I'm too excited...Like annoyingly excited. (written May 22nd, 2022)
Today my beautiful sister turns 26. Happy Birthday Queen!! I can’t believe she’s 26 because I can’t believe I’m not 26 anymore...but that is a quarter life crisis discussion for another time.
I am very excited to say that (Queen as I call her) will be spending most of the summer here with me! Facetiming every week is not enough when it feels like you are missing a part of you. I am soo beyond excited to show her all of the places in this country that I have falling in love with. Which brings me to my next task and why I am writing this post. Where to take a first timer in Greece.
Rockin' the Suburbs
Living here has allowed me to discover a lot more of this place and there are so many cool areas that a tourist would skip over because either they don’t have the time or they are just unaware of them.
Take Athens for example, first time here I hated it…. Truly hated it. My perception of Athens was, that it’s very dirty, graffiti and garbage everywhere. But that’s because I stayed in the centre of downtown for two days. I saw the Acropolis, walked around Plaka and got the hell out of there.
Living here has allowed me to see many areas that are lovely to spend time in. For example the suburb called Kifisia. A northern area that feels to me like an old enchanted beverly hills. Walking around this area you will see HUGE mansions covered in vines and rod iron gates, and you will find streets lined with coffee shops and really cute boutiques. I could walk around this neighbourhood for hours and I wouldn’t have ever known it existed unless I spent the time here. I will be taking Queen here for sure for an afternoon stroll.
Another suburb that’s south of Athens is Glyfada. If you want the beach vibe this is the area to be in. This area is right along the sea and has lots to offer. A day at the beach, a walk through flisvos marina which is a long walking path that takes you past restaurants, yachts, dog parks, and a sea wall. You can rent a bike and go for ever. I hope I have the time to take queen in this area as well.
To The Islands!
And then you have the islands. SOOO many to choose from! Santorini is basically a given for first timers that want the movie set views and typical postcard adventures. I am extremely lucky his sister lives here so free accommodations and transportation makes this place a must visit. We will probably spend a week here. There are so many islands to discover. I have only scratched the service of them. I’ve been to Santorini, Paros, and Rohodes.
Here is the just the bones of the itinerary I will put together for us. If you ever plan to spend a month in Greece during the summer maybe try out some of these places!
Arrive in Athens - Get the touristy stuff out of the way. Breakfast with a view, Acropolis/museum, Plaka, walk around the centre. The centre of Athens actually has a very cool flea market and a lot of one off places where people sell handmade jewelry and art pieces and things like that which I find pretty cool.
(welcome grill with the family at the house) steak, potatoes, salad, olives, feta, watermelon.) I have only just realized that when she arrives the house will have 12 people in it…. His oldest sister will be here to have her third child and will be living in the family home with her two kids before and after her third is born, plus all the family that currently lives on the property already. Queen will be getting thrown right into the thick of it when it comes to meeting the family. I laugh out loud thinking about this encounter and living environment already.
Then drive to Nafplio for a couple days. Two is all you really need there if you are tight for time. (Read my post titled "Pretty Please Peloponnese" for more details) give here a break from the intense family time she’ll be getting and this gives us some much needed time alone to catch up and be together.
Back to Athens for a suburb tour. One day Kifisia one day Glyfada.
Fly to Santorini. MUCH faster than ferry and usually around the same price if you book enough in advance. I just booked ours flight and the tickets were 28 euros each. Always fly to Santorini. Seriously. Saves you sooo much time. Then ferry hop between the islands...Anyways, there we will have our sisterhood of the travelling pants adventure all over the island for probably a week or so.
Ferry to Paros island. Spend 4 days there? Ferry to Antiparos for a day. Cave climbing adventure.
Then to Milos? Never been to this island before but I hear is incredible and I hope to spend 3ish days there. I have no idea what to expect there. Ill let you know what we discover once it happens.
Back to Athens. Probably do a couple day trips to the smaller closer islands like Hydra. I've heard good things about that. Queen may want to head to the Almafi coast in Italy but it could be quite pricey so we will see! I have done some research of there but if you have any tips or suggestions about that area I would love to hear it!
The bottom line is that I can’t contain my excitement for her to get here, and the truth is we could sit at home and do nothing for a month and still have the best time ever. We learned that when she came to visit me one summer when I was working and living is Regina Saskatchewan. If you can have a good time there that means you can make any place fun. Trust me, that city sucks. They have a small man made lake in the middle of it. That’s it.
I miss her more than I can ever put into words, and being away from her is one of the biggest reasons why it's difficult being here.
So the countdown to the Queen Tour is on! T-minus two months!
Comments