We're going back to last summer, when Mercedes (Merboo) and I went to one of the prettiest places, aka paradise, aka Greece. 10 days in the Greek Islands and it was a love love relationship. The beaches, greek food, people, sunsets, and views were some of the best I've experienced. We went to three islands: Mykonos, Ios, and Santorini...all beautiful but completely different from one another.
First stop was Mykonos. After arriving in Athens we took our first ferry to Mykonos. We arrived at a small, picturesque town with a maze full of tiny streets with shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, all gathered around its port. The buildings were the traditional Greek colors: white with blue windows and doors. In the day we had a calm and relaxing lifestyle, days starting with frappes (mmm!), the beach, shopping, eating hummus and pita and greek salads. At night we would watch the sunset from our rooftop at our hostel or from Paraportiani (the church), eat fabulous dinners, walk around Little Italy and see the windmills, and then file in with the crowds to the bars and clubs.
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| Paradise Beach |
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| Paradise Beach |
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| Paradise Beach |
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| Rooftop Sunset |
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| Little Italy |
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| Sunset from Paraportiani |
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| Sunset from Paraportiani |
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| Sunset from Paraportiani |
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| Frappes! |
After 3 nights in Mykonos we headed to Ios. Ios was beautiful, bigger than Mykonos with beaches filling up the coastline. When we arrived we got to our hostel: Francesco's (one of the best hostels I have stayed at) and went to eat lunch. The town was dead, basically no one was outside and it was very quiet. We headed back to our hostel and layed out by the pool. That night we realized why it was so quiet earlier--the Ios night life. It was my birthday that night and Mer decided to tell the hostel...within an hour all of Ios knew I was Michelle and it was my birthday. The hostel takes you on a pub crawl...which is so fun. There are so many small bars/clubs all around Ios that open their doors at night to everyone ready to party. And party they do. The next days were spent at the beaches, pools, meeting new friends, going out, etc. It was a very crazy and fun 3 days in Ios.
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| Ios town |
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| View from our room at Francescos |
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| With Francesco himself :) |
The last island we went to was Santorini (my favorite of the 3). It's a volcanic Island and was so so beautiful. We stayed right near the Black Beach at Stelio's Place. In Santorini we did lots of activities: took a boat across the island to visit the volcano which erupted years ago, swam in the hot springs, rode donkeys in Thirasia (my highlight), saw the prettiest sunsets from Oia (where Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is filmed & we liked it so much we went twice), and visit another island Fira. Of course we layed out on the Black Beach and did what we like best, eat very well. It was so hard for us to leave Santorini, but in life all good things must come to an end. We headed back to Athens for a night to catch our plane the next day. There were strikes all over the city--so all we did was sleep, eat, and go to the airport. I loved Greece and would love to go back and visit more islands!!
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| Boat ride to the volcano |
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| On the volcano |
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| Hot springs |
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| Donkey ride!! |
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| Donkey ride!! |
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| Thirasia |
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| Oia |
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| Oia |
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| Oia |
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| Oia |
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| Oia |
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| Oia |
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| Oia |
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| Fira |
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| Oia |
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| Oia |
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| Oia |
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| Dinner at Oia |
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| Sunset at Oia |
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| Oia |
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| Oia |
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| Black Beach |
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| Black Beach |
