(Honestly, those were some of the best drinks and bites. I'm not sure if it had anything to do with the fact that it's off season and they were just grateful for the business or if it made a difference that it was just us and not all five of us. Regardless, we loved it.)

And then we continued on from Kalampaka...

Santorini

Next up is Santorini. We spent the longest there, so this will be a long post. :) 

Santorini is "the" Greek island...the one people think of with the whitewashed buildings and blue domes and gorgeous sunsets. Officially, the island's name is Thira and it's part of a small archipelago...and site to one of the largest volcanic eruptions--the Minoan eruption about 3600 years ago. Thanks to that eruption, Thira is crescent shaped around the crater. (There are a number of smaller islands around the crater, too, but Thira is the main inhabited one and what people mean when referring to Santorini.)

I'm sure many of the other Greek islands are fabulous and hope to visit some of them someday. :) We chose Santorini because we had to make a choice, and Santorini sounded beautiful and popular enough to still be at least somewhat active during off season. We weren't disappointed. 

Also, for those who are curious, we opted to fly from Athens to Santorini (rather than take a ferry...because I get seasick and because in off season the ferry schedules were less reliable and because we didn't want to spend the extra travel time so were willing to pay the higher cost to fly). 

TUESDAY. We took the short flight from Athens and ended up spending extra time at the small airport waiting for one of our bags. Thankfully, we'd put Apple trackers in each of our bags so were able to tell that it was actually in the airport. (Seriously, this was awesome for our peace of mind.) Our best guess is that it fell off the conveyor belt somewhere along the way, and the small airport didn't have the right personnel to get access to that area to retrieve it quickly. Given that we at least knew the bag was there and given that we knew that first day on the island was potentially our only good weather day, we eventually left the airport in our little rental car (without our bag). We got checked in to our AirBNB in Oia then headed right back out. We'd hoped to do the famous Fira to Oia hike but were running out of daylight and had missed the bus that would have brought us to Fira so that we could hike back to where our place was. Instead, then, we opted to drive ourselves to the Skaros Rock offshoot of the hike and just do that part. 

Skaros Rock is a small peninsula off the west coast of the island. Given its elevation, it was once a defensive fortification and you can still see remnants of that. Also, a small church now exists on the far (west) side of the promontory. We hiked down to the little church and back up to the nearest town and enjoyed the sunshine. 

From there, we found our way to the city of Fira (one of the main cities) and wandered a bit before the skies opened with the forecast rain. A nice couple directed us to an open restaurant for dinner. It was fabulous!

WEDNESDAY. The next day was grey and rainy. We enjoyed our morning hot drinks on our patio and Nathan made a friend. From there, we ventured to the south of the island (Oia is on the very north end and it's a small island) to the Akrotiri Archeological Site. The structure protecting the site was quite impressive and we appreciated being indoors for a bit. After that, we drove to the nearby Akrotiri Lighthouse and scrambled our way out to the tip. It was wet and windy but also very cool and beautiful.

While we were out there, our AirBNB host let us know that the airline had finally recovered my bag and delivered it to our host, who placed it in our room. (If you're ever in Santorini and looking for an AirBNB, we have an amazing recommendation!) Our host also provided a lunch recommendation near where we were, which was appreciated since many places aren't open during the off season.

After lunch, we did our first ever wine tasting at Estate Argyros then sought out Nathan's afternoon coffee and found that at an amazing bakery (that I'd seen recommended online in numerous posts and that we happened upon by accident). We took our yummies and walked the couple blocks to the Kamari Beach. Obviously, it's the wrong season for swimming or even wading but we enjoyed some leisurely beach-combing before driving back to our AirBNB. Shortly after getting back, the skies opened again, causing literal rivers of water in the streets and walkways. (We're told this was very unusual.)

THURSDAY. It was very windy! From our AirBNB, we walked just down the "street" and then down the almost 300 steps to Ammoudi Bay and around the tip of the island for a bit in the wind. (Normally, there are busy restaurants and shops down there, but everything was closed during off season.) Nathan made another feline friend who followed us for a bit and then we hiked back up to town.

Once back in Oia, the sun came out momentarily and we took full advantage to run around taking pictures of the gorgeous town. 

As we drove to do lunch in Fira, the clouds and cold wind came back but that didn't stop us from getting gelato after our lunch. ;) 

From there, we went to maybe my favorite museum during our trip...the Koutsogiannopoulos Wine Museum, also known as the Cave Wine Museum. We went through the fascinating museum (yes, in a cave) and then did another wine tasting there. After that, we got Nathan's coffee and desserts then drove the island some more and ended up in the village of Emporio where we explored on foot...such interesting and beautiful stuff! 

