A Half Pike Across the Pond

June 20

We had an early morning ferry to catch!

It was a pretty rough ride to Santorini, but luckily we were doing okay.

The hotel was a cute little place!

Once we got settled into the hotel, I was ready to enjoy some of that mediterranean sunshine! We had lunch at a cute little place called the Pelican.

We spent the rest of the afternoon by the sipping cocktails by the pool.

For dinner we went to the Chefs Garden and had an awesome meal.

After the long travel day, we called it quits early and headed to bed.

June 22

To keep things on island time, we took it pretty easy in the morning by sleeping in some and heading back to the Pelican for lunch. (We liked it so much the first time why not go for seconds!) After lunch we wondered around the city we were staying, Fira, in some more and did some window shopping.

We had heard really good things about the sunset at Oia, so we rented an ATV and drove up for dinner and to see the world famous sunset.

It was kind of fun driving around on it!

You can really see the white buildings and blue tops here

We were aiming to get the postcard picture from Santorini and I think we got pretty close!

We found a great spot for dinner. We were looking out over the volcano side (vs beach side) and could see the cruise ships coming in for the evening.

After dinner and a bit of wondering we decided to take the road along

the beach back to the hotel in Fira. Gorgeous drive!

June 23

We had the ATV for 24 hours, so we got up at a decent time and

headed south to see the red and black sand beaches.

We came up on the red sand beach first.

From far away it is easier to see the red hint of the sand than when you are up close on it.

Going a little further south we arrived at the black sand beach. Here you could rent the beach chairs and waiters came out to deliver drinks and snacks. Behind the beach, there were bars and restaurants along the road that you could walk to. We sat down at one and it ended up being one of the longest lunches we have ever had... needless to say they were a little under staffed that day! But by the time the food came we were so hungry it didn't really matter haha

I ended up driving us back to the hotel... which was not an easy task. The street signs and directions were very confusing! Jeffrey was navigating and I was driving....

Once back in Fira, we went to a Cafe Classico... not the best of food but the place had really good views. We had another early morning ferry ride, so we decided to call it a night after some gelato and walking around :)

June 23

We got the ferry first thing in the morning and arrived a little after lunch in Rafina Port. We got some food in the port and decided to go ahead and get checked into the hotel. We did a hotel close to the airport because we had another early morning travel day with flights to Istanbul. This was our recover and relaxing day :) Once we got to the hotel, we did a little foot exploring and walked to a cute little cafe near the beach.

The sea always seems to wash the worries away and a great way to relax and kill the time. After some time here, we headed back to the hotel to play some cards and ended up ordering a pizza for dinner!

June 17

After a day full of travel, we were eager to get checked into our hotel and start wondering this ancient greek city. We had great views from our hotel!

Our first stop was to get some food. We ended up going to Tzitsikas & Mermingas. We had a mix from meatballs to fried cheese with honey and bacon to couscous with salmon. All tasty

After getting some food, we ended up walking into this demonstration. We were visiting right before the country was due to come to an agreement on the debt issue.

Very interesting time to visit!

And the perfect way to end the first day in Greece was by trying some greek pints!

And believe it or not, the beer was just as good as the wine :)

June 18

For our first full day in Greece, we started off with a food tour.

For breakfast, we tried some traditional greek yogurt with honey and walnuts, rice pudding with cinnamon, and fried doughnuts with syrup (i.e. sugar water). I was a little surprised by the greek yogurt because there was a weird film on the yogurt... a true sign of original greek yogurt according to our guide. Kind of sad to realize the greek yogurt in the grocery store is not close at all haha

After all the sweets, our guide balanced out the next stop with traditional feta cheese. I didn't realize that true feta cheese is 30% goat and 70% sheep. We tried 2 different types based on the aging process and were wowed at how delicious fresh feta can be!

The next stop was on to the meat and fish market.

We were able to try a lamb slider burger, peppers, olives, some sausage, halloumi, and Tsipoaro (liquor drink). I have grown to love love olives over the past few years, however these olives were much stronger than I would have thought. We got some olive soap from the market to take home too!

We had noticed there were coffee shops all over Athens, so I was excited to try some traditional coffee at our next stop. This coffee shop not only served the traditional style, but they also roasted their own beans. So the traditional coffee is heated coffee grinds over hot rocks in a briki (the pot) and then poured into the cup. The top is foam and at the bottom are the grinds. It is very strong so you drink it slowly and don't finish it (because of the grinds at the bottom). I wasn't a huge fan but I think Jeffrey liked it quite well.

After the coffee, we headed toward the savory for the afternoon. We tried some dried camel (which was very spicy), veal, and pastrami and more cheese. Given the cities diverse background, it was fun to try some non-traditional greek food but something still very rich and alive in the city still today.

While we are really starting to get full, we were headed to one of the two most famous souvlaki shops in the city and probably our favorite stop on the tour.

We tried both the pork and the chicken with tomatoes with french fries in the wrap. OMG this was by far the best souvlaki I have ever had... I can still taste it today!

Our last and final stop was more a traditional meal.
We tried fava bean puree, herb greens, calamari, zucchini cheese balls and some wine. After the tour our thoughts on greek food definitely changed a little...

- there were more fried dishes than we thought,

- baklava has mixed nuts and turkish baklava has peanuts,

- tzatziki is not in all souvlaki and

- in Greece everyone has a second birthday to celebrate their name, (i.e. name day)

And yes were stuffed from all the food on the tour,

so the only logical next step was to walk it off!

With everything really close by, we headed over to the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian's Arch to walk around.

To really make sure we were moving around enough... Jeffrey wanted to get the perfect shot of me jumping in front of the columns.....

So we took a few takes....

Tried getting a closer focus.....

and several takes later, still didn't get the shot of me in the air haha

Oh well at least it was fun trying!

and I think we ended up getting ever angle possible in front of the 15 columns still standing!

Afterwards we headed up toward the National Park to see the original Olympic Park.

After all the jumping around and full bellies, I started to not feel so hot, so we headed back to the hotel to rest up for another adventurous day.

June 19

With our second and last day in the city, we headed out to see the unforgettable sights that you just can't leave Athens without seeing :) We started near the hotel with Hardian's Library.