Top of the Acropolis in Athens

Greece, the land of gyros, birthplace of the Olympics and home to the best salads in the world – Greek salads.  With 6 total days in Greece I decided to spend my time at 3 destinations: Athens, Santorini and Mykonos.  The first stop was Athens and its 95-degree weather.  After getting to my hostel in the late afternoon, I decided to climb up the hill to Acropolis to check it out.  Since I only had one full day in Athens I wanted to make sure to see all the main attractions.  Going later in the day (around 5 pm) was a good decision because it wasn’t as hot and the line to get in wasn’t as bad, especially compared to the next morning.  The following day, I jumped on a free walking tour with one of the better tour guides I’ve had.  After the tour, a group of us had lunch with our guide at a restaurant he recommended.  After lunch, I visited the Acropolis museum and then the Panathenaic Stadium before calling it a day.  The next day I had a really early ferry to my next destination, Santorini.

Known as the couples/honeymoon island of Greece, I noticed early on that there weren’t too many groups of guys or girls but mostly couples with a few families mixed in.  With only one full day in Santorini, I decided to take the bus to the two main parts of the island, Fira and Oia my first day there.  With both towns known for their Cliffside buildings, it was a bit hard to tell the two apart.  Oia was known for the best sunsets views and it definitely did not disappoint.  It felt like everyone on the island was in Oia that night with crowds gathering to get a glimpse of the sun setting on the beautiful town.  The next day I decided to take it easy and hang by the hostel pool in the afternoon before renting an ATV to explore the rest of the island.  It was the first day since starting my travels I didn’t have much of a plan and just took things easy.

No photoshop needed here.  Santorini, more specifically Oia is known for its sunsets.

After cruising around the island for most of the previous day it was time to move onto the next and final island, Mykonos.  A high school friend reached out to me at the beginning of my travels saying he was going to be in Greece in mid-August for vacation.  After some planning, we made arrangements to get together for a few days before I headed to Italy. I was really excited to have a familiar face to hang out with as well as a non-hostel to sleep in.  My friend Brian and his girlfriend got a villa at the top of a hill less than a mile away from the port so I was able to walk to their place.  The walk up the hill (almost like a 90-degree climb, it was ridiculous) was almost worth the view.  Luckily that was the first and last time I had to do that climb.

Since I only had about 36 hours in Mykonos I wanted to make the most of my time there.  The plan was to go to a club that night and just hang out the next day.  Little did I know that the clubs don’t actually open till 11:30 pm and people usually start getting there around 1 am!  Long story short, we ended up coming home as the sun was rising.  Instead of going to bed for a few hours (the smart thing to do) we decided to have an impromptu photoshoot since Mykonos was known for their sunrises than sunsets.  From there we went on to rent ATVs to cruise around the island and just enjoy the beautiful weather.  As the day came to an end, I really wanted to stay another day and actually contemplated changing my flight.  In the end, I decided to stick with the plan and take my midnight flight back to Athens so I could catch my 10 a.m. flight to Venice, Italy.  It was one of the best 36 hours I can remember and I could not have asked for a better way to end my time in Greece.

No better way to end my time in Greece than a sunrise by the pool

It’s so much easier to get video material when you have someone to hold the camera for you.  Hope you enjoy the latest travel video.

QOTP: “True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.” -Socrates