The Big Trip Video--Greece Highlight Reel

Because I had a kidney transplant, Ben and I had to postpone our honeymoon.  Instead of jet-setting immediately after our wedding, we ended up going to Greece for ten days in May.

Enjoy this video installment of my Big Trip Diary!

Since last year, I've become a bit obsessed with making videos whenever we go on a trip.  I'm a child of the 80s and 90s.  Which means there are a lot of VHS tapes floating around my parents' home of me walking, talking, riding my bike.  My parents even walked around with a camera the size of a boombox to capture my little adventures growing up. I miss those times.  I miss them so much in fact that I'm starting doing something similar.  The only difference is that my camera is not even bigger than my hand when I'm using my iPhone. 

I recorded all of this video footage during our honeymoon in Greece and compiled it on Windows Movie Maker.  If you're curious what I did with our last video, I burned it onto a DVD and put it in a binder which will be designated "Home Videos."  

2014 Later-moon in Greece from Jewel Edwards-Ashman on Vimeo.

If you're looking to plan a trip to Greece in the future and visit all the same places we did and stay in the same places and eat in the same places, then you'll find this list of hotels, restaurants and tours useful.

Our entire trip was planned by the wonderful Petros at Hellenic Holidays

Hotel Amalia

Strofi

Chat Tours

 Lagos Mare Hotel

Astra Suites

Santorini Sailing

To Psaraki

Ambrosia

Lucky's  

Big Trip Diary: Santorini

Because I had a kidney transplant, Ben and I had to postpone our honeymoon.  Instead of jet-setting immediately after our wedding, we ended up going to Greece for ten days in May.

I'm sharing a few pictures and our daily observations in this last installment of my Big Trip Diary.  Come back next week for our vacation video!

Being in Greece for a such a long time you expect there to be at least one day of less than spectacular weather. The day we left Naxos, it was overcast with a few rain drops in the air, which made us thankful that we were able to see the Naxos beaches in all their sunshine glory the day before.

At about noon we were driven to Chora to catch our ferry to our final destination, Santorini. We boarded the Blue Star speed ferry and 12:50. This was by far the nicest ferry Ben and I had been on ever. It was like riding a boat that looked like the inside if an airplane, Starbucks, and mall food court all at once.  Then as we we found our seats and the boat started moving, motion sickness hit Ben like a ton of bricks.  We didn't talk for the entire two hour ride to Santorini.

Upon arriving in Santorini, our driver, Yannis, picked us up at the small "in the middle of nowhere" port, along with a bunch of other hotel vans, buses and sightseeing tours. Then we started the winding drive up to the top of Santorini's cliffs. As we ascended higher we began to grasp the awesomeness of the majestic view of the dramatic cliffside and the sparkling sea stretching forever into one direction. 

The view from our hotel room on arrival day

We arrived at our hotel, in the quiet village of imerovigli. Astra suites. Things that we adore about Astra Suites:

• The service is better than anything you would receive in America...ever...I think.
• Every morning they bring breakfast to your room and you have the option of sitting outside on a private balcony to eat or not. Its located right on the caldera, so the view is break-taking.
• The rooms are more than just rooms. They're spacious studio apartments with a kitchenette.
• The robes and the towels are plush and smell like flowers.
• The food at the hotel restaurant.
• The little gifts: wine, glasses to drink out of, chocolates, and fresh fruit.

The first night, we didn't do much but sleep, recover from our ferry crankiness and try out the hotel restaurant.

But even though it was cloudly, the sunset still lit up the sky that first evening with its radiant pinks and reds.

The next day...

Waking up in Santorini is waking up in paradise. The first thing I see shining through our windows is the glow of the sun rising on the other side of the mountain. It casts little bits of light across the caldera.

The view of Scaros in the morning

We are served breakfast in our room: a basket of delicious croissants, smoked ham, cereal for Ben and a frittata for me. We ate, and read the daily newsletter that accompanied the breakfast. The newsletter told of us different things we could do on the island and the weather forecast. As the sun continued to rise we started to think about our day. At about noon the sun was completely on top of our caldera and balcony, so we thought it would be a nice time to go out and sit.

