2017 - Greece (Summary)

Duration: 15 days
Locations: Santorini, Crete, and Athens Greece

In June of 2017, we visited Greece and here is a summary of things that I enjoyed the most, one for each location that we visited which are Santorini, Crete, and Athens.

Highlights

Fira to Oia Hike (Santorini), with clear signage and it being the #1 thing to do in Santorini on TripAdvisor (as of September 2017), you aren't really go wrong here. The hike itself is free, no money required, however, there is no shade on the way, so bring some sunscreen or stay covered and there are also no stops for water, so make sure to bring enough of that as well. There will be plenty of people along the way (at least when we went in June), so don't worry too much about getting lost and just enjoy the hike which takes roughly 3-4 hours. Try to start early, that way you avoid the high afternoon sun (unless you like hiking in the heat).

Samaria Gorge (Crete), a great and quite strenuous hike which does have an admission cost, but it was pretty low for us when we went at roughly 25 euros per person and this included all the transportation as well as a guide for the entire trip. You have the option to go from the bottom to the top or the top to the bottom which is what most people do. The hike itself will take all day with a start time of roughly 6:00am to an end time of roughly 8:30pm. There are plenty of water refill stations here, but do bring some hiking poles if you don't like going down. Make sure to enjoy the nice views!

Meteora (Athens), a long day trip from Athens, we did it as a 2 day trip and it was wonderful. Meteora is a collection of monasteries that appear to have just dropped from the sky and landed on top of mountains that literally just appeared out of nowhere. You'll have to see it to believe it. What's even more impressive to me was once I went inside one of them, it was like I was in a normal monastery on land. A must see if you are in the area and you have time to do this.

Lowlights

Nothing was particularly disappointing on this trip. The only part that was disappointing was that we started in Santorini, did Crete and then ended up in Athens where the environment and vibe completely changed. Depending on where you are, you can see that the city has/is undergoing some difficult times.

Food Suggestions

Lucky's Soulvaki (Santorini), a tourist favourite (or local, I can't tell). We ordered the pitas on several occasions and the plate and every one that we have tried were excellent. Bare in mind, this is compared to what we have in Toronto, Canada which I think is already quite good. The food here is great, quick, and fairly inexpensive. The only downside would be that it lacks seating. There are mainly just bar stools, no real sit down tables.

Paralia (Crete), a restaurant right by the water where they serve freshly caught seafood. Enjoy the food, the sights, and the sounds while here.

Thansis (Athens), come for the kebabs, they were amazing! A must try in my mind and very reasonably priced since the street that it is on is actually full of restaurants fighting for customers.

Tips

While in Santorini, rent an ATV. You may worry about the safety, but Santorini in the main areas seem to be littered with ATVs, so don't worry about being run over by cars. With ATVs, it also is a lot easier to park since most people just park on the side of the road and you don't require as much space as a car.

Final Thoughts

I can see why Greece is a place for tourists to visit. There is plenty of variety of things to see and do and it really is just an island hop away. I liked the food variety that was available and was shockingly not bored by the end of the trip which is a common issue that I noticed while travelling.

Until our next trip!

2017 - Greece Summary (Athens)

Duration: 6 days (2 were for the Meteora tour)

Highlights

Meteora is worth the 2 day tour that we did. While the food was disappointing, seeing the sights in person was fantastic. I have mentioned that it is a bit disappointing when you are in the monasteries since it seems normal, however, that in itself is a feat since it doesn't seem like it is built on the edge of a hill.

Panathenaic Stadium, the world's only marble stadium is a definite must see even if you just want to see it from the outside.

Acropolis, try to make it early in the morning or in the afternoon to avoid the crowds and heat. A must see for anyone who comes.

Central Market, a must for people who like markets. While it is always similar, it is just always interesting for me to see.

Lowlights

Athens in general outside of the tourist area is a bit sad to see. Lots of graffiti and poor people. I knew that they were hit hard with the recession, but this was unexpected for me. While I wouldn't say it was disappointing, it was eye opening for me.

Food Suggestions

Meliltos, suggested by our Visit Athens volunteer and I would suggest it to anyone. It is a bit pricier, but the food was very good.

Thansis, you should stop by for the kebap. I think there are two restaurants next to one another, but I never found out what the difference was.

Tips

Negotiate! It doesn't take anything but a minute to ask for a discounted price. We got 15% off just for asking if they could give us a better price on the 2 day tour which is a sizable amount.

Final Thoughts

Athens has its charms although I feel like I enjoyed Meteora more. Plan accordingly since if you are not interested in ruins or museums, I felt like Athens does not have much to offer.

2017 - Greece - Day 15 [Athens]

Today is our last day in Greece before we head back to home to Toronto and our goal today was to look for graffiti art. Since we fly out I'll write about our experience flying out as well in this post.

Athen's graffiti

Breakfast was the same as usual, no change at Athens Center Square Hotel.

Breakfast

We wandered to the Gazi area by foot in search of some graffiti, since it was early in the day, we didn't really worry about anything (we were told to be a bit careful when it is dark). I think overall, we never felt worried while being here at all. As long as you are in the tourist areas you'll be okay.

