Greece 2023

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12 | Day 13

Day 1

Oh my word! You would think by now I would just get flights that are at a reasonable time! But nooooooo…..I have to get a 7am flight with a show up at airport at 5am. That means I had to get a ride to pick me up at 4:15am, which in turn meant a 3:15am alarm.

But what gave me the stamina to barrel through the early morning was GREECE!! And I’m going on this exciting adventure with my dear friend, Merix. We have been planning all our shinanigans for weeks and I can’t wait to experience each and every one of them.

Because of the intense brain fog (due to lack of sleep) I didn’t get a proper bag check while still on the ground, but mid air I could see Thelma & Louise were behaving as well as Laverne and Shirley. So far so good! AND….for this European trip, while I did have a checked bag, I also had a carry-on with a few days of clothing. Just in case But must admit, I was in complete awe that Merix had everything in bags she brought as carry-ons. I aspire to be like that when I grow up.

Made it to JFK just fine and we chilled in SkyClub waiting for the big flight. Way deep down I’m really getting excited, but dang if I wasn’t so tired I wasn’t emoting it externally

After boarding our flight to Athens, I was excited to check out my Delta One Suite. Yeah, this was definitely an upgrade to traditional First or Business Class. And I definitely need this type of seating due to the painful tailbone issue I’ve been suffering from for decades. Another interesting feature was the 3pt seatbelt harness. Never had that before.

And this wouldn’t be an “Adventures of Dianna” episode if it didn’t come without unplanned issues. Just as the plane was taxiing to take off, a maintenance light went off. So back to the gate for us. Fortunately, it was an easy fix and we were on our way….but not after sitting on the plane for 2 hours. A bit of a pain (pun intended) for aforementioned tailbone.

Alas, we finally were in the air an on our way to Athens!

Day 2

If you’ve ever done a red eye flight, you know you never get the sleep you hope for. It was fitful, but I think I may have gotten an hour or two of real sleep. But that makes it 2 nights in a row for this almost 50 year old butt of no sleep Boy how I’m constantly reminded I’m not in my 20s anymore!

They start serving breakfast about an hour before we land, so I sit up and try to eat a little. About 5 minutes before we land, I get a WhatsApp message from our driver saying he sees we’ve landed and where to go to get our ride. I’m like “We are still in the air! I’ll keep you posted on our progress.” Which I did.

When we did actually land I did a quick check of luggage and it showed Louise 4,941 miles away! I was NOT a happy camper. And yes, Louise is the same light blue luggage that thought it would be fun to go on her own adventure in Italy last year

On the bright side, I have to tell you this was the easiest customs I’ve ever gone through. The agent didn’t ask me one single question! Just stamped my passport and off I went! And as we approached baggage claim, that was the precise moment Louise came around the bend. What a good girl!!!

We met our driver and off to The Grand Hyatt Athens. After halfway checking in (room wasn’t ready yet as it was like 11am), we checked our bags with the bellhop and walked towards the meeting spot for our 1pm tour of the Acropolis!!!

OMG! Once again I was thrown into a state of awe and wonder as we started our journey up Acropolis. The history and ancient structures were simply mind blowing. As we started our ascent, we saw the Sanctuary of Dionysus. Then the first Greek Theater (and the first theater ever) seating 17,000. Continuing up Acropolis there was the first auditorium (different from the theater as it had a roof at one time, but now doesn’t). From June-Oct there are concerts held in the auditorium to this day.

Then we made our way up to the top of Acropolis passing through Propylaia, the monumental gateway to the Acropolis. Then that sensation of awe took over as the (3rd) Parthenon (which took 9 years to build) came into view. Yeah, old shit still has me speechless. Just like in Italy last year.

Side note….we had a tour guide for this adventure with Whisper ear pieces, so it was easy to hear all she shared with us. The downfall is she shared A LOT! And I’m struggling to recount all we learned. The views from up here were simply breathtaking.

