Until then, let's get to our regularly scheduled #FBF! I thought it might be easiest to continue with the international theme until I get through those, then switch over to some of my domestic travels. So, next stop: Greece! Similarly to my previous re-caps, I'll be splitting this up into parts as well. Be prepared, we'll be in Greece for a few Fridays!
Greece pulled together rather quickly for me. It was almost done on a whim. My sister came to me expressing interest in wanting to go to Greece and suggested I go with her. At the time I was hoping to visit my friend again, this time in France, however it wasn't coming to fruition so I switched coarse and booked my flights to Greece.
If I were to return to Greece, I think some lessons learned would be to research my islands. Each island in Greece really does have it's own personality, which attracts different types of tourists. While I loved each island we visited, there were some things I would have loved to see like additional ruins or that traditional clear blue turquoise water. When booking your trip, have an idea of what you're looking for and do your research to see which islands fit that need. With that being said, I had the opportunity to visit Athens, Mykonos, Ios and Santorini.
First up: Athens.
My introduction to Athens was a bit overwhelming. I traveled alone to meet up with my sister who was already at the hostel. I opted to take the train from the airport and then walk from the train station to the hostel. Athens is a lot bigger and way more populated than I expected. Far different from my Ukraine/Eastern Europe experience. It also caters to the tourist with people selling you things everywhere. I mean, everywhere. This surprised me, and bummed me out a bit. For as much history as the city has, in my opinion, it's been overrun by the tourism industry. Don't get me wrong, I love tourism-I do it for a living! But there is something to be said for maintaining a city's culture. All of that aside, having the opportunity to see structures like the Parthenon or the Acropolis in person and explore the history of one of the oldest cities in the world is pretty impressive.
I met my sister at the hostel, freshened up a bit and then we hit the ground running. Sidenote: remember my warning about "gas water?" My sister also had an unpleasant surprise with what she thought was just bottled water. I neglected to warn her about that before she got there. It happened to be one of the first things she told me/warned me about when we met-sorry sis!
We only dedicated a day to Athens, which for us, ended up being the perfect amount of time. We explored the city, visited some shops, met a store owner who had a friend who moved to Albuquerque to open a restaurant (gotta love Albuquerque connections!) and toured the ruins. I would also highly recommend viewing the Acropolis at night. It's absolutely beautiful!
Here's Athens in photos:
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