Europe - Romantic Greece
CHOOSING GREECE
Its always smart to research your destination just a bit. We always want to learn some basics, including “hello, good morning/afternoon/ night, please, thank-you, where?” etc. In this circumstance we learned something important about Greek plumbing! Most places in Greece do NOT allow the flushing of toilet paper. You will see signs by the toilets saying not to flush paper, and we might interpret this to mean “random” papers; they in fact don’t want ANY TP flushed. If you see a waste can next to the toilet, that is what it is for. The plumbing in most areas was just not built to handle anything but natural waste.
Next - we knew that we wanted to at least see one island in addition to Athens. After much research, we decided on the island of Santorini over Mykonos. Our reason being that we were more interested in the soaring views and landscapes than the reported nightlife scene of Mykonos. Partly because we were going at a little off-season and didn’t plan on ocean swimming. We flew from Amsterdam Schippol airport to Santorini direct. (Ferries from Athens to Santorini take about 8 hours)
SANTORINI
Santorini is a relatively desert-like island made beautiful by its inhabitants with its crisp painted buildings and plentiful bougainvillea flowers. It is famously portrayed with white-washed hotels, lofty wooden windmills, and Grecian blue church domes perched before beautiful ocean sunsets. The island is on the crescent shaped edge of a caldera with its cities built up high on the rim. Successful wineries pepper the less steep side of the island which makes its way down to a red sand or black sand beach, and also the island’s own small airport.
TRAVEL - You can rent a car on Santorini and easily circumnavigate the entire island in a day, or simply catch a taxi from the airport to your hotel. There are public busses that will bring you about the island, as well as plentiful and winding walkways that will get you all the way from Oai to Fera. We rented a car from Sixt, which went very smoothly, but I would actually recommend that it is not necessary and parking is a bit of an issue anyways. For us, the best way to experience a new location is to explore on foot as much as possible. I recommend doing so on this island, but beware, do it while you are still in good health! There are many steps and uneven surfaces that would be difficult to navigate with impediments.
Departing the small airport required us to arrive 1 hours before the flight - which seemed totally unnecessary. You zip through the one scanner line and then are there with about a hundred other passengers in a small room looking for the rest of the airport. Just FYI- there is a second floor upstairs with more chairs.
HOTEL - The layout of this island affords most hotels (and restaurants) with fantastic views! you can rent anything from private rooms to villas with private pools on the cliffside. On our wish list was a room for two with a private “splash” pool that wouldn’t be on the main route. We can highly recommend Ikies Traditional Houses in Santorini. We stayed at the Captain’s house, which offered a private splash pool, deck with patio furniture, bedroom and living room plus bathroom. Breakfast was selected from a long menu and brought / set up on your patio each morning at your desired time. Truly a romantic location! The staff was very responsive and went the extra mile when we had unusual problems or requests (finding a AAA battery or cleaning a mess off of shoes).
ATHENS
TRAVEL - Fly from Santorini to Athens airport. The plane was a full, no non-sense transfer. Greek is one of the harder languages for us to pick up, so we made sure to know ahead of time which bus transfer ticket to buy when leaving the airport. The stands were right outside where taxis and buses pick up. The attendants spoke very little English, but enough to make change. If you are going downtown, it is fairly easy to buy the right ticket and the buses picked up every 20 minutes. We heard lots of things about protecting from pick pockets on the bus, but felt that the situation was really just similar to traveling on public transport in a larger US city. The seat was a little stiff, but we got there ok.
Aside from the bus, we bought a train ticket at the end of our trip to return to the airport. There weren’t attendants and it was necessary to buy them via a kiosk. Like most places, if you learn a few platitudes in the native language it goes a long way when asking a local to verify you are reading the options correctly. The train to the airport had many stops and was so busy that we had to stand at first, but eventually it cleared enough to get some seats.
POI - On recommendations from friends and research we decided we wanted to be near Plaka, and Monastiraki neighborhoods. Most people visit Athens to see the Acropolis, of course, and walking from our hotel on Ermou St was no problem. You can buy a pass just for the Acropolis or a multi-museum pass. Read carefully what is included on the pass; we thought the Acropolis Museum was included but it fact it wasn’t. You can buy the pass right at the Acropolis and some of the other included attractions. This could certainly take a few days to see everything included.
Aside from the ruins, worth a visit is Monastiraki Square, the Monastiraki “Flea Market”, dining at O Thanasis on Mitropoleos, and shopping along the Adrianou walkway in Plaka. I felt comfortable walking all about these areas, even on my own, with an expensive camera.
HOTEL - We stayed at a choice pulled from Google maps, and hit the head on the money! The Athens Utopia Ermou is a modern, affordable hotel located on a walking street amongst modern shopping stores in the Monastiraki neighborhood. They offered a small efficient check- in area, but our room was recently built, beautiful, clean and modern, with sweeping views on the city pedestrian walkway below, the Church of the Assumption of Virgin Mary, and of course, the Acropolis itself. On top of the hotel they also sport a roof top restaurant with the best views of the ruins, and good food as well! Breakfast was included. The staff was very pleasant and helpful with everything from tips on shopping, dining, and using the train. Highly recommend!