After making our way down off the mountain of gods, we went to the Acropolis Museum. Here we could see many artifacts from the top of Acropolis as well as replicas. Sadly, the British colonization of the world meant some items are on display back at the British Museum. Honestly, they need to relinquish their hold on all the artifacts they pilfered from other countries and give them back. #ReuniteTheParthenon

After the museum we snagged a cab back to our hotel to finally get keys to our room so we could take our desperately needed showers. Then we made dinner reservations for 5:45 so we could have an early dinner and get to bed. Which we did. We set alarms for 6:30am because we had a big all day tour scheduled in the morning! My head hit the pillow by 7:30pm and I was OUT!

At some point I woke up thinking I had slept a good 10 hours, but it was only 12:30 am So I made myself fall back asleep.

Day 3

We had a full day excursion to Delphi scheduled today, so alarms were set for 6:30am. I woke up at 5:30am, so grabbed my phone and checked email and stuff waiting for the alarm to go off. There were serious thunderstorms going off with the thunder echoing off all the mountain ridges around Athens.

The plan was get up and snag breakfast as soon as they opened at 7am (which it was still dark and the Acropolis buildings were all lit up and visible from our breakfast table ), so we could grab a cab to get to the meeting point for our day trip to Delphi. We get down to the lobby about 7:45 to be met with horrible traffic and tons of people already waiting for rides. We were only 10 min from our destination, but it was NOT looking good on making it there by 8:20.

Time was ticking by and all of a sudden it’s 8:10 and there is still no ride in site. So I went into the app to try to message the tour company to see if they were going to be delayed, only to find a message from the tour company that the trip had been cancelled the night before (after we had gone to bed) due to inclement weather Thank goodness, because we would’ve lost the bucks we paid for the excursion as we never would’ve made it on time! The universe was definitely looking out for us today!

So after what felt like 5 hours (but it was only 9:30am ), we concocted a plan for the day. By this time the huge crowd waiting for rides had dissipated and the traffic had cleared somewhat, so we got a cab to the Archeological Museum of Athens.

This museum had lots of artifacts from many of the historical sites around the country. From gold that was from 6,000BC to burial engravings from 600BC, there was a lot of old stuff in there. After a couple of hours in the museum, we decided to get 24hr tickets to the hop on/hop off buses that cruise around the city.

This got us back to the lovely cafes just outside the entrance to the Acropolis as we decided to snag some lunch. Ironically, we ended up eating at the same cafe we grabbed lunch at the previous day.

We went back to the tour bus stop and decided we wanted to upgrade our tickets from the city tour bus route to also include the coastal route too. We had 45 minutes before it arrived, so we decided to do speedy walk-bys of Zeus’s temple and the Panathenaic Stadium.

We made it back with plenty of time to hop on the next coastal bus. This took us down to the Aegean Sea where the views were beautiful with all the Saronic Islands off the coastline. Then this route had a stop right in front of our hotel (another reason for the upgrade ).

We went up to our room to check in with our lives back home, then walked half a block to an Indian restaurant for a proper 8:45pm dinner The Greeks certainly like to have their dinners late! Back at the hotel we stopped by the desk to see if we could get a late checkout. No such luck, so we’ll have to figure something out since our car won’t be by to take us to the airport until 2pm. Tomorrow we are off to the island of Crete!

Day 4

Well, today was a slow start day. Initially we thought we would utilize the rest of the time on our hop on/hop off bus tickets. But we decided not to set alarms for today and wake up when we wake up. That ended up being 10:15am

I hastily called the front desk to get a late checkout. They said they could only give us until noon (with 11am being the regular checkout time). We rushed upstairs to get some breakfast, then back to our room to shower. Because we had to be so fresh and so clean, clean for Crete! Home to Zeus!

By time we were done, it was 12:30pm, oh well. Our driver wasn’t coming until 2pm, so we had some time to kill. And the hotel said we were welcome to hang out where we wanted, so we chose the pool. Can’t beat hanging by an infinity pool looking out onto the Acropolis.

