Reviews of Naxos

We stayed in Naxos Town at Hotel Grotta and were incredibly impressed. The rooms were really nice and the staff was all family and made us feel like we were family too. They had all sorts of ammentities including loaner laptops and free wi-fi. Our rooms were on the outside of the hotel and were practically on the ocean with an amazing view of the sun setting on the Arch. We can't recommend this one highly enough.

We had lunch at the Bleeding Heart - do NOT eat here, it was awful and made me sick.

For dinner though we went to the Labrynth located in the heart of the grid of Old Towne, you may have to ask for directions. It's worth the hassel though, the atmosphere is great and the food even better.

Reviews of Santorini

Thira
First, you should know that the ferry will take you to the port of Athinios, not the port of Thira where the donkey's are. There is a bus that will take you from Athinios to Thira for less than 2 Euros.

We stayed right on the Caldera in Thira at Hotel Keti. Most of the hotels on the Caldera don't have addresses listed on their websites, don't let this throw you off. The Caldera is so steap without actual roads they can't have standard addresses. We loved Keti, the staff was very helpful and kind, the view was absolutely amazing. The hotel sits on the very edge of the Caldera so it's quiet but also very close to the action. The walk down to the hotel is steap, but typical so be prepared to carry your bags. If you stay at Hotel Keti, but sure to tell them that Christopher Utley sent you!

While on Santorini we went to Stani, they have a dish called the "Vine Grower" which has lamb wrapped up with cheese and other yummy ingredients which we highly recommend. They also offer a fine tasting Retsina. The online maps of Santorini don't make it easy to give directions, but you can email them and they can tell you how to find them. Not far from Stani is a place called Nicolas which was recommended by all of the locals. It was so authentic that they didn't even have a written menu, they had to tell us what they had for the evening.

Kamari
The bus will take you straight to Kamari which has a black stone beach and lots of cute restaurants. While looking at the ocean, there is a cliff off to the right, if you climb this there is a great view.

Oia
This is the town on the Northern tip of the island. It's cute, quaint and very typically Greek. We didn't stay there but after visiting we decided it wouldn't be a bad place to stay. They have a lot of the blue domed churches that we always see in the post cards. They also have a reputation for the best sunset in the world, though we didn't agree. We had dinner at Thomas's Grill, it's right down the alley from the bus station, if you can't find them, just ask a local. The staff at Thomas's took really good care of us on Chris's birthday, they went out and got him a cake and sang and everything!

Reviews of Athens

The hub of the tourist area is "The Plaka" shown here. It is definately the most touristy but it is also safe with lots of shopping and restaurants. The restaurant owners in The Plaka are more like used car dealers, they will stand at the door to their establishment and try to woo you into eating there. We found it worked best if you turned it into a game, don't let them intimidate you and check out the menus and choose based on price, not on the staff.

We stayed at two hotels in The Plaka and both were satisfactory, keep in mind that we weren't looking for luxury rather a good deal since we weren't in our rooms for long. Hotel Phaedra was alright, comfie and a good location. We also stayed in Hotel Adams which was a block or so away from Hotel Phaedra, cheaper and had an amazing view of the Acropolis. Adams doesn't really have a website but you can email them for availability/reservations.

While staying in Athens we chose to rent a car so that we could drive around the main land a bit, go to Delphi etc. We found Swift Car Rentals online. It was written so cute and sounded like such a great idea that we gave them a shot. Do NOT be TRICKED! They don't actually take you out of Athens, they just have an office that is right off a main highway which is only three blocks from the Plaka. They gave us a car that had an empty gas tank and told us when we returned it to either park by our hotel or their offices. We spent over two hours looking for parking in these areas with no luck. We wound up parking it illegally. Do NOT be tricked! They also operate as Avanti Rentals.

While driving around we stopped in the small sea side village of Itea which is about 30 minutes from Delphi. We enjoyed amazing sweets at Sweet Passion and some delicious salads at Restaurant Maxiotpaki which is right on the water south of the main drag. If you ask at Sweet Passion they will be able to direct you there.

Santorini Travel Tips

- Many places in Santorini do not have addresses because they are all piled on little walk ways on the side of a cliff. Don't let the lack of address on a website throw you off.

- The buses are awesome ant they do have a website but they run on Greek time....so they're not usually prompt.

- They take the money once you are seated on the bus. Correct change is best.