Athen's graffiti

Athen's graffiti

Athen's graffiti

Athen's graffiti

Athen's graffiti (look closely, you'll see half of it on on a brick wall, the other half is on the side of a different wall)

Ended up finding some graffiti, but it wasn't as crazy as expected. My opinion on this is based on my desire to find graffiti that looks like art and not fancy tags (graffiti which is just words).

Kebap on the left, cheese on top, souvlaki on the right

With that done, we ended up back at Thansis for lunch and we ordered the chicken souvlaki, kebap, saganaki today which came out to 24 euros. The saganaki I would avoid, I think it is just an overall salty cheese and it seems a bit disappointing compared to the Halumi we had the other day.

Central Market

Central Market

Central Market

Central Market

Central Market

Central Market

Visited the Central Market by our hotel and it is well worth a visit for those who don't know markets, or those who like them. Imagine if you walked into a grocery store, but your usual areas like meats, veggies, fish, as all operated with different owners, but they all more or less sell the same thing.

Central Market

Central Market

You will see stall upon stall that sells meats in one section, an area that sells fish, and then outside it was fruits and veggies. Very neat place. Not, if you don't like looking at dead meat/fish, you might want to avoid this.

National Archeological Museum

National Archeological Museum

National Archeological Museum

National Archeological Museum

National Archeological Museum

National Archeological Museum was next and we walked there from our hotel, it wasn't too long of a walk and we ended up being there from 2:30pm to 4:30pm at a cost of 10 euros per person. This museum has a lot of things to see and it is a bit confusing in terms of layout in my mind. Your stay depends on what you like and you may not even be interested anyways. Unfortunately, it is a bit outside of the usual tourist area, it just happened to be near our hotel, so we paid them a visit.

Oddly, our hotel staff told us to just take the metro to the museum, we did opt to walk there and was a bit confused by the suggestion. Maybe tourists don't like to walk? We weren't really sure.

Aspro Alogo Greek Salad

Aspro Alogo Calamari

Aspro Alogo Anchovies

Dinner was at Aspro Alogo again where we ordered the calamari, anchovies, and greek salad for 20 euros.

So concludes our trip to Greece! Overall, a lovely country with lots of history to explore.

The next day, we walked to the nearby metro station which had a train to the airport. We noticed that is cost 10 euros to 1 person, 18 euros for 2 people, and 24 euros for 3 people. So it is actually to your advantage to have more people! Similar to our experience with the trams in Germany.

There was plenty of signage to get to the airport, so, no worries there. Note, the station that we were at has trains that operate on the same station, even though they are on different lines. In our case, we were at Monastiraki station and we needed to wait for the blue line and not the green line. There is a sign board at the station in case you get lost. In our case, we just followed the people that looked like they were going to the airport. Note, the train took 40 minutes from our station and the train itself comes every 30 minute, so check the schedule before heading out.

Once we made it to the airport stop, again, just follow everyone. It seemed like there we plenty of people going so you probably won't need to worry. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful.

Over the next few posts, I'll cover the summary of the areas that we visited in Greece.

2017 - Greece - Day 14 [Athens]

Today, we visit the Acropolis.

Athens Center Square Hotel, which is a part of the same group of hotels that Hermes Hotel was part of meant that the breakfast is exactly the same, a bit disappointing, but we will live with it.

Athens Center Square Hotel Breakfast

Athens Center Square Hotel Breakfast

We woke up early to make it to the Acropolis near when they open and we walked there and made it there at 8:30am and we spent two hours there. It is a bit unfortunate that the site is under renovation, but nonetheless, it is still a very impressive site. Well worth visiting, especially since it does cost 20 euros just to visit this one site.

Acropolis

Acropolis

Acropolis

Make sure that you visit the Acropolis either really early (aim to go before 9:00am) or you can try to visit later in the day. Since it is out in the open, it is very hot. Through the two hours, we basically walked the entire site.

Ancient Agora

Ancient Agora

Ancient Agora was next and we got there from the Acropolis in roughly half an hour and spent an hour there (from 11:00am to 12:00pm). We did the two main buildings (Stoa and the Temple of Hephaestus) and wandered around for a bit. Neat site, but you can see a lot of reconstruction which makes you wonder how it would have looked in the past.

Thansis pork souvlaki on the left, kebap on the right

Thansis is where we went for lunch where we ordered the Thansis kebap and pork souvlaki which came out to 21 euros. The food was really good, especially the kebap. Both items were very moist, makes me wonder how they made it.

Hadrian's library was next and we were there for about 20 minutes. There isn't too much to see outside of what you see from behind the gates. It did seem a bit weird that the historical sites are surrounded by wrought iron fencing that you can see through. Why would you pay if you can basically see the entire site outside of it?

Athenkion Halumi cheese

Athenkion grilled vegetables

Due to the heat, we ended up going back to the hotel and resting. When we got up, we went to the Plaka District and wandered around town. We ended up at Athenkion for dinner where we ordered the Halumi cheese, grilled vegetables, moussaka, and meatballs. The starters were very nice, however, the mains were a bit disappointing with an overall cost of 36 euros.

Athenkion Meatballs

Athenkion Moussaka

Athenkion free dessert

Wandered a bit more and went back to the hotel. Tomorrow, we go graffiti hunting and visit some museums.