Opa!

Big Fat Greek Dinner from Cullen Keller on Vimeo.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

We strongly considered an extended stay in Santorini but soon got word of a nearby island by the name of Folegandros. Known by the islanders as one of the most beautiful undiscovered islands in Greece, we didn’t want to miss it. Envious glances thrown our way by those Santorinians who knew of our plans only confirmed we were making a wise decision.

Pulling into the port of Folegandros I wondered what more this island could possibly offer that Greece hadn’t shown us already. But no more than five minutes into our arrival to the sleepy village of Hora we discovered the most picturesque town in all of the islands.

Hora sits on the edge of a cliff, whose slopes are lined with ribbons of terrace fields overlooking blue-green waters. Motorcycles and cars are banned here creating a peaceful ambience for lingering in the shady, leafy squares that just seem to spill into one another. Narrow roads are lined whites and blue homes with explosions of azaleas and geraniums pouring out of window boxes.

As the rest of the town’s visitors headed out each day to hit the beaches, Ryan and I couldn’t get ourselves to leave this town. In the shaded squares, we treated ourselves to the kind of long, lingering Mediterranean lunches you think only exist on those Anthony Bourdain episodes. We munched on freshly-baked bread drizzled in oregano and homemade olive oil, eggplant stuffed with minced lamb and covered in fresh tomatoes and Parmesan, and monstrous grilled calamari served with baked feta cheese.

When we weren’t eating (and let me tell you, lots of our time was spent doing so), we took runs over the rugged mountains to check out neighboring villages. And to break from the heat of the August sun, we had an afternoon ritual of sipping on ice coffes while overlooking the precipitous cliffs.

Wallowing away our last days on the island of Folegandros, I realized I’ve fallen hard for the Greek Isles. We are destined to make it back.

It’s nightfall in Santorini. I’m sitting on a sun bed on the water’s edge. The sun is beginning to set. Right now it’s dancing on the pages of my journal, as I write this, like only a Santorini sun can do. I can hear the waves lapping thirty feet below me and the gentle breeze relieves me from the heat of the day. Ryan’s inside our little studio apartment whipping up a plate of appetizers to accompany this bottle of icy brew sitting here with me just begging to be drunk. We’re going to soak up the last light of the day in the best way we know how. Afterall, this is Santorini, right?

Santorini is like a crescent moon enclosing the blue waters of its caldera. Morning, noon or night, these views can’t be topped so much in fact that the name Santorini has become synonymous with the Greek Isles. Its fame, no doubt, is well-deserved.

We rolled into Santorini at sunrise on an overnight ferry from the island of Rhodes. The sun was just peeking out over the volcanic, black rock cliffs revealing, like icing on a cake, the pure, whitewashed buildings of the caldera.

Just outside of the town of Oia (pronounced ee-uh),we rented out a charming studio apartment with sea views. Definitely the nicest place we’ve stayed on our journey, we were more than pleased with our digs. The only thing we needed to really take advantage of the picture-perfect surroundings were some wheels. Within an hour of our arrival, we were set. We finagled our way into a moped rental (against the will of the rental agency for lack of a motorbike license) and were soon equipped with two massive helmets, a set of keys and a bright blue, speedy moped.

Let freedom ring! We were off to explore Santorini. With the wind in our hair and the smell of the salty sea water all around, we took off through the maze of blindingly white-walled streets only stopping to take in the dramatic views.

We spent a day exploring the capital city of Fira. Home to some incredible hotels, sophisticated restaurants and nightlife action, a visit here only confirmed our decision to stay in the quieter neighboring town of Oia. Afterall, this is where Jolie-Pitt crew chose to build their home, so we couldn’t go wrong.

Between sunning ourselves on our sundeck and whizzing around on our moped, we spent the majority of our time just taking in the jaw-dropping views of the caldera. Really, there are no words to describe its beauty. It’s something that just has to be experienced. Granted we weren’t here at the ideal time as there were far too many tourists for my liking, but boy oh boy does Santorini deserve a visit. It’s simply unforgettable.

For more on our Greek Isle hopping adventures check out:

Simi: The Belle of the Ball
Rhodes: Where the Streets Have No Names
Our First Taste of Greece
Life, Greece & the Pursuit of Happiness

We should have guessed it just by eyeing the beautiful people in the port. Simi was going to be something.