Driver came and it was off to the airport. Thank god I had Merix, because she figured out where to go to check in for our flights I’m usually the one leading my family around, so it was odd relying on someone else. We got checked in and headed to security. As I was getting all my crap on the conveyer belt I flung my passport and ticket on the other side and didn’t even notice Once again, Merix to the rescue to tell me what I did. I tell ya, I’d be lost without her today! Then she had to throw away a metal nail file she has been flying around with for 15yrs! This was certainly a weird day for us.

We get to the Aegean lounge and it’s WAY over crowded. But we got a little snack and then went to board our flight. Which of course had a gate change. And then the plane was delayed. Talk about having to roll with the punches. But we did. Then we had no idea how their boarding process worked, but eventually got on our flight. Had to take a bus out on the tarmac to get on our plane. It was the most unorganized mess I think I’ve ever seen. It felt like minimal security was enforced.

Anyway, we got on our plane and then just sat there. We were an hour late taking off. My flights better be on time when I go home, because I have 3 of them on the way back I was messaging our driver on Crete to let him know we were delayed. Because they only wait an hour. We finally took off and then started our decent. Yeah, it was a 50 minute flight

Sadly, by time we got checked in, got up to our room and settled in, it was already dark. So we found a restaurant on the beach and walked to it for dinner. And saw so many kitties! I was taking pictures left and right. They were all so cute.

After dinner we walked out onto the beach (just to say we saw it) only to find a mini pack of dogs. It was too much as they too were cutie pies. So we walked back to our hotel and got ready for bed.

Day 5

Today we had alarms set for 6:30am as we were getting picked up for today’s excursion at 8am. It was an all day excursion going into the mountains of Crete.

It started with the driver not coming to the “front” of the hotel (which is really kind of in the back) and stopping on a corner a block away. When they hadn’t arrived at 8am, I started walking to the end of the block. And it appeared the driver was about to leave But we made it in the very uncomfortable Range Rover for our “Safari” adventure. They had us packed in like sardines.

After driving for an hour or so, we met up with a pack of Range Rovers. Then we had to get out of the vehicle that picked us up (in the pouring rain) and get in the English speaking vehicle. Then we were off!

First stop was a goat farm. Although it should’ve been called a goat and cat farm. We milked a goat (which was very weird), drank Raki Mellow, ate super fresh goat cheese and ground grain into flour. Ok, Merix ground the flour, I documented the occasion.

Then it was back into the truck like sardines. Next stop was the second largest dam on Crete (sorry, don’t remember the name) as well as the small village that had to be abandoned due to the dam. When the water level rises, the village goes underwater up to the red roofed building. We also learned that 30% of the island is covered with olive trees. It’s the second largest income generator behind tourism.

Then we kept traveling up the mountain until we got to the old stone windmills on Ambelos Pass. We ventured through the Lasithi Plateau on our way to the cave where Zeus was born, Psychro Cave. Wow! This cave was truly amazing! The Greeks certainly make you earn visual candy. It was a nice 20-25 minute climb straight up (although our guide, Dimitri, said it was only a 15 walk ). But worth every step.

Back down the mountain and through the plateau (where our driver snagged some apples fresh off a tree for us), we ended up at a street side tavern for lunch. Which we both thought was some of the juiciest chicken roasted in a brick oven over fire.

After we ate, we walked a short distance (of course uphill) to a 2200-2500 year old tree. There was also an old 8 tub “laundromat” where the women of the village washed their clothes up until 1974.

Then it was back down the mountain, switch vehicles, and back to our hotel while it was still light out. After quick showers, we went out to the beach to snap some shots of the ocean before the sun went down completely. Dinner was at our hotel restaurant which had a robust authentic Cretan menu.

Day 6

Today we had another full day on Crete, so we planned a long tour to go out to the famous Elafonisi Beach. Which is famous for its pink sand. This was a private tour with just the two of us, so no sensations of being sardines.

