Grant studied abroad in Greece in college and has been talking about it ever since! I had always wanted to visit Greece given my love for beautiful beaches and feta cheese. Plus I’ve randomly had the Greek alphabet memorized since 5th grade (it came in handy during my sorority days) and have been wanting to put it to use!
We slowly made our way across Western Europe (with a pit stop in Morocco!) and arrived in Athens. Mason, Grant’s brother, met us in Athens and after a week exploring the city we headed to the islands!
Exploring and Eating our Way through Athens
Athens has incredible food not to mention awesome museums and oh ya that little thing called THE ACROPOLIS! It is such a vibrant city. From visiting ancient ruins by day and strolling Plaka in the evening, to catching sunset on Mars Hill and stargazing at the observatory, Athens has something for everyone! We feel like we did it all! Read our complete guide to Athens here.
Beach Days in The Cyclades
As much as we love a bustling city, at the end of the day we are beach people! So we kicked back and relaxed in the Cyclades for a few more weeks. We flew to Santorini and worked our way backwards stopping at Ios, Paros, Antiparos, and Mykonos. Check out our Cyclades Islands travel guide here.
Santorini
Santorini was the perfect island to start our trip. It was exactly what I expected it to be… in the best way! It literally looks like a postcard. We stayed in Fira but traveled on ATVs all over the island. Read about our Santorini trip here.
Ios
After an amazing 4 days in Santorini we took a quick ferry ride to Ios. Ios wins for the best food! The overall vibe was great, unfortunately many of the nightlife things were closed given that we were visiting in shoulder season. But we didn’t mind staying in because we loved our hotel here! Check out where to stay and eat in our Ios post here.
Paros & Antiparos
We wanted to stop in Milos after Ios. It is a lesser known island and looked gorgeous. I was really looking forward to it but unfortunately due to inclement weather the ferries weren’t running. Instead we took the ferry to Paros. Paros is super charming and an excellent stop. You can take a simple, small ferry from Paros to Antiparos for a day trip. We loved our day in Antiparos! Read our recommendations for Paros and Antiparos here.
Mykonos
We ended our trip on the party isle of Mykonos. Due to visiting in shoulder season we didn’t get to experience the full Mykonos club scene, but I’m honestly not sure our wallets could have handled it! We still had a blast. Check out what we loved and didn’t love about Mykonos here.
Obviously there is much more to Greece than the capital and The Cyclades, but what we saw we loved and would love to go back!
Isn’t Greece great?
-Ray
Note: We visited Greece in Fall 2018.