My inner Greecian Goddess

Greece!! It's been on my bucket list for awhile, so I was extremely thrilled to be able to go for 10 days this past fall. This country is lush in history, and if you are a Greek God and ancient Spartan fan such as myself, it is easy to fall in love with this country in an instant. Now there are several ways to do a trip to Greece. Obviously, Greece is very well known for its islands. Did you know there are literally 6,000 Greek islands?!? To be fair, only 227 them are inhabited, but this still blew me away. If you want a romantic, sweep you off your feet, getaway vacation... then the islands are your go to. The popular ones for this type of destination are Santorini, Mykonos, Crete, Rhodes, Corfu, Paros, et cetera. If you're looking for a party scene and to surround yourself around the younger crowd (maybe you're single and traveling with friends), then Zakynthos is the way to go.

However, if you want the history, then you'll want to spend some time on the mainland. Do be aware, mainland Greece is much different than the islands. If I'm being blatantly honest, the people overall (not everyone obviously, as we met some wonderful Greek people mainland) are a little more rude and arrogant, but I think this can be attributed to the fact that they are living their own busy lives and are probably tired of inconsiderate tourists coming and going. The people on the islands are much more laid back and easy going, but I feel like that's an overall island life concept. Plus, the people on the islands are pretty much there for the tourists, so they are more willing to go above and beyond to appease you.

My biggest disappointment with Athens was that it was literally covered in graffiti. There is so much rich history and ancient culture in Athens alone that it was really disheartening to see how little protection some of the ancient monuments and historical sites were getting. Regardless, I was infatuated with the history this city had to offer. The Parthenon was awe-inspiring. I grew up rather intrigued by Greek mythology (almost like any other person), but even more so because my grandmother taught it. It's something we would always talk about when I was growing up, so I feel like I knew more about the Greek Gods than the average kid. My first glimpse of the Parthenon was on our first night in Athens as we ventured to the Plaka district to grab dinner. Which, by the way, is a must if you find yourself in Athens. Plaka is set under Acropolis and is a great way for you to see the Greek capital as it was over 100 years ago. The next morning, we took a tour of the Acropolis which brought us up close and personal with the Parthenon. This is a once in a lifetime experience and if you ever go to Greece for just the islands, try to spend at least a day in Athens so you can at least see this amazing piece of history.

Aside from Acropolis, there are some other great things you should see in Athens if you have the time. We went to the Panatheanaic Stadium, where the first Modern Olympic Games were held in 1896. We also made stops at the Constitution Square (Syntagma), the House of Parliament, the Memorial to the Unknown Soldier, the National Library, Hadrian’s Arch and the Temple of Olympian Zeus. We also spent some time at the Acropolis Museum.

Most trips to Greece would stop at the extent of what I covered above, but if you're really trying to invest some time in the country and be all-inclusive, you can do a guided tour around the mainland to the plethora of other historical sites Greece has to offer. On our tour, we went to the Corinth Canal, which is one of the 19th Century world’s engineering masterpieces; it's history dates as far back as 602 B.C.. We stopped in Epidaurus to see the famous 4th century B.C. theater that helped pave the way for modern day theatrical acoustics. Another city on our journey, Nafplion, was a beautiful seaside resort town that is great for picturesque views and seafood. Once we reached Mycenae, the Homeric city of Atreides, we hiked up to the famous Lion's Gate, the Cyclopean Walls, and the Royal Tombs.

On the second day of our mainland tour, we reached the city of Olympia, which hosts the stadium of the Ancient Olympic games. This was one of my favorite parts of our mainland Greece tour! It was UNREAL to see the grounds in which the ancient Greeks would train for the first ever Olympics in the world, and better yet, it was exhilarating to be able to run on the grounds where the first original "track" grounds held races. In addition, here you can see one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World, the temple of the statue of Zeus.

The ruins of the Temple of the Statue of Zeus, one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world.

After more days of traveling, our adventure brought us to Delphi (which was the location of the movie 300) to tour the grounds of the legendary oracle, the sanctuary of Apollo and the Delphi Museum.

Hotel Amalia which we stayed in Delphi

Onward to Meteora, we were able to see some of the most beautiful views that this country has to offer. We got to spend the day seeing the monastaries that were set up on the mountains of Meteora in Kalambaka, and these were just an incredible sight to see! The drive to Meteora is 5 hours from Athens, so it's not something you can necessarily see on a short stay, but if you get the opportunity I highly recommend it because it's unlike anything you can see anywhere else in the world, and it will truly take your breath away!