Once we showered, we walked out onto the balcony and took in the amazing views of the Aegean Sea. We figured that we'd kill some time before our planned sunset sail and go to Fira, the capital, for about an hour before leaving. Big mistake. The sun was shining direction onto the caldera, which meant that we were baking as we started our walk to Fira, up and down cement steps on cobblestones. We decided to quit early while we could and head back to the hotel to prepare for our sailing tour. 

Our catamaran, Triton, coming up to shore.

The sailing tour was wonderful. The positives: good conversations with other guests; the views from the boat; the funny and knowledgeable crew; the delicious DELICIOUS food.

As one point Ben jumped from the boat to swim to the "hot springs" which were not actually hot. He ended up dotted with sulphur. He also enjoyed quite a helping of grilled calamari. After dinner and a good chunk of wine we started the sail back to port while watching the sunset. 

The "hot springs"

When we arrived back to Astra, we were once again exhausted from a day of exploring and fell right to sleep.

A Santorini sunset

The Next Day...
 
We woke up to quite a surprise, weather wise this morning. The forecast predicted a very SUNNY day so we were prepared to head out early for our walk up to Scaros. We didnt want a repeat of the previous days attempt to walk to Fira. We figured we'd beat the sun to the top of the mountain, and the cool off in the pool after the descent. The temperature was fine when we awoke, but the entire island seemed to be covered in thick fog. Too the point where not seeing the mountain was a bit scary. 

Our vacation cat, Zorro, hanging out on our balcony in the fog.

Our breakfast delivery guy assured us that it would clear up as the day went on. We had planned to leave for our hike at 11 am. We didn't end up going until around noon. The fog was still a bit heavy but clearing up. By the time we reached the mountain, sunshine was peeking in and out of the clouds frequently. 

After climbing Scaros, we decided to rest for a few hours, watch a bit of CNN, the first time we'd used our TV on vacation.  Then we finally decided to make our walk to Fira, about 20 minutes from our hotel in the village of Imerovigli.  I stopped for a couple pictures along the caldera...

 

While in Fira we completed our souvenir shopping and Ben tried his first ever gyro...authentic Greek fast food.

The Final Day...

Our last day in Santorini we spent exploring some of the beaches on the south, including a red sand beach...

 

And a black sand beach.  There's a special place in our hearts for black sand beaches since we first encountered one in our other paradise, Maui.

We ended our vacation in Oia having dinner with probably the BEST VIEW in the history of views (you'll see more in our video). Until then, enjoy this picture of me in the pretty dress I bought just for the occasion. 

Big Trip Naxos: Naxos

Because I had a kidney transplant, Ben and I had to postpone our honeymoon.  Instead of jet-setting immediately after our wedding, we ended up going to Greece for ten days in May.

I'm sharing a few pictures and our daily observations from this amazing trip!

Our last day in Athens, which was really half a day, was spent walking through the national park. The national park is basically the "central park of Athens." Athens is quite green for a city, but the park has its highest concentration of trees, walkways, and benches. The park is also home to turtles, ducks, peacocks, and goats.

Around noon we caught our ride to the airport and boarded the tiniest plane ever for our trip to destination number two: Naxos. There were maybe 30 people boarding the plane, and it had propellers. Ben and I made several jokes about dying in a fiery crash that would most definitely have broken the vessel in two solid pieces if it had met the Aegean Sea. We also prayed a lot.

As the plane started to take off, I started to get this feeling that I was doing something bad, a feeling I've had since I became an adult. I felt that if our parents had seen the plane we were about to board the would have made us turn right back around and go home. They never showed up obviously. We had to go through with the flight or lose hundreds of dollars of our own money. 

Even after all the panic and prayer, we did successfully arrive in Naxos on the tiniest plane ever at the tiniest airport ever. Baggage claim was one room, with one conveyor belt, and Ben had to help pull all the luggage off because it wasn't much of a conveyor belt.  Just 10 metal bars that were supposed to roll the luggage forward. They didn't.  Each piece of luggage instead stalled at the entryway from the baggage area to the claim section.

We met our driver and went to our hotel, Lagos Mare. The landscape of Naxos is somewhat hilly but the beaches are beautiful. Bright blue water with coarse sands. We were the firsts guests of the season, we were told. The hotel had opened for spring/summer travel the day we arrived. And we could tell. There were just four other tourists (from Canada) with us when we ate breakfast and dinner at the hotel.  The hotel was all white, with blue accents, that traditional Cycladic look. We had two sets of double doors that led to our balcony, and provided tons of natural light during the day. During breakfast we loaded up on cappuccinos and croissants, yogurt and chocolate and eggs. 