Our driver picked us up (at the proper location of our hotel) at 9am, so we got to have a little more time in the morning. I can’t remember if I mentioned before, but our hotel was in the largest city of Heraklion, so that made this trek about 3-3.5hrs away Nevertheless, we were up for the challenge. Ok, we were just riding in a car, so not much of a challenge

The drive along the coast was very beautiful. We had the mountains on one side and the Sea of Crete on the other side. After several hours we finally made it to Elafonisi Beach! And once again the Greek Gods make you earn your prize. After about a 15 min trek we made it to our destination. Now let me share a little bit about this location. First of all, we are here during “off” season, or rather it’s not “high” season. But there were so many freaking people here, I wouldn’t want to be here when everyone and their mothers are here. Second, this beach became famous for its pink sand. And a lot of the commercial images you may see promoting this beach, show it having pink sand. But over the last 5-10 years (since it became so popular) people have scooped up this sand to take home with them (with signs everywhere stating it’s illegal to take the sand). Now there are just thin strips of pink you can sometimes see if the light hits it just right. It’s so sad and made us angry people would do this.

Anyway, we dropped our blankets on the sand and waded out into the Mediterranean Sea It was absolutely lovely. Then we crossed the sandbar (where we laid our blankets) and waded into the lagoon on the other side. Then it was a short 20min rest (really drying off in the sun) before hiking back up to our waiting car & driver.

We had a short drive to a lovely mountain village restaurant where we had the topmost table away from the crowd and next to a water source. And just above our table was a cute little church that was 1000 years old. Once again, this American gal was mesmerized about something so old that humans made. I need to get better at documenting historical facts as I retained none from the church. But that is not my super power, so I’m slack at it.

As we continued our drive back, we were able to get out at the tunnel (that we went through to get to Elafonisi) to snap some photos of the gorge below. We also stopped to take the proper touristy photos with a 900 year old olive tree. Our final stop was to snag some orange honey from a roadside shop. If the olive tree sustains the second largest economic contribution to the island, then I would argue honey must be the third. Wherever you find olive oil, you find honey. I kept thinking in my head that Crete may save the world if they keep bees alive!!

Then it was back to our room to organize our luggage as we were off to Santorini in the morning!

Day 7

Today we were taking a ferry from Crete to Santorini. And this had me all anxious because I hadn’t taken one in a foreign country before and when I don’t know what to expect, I get anxious. So the night before I asked our driver if they could come at 7am instead of 7:10am. Our boat was departing at 8am. Before we woke up, he suggested 6:50am. So we were able to rally and be ready by then.

It was a quick drive to the port and we were in our seats with 45 minutes to spare I worry for no reason. We even left the port at 7:59. I booked this ferry because it was one of the faster ones, but it felt like we were moving so slow. And it was doing a lot of swaying. The sea didn’t look rough, but it must’ve been. We were supposed to get to Santorini by 9:50. We didn’t dock until 10:45. We just can’t catch a break on our transports! Thank god our driver stayed waiting for us. And what a zoo it was down at the port! It’s this tiny stretch of pavement that allows cars and busses down to collect the masses coming in off the ferries and cruise ships. That’s because this side of Santorini is sheer cliffs. But oh my what eye candy this island is!!!!

So Santorini is an old “not quite inactive” volcano. The area of our hotel is called Imerovigli and is the highest point of the caldera. It’s 11:30am and our room isn’t ready yet, so we go out to the hotel restaurant (which overlooks the sea) and almost shit our pants. The views cause all use of the English language to leave your brain because all the blood in your system is being fed to your eyes so you don’t miss one dang pixel of what you are looking at. For all the pictures I took, none do the justice that my own pupils and retinas did. Breathtaking is an understatement. And if you are afraid of heights, then this may not be the place for you. But holy mother of all that is good and devine….this place is breathtaking.

After eating breakfast (because they serve breakfast until noon), our room was ready. At this place we had a two bedroom suite, so we weren’t sleeping on top of each other here After getting our luggage squared away, we decided to take an adventure along the walking path/trail down to the capital city of Fira.

Holy smokes the views! We did not make very good progress as we had to stop every 20 feet to take pictures I had seen stuff about flowing dress pictures in all the excursion apps I used. We came across someone doing on of those. Honestly, they just wrap some cloth around ya and snap some photos. But it’s a thing and folks pay to do it There is constant wind here, at least the whole time we were here.

