Greece October 2010

One in our #catchup series, going back 10  years to our holiday to Greece. Given it's nearly a decade ago, my recollection of the details are very sketchy so this will mainly be a picture post.

This trip came after running the Berlin marathon. It was cold and wet in Berlin, which led to me having an annoying cough for most of the trip, but that didn't impact our enjoyment. 

We flew from Berlin to Athens. 

We had just 2 nights in Athens I think. 

First night a little bit of exploring with some glimpses of the sights we'd see the next day. 

Lots of famous old  ruins. They really were very impressive. There was some construction going on and pretty big crowds which had the potential to take some of the impact away but actually there were so many ruins and they were so huge it was possible to find space to relax and appreciate the history.

The roasted chestnut dude in the middle of this photo was great but this photo is mainly hilarious for the lady trying to skulk past.

A clear shot of the nut guy.

After our fleeting visit to Athens we caught a ferry to Sifnos. We did lots of research to decide which islands we should go to.

Everyone told us as 'had' to go to Santorini but we aren't so much keen for the well worn path and were keen for something quieter, more relaxed. We spent quite a bit of time reading a website that someone had created which had a wealth of information about Greece. I can't find the website now ... found it, https://www.greektravel.com/, it was a great resource. Among the recommendations was Sifnos which sounded like a nice place to visit, the author had this to say abotu Sifnos:

"If you are looking for that perfect Greek island with a balance of beautiful beaches, low-key nightlife, white Cycladic villages, low-impact tourism and maybe the best food in the Cyclades, then look no further than Sifnos, where I have been coming for over thirty years. Just three hours from Athens by High-speed or five hours by normal ferry, Sifnos is easy to get to and you may never want to leave."

So, first stop Sifnos.

this was our ferry

We stayed in Kamares, which was close to the ferry. Wasn't exactly white sand beaches but they were nice, water was warm and we had the beach pretty much to ourselves.

 

What a beautiful young couple

Can't remember all the places we ate but the shots below are from a restaurant which had local beer,which was good. They also had tabbouleh on the menu. We're a fan so we ordered the tabbouleh. The waitress came back after a while to let us know the tabbouleh would take a while to prepare, 15 minutes I think she said. We were in no hurry and the wait was worth it. It was the best tabbouleh we've ever had. 

At some point (can't remember if it was after dinner) we went to one of the bakeries to get some baklava. I think somehow we managed to order more than we planned and we went away with a heavy box of filled with honey drizzled pastry goodness. It kept us going for a couple of days and was so delicious. 

The quality of the food we had on Sifnos definitely was far above anything else we had in Greece. 

The thing to do in the Greek Islands is to rent quad bikes to explore. We were not so sure about that so we went for this little car to explore.

Yes, the car got us up this hill no problems.

Having lunch in Vathi, a little settlement on Sifnos.

Our table for lunch is on the beach. I'm pretty sure this restaurant has a website (seems not all of them do) https://www.sifnosstudios.gr/restaurant

Photos below are of Chrysopigi, according to www.greektravel.com Chrysopigi "is perhaps the most recognizable church on Sifnos and in a way symbolizes the island. It sits upon a peninsula that has actually split from the mainland, a miracle that is said to have occured when Sifniot women took refuge from Pirates there. The church, built on the ruins of an older church, was constructed in 1650. The Panagiri is held on Ascension day, 40 days after Easter, and it is said that the saint still performs miracles for the island."

Can't remember the name of this little village, we only saw it from this hill but it was one of the more picturesque sites.

Matching bag and door.

Viet from our apartment.

View as our ferry comes in to take us on to Santorini

Because everyone said we had to, we went to Santorini. There is no doubting the impressiveness of this island.

Here we stayed in a small hotal with a pool right out our door, which was great.

The iconic Agios Theodori, I'm pretty sure this is that one.

Santorini is a volcano, the town of Oia is at the top and you really do look straight down a long way to the ocean below. Probably not a place to go if you're scared of heights.

Lot's of steps, but still looking glamorous.

Sunset is a must, we got a good one but needed to work hard to not get crowded out.

These are the grapevines. They just leave them to grow on the ground, seems like a pretty simple way of growing grapes to me. Not far from here we saw some tourists who had a nasty crash on their quad bike. We've again gone for the 'safety' of a little car, although driving on the right hand side of the road meant we didn't always feel safe.

We had our last lunch at this beach on Santorini, worst calamari I've every eaten. It was a tourist trap.

Greece was one of our all time favourite holidays and we'd love to get back there to do some more exploring, spend more time at Sifnos and maybe some kayaking.

Map below of our route from Athens (top left), sopping in Sifnos (middle) and on to Santorini. We then caught a fast ferry back from Santorini to Athens. 

That'll do