#6 Bask in the Sun on the Greek Islands

For the second half of our honeymoon we decided to visit Greece. Neither of us had been before and it was one of the only tropical locations that didn’t have a risk of contracting Zika, so the decision was pretty easy. We were really looking for a beach getaway, but from everything I read you need to spend one day in Athens, so we decided to start our adventure there.

The one thing we did differently for this portion of the trip is that we used a travel agent. She booked all of our hotels, ferries and excursions. In hindsight, I would have done it myself (which is what we did for Ireland). We used the same travel agent we had for our wedding. She had done a fantastic job coordinating things for Mexico, but pretty much everything she planned in Greece had some sort of issue. If we were to do this again, I would either book everything myself, which is pretty easy to do online, or hire a travel agent that specializes in that area of the world.

We arrived in Athens on May 16, 2019, and hadn’t yet heard from our travel agent when we would be picked up the next day to catch the ferry for Mykonos. Upon arrival at noon, we found out it would be at 5AM. Not an ideal time on any vacation, but also this gave us very limited time in Athens. We had a bike tour scheduled that afternoon though that was supposed to take us through all the important sights so we weren’t too worried. We dropped our stuff at the hotel and had lunch at God’s restaurant across from the Acropolis.

The view was spectacular and the food was delicious. (The food in Ireland was good, but very heavy, so it was nice to have a lighter meal with some veggies.)

Following that we went back to the hotel to get ready for our tour and when we arrived, received a message that the tour had been cancelled. Now, had I booked it myself, I would have found out the day before, but our travel agent didn’t tell us until the last minute. We just went with it though (after all we were on vacation in a beautiful location) and found a Segway company that offered to take us out on a private tour. The Segways were so funny. Of course Mychael, being the super-good-at-everything guy he is, picked it up instantly. I however, almost hit a parked car.😆 So we embraced our inner nerds and Segway’d our way around Athens.

It’s incredible how much history there is in that city. And you don’t have to go far to find it. The city is built around the Acropolis and everywhere you turn there are more ancient ruins (a big difference from in the US where an old Blockbuster constitutes ancient ruins). Our guide said they actually had to stop digging because there is so much history there that they would never be able to build anything. It was a whirlwind of a tour, but we were able to see a lot.

And the best part…Mychael tolerated all my photo requests. We even wrapped up the day by taking some shots at Hadrian’s Arch, which was constructed in 131 AD and was right across the street from our hotel.

That night we randomly had dinner at the most delicious Indian restaurant and then walked around to see the city at night.

We had a great time walking around all the little side streets, window shopping and of course sampling the local ice cream (Mychael wouldn’t have it any other way).

The next morning we got up before the crack of dawn to catch the ferry to Mykonos. The inter-island ferries are actually very nice. They are huge with spacious seating, food and a bar.

This one was so early though that we slept most of the way. Upon our arrival, we were met by a driver holding a sign with Mychael’s name on it (cool VIP touch) who took us to the hotel.

Our hotel was a bit outside of town, which we liked. It was a really modern place that seemed so luxurious compared to how we had been traveling up until this point. (Overall the rest of our trip was set up to be a lot more relaxing, lavish and more of what you’d typically expect on a honeymoon.)

We hung out at the beautiful pool overlooking the Aegean Sea while we waited for our room to be ready.

Once we were able to officially check in, we got changed and took a taxi into town.

The downtown area was bustling with tourists checking out souvenirs in the many shops. The best way to describe the area is a labyrinth of walk streets. It was so cool and I can imagine plenty of confused tourists getting lost back there.🤣

After our window shopping, we had a drink on the tiniest balcony over the water at a place named Katerina’s…

followed by a delicious dinner at a beautiful restaurant called Remezzo where we watched our first Greek sunset.

We’d heard about the sunsets in Santorini (our next stop), but every single sunset in Greece was breathtaking.

Following dinner we tried to find a spot to relax and have a cup of coffee, but didn’t have any luck. That was our first sign that this island might be a little different than what we expected. Mykonos is apparently the party capital of Greece (oops…looks like we should have done some more research first). As one of the more popular Greek islands, we figured it should be a stop on our itinerary, but we quickly found out that the nights are filled with drinking and partying…not exactly what we were looking for on this trip. I guess we should have been tipped off when we saw shirts in the souvenir shops that said Mykonos f&?k$ Ibiza.😬 We were technically there in the off-season though so it wasn’t as crazy as it could have been and we still found plenty to keep ourselves busy.

The next day we worked out for the first time in FOREVER. Our hotel had a nice gym and we were the only people in it, so we were able to set up some circuits (had to work off some of that fried food we ate in Ireland!). Then we rented an ATV to get around the island.

Taxis are pretty expensive there so most people rent ATVs or scooters, which you can drive on the road with the car traffic. We drove all around the island exploring and beach hopping.