We went through the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist. Always interesting to check out a church. Then kept going til we got to what appeared the end of Fira. The sad thing about gravity, is our walk to Fira was all downhill, now we had to lug ourselves all the way back uphill I was constantly reminded of my theory that the Greeks make you earn the pretties!

Once back in the room, we were in dire need of showers. After we got fresh and so clean, clean…we just started wandering to find a restaurant for dinner. It still boggles my mind how the restaurants are tucked in and around all the nook and crannies of hotel rooms. It’s very different from any place I’ve been for sure.

We had a corner table watching the sun set over the Mediterranean Sea Then it was back to the room to crash. And I mean crash hard!

Day 8

Today was our full day on Santorini. The first half of the day was free to do as we pleased, then a guided tour starting at 3pm and going through dinner.

Both of us got much better sleep last night and we decided to wake up when our eyes told us to. And looking back right now, I can’t remember what time we woke up But we did get the day started by having breakfast at our hotel bar. Which of course had the amazing caldera view.

After our morning grub, we decided to go in the opposite direction we went yesterday. In the direction of Oia, but definitely not all the way out there. We both really liked the more quiet ambiance the further we got away from Imerovigli. After an hour or so, we decided to go back, because it was once again all uphill going back I also wanted a little down time before our tour.

After some confusion on where to pick us up, we finally got in our ride for our afternoon tour. First stop was a nice scenic area we did not see the day before as we were lower down. Our driver took some photos for us.

Then we drove to the highest point on the island to visit the Monastery at the top. It was so peaceful and quiet once we passed through the gate. Outside the winds were so strong and loud. Didn’t get any pictures inside the sanctuary because I didn’t know if there were signs or not saying not to take photos.

Next stop was the village of Pyrgos. Where there was an old Italian fort at the top. Here our driver pointed us to walk up (yes, more stairs than I care to count) and waited at the bottom for us. Once again the Greeks are making us earn the privilege to see history. When we got back down our driver was not there. I had left Shirley in the car so was tracking him. He said he had to get gas. In our opinion that should’ve been done before our tour (we won’t even get into him being late to pick us up because of an accident [according to him]).

He finally shows up and we head out to the island’s Lighthouse. We get the touristy photos and off we go. Although he didn’t really give us much info about the lighthouse. We quickly shoot over to the overlook of the Red Beach. We didn’t go down there since it’s a bit of a hike. But we did take pictures above it.

Next stop on our “see as many places as you can tour” was the village of Megalochori. I think this was a more wealthy local neighborhood, but to be honest, things were starting to all look the same. Definitely more homes than hotels, and not the cliff views. He gave us 30 minutes there, but after 15 we were done. Came back to where he parked only for him to be gone again I’m messaging him like “We are done. Where are you?” And he said he went to get something to eat. Ugh! So we waited about 20 min for him to get back.

Then it was a mad dash to get towards Oia for the infamous sunset. Sadly we didn’t make it all the way there, but rather pulled over just before the town. We did get some nice pictures, but he kept taking pictures of us. We were like “We aren’t a couple!”

Finally dinner in Oia at a typical restaurant overlooking the caldera. After dinner we walked through the town. I really liked this area and will consider staying here next time. Or one of the more quiet places we saw in our morning walk.

We had our guide take us back to our hotel where we showered and packed in preparation for our morning ferry to Mykonos!

Day 9

Today was another island hopping day. We had a 10am ferry to catch from Santorini to Mykonos. Of course the seas had the ferry delayed so it didn’t show up until about 10:20. And the amount of people coming off was mind blowing! Then again, Santorini is a beautiful place

We got on the ferry and we were off! And the seas were certainly rough. Although we felt we were going much faster than our trek from Crete to Santorini. There was one stop at another island before our destination of Mykonos.