Greek Travel Tips

- People drive on the shoulders - usually the slower folks will slide over to let others pass.

- There is much less personal space, people will stand very close.

- The locals are very aggresive and will cut in line if they can see you are tourists, to survive you will have to "play their game" and be aggresive in return.

- Many Greeks like to think they speak good English, but their English may not be accurate, try to get more than one interpretation.

- In the more touristy areas the restaurants will act like used car sales men in the States and try to woo you into their establishment. Take time to look at the menu and see if there are any locals. Be choosey. (One guy offered us free wine, free dessert and 10% off!)

- If you plan to visit any of the Greek Islands, be sure that your bags can be carried easily. Preferrably carry on sized. There are lots of uneven, crooked steps and it's impossible to roll your bag along.

- Buying bottled water in a local food market will save you a ton of money. We bought six packs and then refilled as we could.

- You will likely find that you drink a lot of water. It is nice to bring along the new mix ins that are in the market - Kool-Aide, Crystal Light etc. to spice the free water up a bit. This is also an cheap and easy way for a non-coffee drinker to get caffine.

- If you take lemon in your tea, bring some powdered lemon packets along.

- Sugar is all that is available so if you can't live without the pink or yellow packets bring your own.

- In most places "filtered coffee" is the equivelant of American brewed coffee. "nescafe" is the equivelant of instant coffee.

- Bread is rarely free - it's usually about 1 euro per person. They won't tell you this, don't be afraid to turn it down when they bring it.

- You pay a lot more to sit down and eat vs. "take away"

- When a table is ordering, be sure to talk one at a time. If several people echo that you want an order of hummus that you mean to share, the server will likely bring an order for everyone that spoke up.

- Coffee to go is very rare.

- Paying in cash at hotels/hostels may get you a discount - but you have to ask.

- Pharmacies in Greece are old fashioned and the people who work there can usually assist with some medical advice.

- Most medical supplies are ONLY available in pharmacies, unlike in the States where you can find bandaids in the supermarket.

- Greek medical careis free but hospitals are sketchy.

- Greek perscriptions are reusable and the medicine is cheaper than most insurance deductables.

- If you're on a budget and flexible, you don't need to book hotels in advance, you can just walk in.

- Many places "include" breakfast but it's usually lame and you can decline it and receive a discount.

- Explore supermarkets for picnic foods and fresh fruits and veggies. Especially if your hotel has a good place to sit and eat.

- Always ask what ammeneties are available. Many places offer things that aren't advertised. Like if you ask, they have a hair drier even though it isn't in the room. Also explore the hotel for things.

- Being polite to locals and trying even a little of their language will get you REALLY far. I frequently would ask if someone some English "milate anglik?" and the would say no "ochi" so I would proceed in broken Greek to ask a question. 9 out of 10 times they would switch to quite excellent English...you just have to make the effort.

- Make friends with locals, they often have great tips on restaurants etc.

- Most hotels will hold your bags for ou.

- A lot of places don't have washclothes or shower curtains

- Unlike the States the hotels don't typically provide shampoo, conditioner etc....

- A pillow case is a VERY useful thing to pack, can be used on extra pillow, to sit on etc.

- Things to find/buy early on or bring with you if you can: multiple sizes of ziplocks, wine opener, sharp knife, bandaids, sewing kit, alcohol swabs, rubber band, safety pin, lip balm with SPF

- We LOVE tripadvisor.com

- Rick Steves has GREAT tips for Greece as well as a packing list

- We copied the pages from guide books that pertained to places we were visitng rather than take the whole guide book, this was great because we could take only the applicable pages with us each day.

Pictures

Between Mini Mama/John & Sara/Chris's cameras there were more than 1,300 pictures to sort through! Amazingly enough we've managed to go through them all in just the past few days and we've narrowed it down to just under 500.

They are all up on Sara's Flickr. You can go through them quickly just for the beauty of it by viewing them as a slide show here, or you can look at them each with their title and notes here if you want all the fun details - it's your call.

We also put up some videos which you can view here on YouTube.

Now we're working on gathering some of the tips we learned and some of the more detailed stories. We plan to document them all here so that we will have them and that also means you can take a peak too! But for the most part, the fun piece of this blog is done and we're really glad you joined us.

Don't forget to keep up with Sara & Chris on their respective sites.

Safe & Sound

Mini Mama and John have the worst like with flights! A couple of hours into our 10 hour flight their video screens and what not died! They still got good food though and their seats still worked so they got comfie and watched movies on our iPods.

