Athens, Santorini and Mykonos

First post!! This is the big one, and the honor goes to Greece. Let me be clear about this, even though it is definitely in my top ten, it is NOT my favorite place in the world. That is a whole different convo, and a very controversial one when it comes to discussing it with my husband. Let’s just call him Jon Snow, he knows nothing. But, back to talking about perfection, Grecia is the one place I would recommend to anyone, no matter how picky and bitchy you are when it comes to vacations. This place has everything, just ask the Greek gods, they know their shit. Athens has all the history, all the old school stuff we read about in high school, and all the things that make you feel like less of an uncultured loser. 

Once you move on to the Greek islands, you have Santorini, a romantic paradise. The views, the sunsets, the cool ass white and blue buildings. And then you have Mykonos, well baby, Mykonos is a mother*cking party. Bars that are open until sunrise, beach clubs, windmills. BRB, crying as I sell my car online to buy me a plane ticket to Greece. Here is a glimpse of the amazeballs week we had in Greece; I would go back every summer if I could.

Day One

We arrived in Athens very early in the morning after a red eye flight, and we immediately headed over to an Airbnb in Plaka to drop off our bags and start our day. Sleeping is not that great anyway (this is what I constantly tell myself when we travel). You can sleep 8 hours next week woman. Get it together! The first stop was the Parthenon in The Acropolis, because well, it is THE PARTHENON. Wait no, the first thing we did was stop for a Mythos beer, because, well, it’s BEER; and then we proceeded to the sightseeing. The crowds weren’t too bad in the morning and we had great opportunities for pictures. I should mention that in Athens we grabbed a cab to and from the airport, the rest of the time, we were on foot. I liked staying in Plaka, I mean, saving money on Uber? Score!!

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We explored for about an hour or so, and then we were ready for the most fantastic discovery in all of Greece, saganaki (insert drooling face emoji here). “I will take, what is a saganaki for $200, Alex.” Saganaki is this fried cheese, let me tell you, not just your typical mozzarella cheese, no my friend, this cheese is made by Zeus himself and then served warm and covered in honey and I just became lactose intolerant by writing this because CHEEEESEEEE.  We also walked over to see the changing of the guards in Syntagma Square, and eventually moseyed on to participate in a cooking class. We chose Athens Walking Tours for our cooking class, they let you know which restaurant to meet at and I believe they change the location depending on the day. Guys, guys, hear me out, you might think I am so boring, but you are way off. This cooking class was a blast and a half. Let me start by saying I suck at cooking, but this was beyond the cooking.  We highly recommend it, and believe me when I say, it is not just a cooking class. You will drink, a lot. You will meet new people, you will laugh, JUST DO IT, DAMMIT! We ended up hanging out with a couple we met there and we even got together in Santorini and Mykonos! Oh, and I guess the cherry on top is, well, you get to eat the food.

After the class, we headed over to a rooftop bar. There are many to choose from, we decided to go with A for Athens. “May I have an Aperol spritz, kind sir?” Yes, yes you may. “And also, may I have a kickass view of the Parthenon to go with that?” Yes, yes you may. GO FOR THE VIEWS, STAY FOR THE VIEWS. (But also, for the drinks because they will probably kick your ass out if you just sit there empty handed).

Sidenote: I regret only spending one night in Athens, granted, we couldn’t spend more than a week in Greece and we wanted to maximize our time. But, if you can stay longer, I strongly suggest spending more than one night in Athens. The nightlife is fantastic, restaurants and bars are open late and there is a plethora of choices. I absolutely loved the vibe and it definitely exceeded our expectations.

Day Two

We flew to Santorini, and we checked into the Pegasus Suites & Spa. The views, the viewssss….mamma mia!!!!! Notice a pattern with Greece? Feel free to write me an email or leave a comment if you feel like I said the word “views” way too much and you visit Greece and end up being unimpressed (but, I know you won’t be). This hotel had a pool bar with excellent drinks and was walking distance to bars and restaurants in the Imeroglivi area. A lot of people like to stay in Fira, but like you will notice in most of our trips, time is of the essence. We need to do as much as we can in a short amount of time and we have to pick and choose. Imeroglivi is a little closer to Oia and that was our main focus.

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We ended up renting an ATV to explore the island, we were able to do so after hopping on the local bus which cost about 2 euros (cash only) and picked us up on the main road right in front of our hotel. I strapped on my  pink helmet and we drove our excited tushies to Oia, I was ready to see the cute blue domes, gimme! A lot of tourists decide to hike it, and I love a good hike, but I didn’t have the patience. I needed to be there ASAP. We found a parking spot for our ATV and walked up to the streets of Oia. Holy crap, man. That was a shit-ton of people if I have ever seen that, I am talking Sunday morning brunch crowd running towards mimosas, times ten! It was hard walking the streets with so many people around, and good pictures are hard when you have an entire army of tourists on your tail. We walked all the way to the Byzantine castle ruins and this was an absolute gorgeous view, it was absolutely stunning there. If you like selfies, this is your time to shine! This is where you can take that picture that shows the descending white buildings and the windmills with views of the caldera. After that, my husband had the mission of finding a good spot for pictures with the blue domes in the back. This was a challenge with the massive crowd, but as always, he delivered. This man is a human compass, *Tip alert* I usually try and find a picture online of what I want my background to look like, I save it and his mission is to find the same spot. If you are like me, do not lose faith. Try to find a little alley with steps and head down. As far from the entrance as possible. It can be done. After experiencing what seemed to be an episode of the Amazing Race, we made a quick stop at Pelekanos for a cold beverage and for more views. This was a cute little restaurant with an open upstairs patio that screamed vacation vibes.