When we got to port, our hotel had arranged our transport to get to them. Of course we were there before the room was ready, so we had to wait. Fortunately, we could do that at their pool where we got some afternoon drinks The hotel restaurant opened back up at 2pm, so we went there for a light lunch. While we were eating, they came to let us know our room was ready.

Ok, I know I’ve mentioned on several occasions that the Greeks make you earn the pretties. But dang if they also make you earn your sleeps!!! The amount of stairs we had to climb to get to our room is cray-cray!! Merix said she was going to count how many we had to climb, but I begged her to do it after we left so I didn’t know how many until I was done with them

We got lucky with another 2 bedroom suite style room. More of a family setup, but whatever. At least it had AC So we decided to get situated, then walk down into town. And oh my! What a cute little town!! The intricate alleyways filled with shops and restaurants. Once again a mind blowing experience. After walking around for a while, we found a spot on a stone sea wall to watch the sunset. I think I may have taken 100 pictures as it made its way over the horizon.

At this point we were done getting blasted by the wind, so we made our way to a little Italian restaurant, Niko’s Tavern. We ordered WAY too much food, but it was all pretty tasty. On the way back to the hotel, Merix stopped in a little bakery for some baklava. Then we hiked up the hill, then up 1,643 steps before we could shower and pass out.

Day 10

Today we woke up with the little bay filled with cruise ships. We were lucky yesterday to be able to walk around downtown without the crowds from the ships. Will be a bit more crowded today.

All the places that we have stayed, we made sure they offered breakfast. This way we didn’t have to go off in search of food when we first wake up. So today started as others with us grabbing breakfast.

We had an island tour scheduled for 10am with hotel pickup. However, last night we got a message to be ready by 9:45am. Ok, fine. While we are at breakfast, (and it’s only 9:39) someone from the desk comes to our table to say our tour guide is there to pick us up. Yikes! Fortunately, we were pretty much done eating and just relaxing with the view, so not a big deal.

We hop in the van and there are already 5 people in there. They were all cruise ship passengers doing this tour as their shore excursion. We head to another hotel and pick up two more people. When they asked where they were from, they said Georgia. Then I say I’m originally from there. Then 3 of the folks from the cruise said they are from GA and the guy next to me says he’s the only one not from GA. I asked where he was from and he said Texas, but the lady he was with was from GA Small world!

We picked up one more couple (they were from NY) and then we were off to a southern point of the island. We stopped at a little “church” on the island. I used quotes because we learned that each family would have their own church on their property. There weren’t priests for each family church, but rather they were used for celebrations or privately. Blue roofed churches were for fishermen families and red roofed churches for agriculture families. Our guide said there were 400 churches on the island. And this isn’t a big island!

In the description of this tour it talked about the pigeon houses on the island. They were raised to race and I think eat (can’t remember that point). I thought I would be sending a message home via carrier pigeon that I was safe, but that wasn’t the case. If you buy property with an old pigeon house on it, it is against the law to tear it down. It must be preserved. These houses are identifiable by the triangles on them. The description also said we would be seeing the biggest pigeon house on the island. That ended up being the airport

We got to go in the monastery of this island on this tour. It was really beautiful inside. They also had a mini museum as well where we could see many cloaks and gospels and jewelry worn by priests of this church.

Next we did a drive by of a beach. This one had some Lindsey Lohan property on it where some reality show was filmed. Then we headed to another beach that we were able to hang out at for about half an hour. The beach part was really small pebbles, so not a place to really sit on. Merix got her feet in the water and said it was pretty cold. We both got some drinks while we were chillaxin.

After the beach, we headed to a little roadside cafe where once again we found ourselves sampling Raki. My quote of the trip is “I don’t drink lighter fluid!” This is a Greek liquor that is produced from the leftover pulp and such when they make wine. So it’s grape based. Too strong for me.

We also learned it’s illegal to have a structure on Mykonos that isn’t painted white or made of natural stone. There is this one yellow house that just pays the annual fine to keep their mustard colored building well, looking like mustard.