And of course, because I was with Mychael, we needed an adventure, so we took a backroad down a super-steep hill. I was holding on for dear life and thankfully we survived! (This photo doesn’t do it justice)

We got to Fokos Beach where we had a delicious lunch at the only restaurant there and then relaxed on the sand for a bit.

Being the adventurer he is, Mychael can only do this for so long, so an hour later we were back on the ATV. From there we swung by the Lindsay Lohan Beach Club because that’s all pretty much anyone had been asking about when they heard we were going to Mykonos, but much to my dismay, it was closed. I guess the show didn’t do well so the club was only open for one season…shocking!

On our way home, we stopped by Super Paradise, a famed Mykonos club, just to see what it was all about. It had the exact same vibe as every club in Tijuana or Rosarito, which I experienced enough of in college, so we pretty much walked in and walked right out (yeah, we complained about the music volume and the dancers’ lack of clothes…#gettingold). We drove over to a quieter side of the island and enjoyed an incredible dinner and another beautiful sunset before calling it a night.

The next day we had an excursion that our travel agent booked. It was supposed to be a snorkeling boat trip with a stop at Delos, an archaeological site in the Aegean Sea. The boat was really nice and the captain and staff were great, but come to find out there isn’t actually anything to see when you snorkel (which was surprising to us because we had specifically asked that question before booking this excursion).

On top of that, the water was pretty cold. No-fear-Mychael still jumped in to check it out though and as the reliable wife, I went in after him.

From there, we went to Delos, which was a really remarkable active archeological site filled with so much history.

Overall, the experience was fun, but not really what we expected.

When we got back, we enjoyed the jacuzzi on our balcony and got ready for dinner. At this point, we knew the sunset would be beautiful from anywhere, so we just pulled over on the side of the road and watched it on a wall overlooking the beach.

We had pretty much decided the restaurants in town were too touristy and overpriced for the experience we wanted, so Mychael found a really cool restaurant outside of town where we had another great meal at a table with a tree growing in the middle of it!

For our last day in Mykonos, we took the ATV to a secluded beach named Agios Sostis Beach.

After exhausting Mychael’s one-hour relaxation time limit, we went up to check out the famous Kiki’s Tavern. The restaurant doesn’t have electricity and they offer free wine while you’re waiting! Unfortunately the wait was too long though, so we didn’t end up eating (but don’t worry…I sampled the wine😉.

We spent the rest of the day exploring a lot of cool beaches before heading to a place we’d heard about called Scorpios for a pre-dinner drink. This place was SO COOL. I would definitely recommend stopping by. It’s secluded and out of the way, but totally worth it….sort of like a WAY nicer and more mellow Coachella vibe. While we were there a guy was playing the electric clarinet and DJing. It was such a unique location that you really have to check it out for yourself.

We drove to the north end of the island to watch our last sunset at a lighthouse and it may have been the best one yet.

Then had dinner at Lumnios Tavern, a locals spot recommended to us earlier that day. Another incredible dinner and we got to try ouzo at the end of the meal (not my cup of tea, but when in Greece…).

Knowing what I know now about Mykonos, it probably wouldn’t be at the very top of my list for a romantic getaway, but it was definitely a beautiful place and there’s a lot to see if you get outside of the touristy area.

The next day we took the ferry to Santorini (after changing the timing ourselves since the travel agent had us getting there WAY too early). When we arrived in Santorini we expected to see a sign with Mychael’s name again, but nothing. We waited for a while, called our travel agent and the emergency hotline she gave us, but no one was able to help, so we ended up just paying to take a shuttle. It was another frustrating experience of working with this travel agent, but we weren’t going to let that ruin our day.

When we arrived in Oia, the town we were staying in (I’d heard it was very romantic and had the best sunset views), we checked into thehotel, which was tucked into the side of a cliff with “cave rooms” and went out to explore.

Mychael tried to rent a scooter so we could get around since things on Santorini are pretty spread out, but we quickly leaner the rules were more strict on this island and we needed an international license.

That evening we walked down 300 steps in the dark to the port of Amoudi Bay to have dinner at a restaurant where you got to pick out your fish and they grill it for you right there. It was delicious, but really every meal we had in Greece was.

The next morning, after filling out an online form, we were on our way to print out Mychael’s international driver’s license (a little easier than getting a real license!). We took the city bus into Fira, which is the main central town in Santorini. These bus drivers are crazy talented! They drive huge charter buses on super narrow roads on a cliff. It was scary to look out the window, so I can’t imagine what it is like to be the driver!

When we got into town, we grabbed a Cappuccino Freddo from a super-cute place called the Coffee Lab

and then went to rent a scooter from a guy named Big Mike.