Our only full day in Naxos, we decided to rent bicycles in the town of Chora and ride them to the "best beach in Naxos" according to our concierge. And Agia Prokopios did not disappoint. Because it wasn't busy season, there were very few people on the beach so we could see the stretch of sand and bright blue waters of the Aegean. In the distance we could see the mounds of other Greek islands waiting for exploration.  

For dinner we decided to check out Faro's taverna, near Agia Anna. And since it was only a mile and a half away from our hotel, we decided to walk back to our hotel, hugging the coastline, looking at luminous blue waters and listening to waves brush up onto the shore.

We know we didn't get much of a chance to explore the entire island, with just one full day in Naxos. The island is the biggest in the Cyclades and requires a car to navigate most of it.  

Fascinating Discoveries:  

• Kitron, a strong liquor made only in Naxos, comes in green, orange and white; 
• Not many stray dogs on the island, but we did encounter a stray cat sitting on the beach staring at the sea. Why stay in the Athens plaka when in Naxos you have ocean views. 
• Naxos is very much a beach town. Because busy season hasn't start yet, several of the hotels were not yet open and the restaurants were pleasantly I uncrowded. 
• I had to walk my bike up every hill and almost wiped out on a gravelly part of the road. Meanwhile, Ben didn't even break a sweat. Really...no sweat..

Big Trip Diary: Athens

Because I had a kidney transplant, Ben and I had to post-pone our honeymoon.  Instead of jet-setting immediately after our wedding, we ended up going to Greece for ten days in May.

I'm sharing a few pictures and our daily observations from this amazing trip!

Well, Athens is definitely a city. According to our driver, Jim, who picked us up from the airport once we arrived, some five million people live in the country's capital city. And you can tell. There are lots of narrow streets lined with residences stacked on top of each other like Lego blocks without any space between. Among the buildings,graffiti-decorated walls, honking cars and exhaust, stand rows and rows of orange trees, which Jim says we'd will find throughout Greece. But they are not for picking, and can only be consumed happily with tons of sugar due to the sour taste.

Athens is surrounded by mountains. And I learned that the Greek pronunciation of Athens is Athina, like the ancient goddess Athena.

Upon arriving in our hotel Ben and I slept for three hours, to make up somehow for being awake for 23 hours in a row while in transit. We went to a recommended restaurant, Hermion, located in the plaka, also considered the "old town" historic section of Athens, about a ten minute walk from our hotel. We ate lamb with olive oil and oregano, Greek style meatballs and rice, and lots of delicious bread with olive oil.  Buckets of olive oil on this trip. 

Dinner at Hermion

It was kind of difficult to navigate our way back to our hotel, because the plaka's streets are really like a maze of alleyways and one way driving lanes.  So it was inevitable for us to get lost in what Ben called, "Graffiti garbage town.  The plaka sits just below the Acropolis.  And even at 9:30 at night the cobblestone streets are filled with people, either shopping (at one of seemingly 9000 shoe stores), drinking coffee, eating pastries, drinking wine, or yelling. It's streets are also crowded with piles of trash, which is not one of the best things about Athens.

~

Wednesday morning in Athens started out unexpectedly early. Despite going to sleep at 11PM, we woke up at 3 AM, 3.5 hours before our alarm was scheduled to go off. In an attempt to prevent a severe crash after breakfast, we tried to force ourselves back to sleep.  We managed to sleep for another hour and a half before resigning to the fact that we were wide awake, and there was no changing that. We played on our tablet, talked, cuddled, Ben started a words with friends game. Then we exercised and prepared for breakfast. We were among three couples in the breakfast room at 6:35 a.m., five minutes after service began.

 

Our plans for the day were to participate in a four-hour tour of Athens and its number one attraction, the Parthenon. But first we visited the first modern Olympic stadium, built in 1896. Then it was off to the acropolis and the Parthenon. Our tour guide really could have come straight out of the History Channel.  She really knew her stuff. And the Parthenon is just incredibly awesome to look at, but its story is even more in amazing. It's survived 25 centuries, built with the hands of slaves to honor the city's patron goddess, Athena. Athena's gift to the city was an olive tree, which explains a lot about the cuisine and its popular condiment.Following our tour we took a brief visit to the temple of Zeus. 