Then we were off to downtown and to see the windmills. We purposefully didn’t walk to them last night so as to experience them with this tour and hopefully learn more about them. But our guide didn’t really tell us much about them. Other than now they are set up as hotel rooms that can be rented. Personally I wouldn’t stay there as everyone is all up in your space taking pictures! Originally these windmills were used to grind wheat into flour.

After walking through Little Venice, we were given the option to stay downtown or get a ride back to our hotel. We opted for the ride because uphill is not our friend.

Once we got dropped off, I risked it to ask Merix if she was going to count the stairs today. She said she did it last night. It’s 97 stairs from the driveway of the hotel up to our room 97 stairs!!! Holy moly!!! Yeah, every time we got back that’s what we had to deal with.

Our game plan for the afternoon was to hang out by the pool and watch the sunset from there. And just as we were nearing the witching hour, everyone else started coming out to the pool deck. And just going right in front of where we were laying blocking our view. WTF?!?! Some people are so inconsiderate. So we decided to go up to our room as we had a table and two chairs outside our door.

We proceeded to watch what I can only describe as a mystery. We saw the sun. We saw the sun slowly progressing towards the horizon. And then we saw the sun disappear BEFORE CROSSING THE HORIZON! Poof! It just disappeared. No sunset, no colors, just sun gone. It was the most bizarre thing either of us had witnessed. We were both grateful we had somewhat of a sunset the night before.

Next up we’re showers and then we went off in search of food. We picked a tavern overlooking the little bay downtown. Decent food and a server that kept making sure “You happy?” Which we were. Once the bellies were full, we hiked back up the hill, climbed Mt Everest, packed up our stuff and crashed.

Day 11

Today was another ferry day. However, this one didn’t take off until 2:15. But we knew it would be late. Haven’t met an on time Greek ferry yet.

Since we had a slower start (and had to be checked out by 11am), we opted to just hang out by the pool until our ride came at 1:30pm. And that’s what we did. Watching the cruise ship tinders taking passengers back and forth to the island. And weirdly, I didn’t take any pictures. Oh well

At 1:30, we went down for our ride and headed to the port. I must say, the port at Mykonos was much more chaotic than those of Crete and Santorini. I had Merix stay with the luggage and I would walk down where a ferry was disembarking and see if it was ours. I get down there and it has a 14:15 departure time and it was heading to the Athens port. I go running back to say that’s our ferry. Fortunately, there was a small American group hearing my panicked “We gotta go!” And let us know our ferry was delayed and which gate it was coming in at. Whew! Crisis averted.

You may or may not know this about me, but I’m an anxious mess when it comes to traveling. Not the actual traveling itself, but getting to the start line. Especially if it’s something I’ve never done before and not familiar with the process. I just need to get to a place of acceptance that I’m like that. Merix was cool as a cucumber. I on the other hand was in full panic mode. Which of course she said “This is you panicking?” I guess I don’t show it outwardly too much.

Once again, no pictures for most of this day. I think all the island hopping was catching up with me haha!

We also had something a little different planned for our return to Athens. The first being Merix rented a car! Yes, she was prepared to conquer Athens in a vehicle. We had a guy meet us at the port with the car. The second thing we did different was she had rented an AirBnB for a few nights. Today is Thursday. I fly out REALLY early on Saturday and her hubby, Brian was coming in on Friday. So they were sticking around Athens for a few days after he got in.

I got to play navigator to get us from the port to our flat. GPS said 45 min. It took 2 hours And literally 1/2 hour of it was getting through the light exiting the port. And we were only like 6 cars back!!!! It was absolutely horrid.

Eventually we made it, walked around the block like clueless Americans just trying to find the gate into the apartment complex Although we did eventually get us and our luggage in the flat, I can tell you the scariest part was the elevator. Holy moly I will not miss it when I leave!

After getting somewhat settled in, we left in search for a market (because we no longer had breakfast included in our stay) and to find a place for dinner. Found a lovely neighborhood market and a cute little Italian restaurant tucked behind some trees (where I happened to get a delicious Zombie drink!). Then back to the flat to crash in preparation of tomorrow!