Mini Mama and John had a tight connection in JFK - about an hour to make it from the International Terminal all the way to gate 20. We got through customs in the US with ease (though it was like a sauna!). We had a slight hold up at TSA when we didn't have tickets for our next flight, but we got lucky and had one of the few kind TSA agents who allowed us to saty at the front of the line while Chris ran and got us all tickets.

Once through security we all started booking it to their gate. About half way through our 1/2 mile hike we heard them on the intercom 'final boarding for flight XXX to Orlando...' we all literally started running - Home Alone style - through the airport. They made it in the knick of time and even got to sit together on the way home.

Chris and I had no trouble with our flight back to Cinci - we even got first class. We were all safe at home by 8pm. :)

We have already downloaded our pictures and there are nearly 1,000! Today we plan on sifting through them and getting the best ones posted. We will of course let you know when they are up.

Stay tuned -we're already planning our next big adventure, Norway, Italy, Spain - who knows where we'll end up next! ^_-

USA Bound

We got an early start and hopped on the blue line and got all the way
to the airport with little excitement.

We got to our gate with plenty of time to spare and are all settled
into 6 A, B, G & F. You can see Mini Mama & John all settled in. This
flight offers a full lunch and afternoon snack both of which have
steak options so Mini Mama and Chris are all happy.

Next stop NYC!

Bridge

You can see the Rion bridge in the background.

Last Day

We rented a car today and finally drove to Delphi. Unfortunately it
was cold and overcast and crowded. Rather than be wet and freezing we
chose to drive on. As always it was an adventure.

We wound up in the coastal town of Itea where we had an amazing lunch
and met Anna, a local baker who was originally from NYC.

We drove to the Rion bridge which connects mainland Greece with the
Peleponese its an award winning suspension bridge. I'll post a pic of
the bridge next.

After the bridge we checked out what we thought was the small village
of Patras but it was really a big city. We wanted to see their winery
but after our previous experience with a distillery decided to cut our
losses. We circles around and crossed the Corinthian Canal and then
back into Athens.

After much trouble returning the rental car (we'll explain later) we
hit the Plaka for dinner, bought a few last souveniers and packed up.
Tomorrow we have 20 houts of travel to look fotwatd to. We leave at
7:30am local time and land in NYC at 2:45 EST. Then we split ip and
head to OH and FL. Hopefully we'll all be home by 10pm EST which is
6am Greek time ...

We hope you've enjoyed our daily updates. We sure had fun making them.
We'll do some massive updates soon with all the fun details, tips
we've learned and of course all 2,000 pictures :) so check back soon.

Barefoot Buddies

The sign reads "get heathy Carolina!"

This one is just for my barefoot buddy in Spain who just had
successful back surgery and now has the not so fun business of two
months of bed test and healing to attend to.

I'll havemore barefoot pictures for you after I get home.

Agora up close

The temple we saw from a far.

Ancient Agora

From the Acropolis we had a great view of the Ancient Agora and a
seemingly in tact temple which we later visited. This pic shows a
great view of how massive Athens is (1/3 of the population of Greece
lives here) as well as a quarry in the distance.

Up Close & Personal

We finally made to the top of the Acropolis today after seeing the MU
off to the airport. She made it to NYC in first class.

We had plannwd to drive to Delphi but realized just before we left
that it closes around 3pm and by the time we got there we'd have
little time to explore. So we decided to wait snd hit the Acropolis.

The walk up to the top wasn't as bad as we expected though there were
some slick rocks. The view was spectacular. We were disappointed with
how much scafolding was up on the Parthenon bit it was still impressive.

Acropolis

To Jerry

Jerry.

Got your request and immediately thought of the Starbucks on the Plaka
in Athens. When I saw it last week I thought of the first time we met...

The sign reads 'where is Jerry?' ;-) the 2nd line says 'hi'.

Happy Birthday!

We're sorry we weren't there to help you celebrate the big 21. But we
found a distillery here in Greece and celebrated remotely. Live of up
without us!

Naxos Island

Today we rented a small Hyndai that the five of us could cram into. Chris used his new International Driver's License to be our chaufer.

We used the tourist map and the suggestions from our amazing hotel hostess to hit some of the major sites on Naxos. Because it is Sunday a lot of things were closed but we still had adventures and fun exploring.

