Greece

(Warning: Lots of pictures of temples, donkey’s, food, and amazing views!)

FLORENCE

I can’t believe this semester is already over. It went by extremely fast. My last night with my roommates we went out to Yellowbar for the last time. We then tried Eby’s, which is this cute little place with a guy that looks like Einstein that makes crazy kinds of shots. We got the Yin Yang, which was actually pretty good. We then asked him to make us something fun, and he made this chocolate banana shot. It takes him about five minutes to prepare these shots, so intricate and so many steps. We then went to this underground jazz bar right by our apartment, which was very fun. It was very sad to say goodbye to all my roommates, but I know I will see them again soon (already planning our reunion in NYC).

ATHENS

DAY 1

We traveled by train to Rome and then flew out to Athens. Our plane was an hour delayed but we finally arrived in Athens after 9 hours of traveling. Almost 6 million people live in this city! The Airbnb that we stayed at had an amazing view of the Acropolis and the Parthenon. We went to dinner at this really good and cheap restaurant called Grill House Restaurant Ambrosia. Because it was so cheap, we assumed the portions were going to be very small. They were huge and we ordered way too much food.

DAY 2

We started out going to the Panathenaic Stadium which hosted the first Olympic games in 1896.   We then wandered through the National Garden park.

We realized it was almost the top of the hour and so we rushed over to the Syntagma Square to watch the changing of the guards.  We then headed to the National Archaeological Museum. We forgot that on Monday’s it doesn’t open until 1pm, so we had 2 hours to spare. We were in search of food and we found this cute place called Εξ Αρχής / ExArhis, and it was delicious. We went back to the museum and looked around for about an hour and a half.

We then decided to go to the Ancient Agora of Athens.

We wandered around for a bit and then headed towards the Plaka neighborhood where we ate dinner at Taverna Saita.

DAY 3

We first went to look at the Temple of Zeus and Arch of Hadrian.

We then went to the Acropolis museum where we spent about an hour and a half.

We found this blog that recommended Smile Restaurant for lunch. After lunch we made our way up to the top of the Acropolis to look at the Parthenon.

We made our way back down and rested at our Airbnb. We then went to dinner at Skoumbri. If you go there and like apple desserts, I highly suggest getting their Apple Strudel.

OIA

DAY 4

We left Athens mid morning to go to Santorini. Unfortunately, our flight was an hour late and we didn’t get to Oia until late afternoon. The Airbnb we stayed at was so nice. We stayed in a cave house and the Airbnb had arranged a car to pick us up. We got dropped off and we met another guy who took our luggage and walked us down the crowded streets to our place. Once we got there, we waited to meet yet another guy to show us the place. He recommended eating at Strogili for sunset.

We were starving so we went too early to see sunset from the rooftop view, but I had some amazing seafood spaghetti. I tried my first mussel and clam there, and I quite enjoyed them. We then went down to the main sunset look out, and there were sooo many people there. I went down the stairs a little bit where I could still get a view but where it wasn’t so crowded.

DAY 5

My friends wanted to hike from Oia to Thira, which was about a 3-4 hour hike. I opted out and wandered around the town. I stopped at Skiza Café for a delicious banana crepe and a cappuccino. Oia is such a breathtaking town and is very photogenic. I walked to the edges of Oia and wandered down the 200+ stairs to the bay area.

Walking up those stairs is extremely tiring during mid day, so afterwards I went back to the Airbnb to rest. When my friends came back, we went searching for a wooden donkey keychain that the Airbnb had (I wanted the same one). After going to over a dozen souvenir shops, we finally found it. For dinner, we went to Lotza, where I got rice and mixed seafood.

DAY 6

My friends and I wanted to eat down at the bay, so I again went down the many stairs to the Ammoudi Bay. We walked around a bit and then went to go eat at Katina’s, where we got to pick out our own fish. We chose a cute little red snapper that was really good.

We then wandered up the stairs and went to the Melenio Cafe to get some desserts. We then just relaxed on the porch of our Airbnb looking out at the amazing views. For dinner we went to Oia Gefsis, another rooftop restaurant, where I enjoyed yet another Spaghetti Seafood dish and the best sunset yet.

DAY 7

We left to go back to Athens for the night before we headed out to our next destination. We stayed closer to the airport this time, right outside of the main city center. The Airbnb was pretty close to the beach, and we ate at Taverna Rementzo, where our Airbnb host had suggested we go. It was delicious, and I got grilled salmon. My friend got the greek salad and the squid and she said it was delicious. The portion sizes were huge and it was cheap. We also got free dessert, I got a warm delicious chocolate cake with ice cream and my friends got fruit.

I have always wanted to go to Greece, and I am so glad I finally went. Oia is a must if you are ever planning a trip to Greece. Next stop is Prague.