Hello! Long time no talk. How are you all?
We got back from Greece on Saturday around 3 PM, and promptly fell asleep at 7:45 and slept for 11 hours straight. We were moving around a lot during the last part of our trip, so it was a little tiring. But we had so much fun! The country was a LOT different than we’d thought it would be, but then again… we didn’t do much research. (Does replaying scenes from Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in my head count?) We stayed in five places and slept in seven different beds, and I’ve got photos of it all! I’m breaking the trip down into parts so it’s not so overwhelming, or boring, to look at zillions of pictures of me and B drinking (cheap!) wine and making funny faces.
We landed in Athens late Sunday afternoon, and checked into a FABULOUS loft via AirBnB. There was a huge terrace area, and we could look out on the Athens sprawl.
In the morning, we ate the first of many bowls of Greek yogurt with fresh figs and nuts. A note on the yogurt: we ate full-fat every day, which not only tasted phenomenal but kept us really full! And the figs… oh, mama. I literally ate almost two pounds a day.
Athens was extremely hot. It was in the high 90s everyday, and as is true for almost all of Greece, there is no.shade. I am what B and I refer to as a “delicate flower,” meaning I wilt in heat and sweat profusely (not-so-delicately).
We went to see the ruins, which was kind of incredible…. Haven’t we been hearing about these ancient places since we started school?!
With the exception of one hotel- where breakfast was served indoors- we ate outdoors for every meal. It was wonderful, and I wish the weather permitted us to keep this up!
My handsome companion
Greek coffee is delicious! We ordered Americanos most of the time, and “filter coffee” (i.e.) drip when it wasn’t available.
We ate grilled octopus whenever we could; however, a lot of the seafood in Greece is actually frozen and/or imported from New Zealand! It was kind of baffling at first- hello, we are surrounded by water!- but it’s easy to see that with tourism the ocean could easily be overfished. Luckily, many of the restaurants indicate when their menu items are (or aren’t) fresh.
Although we would return to Athens at the end of our trip (that’s the main way to fly out), we took a ferry to Santorini on Tuesday. The word “ferry” means something a lot different in Greece than it does here… these were like cruise ships! The trips from island to island can be quite long, though- this one was seven hours- so it was nice to be somewhat comfortable.
Keeping ourselves entertained on the boat:
When our boat docked in Santorini, we took a bus to Fira, one of the main cities on the island. Then we took a 15 minute (HOT) walk to our hotel, which was quite pleasant. It had a pool, which was lovely to cool off by, and a great breakfast spread.
On our first night, walking to dinner, we found fresh grapes by the road! They were very sweet and juicy. A few days later, we found a bunch of raisins- grapes that had dried in the sun!
Around the islands, you can get a carafe (1/2 liter) of wine for 3- 5 Euros. And we’re not talking about Carlo Rossi! It was pretty good. B was most excited to eat olives; we go through about a quart a week at home.
While we were traveling, we adopted a more intuitive style of eating which was really helpful for my stomach. We shared a couple of small plates so we could try different things, but didn’t overeat. It sounds easy, but not eating everything in front of me has always been hard for me, and I know that going to bed with a really full stomach isn’t so pleasant. Here, we have fava beans (like hummus, a specialty of Santorini), baked feta with tomatoes and olives, and rice.
I did my best not to eat gluten when I was away (although I made some exceptions, as I’ll show you later), but it would have been impossible to avoid dairy. Thank goodness I wasn’t still vegan! I think it’s important to taste a culture’s cuisine when you travel, but I also really wanted to feel good (which I did, for the most part, with the exception of a few days). So rather than try not to eat dairy and gluten, I just went the gluten route. B and I joked that I was on a “cheese and yogurt diet,” because it’s in EVERYTHING.
We had some of the best octopus of the trip at a little cafe by the city’s center. They also had amazing salads, which have convinced us that sundried tomatoes should always been on-hand in our kitchen.
From the same cafe, baked eggplant with soft cheese, tomatoes + herbs. This was so tender! As you can see, Grecians don’t seem to be afraid of olive oil, and that’s okay! Perhaps I’ll bring this lesson home.
I think we were expecting the islands to be a little more lush; they were really dry. There aren’t many trees that are taller than a bush, so there wasn’t much shade. We’d planned to take a lot of walks, but it really wasn’t possible because of the heat.
The other main city in Santorini, Oia, has four famous fish tavernas right on the water. We didn’t end up having time to visit them, but our boat gave us a good view.
On our last full day in Santorini, we rented a car- a must, which we hadn’t realized beforehand- and drove to a nearby beach. This beach- “The Black Beach” was made with volcanic sand. It was extremely hot, so we couldn’t really read on the beach as we’d planned, but did spend a nice hour playing in the waves.
The best part of this beach was the cafe that was literally right on it. It wasn’t crowded, and we had a perfect view.
Rosé at 1 PM? We’re on vacation!
I’ll be back later with tales of Crete! This is my first week of school + my new job, so things have been busybusybusy over here. (I’ve also somehow thrown out my back…?) Hope you are all enjoying your Septembers!