Upon returning to Athens, we spent another night in the city with our friends and checked out the nightlife. The people of Athens do like to party! One bar I highly recommend checking out if you're in Athens for a night is Brettos in the Plaka District as it is the oldest distillery in Greece with more than 40 of their own homemade liqueurs and 50 cocktails. And not to sound cliche, but the vibe of the bar was really fun and we were able to easily make new friends there! One major suggestion I have is that you be wise and mindful while out and about in Athens, however. It is known that they are skillful pickpockets in this part of the country and tourists are very easy targets, especially drunk tourists. So never carry large amounts of money and try to avoid keeping your passport on you if you have the option to leave it in a hotel safe.

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After our friends departed back for America, Anson and I flew to Santorini for several days. You can get to Santorini by ferry or plane. The flights from Athens to Santorini at the time I booked them were just as cheap as the ferry, so I opted for this option as the flight was only about 45 minutes, whereas the regular ferry takes 8 hours and the high speed ferry takes about 5. The ferry would be a cool option if you have the time to kill though, but I just wanted to spend as much time on the island as possible!

Santorini is hands down one of my favorite places on earth. If you follow me on Instagram, this is prevalent, as you simply can't take a bad picture on this island. I could offer a bunch of suggestions for things to do on this island, but your options are endless, and honestly my most important suggestion is just to enjoy the view. I've never been to a place that looks exactly like the postcards, but better. We stayed at Alta Vista Suites which is set in Firostefani. AVS consists of 5 total suites, and we stayed in the largest one called "Love." The other smaller suites are also fantastic, the only reason we chose the largest one is because it was the only one still available when I made the booking and at that point I was so sold on the hotel I didn't want to stay elsewhere. And let me tell you, this place was worth it!! The views from right outside our room were ones I could never put into words. I literally never wanted to leave this place. AVS had a beautiful infinity pool that we spent a lot of time lounging around, and it was almost like our own private pool since there were only 4 other rooms at the hotel (we hardly ever ran into the other guests). Every morning, the staff at AVS provided us with a made-to-order breakfast outside our door overlooking the water, and I've never felt so fancy in my entire life. In addition, they provided us with so much complimentary champagne, I don't know how our actual honeymoon will ever out-do this stay. LOVED LOVED LOVED Alta Vista Suites, and although I like to try new places especially if I'm revisiting a location, I do really think we will stay with them again!

Some of the other things we did during our time in Santorini consisted of a wine tasting tour on the island which was a nice way to explore the island as a whole, meet some friends and of course, drink wine. Believe it or not, Santorini actually has some really delicious wines! I'm a red wine lover myself, but due to the very rocky terraine of Santorini, they are not able to grow red grapes so they have primarily white wines and one or two blush wines. Our wine tour showed us the process on how grapes grow on the island, which is much different than the grapes that grow in a typical vineyard (and was quite the learning experience from my wine tasting adventure in Napa/Sonoma earlier this year). Santorini does not export a lot of their wines, however, so if you fall in love with one of the varieties, make sure to buy it there because you likely won't find it anywhere else!

Anson and I went scuba diving while in Santorini which was a fun way for us to see the differences in marine life on this side of the world. Our first dive took us along the old crater of the original volcano which was an experience unlike one we'll probably ever find diving again. One of the nights we did a dinner boat cruise that took us on a hike to the volcanic caldera crater, which offered us some really cool views of the "snow capped" cliffs of the island. The boat also stopped so we could jump off and swim in the natural hot springs formed by the still active caldera.

Also, it is essential that you spend some time in Oia to see the white paved streets and catch the sunset. However, the sunset is BEAUTIFUL from ANYWHERE on the island, but to catch it just once in Oia is worth the experience because this is where people gather in drones the same time each night to witness this beautiful event together. It really is a fantastic sight to see.

All in all, Greece was fantastic in every way and I feel like we didn't even touch the surface! The food has been one of my favorite international food experiences thus far, and don't even get me started on the Greek yogurt. For real people, if you think Greek yogurt in America is good, don't even try the yogurt in Greece because you'll come back home and be so disappointed in the yogurt here for the rest of forever. If there's one thing I miss most about Greece, it's definitely that yogurt! I cannot wait to go back to continue to explore this beautiful country even more in the future!