For our Easter break, we met my parents in Greece. We went to a lot of places that I went during my semester there in college, so it was wonderful to be back again, and to be able to share the experiences with Brandon and my parents. We started the trip with a few days in Athens. We stayed in a cute little apartment right in the center of the Plaka, which was really close to where I stayed for 3 weeks in college. It was within walking distance of everything, which was wonderful. We saw all the main places in Athens: Acropolis, Parthenon, Theater of Dionysus, Odeon of Herodes Atticus, Agora, Temple of Zeus, Mount Lycabettus. After our three days in Athens, we flew to Chania, Crete where we spent a week driving around the island. We spent the first night in Chania and stayed at a night hotel right near the harbor. Chania is a cute little town that has just enough amenities to make you feel comfortable, but it’s not a big city. After Chania, we drove to the other side of the island and stayed in a small town called Tympaki. My mom and I found a house on vrbo and it was really cute and was in a good location in terms of where it was on the island. However, when we got to the town, we realized it was very industrialized and nothing really there. It was really run down and definitely not a tourist town. So we were quite disappointed right away. The house was wonderful though. Gorgeous patio for happy hour. So the first night we just stayed in and played games on the patio. A wonderful evening. We were bummed that we couldn’t walk some place for dinner, so we just stayed in. The second night, the owner of the house came to check on us to see how we were doing. He brought us wine and raki (local Cretian alcohol) and chatted with us for a while. Then he invited us out to dinner and drinks at a local place (okay, I know I said there weren’t any taverns in the town, and there weren’t… this place looked like someone’s kitchen because it was small. Definitely no tourists there. Only local old men. So it’s not a place we would have ventured on our own.) He kept ordering food and wine (and Coca Cola to mix with the wine!) and just wanted to chat. It was a lot of fun and something we would have never experienced if we would have stayed in a hotel. Also, while we were in Tympaki, Brandon found some Ninja Turtle action figures, in original boxes, from the early 90s. We all made fun of him for wanting to buy them. But then he Googled and looked them up on ebay, and saw that some of them are going for quite a bit of money (like anywhere from $30-$500 each), so he convinced me that it would be worth the effort to bring them back to HK and then to the US. So we bought a bunch. Like 20+. They were $3 each, so it wasn't a big investment, and it will be quite interesting to see if he actually makes any money off of them! Again, something that never would have happened unless we stayed in this tiny little industrial town. During the days that we were in Tympaki, we did some hiking and sightseeing. We hiked Rouvas Gorge, went to Matala (ancient Roman caves that hippies lived in in the 70s), and visited the ancient ruins of Phaistos and Agia Triada. Rouvas Gorge was gorgeous. We did a few hour hike there and ended up at an amazing overlook. In Matala, we ate at a great seafood place overlooking the water and the caves. Unfortunately, the caves are now a tourist attraction and you have to pay to go in them (we didn’t have to when I was there in 2008), and they were closed. Phaistos and Agia Triada were similar to the ruins in Athens. I can’t believe I spent an entire semester going to ruins all over Greece and Turkey. For a non-history person like me, looking back on that, I think it was pretty impressive. Even after just a day on this trip, I was bored. But I guess it’s different when you’re travelling with people who know what they’re talking about (thanks, professors!) and when I have to write papers based on what I learned. This time around, it was just for vacation. So I guess my interest was less piqued. After our time in Tympaki, we went back to the west side of the island to stay in my favorite town from when I was there in 2008: Vamos. In college, we stayed there for a week and had quite a bit of down time. I remember doing lots of hiking, and just hanging out, so I wanted to come back with my family. On our way to Vamos from Tympaki, we stopped at Knossos, the most famous (and most restored) of all of the ruins on Crete. It was crazy busy! I don’t remember it being like that when I was there in 2008. Also on our way to Vamos, we stopped at a wonderful little beach-side village for lunch. In the summer I’m sure it was crazy busy, as there was a huge resort nearby. But in April, we were the only ones there. It was wonderful. In Vamos, we stayed at a gorgeous place about half mile from town. I’m sure the place during the summer would be fully booked and insanely expensive, but during off season, it was $120 a night (total, for 4 people). We had an awesome pool and deck area that overlooked the mountains. During the few days we were in Vamos, we did some hiking and exploring the surrounding towns. After one of the hikes that we did, our car didn’t start. Dead battery. So we had to call the tow truck. Since we had no idea how long it was going to be, Brandon and I decided to do a bit longer hike and walk to a nearby town and then meet up with my parents once the truck came to get the car running again (thank goodness for SIM cards and data packages so that we could text!). Of course, the tow truck got the car running as soon as Brandon and I arrived in the town that we had just walked 3 miles to. But whatever, it was still a great day of walking and exploring the wonderful island! After our time in Crete with my parents, Brandon and I went to Santorini on our own. Since it was offseason still, we were able to afford a wonderful hotel overlooking the caldera. We spent our few days there with a rental ‘car’ (see picture) driving around the island and playing lots of cards on our terrace. The end of our few days in Santorini was very stressful. We woke up on (what we thought to be) our second to last day (Wednesday) and our hotel had told us that the Athens airport was going to be on strike the next day (the day we were supposed to leave) and that all flights were canceled. So (after fact checking via Google and not being able to get through to Aegean Air via phone), we drove to the airport. Aegean Air said that they could rebook us, but not for a few days, and our flight back to HK left on Friday. So that was not an option. But Ryan Air had availability on their 1am flight (technically Friday, so after the strike), so we rebooked with them. So we went about our Wednesday and had a wonderful time exploring the island. Then, on Thursday morning, we heard that our flight was canceled. Luckily, Ryan Air was just rescheduling it to 8am instead of 1am, so we would make our flight back to HK. However, it meant that we would need to stay another night in Santorini and lose our hotel in Athens and be insanely tired for our long journey back to HK. But we would make it. So we did that. And, guess what? Ryan Air (yes, the super cheap budget airline!) put us up in a nice hotel that night! So even though we lost our Athens hotel (still trying to claim it back with our travel insurance….), we got a free night in Santorini. So it was all good! All in all it was an amazing trip. I’m so glad I was able to spend time with Brandon and my parents in the country that was my first overseas “home.”
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