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We decided to head down to Ammoudi for lunch, this is the area right by the port, and we were able to get there on our ATV but you can also access it on foot and it is about 200+ steps. It was really cute sitting by the water and enjoying the sangria, but I ordered the calamari expecting, well, the breaded calamari with a yummy dipping sauce. Instead, I got these giant circles of what looked like chewy pieces of rubber. Super fishy, not for me. Calamari is not the same in Greece, man. Keep that in mind. There are a few taverns and they all offer chairs right by the water. I can’t stress this enough, do not skip Ammoudi, calamari on the other hand, you can skip.

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After some sunbathing and a dip in the hotel pool, we showered and headed out to explore on foot. We ended up in this little cute restaurant rather close to our hotel. It didn’t look fancy or anything, and no views either. I don’t even know why we chose it, but boy, am I glad we did! Talk about a secret hidden gem. The name of the restaurant is Salt and Pepper, and the service was beyond perfect. Food was authentic and delish, the servers are the nicest ever, and they offer complimentary dessert. My heart!!

Day Three

Pegasus Suites has breakfast included and you can either head down to the restaurant and eat all the Greek yogurt your heart desires, or you can have it delivered to your room. I recommend that you have it delivered at least once. Do it for the pictures, do it for the ‘gram! Good Lord, I just said “gram”. We decided to visit the buffet on the first day since we were heading out for a boat cruise early that morning. Then we grabbed a bus that drove us to the port for our sailboat experience. I have this obsession with boats, I just love boat tours and I always try to book at least one during our vacations. We happened to see a flyer for this one at our hotel and booked it very last minute (which is sooo not what the Greens do). Fuck it, we said, why not? Boy, did we hit the European lottery with this one. The name of the company is Santorini Sail Cruises, do not forget that name. One of the coolest things we did in Greece. It was only 3 couples, which felt way more intimate than other boat experiences without having to pay a thousand dollars and a right kidney for it. The captain was the sweetest person and he was accompanied by his son, who was about 12 years old and incredibly attentive. The sailboat was so romantic, they were playing Italian-ish music the whole time we were sailing. First stop, the ocean! Too obvious? What gave it away? The island girl who won’t shut up about boats and shit? Captain awesome stopped at an area where we were able to jump into the water and go for a swim. It was a little chilly but felt really nice, and floaties were provided. We also made a stop in an area where you can go swim in a natural hot spring in the middle of the ocean because it is heated by sulfur from the volcano. That was crazy, but at the same time, it was very unique and special. *Tip alert* Leave all your jewelry behind because the sulfur will ruin it, and wear a crappy swimsuit because it might get ruined as well. Now, to the final part of the boat experience, food. See picture for reference because I can’t put into words how absolutely delish this meal was. And, wine and beer flowing like it was Aphrodite’s birthday.  What a perfect effing day it was!

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For dinner, we decided to splurge and dine at a nice restaurant where we could watch the sunset from. Sure as shit, the name of the restaurant was “Sunsets”. Tacky enough? It could’ve been a tourist trap, but it was anything but. We asked to sit upstairs where we could have a better view of the sunset, but unfortunately it started raining. This didn’t even put a damper on our experience, still magical, still perfect. Views, check. Amazing food, check. We even witnessed a proposal, check! 

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Day Four

First thing we did was order breakfast and sit on our balcony to enjoy our omelets and champagne with a side of the caldera views. After a short photo session in our fancy robes, we grabbed our ATVs and headed out.

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We kind of played it by ear on day four. Our stops included Santo Wines Winery, Santorini Brewing company, and the Open Air Cinema Kamari. If you enjoy a glass (or a 16 glass flight) of vino, I strongly recommend that you visit Santos. This place is gorgeous and they have outstanding wine, need I say more? We made a quick stop at the red beach, but that was not really my jam. Beach snobbery at its best. It is worth the stop just to see it with your own eyeballs, though. The brewery didn’t have a lot of people in it, and still had a great vibe with cool beers like Crazy Donkey IPA. Fun name, right? On our way to the Cinema we stopped for photo ops and lunch at Alexander (which included complimentary shots, so you know I give it a solid 5 stars) and I know I drank more at the cinema than I paid attention to the movie so that was a jolly good time!