FRIDAY. On our last full day on the island, we stopped at a pottery place (also, see here) recommended by our AirBNB host (a friend of hers) who showed us his process and work there at Earth and Water Pottery. From there, we drove to the highest point on the island and walked around the Holy Monastery of Prophet Elias there in the high winds. (It was closed to the public for the off season.) We followed that by driving the 22 switchbacks to what was probably the second highest point on the island...the Ancient Thira site.  

It was soooo gusty up there!! The lady manning the ticket booth thought we were insane, for sure. Nathan actually had to hold my hand to keep me from blowing off course a few times. But. It was an amazing site and story and we had it all to ourselves. :) 

From there, we drove down to Fira for lunch and some shopping and gelato...then back to Oia for some shopping...and then finally enjoyed one of the celebrated Santorini sunsets. (It rained during all the other sunsets while we were there.) We made our way to the Old Oia Castle to enjoy the view. 

SATURDAY. Saturday morning we appreciated the sunrise as we headed to the airport to catch our flight back to Athens. 

That bottom right photo was along the drive to the airport...a hillside of homes shaped like windmills (without active "blades"). I just thought it was cool...and interesting. I wished we could go inside them and was curious how they handled all the curved walls. 

And then we boarded our plane and said goodbye to Santorini...

Athens

Guys, I have soooo many pictures from this trip. I grouped them as best I could and am just going to go through quick posts from each location, and then I'll do a trip wrap-up at the end. 

I'll start with Athens, since that's where we started. 

So, we flew into Athens and took the metro from the airport to Syntagma Square. We walked the short distance (2 blocks?) to our AirBNB and got settled. Our first full day in Athens was overcast but lovely, and we did a LOT of walking. Places we walked and visited that first day:

Parliament - to watch the changing of the guard (we didn't stay for the bigger, weekly changing of the guard that includes a parade, though). We found it interesting that the guards are accompanied by two soldiers...one escorts the guards to and from when they change and one stays with the posted guards. As the newly posted guards take their places, the soldier who stays with them checks them each meticulously to make sure their uniform and tassles and other accessories are all just right.

National Gardens - we didn't spend much time here, just walking through and enjoying the scenery on our way to the next site (I have pictures, but none here)...Nathan particularly liked all the orange trees

Temple of the Olympian Zeus - an introduction to scale and being impressed by the largeness of it all (again, I have pictures but didn't include them here)

Pananthenaic Stadium - we climbed the 107 steps, saw all the past Olympic torches and walked on the track...very cool

Arch of Hadrian - pictured in the middle just below

Acropolis Museum - an impressively large museum and a nice place to visit before actually going to the Acropolis (to get a much better feel for what the Acropolis used to be). They had all sorts of artifacts from the Acropolis that have been preserved here, and the entire building actually sits over another archeological site--a neighborhood that had been discovered and preserved and then saved further by building the museum over it. (Side note, a number of the floors in the museum are transparent. Maybe don't wear a dress or skirt that day if you go, lol.)

The Acropolis - and then we walked the short distance to the Acropolis and climbed the site to see all the different things there. (For those who might not know, The Acropolis refers to the entire rocky outcrop above the city and all of the structures there.) It was very cool. And we were thankful to be there during off season so that it wasn't utterly crowded or hot.

From top to bottom, left to right: entering from the south entrance, the Odeon of Herodes Atticus...us in front of the Parthenon...the Erechtheum (just next to the Old Temple of Athena), and me at the Propylaea.

Mars Hill - after descending from the Acropolis, we climbed Mars Hill for the view (and saw an awesome street busker who'd managed to get himself up on a high gate as we were leaving)...we then wandered a few streets of market type stalls/tables before entering...

Ancient Agora - the Ancient Agora was a gathering place located to the northwest of the Acropolis. We wandered the Stoa of Attalos (a columned, covered walkway commonly for public use), saw the Church of the Holy Apostles, enjoyed the surprising statutes of Socrates and Confucius and were impressed by the Temple of Hephaestus.

The next day was sunnier and involved even more walking, actually. Without a clear plan, we mostly just wandered through the nearby neighborhoods and shopping districts and found ourselves climbing Filopappos Hill and taking in the view (and the monument and the Prison of Socrates)...

That last picture is the Stoa of Attalos again, with the Acropolis in the background, and a metro train in the foreground. Also, zoom in on that yellow box in the top right corner. It made us smile. :) 

Not pictured, we also enjoyed the Athens flea market, found the Central Market, ate plenty, and just plain explored. And that was our time in Athens. Whew.

The next morning, we gathered our stuff, walked back to the metro at Syntagma Square, got to the airport and boarded our flight to Santorini...