GREECE! Parts 1 + 2

For those of you who didn't know, Griff and I took the vacation of a lifetime to Greece two weeks ago. We were lucky enough to visit Athens and the islands of Mykonos, Paros, and Santorini. Just typing these words right now makes me miss the place...and we've only been back since Saturday. It's hard to put into words my feelings about this vacation. The country was beautiful and romantic...and it was the first vacation I've been on where I wasn't ready to leave at the end of it!

I'm breaking the blogging about the trip into two portions. We'll start off with Athens, followed by Mykonos...and tomorrow or Wednesday you'll see Paros and Santorini, which were definitely our favorite places of the journey.

I'll start with my favorite image of the trip from Mykonos. I love this photo b/c you have to look at it a 2nd time to see the ship.

We flew from StL to NY, were in NY for a few hours, then flew to Athens overnight. When we arrived it was 9 am in Athens...and we were exhausted...but we only had one day to see the sites. So we started walking...and we had to climb all the way to the top of this:
We knew we needed to see the Acropolis...and it was HOT and SUNNY and sadly, we were just ready to get to the islands. So we didn't stay long :)

I think Griff is contemplating Greek history and all its significance here. He's so cute :)

Mmmm...our first of many Greek salads of the trip. Every time Griff ordered one I would pick out the tomatoes and the feta and leave him with the rest :)

Just threw this in to show that Greeks apparently don't like Subway. So sad for this former "sandwich artist".
The next morning our private transfer (provided by Fantasy Travel, who planned our entire trip and we can't say enough good things about) took us down to the port to catch our first ferry to Mykonos.
And...we totally weren't expecting this to be the ferry! We had visions of a small boat sloshing around in the water, covered with people and goats (did I get this idea from watching "Mama Mia"?)...instead, we had this!

It was airplane like inside...much larger, of course. There was a gift shop and a coffee bar. Very comfortable ride!

As we pulled out of the port, the sun rays started coming through the clouds and I was seriously overwhelmed with the beauty of the Aegean Sea. While Griff was getting coffee I shed a few tears of pure joy about this opportunity we had to see such a place...I can't remember the last time I felt like that.

When we arrived at the port of Mykonos Town...we had a studly dude dressed all in white waiting for us to take us to our beautiful hotel (yeah, I should have taken a photo of him too)

We were greeted with some fresh orange juice (I was pretty sure we were supposed to receive champagne, but oh well)...and got to check out the view.

The rooms were small but so pretty and modern...

We even had our own little church on the hotel grounds! There were churches like this seemingly every 20 feet on the island.
This is where we got to eat breakfast every morning...

View of the pool in the late afternoon light...

...and the pool at night viewed from our balcony.
More food! ***Drool alert*** We did not have a bad gyro out of the 6 or 7 we had throughout the trip. Cheap and delicious...and they stick the fries inside! How can it get any better?
Griff had to be my camera bag holder for most of the trip. And later on...he finally picked up my 5dmkII and learned to use it a little bit!! The little path he's standing on is what all the paths through Mykonos town look like. They go round and round and up and down and there are hundreds of jewelry, clothing, hannd-made craft and souvenir shops...intertwined with restaurants and bars and tiny homes...you could walk there for hours...

Mykonos had so much vibrant color throughout the city
Many of the restaurants sat right on the water so you could watch the stunning sunsets.


I took lots and lots of photos of doors and windows...I wish we could paint our houses like this...


Here's a photo of the crowds gathering for a famous sunset...
Yep. 'nuff said.

Brought my fisheye along at the last minute and love this shot I caught with it as we were waiting for the next ferry to Paros.
I'll have more to share soon!!