As promised, we are using the free Wi-Fi here at Hotel Grotta to post our pictures from today - the Hotel even has free loaner laptops!

Our first stop was to see a fallen "Kouros". We followed a lot of small obscure signs and eventually found it. Below is during our hike up.

Mini Mama sunbathing on a marble slab.

Hanging out at the Kouros below.

After the Kouros we drove the crazy hair pin turns and switch backed roads around the mountains. We found a small church who's parking lot we could use to get a view of both sides of the island at the same time. We could also hear the animals being hearded.We got some video of it which we hope came out because it was a very cool sound especially with the echo. Below are some of the goats.

My arch nemisis followed us to Greece! See?

We found out about two days into the trip that you aren't supposed to put anything in the toilet. At first we thought they meant odd things, or large things, but no - even toilet paper can cause a clog. This picture illustrates very nicely.

After the Kouros and the view we stopped for some food and had another picinic lunch along the side of the road, using the hood of the rental car as our table. Then we started hunting for an illusive distillery which we eventually found to be closed. From there it was on to the Temple of Demitrius - see below.

We had some trouble with the rental but after sorting that out we had a nice dinner at Apostilios where John had a lamb stew he couldn't stop raving about. Then it was to the Waffle House for desert.

Tomorrow we are off to the ferry and it's back to Pireius and Athens. We hope to see the Acropollis before we hit the sack so the MU can get an early start on Tuesday to head back to Seattle.

Hotel Grotta

Nicolletta at Hotel Grotta - the hostess with the mostest!

Morning View

The view from our hotel room porch this morning.

General Update

We are in Hotel Grotta in Naxos Town and it's another slam dunk! Our rooms are right next door to each other and they both have porches that are mere feet from the edge of the cliff that goes right to the sea. It's amazing!

I (Sara) had my typical over seas tummy issues today and had to take it easy. That wasn't hard to do with such a great hotel.

Afterward we wandered through "Olde Towne" which is this maze of crazy streets with a cave like feeling. The guide book says it was designed to deter pirates - it must have worked because we got turned around more than once.

The hotel had recommended a restaurant named Labrynth and the MU had unknowingly stumbled across it earlier. We followed the signs and bread crumbs and got back to it and enjoyed the cheapest meal yet! We all had really tasty pasta dishes and shared a liter of white wine. They brought us all a shot of Kitro (lemon flavored liquore). Mini Mama is always easy to laugh but after the wine and the lemon liquore she was especially giggly. We all really enjoyed picking on her because she has had an unexpectedly difficult time adjusting to the terrain of Europe. She keeps tripping over the sidewalk or un-noticed steps. She fell twice in Athens and again getting off the ferry in Naxos. So tonight after dinner we were all holding her hand and warning of every little step. It was quite the sight.

We have actually been quite the mottly crew. John hurt his arm right before we left the US and has had to keep it covered (it seems to be healing nicely though). Chris cut his pinky finger before we left and has had all sorts of issues fighting a nasty infection (we even made a trip to a Greek hospital - boy do we have stories!). Sara has a bum knee and has been having trouble with her ankels and tummy. Mini Mama keeps tripping. As of right now the MU is the only healthy one and even she has been using her reading glasses case as a change holder and as a result has had difficulty keeping both change and her glasses on hand.

We found a nice older lady who is going to wash our clothes tommorrow. We asked if we wash or if she does and she said "Mama will wash!" and pointed to herself and then explained that she will hang to dry. We just drop the clothes off and pick up a few hours later! Hopefully we can all successfully make it to the port to rent a car in the morning. We plan to drive all over the island and do some exploring. We'll try to get lots of pictures on the iPhone and send them your way.

PS - we're trying to upload some of the picutres from Mini Mama's camera to Flickr. You can check www.flickr.com/photos/butterflysunshine to see how successful we were.

Contact Info

Please comment, because it will be really fun to see when we get home.


For now, e-mail Chris if you want us or have any requests and we'll get it pretty quickly and reply if we can.

Apollo's Gate

This most popular thing on Naxos is Apollo's Gate. We already made the
short walk out to see it.

Here is the MU sunbathing in front of the arch. You can see John and
Mini Mama in the background if you look carefully.

Wild & Crazy Time

On the way to Naxos we had almost the whole ferry to ourselves. We
found a room with card tables and set up shop. Burt and Billie got a
little too crazy, as you can see, but we had fun playing a hot game of
peanut.