We arrived back at our hotel in the afternoon, and ended up taking a four-hour nap to go with our four-hour tour.  The nap was not planned. We woke up, worried about the effects our nap would have on our jet lag, but we ended up getting ready for dinner at the infamous Strofi anyway.

Strofi is special in that it's situated just below the Acropolis, so it provides excellent views of the lit up Parthenon at night. We tried fried feta cheese, fried in filo dough, topped with sesame and honey, which was delicious. Then Ben feasted on kid goat baked in parchment paper while I ate pork with lemon to go.  We washed everything down with a bottle of wine that I accidentally mistook for $30 instead of it's true value, 30 Euro. We unexpectedly spent 100 bucks on dinner, and I failed in my attempt to eat vegetables, which I hadn't eaten since we landed in Greece. After dinner we stumbled back to our hotel, mildly drunk.

Fascinating Discoveries: 

• If Athena is the patron god of Athens, then SNAPS are the patron cookie of Greece.
• You're never more than a stones throw from a ruin, or a police officer in riot gear. 
• The war between the stray cats and the dogs in Athens is alive ad well.  The stray cats rule the plaka, while the dogs run the Acropolis.
• If Ben and I lived in Athens, there's a good chance one of us would not have jobs. One in two Greeks under 35 years old are unemployed.

Vacation, All I Ever Wanted

OK, just to get it all out in the open:  I'm a spoiled brat.  I grew up in a family where my dad's job in the military made it so we moved every couple of years and my dad received a decent amount of annual vacation.  So basically, we always took a family vacation during the summers, a couple weeks after school let out.  I think I can remember maybe one year that we didn't go on any sort of trip, even a brief one.  My "vacation upbringing" plays a big role in why I am the way I am.  

a tiny plane

Since I started working at my job, when I received my first 10-day allotment of annual leave, I set my sights on using that leave for vacations and trips as often as possible.  So it's not a surprise that I saved up a good chunk of annual leave and a medium chunk of money for our planned honeymoon to Greece, originally scheduled for June 2013. 

Honeymoon starts now

The TV commercials tell us that a couple has a wedding, they say the vows, exchange the rings, dance the dance, and shake the hands, go back to their hotel room and wake up the next morning ready to jet off to the tropical destination that is their honeymoon.  What's funny is that during the course of planning our wedding, I learned that that's not a reality for most couples that get married, young and old.  People told us they had to postpone their honeymoon for money reasons, lack of time, they were closing on their house, they had a kid, or that they just plain wanted to go later.  When the hospital scheduled my kidney transplant for May 3, I knew I was going to be in that club of people who didn't leave for their honeymoon right after the champagne toast, being that our honeymoon was scheduled to take place about a month and a half after my surgery.

I was a little sad about it.  OK...I cried while I was at work....in the hallway.  Someone had to hug me.  I knew people would ask how was the honeymoon or when I was leaving for the honeymoon.  The only answers they would get were "we haven't gone yet" and "next year."  In fact, one time after the wedding, someone said that "I needed to go on my honeymoon."  I responded that I needed to get a kidney transplant instead.   That shut 'em up real fast. 

Greek Beach Days

To be fair though, Ben and I had two mini-moons (or the micro-moon and the mini-moon).  One was at our favorite inn in Virginia and the other was in Sedona and the Grand Canyon.  So, it's not like we were trip-deprived or anything.  But having those two scaled back trips helped us quickly get over the pain of not spending the summer in Greece. And ultimately, postponing our honeymoon gave us something really exciting to look forward to.  

Because we'd essentially been planning our honeymoon for almost two years, this trip had built up a TON of hype in our minds.  We had no choice but to have fun because we'd been waiting for this moment for quite a long while.  Thankfully, Greece exceeded our incredibly high expectations for our honeymoon.  

Now, that I'm back to blogging regularly stay tuned for a bunch of in-depth posts about our trip, more transplant-related stuff (including what it means to work out without any blood cells!) and just the general shenanigans of my life.  

Let me know how your May has been dear readers.

The Honeymooners

Gone Travelin'
 On a Greek Excursion

not my picture

New Posts Starting May 26