Santorini Brewing Company and Santo Wines

Day Five

Time to head over to Mykonos, baby! We got our tickets, we jumped on the ferry and what do you know, we got on the wrong ferry. Motherf$#@&!! Miraculously, we ended up making it there with a minor delay, so *Tip alert*, pay close attention to the signs and make sure you get on the correct boat. People run like chickens with their heads cut off to get in when the ferry arrives (the Seajets fast ferry doesn’t stay long, it drops off people, picks up people and it is GONE), and no one asks for your ticket until you are already on board and it’s too far to swim your ass back to the port. It was a very easy ride with very comfortable seats and air conditioner, and the tickets were purchased online quite easily. I still don’t know how we managed to get there rather quick, I just know there was a stop at a different island first and we were panicking thinking we were going to end up far from our destination. Whew! After we arrived, we took a water taxi into town (Mykonos Old Port) and after we disembarked, we stopped at the first restaurant we saw. Island girl needed an island cold beer and a tasty gyro with extra tzatziki (yogurt based dipping sauce that I could live on). Next up, another ATV rental and a short drive to our hotel. We booked Casa Madalena for our 3 nights in Mykonos, which to be honest was nothing special and the street that led to it was quite scary on the ATV. The lady who works the front desk wasn’t especially friendly either and that was annoying to say the least. However, they did offer complimentary breakfast, the grounds were beautiful for pictures and we got an upgrade to a bigger/nicer room for free. I will say this, it was a good thing that we were not staying where the action was. I would not want to stay in Mykonos town, saw a few people dragging suitcases all over the place and it looked like a royal pain in the ass. It is better to stay close to town, but not in town, ya’ feel me?

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After we checked in, we decided to go explore. We drove the ATV to go see the windmills because this is the photo op you have been dreaming of.  It was also a great opportunity to see a gorgeous sunset up there, so make sure you go late in the afternoon. We walked the beautiful streets and looked at shops and stopped for some tasty bites. I mean, I couldn’t get enough of these streets, man! The vibrant colors, the romantic European vibe, the flagstones and pathways, the architecture (wow, look at me using big fancy words). We visited the famous Skandinavian bar, and it had a great DJ and good dancing. We moved on to a classier bar with more good music and great people watching, I am talking beautiful women dancing on tables. The name of this bar was Remezzo, write that shit down. Good night for now, the beach awaits!!

Day Six

The one thing Santorini was missing, you can find in Mykonos: the gorgeous beaches! Remember when I mentioned the “OK” red beach in Santorini? Well, this is when Greece redeemed itself. I couldn’t leave the hotel fast enough. We grabbed the ATV and headed over to the beach, first order of business: beach club. Kalua Beach Bar was fancyyyyyyy schmancyyyyy. It is more low-key than Paradise Beach, with lounge music and expensive drinks and pretentious people and I would give away my entire closet to be there right now. You have to pay a pretty high fee for beach chairs, but it was magical, beautiful, relaxing, boozy, ahhhhhh. Overpriced margaritas never tasted better. We headed over to Paradise afterwards just to check it out and that was a crazy young crowd, if you are into that. Drinks are cheaper, the crowd is drunker and way more wild. They had multiple beach bars next to one another so you can walk around and experience them all. We actually had a great time watching everyone dancing on tables and couches and we even joined in the craziness. At night, what do you know, Remezzo again because this place is a sweet, sweet fantasy.

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Day Seven

We decided to give the more affordable area a try, Super Paradise Beach (Not to be confused with Paradise Beach, the “Super” matters). I actually enjoyed it quite a bit, husband wasn’t too thrilled with it. It is still a great beach and the crowd is very chill, but there is no music. There were a few restaurants nearby and the lounge chairs were cheap, y’all!! So, to recap, you can have cheaper drinks, lounge by the water, swim, and tan like a certain Kim or Khloe in Cabo. Options, people. *Tip alert* Bring some sort of water shoe, the beach has rocks in some of the areas and you might not need them, but then again, you might. We drove back to Mykonos town for a quiet dinner and some late night ice cream dessert. That’s a wrap.

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Day Eight

In the words of Kesha: ”Wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy.” Mykonos, it has been real. Time to head back to Athens for our last night in Greece before our flight back to the States. We head over to the port, sun is blasting, bags are heavy and what do you know, we can’t find our ferry tickets. Son of a bitch. The husband said 28 cuss words (even though he was the one who lost ‘em, I don’t know why I think he can be trusted), and he heads over to spend another $100+. Yay! We grabbed some snacks and the waiting game began. Once the ferry arrived we grabbed our shit and off we went. It takes about 2.5 hours if you book the fast ferry, and again, nice clean ferry with air conditioner. A little fun fact about me, I love The Killers, the band, not actual killer people. Ha! Ahem, anyway, as I was saying, The Killers had scheduled a concert during the same time we had planned our trip to be in Athens and if that’s not a sign, then I don’t know what the fuck is!! That was the end of our trip, listening to my favorite band singing Mr. Brightside live, how is this shit even remotely believable?? Life is good, really fucking good.