Greece

Athens

​By some luck, Derek and I arrived in Athens around 2 PM. What I mean when I say there was luck involved is that Derek forgot to buy his ticket from Vienna to Athens. He put off checking into the flight until we arrived at the airport. After searching his inbox and trash folders and asking at the baggage check, we found out he forgot to book his plane ticket. So, by some miracle, the flight still had space and he was able to buy a ticket and a crisis was averted.
 
Mark, Emily and Kevin landed around 3:30 PM and met up with us at the Airbnb. Shortly after their arrival, we realized I forgot to book an extra night for Mark, Emily and Kevin in the Airbnb in Athens the second weekend (August 17 – 19). Then Mark broke the shower.
 
Luckily, we found an Airbnb for Mark, Emily and Kevin and our Airbnb host also immediately came over to fix the shower. We only had one evening in Athens so we decided to get some food and then visit the Acropolis (the ancient citadel with historically important buildings like the Parthenon). We couldn’t go inside because we got there too late, but we were able to get some incredible views during sunset. After walking around the Acropolis, we went to a nearby rooftop bar to enjoy some more nighttime Acropolis views. We woke up the next morning to repack our bags, have a nice long lunch and then head to Santorini! 

Santorini

​Our flight to Santorini was delayed and we ended up landing in the late afternoon. We picked up our rental car and drove 10 minutes to our house in Pyrgos. The house had the traditional white and blue design and a beautiful balcony overlooking Santorini. Pyrgos is one of the highest points on the island and we had some impressive views below and also above. We were able to see so many stars and even Mars, Venus and Jupiter.
 
By the time we made it to Pygros, we were starving. We went to the main square of town to have a long dinner where we made friends with a cute kitty who suckered us into feeding him/her. By the time we were done for dinner the sun had set. We bought some wine and snacks and went back up to our balcony where we spent the night talking, playing games and stargazing.
 
The next day we were picked up in town for a half day Catamaran cruise around Santorini. We swam, snorkeled, ate Greek BBQ, and even napped. Our transportation after the cruise took about 2 hours longer than it should have. When we got back we were exhausted and famished so we showered and went down to the car to drive to the city of Fira for dinner and drinks.
 
After a long day, we were looking forward to a quick drive to some dinner, but we were met with a flat tire and our side view mirror hanging off. Nice! Thankfully, the men were able to change the tire and also “fix” the side view mirror that had already been taped up. Not the most ideal way to start the night, but the situation was handled remarkably quick.
 
Around 7:00 PM, we drove about 15 minutes to Fira, where we started the night at a restaurant for a nice meal. After dinner, we bar hopped until about 12:30 AM, when we then went to a small club called Tropical to celebrate Derek’s 23rd birthday. We actually made friends with our waiters at dinner and they suggested we go to Tropical. They met up with us at about 1:30 AM and we hung with them until about 3:30 AM.
 
Unsurprisingly, we all slept until noon. The five of us got dressed quickly and then headed to Perivolos beach for an early lunch and some serious beach time. It wasn’t very crowded, which was great, and we rented some beach loungers and umbrellas. The sand was burning hot and impossible to walk on without sandals, but the water was amazing – blue, clear, clean. We left the beach around 6:00 PM so we could shower and get ready for dinner.
 
We had dinner at one of the other restaurants in town, played some table hangman and then finished the night on a rooftop bar that overlooked the island. It’s been super windy in Greece so the bar provided blankets and I took two. 

MYkonos

Wednesday morning, we left Santorini via a ferry that started off feeling like what I assume the animals felt on Noah’s Ark. We and hundreds of other ferry passengers waited under the hot sun to board the ship through the car entrance. It was like herding cattle. Everyone had to put their bags on the few luggage racks available and then single file bump into the walls in order to find a seat.
 
We all napped on the ferry until we arrived in Mykonos. About an hour after we got to our Airbnb, Julie arrived!!!! The six of us grabbed lunch at the resort where our Airbnb was located and then went right to the beach/pool. We spent the afternoon and early evening there until dinner time.
 
We spent Thursday in the resort as well and claimed our beach spot super early because the beach is small. Thursday night we went to the town of Chora (Little Venice) for some shopping, dinner and night life. The town of Chora was stunning with the typical narrow white streets and loads of restaurants and bars on the water.
 
Our flight Friday was not until 9:50 PM so we had the entire day to lounge and swim. We started drying off around 6 PM and headed to the small restaurant in our resort area for a quick meal before being picked up at 8 PM for our flight. Our terminal was one room with three doors, about four rows of chairs, a duty free store the size of a walk in closet and a small store for snacks and sandwiches.
 
The flight before ours was delayed so the 20 total seats in the gate were taken. As we sat on the floor and briefly played some card games, our flight kept getting delayed. We ended up leaving around 11:30 PM and landing around 12:30 AM. We got to our Airbnb at 1:00 AM and then Emily, Julie, Derek and I took a quick four-hour nap before our 6 AM cab back to the airport. Emily was catching a flight to the US and Julie, Derek and I were flying to Catania in Sicily for our five-day stay in the south of Italy. Mark and Kevin spent an extra day in Athens before their flight on Sunday.