Waiting for our delayed ferry for Simi in the harbor of Rhodes, we were surrounded by what looked like a spread in the summer holiday edition of the Ralph Lauren catalogue. Bronzed, stylish Italian bodies decked out in their finely-pressed ‘island collection’ wardrobe, hide their faces behind wide-brimmed sunhats and stylish specs. They complimented those toned sun-kissed legs with fancy footwear and carried enormous designer handbags big enough for me to crawl right in. Yep, we’d traveled from the land of have-nots and were now arriving in the land of have-everything.

Gliding into the horseshoe-shaped harbor of Simi I really felt like I was sailing into a postcard. Renowned for having Greece’s most stunning harbor, it’s difficult for me to imagine any place more beautiful. The island has a prosperous history of shipbuilding and from my view on the sea it was abundantly clear. Freshly-polished wooden ships glisten in the water above the reflection of pastel-colored mansions casting down from the hillside.

Had we really only allotted two days for this island? Say it ain’t so.

We had no reservation or any idea where the heck we were going to stay. I’d spent the past few days on the phone trying to get us some sort of room, but everything seemed to be taken. Suppressing the planner-side of me, I had no choice than to follow my husband’s lead, flying by the seat of our pants. As his luck would have it (because you know he’d never hear the end of it) we scored a sweet pad.

Francisco, a burly, white-haired man, came to our rescue in the port. Promising a room with a view, we piled into his Audi station wagon and wound around the harbor and up the mountain dotted with graciously-renovated sea captain homes. Sad to say goodbye to my harbor view, we found ourselves in the mountaintop village of Horio.

In Horio, we settled into our studio apartment. For the first time in a long time, we had a place to eat, to cook, to lounge. We were elated. We even had a little balcony overlooking a mint-colored bay where we spent our first day soaking up the rays. It took no more than a few hours of exploring to be convinced we were here to stay.

What started out as one night, soon turned into five. We fell in love with the island of Simi, and even more so with the mountaintop village of Horio. Surrounded by the locals, we got a real flavor for life on the Greek Isles. We spent our days taking dips in the Agean Sea, lingering in cafes over ice coffees and indulging in traditional dishes at the local tavernas by night.

With no airport, no sandy beaches, no high-rise hotels and no glamourous and glitzy nightclubs, Simi is not everyone’s ideal island. But if you love exploring traditional villages with rocky pathways leading to churches high in the hills, if you enjoy hiking through the mountains to discover hidden inlets and bays, if you want to get to know friendly local people and dine at restaurants offering traditional island food, Simi just might be as special to you as it was for us.

For more on our Greek Isle hopping adventure check out:

Santorini, Simply Unforgettable
Rhodes: Where the Streets Have No Names
Our First Taste of Greece
Life, Greece & the Pursuit of Happiness

Promising to give visitors more than a tan, we moved on to the island of Rhodes. As the oldest inhabited island in Europe, we expected to get a better sense of Greek culture.

After a ferry ride that was more like a floating four star hotel, we arrived to the port and settled in to the Old Town. This area consists of roughly 200 streets and lanes surrounded by towering, medieval city walls. Getting lost in the alleyways is an opportunity to explore and that’s exactly what we did. With backpacks on we wound through the streets, many of which have no names, searching for our hotel hidden down a little stone passageway. Covered in beautiful pink azalea flowers and ivy, The Pink Elephant Hotel was a charming little spot to base our few days in Rhodes.

We spent our time in Rhodes just getting lost in the city and doing our best to stay off the main streets of town. Rhodes, as our guidebook promised, was absolutely crawling with tourists. We sought out moments of solitude in the quiet squares and lanes of the side streets and here we began to imagine how special this place might be in the off season.

Mealtime is always our favorite time of day and in Greece, we would learn, it would be extra special. Always opting for the mom and pop-run tavernas, we ate very well and very local. Chowing on traditional dishes out of the kitchens of people’s homes was a nightly ritual. Those warm summer nights sitting out on patios topped with trellises of gnarled grape vine leaves while indulging in big, fat Greek meals, these are the memories I’ll treasure.

For more on our Greek Isle hopping adventure, check out:

Simi: The Belle of the Ball
Santorini, Simply Unforgettable
Our First Taste of Greece
Life, Greece & the Pursuit of Happiness

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

Our around the world trip was about to take a decadent turn. We were on to the land of mountains and sea, sailing into the Greek Isles. In search of the perfect island escape, that was our task and on visits to five different islands, we certainly fulfilled our duty.

In this honeymooners’ paradise, on the playground celebs and jet-setting wannabes, these two budget travelers found their own slice of heaven.

