GREECE!

Late post on an amazing 10 days in Greece over Fourth of July weekend, but better late than never! Greece was beautiful and a bucket list experience. And, a perfect place to celebrate Neal's 30th birthday! 2 nights in Athens, 3 nights in Mykonos, and 3 nights in Santorini.

Flying into Athens

Athens

We weren't sure what to expect with Athens. Many mixed reviews, and mostly negative with many people saying not to waste too much time there. Boy were they wrong. We loved Athens and its bustling atmosphere. We spent 1 full day in Athens, and 2 nights. Perfect amount of time.

In Athens, we stayed at the stunning 5* King George Hotel. It felt so luxurious and was is a central location. We used Marriott points for the hotel.

Our first night - Neal's actual birthday - we had dinner at Hytra Restaurant. A delicious, and relatively inexpensive Michelin star restaurant that had beautiful views of the Acropolis. We had the tasting menu and lots of vino. It was the first time we tried true Greek Santorini wine, and certainly not our last, especially since the wine was so cheap everywhere we went! So, if you go to Athens, Hytra is a must. I'm sad I didn't take pictures of the food, but I was experiencing sensory overload with all the good food, wine, views, service, atmosphere. The absolute perfect start to our vacation.

Acropolis in the background

Sunset views!

Birthday dessert for the birthday boy!

We woke up the next day ready to explore. And, of course, we woke up hungry! We walked from our hotel to the Monastiraki area to have lunch at Bairaktaris Taverna, an authentic Greek restaurant one of our friends recommended to us. Per usual, we ordered way too much food - plates filled with pork and chicken gyros with french fries, and a Greek salad piled high with yummy feta cheese. The best recommendation was to ask for the "yellow sauce" with the gyros which was like a glorified honey mustard sauce that I still dream about. I ordered that yellow sauce so many times on the trip!

We continued to just explore the area and just embrace the culture. We found ourselves wandering down random streets and stopping at little shops for wine and people-watching. It was so fun and relaxing.

Birthday boy

After a few hours, we made our way to the Acropolis, the must-see attraction in Athens. Obviously since it is right in the middle of Athens, we "saw" it multiple times a day, but we hadn't yet explored it. Going to Athens in the middle of the summer meant the days were HOT and everywhere was crowded, so we decided to do an afternoon tour with Athens-Walks when the crowds were lighter and the sun was going down.

Sunset views

After our tour, we made our way to A for Athens, a lovely bar with killer views. We planned on having a few drinks before grabbing dinner, but ended up staying for hours! Loved this place, and loved Athens.

A for Athens bar

Mykonos

Next up on our trip was Mykonos! We expected Mykonos to be a crazy party, but it was so much more. It was beautiful and magical and surprising. I loved everything about it.

We stayed in a cute AirBnb in Mykonos Town which was a perfect location for us. Near the Windmills and Little Venice. Lots of good food and nightlife.

We arrived in the afternoon and started exploring. Everywhere we looked we saw beautiful things.

View from a random bar where we stopped for some wine.

Our first full day in Mykonos meant that it was our first day to explore on our ATV! Honestly, renting an ATV for two days was one of the best decisions we made in Mykonos because we explored different areas of the island at our pace. We stopped on random beaches and tavernas along the way. I think we paid maybe $100 total for two days? Worth it. While we didn't have a strict itinerary in Mykonos, I knew that we had to visit Kiki's Tavern - a hard-to-find restaurant with a long wait, a private beach, and the best grilled pork chop I have ever eaten in my entire life.

Exploring on our ATV!

Beautiful beaches everywhere

<3

The gorgeous little private beach at Kiki's Tavern

Yummy grilled octopus

THE PORK CHOP. YOU MUST EAT THIS!

After a full day of exploring, we headed back to Mykonos Town to watch the sunset before dinner. More gyros. And more yellow sauce!

Our last full day was a dedicated beach day. We found ourselves for hours at Super Paradise Beach with lounge chairs right in front of the water. Absolutely perfect.

As we were winding down on the beach we came up with the crazy idea to take a helicopter from Mykonos to Santorini, instead of taking our already-scheduled ferry transfer. It was definitely the wine that made us splurge, but no regrets. Neither of us had ever been in a helicopter, and what better views than of the Greek islands?! I mean...come on...look at how happy Neal is to be in the helicopter!

After about 30 minutes, we arrived in Santorini!

Santorini

When we thought of Greece, we thought of the postcard pictures of romantic white houses with blue roofs and gorgeous sunsets. When we did our research, we learned that those pictures are of Oia, a town in Santorini. And of course, we knew that's where we had to stay.

We booked the Sailing Suite at 1864 The Sea Captain's House - one of the best rooms we've ever stayed in, with views I can't even adequately describe. The staff was so kind, and we had huge private breakfast spreads every morning.

Breakfast from our private balcony. The food. The views. Amazing.

For our first night in Santorini, we decided to have dinner in Ammoudi Bay, a mere 200 steps down to the waterfront. Now, let's back up. Oia is beautiful, but there are tons of steps everywhere and not easy in the summer heat. So, we were a little tired, and certainly hungry, by the time we climbed down. Thankfully, dinner at Ammoudi Tavern hit the spot. We picked out freshly-caught seafood to eat and let the chef pick the preparation. Yumm. And then...we walked back up the 200 steps...Yikes!

Sunset view from Ammoudi Bay

Night view from our balcony was just as beautiful.

For our next day in Santorini, we took a wine tour with Santorini Wine Adventures. I'm glad we did the tour because we did learn a lot, but our enthusiastic guide was so talkative that it was sometimes at the expense of making sure we all had wine to drink! Oh well, we took all our new knowledge and made sure to get a great bottle of wine later!

To finish off the day, we had dinner on the rooftop at Skala restaurant, at the recommendation of a friend. The food was great and not too expensive.

We decided to do a Catamaran Tour with Santorini Sailing for our last day in Santorini. It was so fun! We made a few different stops at the Red Beach, White Beach, and the Volcanic Springs to swim. There was unlimited beer and wine, and we had an unbelievable BBQ dinner right before watching the sunset.

Our catamaran!

Well Santorini - and Greece in general - thanks for being beautiful and kind and delicious.