The hotel in Naxos (Hotel Grotto) has free Wi Fi so we'll try to send
lots of pics.

The whole story on the Birthday

The sunset at Oia was pretty, but honestly, we didn't see what all of the fuss was about.

To escape the crowd leaving I ducked into a few shops and asked some locals where to find good lamb chop (or as they say 'lamp chop'). They all sent us to Thomas's Grill. The food was really tasty and the service amazing. We told them it was Chris's "ikio ke eksi yenaythlia" (26th birthday) and they got excited for us. They gave us free fried cheese and Chris a double shot of 0uzo.

I snuck away and was going to ask them to stick the candle I had brought into a piece of bread do I could use the icing I had to decorate it like a cake. They said "no, no. We go to store for cake and we make music and big party!"

After we were done and expecting "to loghariazmos" (the bill) they brought us all a round of ouzo - OPA! Then we thought they were trying to close because the music went off and then the lights went out. Next thing we know the CD starts singing "happy birthday to you..." and they come out with a whole marble cake with whipped cream and a lit candle and everything.

It was so awesome! Talk about memorable! They didn't charge us for the ouzo or cake either!

Its early here and now we're off to Naxos for another adventure!

Birthday Fun

We had his birthday dinner at Thomas's Grille. It was amazing! They
sang and had cake with a candle.

Sunset in Oia

The MU and Chris perched on the wall over the castle watching the
sunset... 15 more minutes!

The Big Hike

We all found ourselves in Pyrgos today searching for an elusive
monastery located at the highest point on Santorini. After a fake out
(a construction site) we got about 2/3 of the way up (about a 45 min
walk/hike) and most of us felt content to stop. Not our Moms though!
They were real troopers and went all the way up -another 40 min round
trip! This pic is of them catching their breath before we all went
back together.

We had another picinic feast for lunch today. It is 5:30pm here and we
are resting before heading to Oia to watch the sunset from a castle
and then off to a "yenaythlia" (birthday) dinner for Chris.

More to come later.

Greek Feast

We hit a local grocer and made our own feast of fresh feta and olives
as well as local wine among other things. It was a varitable
smorgasbord of delectible goodies.

Fresh Fruit!

Sara on the beach enjoying a fresh tomato bought from the truck behind
her. It was juicy and sunwarmed and perfectly ripe.

Church

Church on Kamari Beach on Santorini.

Photo Disclaimer

Just wanted you to know that we have tons of great pictures to share when we get home, but the only ones we can post are the ones taken with Chris' iphone. So we will do the best we can.

Sunset on Santorini

The crew in front of the hotel entry.

Santorini

After rising insanely early we successfully lugged all our bags to the
port. We relaxed for the eight hour ferry ride and found ourselves in
Santorini.

We had a really hard time determining which port our ferry would dock
at. The famous port is Fira which has a crazy steep cliff you have to
maneuver to get to the town. The only way to get to the top is to ride
on a mule or walk the steps and dodge the mule "leftovers". (see
picture below) when the ferry door opened we found ourselves at
Athinios port with a line of buses waiting. For less than €2 each we
were taken up the switch backed roads to Thira.

We found Hotel Keti with ease and enjoyed an amazing meal at Stani
Taverna. We tried Greek Retsina which is wine that gets its flavor
from pine resin. It was different but tasty.

Tomorrow is the holiday of May Day so we're not sure what our options
are but with the breathtaking view from our hotel we aren't worried on
the least.

We'll get more pictures of the view tomorrow.

Below is the Caldera at sunset. The path you see is the one we avoided
the mule ride up.

Evening view in Athens

After the museum we took naps and then went shopping in the Plaka.
Maximums talked us into eating dinner at Taverna Plaka, he lured us in
with the promise of free wine & dessert as well as 10% off. The lamb
and veal was tasty but we hope Greece has some better cuisine in store
for us.

Back at the hotel we caught the amazing view of the Acropolis seen
below. You can't see the scale because its dark and its impossible to
explain how large this really is...

Together At Last!

The three of us scored first class to Athens and had a very enjoyable
flight. In the morning we figured out the metro and had a happy
reunion with Mini Mama & John.

We saw the very slow, painful, methodical, meticulous & cerimonious
( words from us all) changing of the guard at the parliment. Then Mini
Mama negotiated a taxi ride for us all to the National Museum where we
saw lots of ancient stuff.

Below you can see us in front of the church in the courtyard just
outside our hotel.