Day 12

Originally, we’re were to go to Delphi at the beginning of the trip and Olympia today. Delphi got cancelled due to rain at the start of this adventure (if you recall). The drive to Olympia is 4+ hrs from where we were. Delphi was only 2.5-2.75 hrs away. So we decided to pivot (PIVOT!!) and go to Delphi today. This region holds the Temple of Apollo.

So after our breakfast, we packed up the car and hit the road. Driving up was like driving through areas of the Rockies. Felt good to get up in altitude. And boy was this worth it to make this trek to Delphi! Probably would’ve been a wee bit better with a guide, but still quite amazing going at it on our own.

We started with a walk through the museum that is next to Apollo’s Temple. From what I gathered, the first temple was built in the 7th century BC (so a mere 2700+ years ago). Whether it was fire or earthquake that destroyed it I’m not sure, but the ruins you can see today were erected in the 5th century BC. So still pretty freaking old!

There were also Pythonic games that were held every 4 years up here at this temple. But further up the hill at the stadium. Remember how I’ve mentioned a few times on this trip how the Greeks make you earn your pretties? Yeah, that happened again on this visit. I think we had an easily 1,000 foot vertical climb from the bottom of the temple up to the stadium. All this climbing the past couple of weeks also explained the thick thighs and perky butts on all the statues. They were hiking this shit constantly!!!

All the Greek mythology also had my philosophical wheels turning, wondering who the person or persons was/were that got folks back then believing in these Greek gods? And building these opulent temples and shrines. Because my realistic brain knows these gods didn’t really exist. So someone had to come up with them and then have the masses believe the myths.

One noticeable difference in this mountain town was not only the stray kitties (as were all over Greece), but now packs of stray dogs! And they just lay in the middle of the road. So dangerous! But seemed to be appreciated and loved by the locals.

Then we wove our way back down the mountain and into Athens to allow me to shower and get in bed by 8:30pm, as my alarm would be going off at 1:30am to catch my 5:35am flight

Day 13

Well, today it was time for me to say goodbye to my new friend Greece and head back home. Not only was it sad to say goodbye, but very depressing to have the alarm go off at 1:30am I already had a ride scheduled to pick me up at 2am. Yeah, I really need to have a serious talk with myself about these early flights!!

While waiting in the KLM lounge, I realized I got eaten alive in Delphi yesterday! Holy moly I had some serious bug bites all over my legs. And they were itchy

After boarding the first leg of the journey home (to Amsterdam), I checked on the girls. They were all with me! I ended checking both bags since I was heading home. As we were coming into Amsterdam, there were these glowing buildings. They were everywhere. Are they greenhouses? Or clubs?

After going through a brief customs check, I made my way to my second lounge of the day to kill time until my next flight. The next flight was my long haul flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Once I boarded flight #2 I did a quick check and it looks like the girls were behaving and hadn’t run off to get any drug fixes while in the party city. I did manage to get a little shuteye on this flight. Maybe an hour or two. Thank goodness I had a flat laying seat as my tailbone was hurting on the last flight.

Got to Detroit and went through customs again. This time I had to retrieve my luggage, then hand off my luggage and go through security again. Then headed off to my 3rd lounge of this trip feeling quite exhausted.

As I was waiting to board my flight I notice two friends walk by. I texted one of them asking if she was at the airport as I think she just walked past me (we were all wearing masks, so always hard to be sure). And if she wasn’t there, her doppelgänger just walked by me. But then they started boarding and they had walked back, and I knew it was them. Then lo and behold, they were sitting right behind me! What a small world!

I also experienced something new on my Delta flight, you could personalize your screen. So it notified me when my luggage was scanned onto the plane. I thought that was pretty cool. Still did my own quick check and saw all my sleepy girls with me.

Once in Denver, it was an hour drive home. Thank goodness I had a car service, because I was in no shape whatsoever to be driving. But I was forcing myself to stay awake. It was so good to be home and see all my boys. Ended up going to bed about 8:30pm and did pretty good sleeping through the night.

Until next time…

Dianna