We were ready for a big day of sight-seeing. We went to Kamari Beach where we laid on the black sand, went in the sea, had lunch and shared a gelato (this honeymoon was also a tour of Greece’s best ice cream).

Next up was a stop at the mountaintop town of Pyrgos, but unfortunately on the way we got into an accident. People in Greece drive pretty crazy. The lane lines mean nothing and it’s perfectly acceptable to park in a traffic lane. In this instance, we were going up a hill, around a bend and the car coming down veered way over into our lane. To avoid getting hit head-on, we swerved and went crashing down. I’d never been in a real accident before and we were just tourists enjoying a beach day, so we were in shorts and flip flops. After assessing the damage, Mychael decided he wanted me to go to the hospital, so we hopped back on the scooter and made our way there. The hospital was interesting…maybe not the same level of cleanliness as the U.SA., but an ER visit was only 30 Euros!

They patched us up and sent us on our way back to the hotel. The bad news was now we weren’t allowed to go in the ocean, enjoy the jacuzzi on our balcony or even get our legs wet (which made showering very interesting).

 

When we got back to the hotel Mychael realized there was actually dry rot on the scooter tires, which probably contributed to our accident, so Mychael had Bike Mike come switch it out for a safer one. Morale of the story is don’t rent from Big Mike.

We still had a really fun evening though. We had a drink and watched the sunset at our hotel. Then we went across the street to a restaurant called Santorini Mou for what we thought would just be an easy dinner, but ended up being one of the best and most fun nights. The owner of the restaurant serenaded us and took our photo to add to a book of people celebrating their honeymoons in Santorini. They treated us like family and that, plus the jug of wine we drank, made it a great ending to a rough day.

The next day, after restocking on medical supplies at the pharmacy and fueling up with delicious coffee overlooking the famous blue-domed church, we went to the Red Beach, which honestly was over-hyped…we liked the black beach much better.

Then we explored the ruins of Akrotiri. After that we did a sunset wine tasting at Vestanos Winery. It was beautiful and almost a better location to watch the sunset than Oia.

The next morning I had scheduled a photoshoot for us in Oia through Airbnb. It was much more affordable than hiring a photographer on your own, so I highly recommend it. Now if you know Mychael, you know how much he hates photoshoots, so his participation in this really showed me how much he loves me.😆 The photos turned out great though, so it was totally worth it. I only wish there weren’t huge bandages in some of the shots, but the photographer did his best to get the injury-free angles.

That afternoon we made our way to Pyrgos (incident free this time)

and finally returned the scooter. It was an easy way to get around, but I had such PTSD from the accident that I was really excited to let it go. We had dinner at a beautiful cliffside restaurant named Metropolis in Fira during sunset and then took the bus home.

On Saturday we had the excursion booked for us by the travel agent, so you know what that means. The boat was supposed to take us to hike a volcano, swim to a naturally occurring hot springs in the middle of the sea and to another island called Thirassia. To start, the boat was packed…so many people you had to fight to get a seat (not ideal when you’re injured). Then we got to the volcano and decided not to do the hike…we were hobbling more than walking after the accident and from what we heard from the people that went, it wasn’t all that exciting any way. We had gotten the ok from the pharmacist to go in the hot springs, but at our own risk. Basically, it wouldn’t do any damage, but the salt water was REALLY going to sting. This was something we were so excited to do so we were ready to endure the pain until we got there and the captain said the springs were only 10 degrees warmer than the water, which was really cold. Since it was a true HOT spring, we decided to sit that part out as well, which again we heard was a good choice because it wasn’t that great and we were only there for such a short amount of time. The next stop at Thirassia was equally as disappointing. The town definitely sounded cool, but you had to climb a bunch of stairs up a steep cliff to get there and we were told we didn’t have time (even if we could have hobbled our way up there). So we were just stuck in the touristy port for an hour.

Overall, this excursion was a huge waste and I definitely would not recommend it to anyone. There are so many better things to see and do in Santorini.

When we got back, we changed in the lobby bathroom (we had already checked out) and went across the street to our new favorite restaurant for dinner and to check out one last sunset.

BUT…before we could even eat our food we were interrupted by our front desk staff to say that our driver was there early to take us to the airport (another misstep by the the travel agent).

Even though a lot went wrong in Santorini, we still had an incredible experience. In moment’s like those, you can choose to let it ruin your day or just move on and thankfully, with Mychael by my side, we were able to do just that and create some amazing memories (with matching scars to go with it😁).

If we ever go back to Greece I would love to explore some of the smaller islands because some of our best memories came from the moments when we went off the beaten path and explored.

I know there are many more adventures to come with this guy.

Tags: acropolis, athens, atv, beach, beaches, boat, explore, greece, greek, greek islands, honeymoon, honeymoon travel, ice cream, international travel, mykonos, oia, paradise, romantic, santorini, scooter, segway, sunset, travel, vacation