On the road for 10 months, I think we had our travel egos overwhelmingly high, thinking there was little that could really knock our socks off. Stumbling upon the kind of beauty that makes your heart leap, we grew more than smitten with the jewel of the Mediterranean on a two-week visit to the wondrous Greek Isles.

What sets the Greek Isles apart from other tropical paradises (and yes, we’ve done our homework!), are the warm colors that abound. An afternoon light sets on a maze of pure, white-walled streets and impossibly preserved villages. Abundant sunshine reflects off midnight blue waters and mint green shorelines. The shadows of handsomely-rich, wooden ships hover over the sea in a harbor lined with dazzling blue and whites and pastel-colored sea captain homes.

But with the passing of each day, we began to realize the draw of the islands is more than what meets the eye. It’s what meets the spirit. There’s an energy to Greece, perhaps emanating from the people that have occupied the land for thousands of years. They are a convivial, gregarious and hospitable bunch with boundless energy. They go out of their way to make you feel welcome and keep you well-entertained with their cheeky sense of humor and candid spirit.

The Greeks (at least those of the islands) are all about life, love and the pursuit of happiness. They value lingering over long seafood lunches with every member of the extended family. They make morning dips in the sea and afternoon siestas part of their daily regimen. They eat baklava by the kilo, ice cream by the carton and wine by the jug. They cherish those hours each day spent on the stoop of their front doorstep, chatting with friends and watching the world go by.

This way of life can only be described as one thing: contagious.

We knew there was enough sun on the 1,400 islands to guarantee a deep tan and probably enough feta and taziki to keep us well-fed, but what we didn’t realize was that we’d be captivated by oh so much more than the dramatic landscapes of the country. Yep, Greece knocked our socks off.

For more on our Greek Isle hopping adventure check out:

Santorini, Simply Unforgettable
Rhodes: Where the Streets Have No Names
Our First Taste of Greece
Simi: The Belle of the Ball

Every travel guide we’d read urged us to reconsider plans to visit Greece in August. At the height of peak tourist season, we’d be hard-pressed to find any sense of solitude and were told we’d spend more time elbowing our way through crowds than enjoying the dramatic vistas. Of course this was not the kind of island escape we were after, but with long-term travel you sometimes just have to roll with the punches. We had thought only a week before that we’d be relaxing in Cyprus for 2 weeks, but so it goes. You’re going to be in some places at the ideal time and others, you might just be missing the boat.

With this in mind so began our two-week Greek Isle-hopping adventure. Leaving the shores of Turkey behind (more on Turkey adventures coming soon from my better half), we hopped on a ferry across the Agean Sea. Selected purely based on its geographic location, our first stop was the island of Kos, which sits right smack-dab off the coast of Turkey. The ferry ride over proved more memorable than anticipated as it gave us a good taste of what was to come. We found ourselves among tank top-clad, beefy men with sun-burnt, fanny-pack-toting wives running after their sticky, dirty-diaper wearing children. Get the picture? Glamorous, glitzy Greece it was not.

Arriving at the port we had a reservation at a little pension in town, but took a brief detour when we were stopped by a mother-daughter duo who were renting out, as they put it in their heavy English accent, a “super, super, super” apartment we just shouldn’t miss. Soon we found ourselves in the back of the car with a crazy 70 year-old Greek woman at the wheel. First we dropped off her granddaughter at her arts and crafts class (naturally) before winding around the coast a half hour a way to our destination: a super, duper dump. While staying in the Greek version of a trailer park could have provided some comical adventures, we opted out, resulting in quite an earful from our new Greek grandmother.

Arriving two hours later at lovely Pension Alexis, we were greeted on a leafy patio with open arms and two ice coffees by our gregarious hosts, Sonia and her sons. They showed us to our room and then on to the bathroom we’d be sharing with umpteen Italian families staying the place. Yep, here it became official: we’re in Europe and back on the Euro. Goodbye to the carefree budget days of Asia. Those days are long gone.

We spent two fine days in Kos, sampling as much Greek food as we could while squeezing in a few runs and bike rides along the harbor. We made our way to the rocky beaches covered in colorful umbrellas and confirmed our arrival to Europe with all the topless bathers. Although there was plenty of sun and beautiful water, we couldn’t help but hope the rest of Greece had more to offer. Shops selling postcards, key chains and magnets dominated the streets and all the 18-year old Brits and Germans here looking for a club scene must have been in hog heaven. There just had to be more…

For more on our Greek Isle hopping adventure, check out:

Simi: The Belle of the Ball
Santorini, Simply Unforgettable
Our First Taste of Greece
Rhodes: Where the Streets Have No Names