Well we are headed to Santarini, our last Greek Island we are going to visit. We have two days here before heading to Athens for a few days. Then home!
Here is what we have been doing in the Greek Islands:
Samos: This was the first island we visited and I previously blogged about. This island is right off the coast of Turkey. We only got to spend one day here and we were ready for some much needed beach time. Livadaki beach has thus far through four islands, been the best beach we have visited. It was the perfect mix of sun, calm clear water, free lounge chairs and kayaks, great and inexpensive beach bar, and just beautiful scenery. This is what I remember when I hear Samos. The island overall was great. I am not sure it is a must see island for visitors, depending on what other islands someone is seeing.
Mykonos: Mykonos is known as the party islands. It was obvious that people stayed out very late in the town and the routine was for people to sleep in until 10-11ish, go to the beach, sleep some more and hang out all day in the sun. Drink and eat lunch around 5 pm before napping to go out for dinner around 10-11. Some of the clubs we looked at advertised that the doors opened at 12:45 am! We wanted to experience this, but it was very difficult to transition to this timeframe from the normal. We go our feel of the atmosphere both nights, but definitely did not make it to the early morning clubs.
We stayed at an amazing hotel with amazing views over looking Mykonos. It was awesome overlooking the town. The town itself was very windy and hard to navigate a direct plan. However, we never really had any place to go at a certain time, so it was not stressful that we rarely knew where we were headed. The city had a great bus system, so we were able to see other parts of the island fairly easily. This island is a must see for someone traveling to the islands.
Paros: Our itinerary did not include Paros, but we had to visit as our direct ferry from Mykonos to Naxos was cancelled due to high winds. We had to connect through Paros, so we got to spend about 6 hours there. That wasn’t really much time to see too much, so we pretty much ate lunch and walked around some of the shops. There was one shop that I will always remember. It sold olive tree wood products. The wood was beautiful!
Naxos: This was an awesome island. It had the best town area thus far. The harbor was lined with all sorts of good shops and places to eat. It was more spacious and easier to walk around compared to Naxos. I would not recommend a morning trip to Halki like we did, but there are supposed to be awesome beaches here. We got to go to one and it was great. The beach had rice like sand instead of the normal granules. We stayed at the best hotel thus far on vacation. Hotel Grotta overlooked the city and the water and was close enough to walk to. The island prices also good which makes it a better experience. Naxos is another must see island for someone who is visiting the area.
Santorini: to come.
One of the best things about traveling via boat is that when a trip gets cancelled or delayed it is much more enjoyable to be on an island waiting than in an airport. We got an opportunity to see another island due to the incredible wind right now. It seems as if it is getting better after two days of cancellations.
We are really enjoying the food. Kristen has eaten more moussaka in the past week than probably in the past five years. I have eaten more gyros in the past week than the past 26 years. We are a bit surprised as we really haven’t gotten to eat much humus on the trip. The Greeks like their yogurt and tzakiki (msp?). The weather has been great excluding some of the wind. The beaches have all been sheltered from the wind, so it hasn’t affected any water time. We enjoy the opportunity to celebrate the sunset each day. We would really love to find a place one of these days to where we could have a view to watch the sunset. It brings peace to the end of the day.
We are about to reach port in Santorini!
Bye for now.
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