First and foremost, Greece is an absolutely incredible, beautiful, and historically rich country. We were so enthralled by all the country had to offer. The simplest aspects of the country made us feel so comfortable, and welcome in their country (we are Americans).
We were honeymooning, and spent 10 days in Greece. Our trip was broken down into 3 categories: History, Luxury, and Adventure.
History: Athens
Athens is interesting. As anyone here knows, the acropolis is amazing. We were there on October 28th (which, little did we know, was a huge holiday in Greece where all historical sites are free!), and the people of the city were a little extra patriotic which was neat. There was military and police presence for the holiday (for show, not security) which was really cool to see, and there was a parade that displayed the military in an extremely unique fashion. I'm US military, so this was absolutely fascinating to see.
We arrived at the Acropolis at 08:00, and there wasn't too many people. It is a lot of walking, but there is just so much to see and take in. It is marvelous. Read every tablet about the history... it's fascinating.
By 10:00 the place was flooded with people. and I mean floooooded. Cruise ship people, mostly. So glad we went early.
On our way down, we wanted to swing around to the temple of Hephaestus. The entrance was absolutely not easy to find, but along the way you find some neat-ish historical sights. Nothing really worth stopping for, in our opinion. The temple, when we got there, was my personal favorite spot of Athens because it is so well in-tact.
The museum of the acropolis is incredible. Breath-taking. So much history and so many unique artifacts. We had to leave early though, because there were so many people for the holiday that it was just too much. It was shoulder-to-shoulder the entire time, and we could hardly see anything. So we left... although, what we did see was amazing. Key note to females - be careful about wearing a skirt or dress here! parts of the upper floors are made of glass and people on the lower level can look up. We saw a few perverts taking photos upwards of girls.
Athens in general felt like.. well, a city. It's not clean, it's not dirty. It's a city. TONS of gross graphity. The food scene was pretty disappointing. Perhaps we looked in the wrong areas, but everything felt like modern-esk fusion food that I would find in Portland or Los Angeles. Taf coffee was absolutely amazing, though. Highly recommend the sketchy walk. Last note, the cab drivers there are a-holes. Didn't trust a single one and if you talk to one, you get 5+ trying to talk to you about where you're going. It's creepy.
Key take aways: 1 full day will do it, food scene was subpar, acropolis/museum is amazing, don't take the cabs.
Luxury: Santorini
we opted to not go to Mykanos because all we have heard about that island is that it is just a giant party/night club, which is not our scene.
If we could give one piece of advice to anyone going to Santorini, it would be this: it is a completely skippable island unless you are staying in a really, really nice hotel in the center of the island near Fira. Oia is where everyone goes, and we didn't understand why. The "white building/blue roof" buildings are not as common as you would think. They are there, but the whole city is definitely not made up of them like one might think. A wedding present to us was a honeymoon suite at an extremely nice hotel near Fira (the capital), where we had the most peaceful, breathtaking view. One might argue that we missed out on the Oia sunset, but I'd argue that we had just the same.. if not better. The Oia sunsets are hordes of people holding up phones to get a picture, and you don't actually get to experience it. Get a nice hotel and enjoy the magnificent sunset from your patio.
The second bit would be to do a catamaran. We were so hesitant to do this, but so glad we did. 1, you meet great people from all over the world. 2, the staff of the boat are full of really neat information about the history and culture of the island. 3, you get to see the island from a WAY better perspective. 4, you get the Oia sunset, but from a boat, and with no one crowding your line of sight with a camera. 10/10, do it.
We spent 1 night in Fira itselt. 5/10, big tourist trap. Nothing special from what we saw. Gift shops, sub-par dinner, nothing really interesting.
For a really fun experience, go "get lost" in Megalochori. Such a unique village with friendly people. Quiet, beautiful, and has so much to see. We had our favorite meal here at Raki restaurant. My sea bream was incredible. If you like the cats of Greece, this place has quite a few too. I had two sleeping on each of my feet.
Key take away: The island doesn't have much to offer outside of a really nice hotel in our experience. Pay the money for a beautiful consistent view, explore the off the beaten path food/wine, take a catamaran, and hop to the next island.
Adventure: Crete
We landed in Herakloin to just sleep in before we rented a car to head west. All we will say about Herakloin was that we felt extremely uncomfortable and not safe. We rented a car right off the ferry, and driving in Herakloin was the scariest driving of our lives... and we live in Los Angeles. 0/10. However, we did get some AMAZING gyros in Herakloin. Best gyros of the trip.
If you rent a car in Crete (which, I honestly recommend), do be weary as an American driver that the road laws of Greece may be the same as the US, but the road behavior is very different and kind of scary. It's basically a giant game of chicken. Doable, but be warned.
Next morning we did an ATV "safari" which was 10/10. ELA Safaris. George was so thorough, gave so many history lessons, taught us so many unique things, and showed us so many unique places. It probably helped that we were his only customers that day, but either way... it was so fun. We got to see a "ghost town" and there was just SO much to learn/see about the village. George was amazing, and he gave us a bottle of his own hand crafted olive oil that he made 2 days prior to our visit.
After the safari we headed to Chania. Chania was the highlight of our trip. What an absolutely incredible place! So much to see, eat, experience, listen to, and enjoy. The FOOD! The food was so good, the people were so kind, there was so much to do! 10/10 go to Chania, and spend some time getting lost there.
We visited the gorge as well, which was also fantastic. Not much else to say other than it was really nice hike and neat to see.
Key take away: Driving is scary, Herakloin is uncomfortable minus the gyros, ATV tour via ELA tours was incredible (please see George!), Chania is amazing, gorge is great, we didn't get enough time on crete.
Overall food take aways: The food did honestly disappoint us. We are "foodies"... mostly me, because cooking is my main hobby. Nothing was bad, but nothing blew us away. Just... food. Some better than others. Crete impressed the most overall. If you are lactose intolerant, yikes. There's sooo much cheese. But overall, we felt like every menu at every restaurant felt too similar to the last. Maybe the same can be said about where we live, but I guess maybe we were hoping for more traditional variety and depth of flavors. We unfortunately left thinking "we have had better Greek/Mediterranean food at home"... with the exception of the Feta and olive oil. Holy shit.
Also, have to say it - their coffee was the best coffee I've ever had. Every island. 100/10. Incredible coffee.
We loved Greece. Athens was exhausting (from the walking and so much to see), Santorini was beautiful, Crete was everything we wanted it to be.
Our next trip will be back to Crete and Naxos!
Submitted November 15, 2022 at 01:27AM by Snaffoo0 https://ift.tt/oasC3Z0
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