Tamara is just back from a trip to Greece and she tells us all about this dream vacation. Find out what it is like to travel to Greece right now -- plus what to do and where to stay in Santorini and Naxos!
ABOUT OUR SPONSOR – ATLAS OCEAN VOYAGES
Today’s podcast is brought to you by Atlas Ocean Voyages.
If you have ever dreamed of cruising to Greece or Egypt, now is the time to book! Atlas Ocean Voyages just introduced its expedition ship World Navigator. This small ship, luxury vessel is built for adventure in a sustainable, energy-efficient manner.
Perfect for adventurous families or multi-generational groups, its compact size and small guest count of fewer than 200 passengers, means a higher space to guest ratio and more intimacy and personalized service.
From August through September 2021, World Navigator will sail 7 separate 12 night itineraries to Greece and Egypt. And its small size and agility means she can dock in smaller ports, avoiding large crowds and getting a more authentic experience. And this summer, arrivals in Greece do not coincide with any other cruise ships in port!
Bookings are all inclusive, including both airfare and excursions. The ship’s facilities and protocols reflect state of the art public health guidance. With stringent public health protocols followed by staff and crew with pre-boarding and pre-embarkation PCR testing provided for all passengers. Social distancing will be maintained with small group shore excursions.
Atlas welcomes travelers to ‘come back to something brand new’ To learn more, please visit www.AtlasOceanVoyages.com and we thank them for their support.
2021 Trip to Greece Tips
- Greece reopened to USA citizens this springs. Visitors need to either be fully vaccinated (all shots + 14 days) and have a vaccination card OR show a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours of boarding the plane. These are reviewed at check in for your flight.
- Visitors also need to fill out a Passenger Locator Form more than 24 hours before arrival. The Greece government will then send you a QR code after midnight on the day of your arrival that you need to show at Customs on your arrival. You need to show the receipt of submission or QR code when you check in to your flight.
- Masks are required in airports, planes, trains, ferries, ferry ports, busses, and taxis, as well as indoors.
- You also need to complete health forms before going on ferries or boats and either be vaccinated or take a test before going on a ferry.
- Vaccination cards will also be checked when you check into hotels.
- To return to the USA, you need to take a PCR test within 72 hours of your flight departure. There are public clinics available to get tested but appointments may be required and hours are limited. Tamara's tests on Naxos were 60 euro per person.
- You can also order Binax Now tests from Abbott Laboratories online. Just make sure they are the ones approved for travel and include online monitoring of the test as that is what is needed for re-entry into the USA.
- On Santorini, Tamara stayed at the Canaves Oia Epitome, which is a new property from the Canaves brand, and it is a luxury hotel located about 10 minutes walk from Oia and Ammoudi Bay. They booked the honeymoon suite with private plunge pool.
- Elements Restaurant at the Canaves Oia Epitome offers an amazing Degustation Menu and it was a top dining experience.
- Santorini is a very popular destination and Oia is the most famous town. When you visit, be sure to go into town early in the morning to avoid crowds.
- Tamara also had a chef's tasting dinner at Lycabettus in Oia but felt it wasn't worth the price.
- Santorini Wine Trails does half or full-day wine tours in Santorini. All tours are private right now.
- Ammoudi Fish Tavern is a fun restaurant right on the water in Ammoudi Bay with great views and fresh fish.
- Tamara also did a photo shoot with Nikola from Flytographer and got some great photos.
- Book ferry tickets in advance of your trip
- Note that you should arrive at the ferry port early to figure out where to queue up.
- Boarding the ferry can be chaotic so listen closely for when they call your boat and note that the same ferry makes multiple stops at different islands so it isn't like there is a separate boat for each island.
- It helps to arrange transportation for airport and ferry pick ups so you don't have to wait in a long line when you arrive. We used Welcome Pickups on Santorini and Athens.
- On Naxos, Tamara stayed at the Virtu Suites boutique hotel on the beach in Agios Prokopios.
- Naxos is a much more affordable than Santorini -- dinner for two costs only about 40 euro at many local tavernas.
- Tamara booked a full day private boat tour and snorkeling with Naxos Sailing. They also offer small group trips and have a variety of itineraries.
- The boat tour stopped in Paros and Tamara took a cab to Naoussa, the main town, which is really beautiful and filled with shops and restaurants.
- Tamara and Glenn also took a full day wine, cheese and island tour with Eleni from Philema Food Tours.
- In Naxos Town many people visit Apollo's Temple or the Portara for sunset but you need to get there early to get a prime photo spot.
- In Athens, Tamara stayed at the Hotel Grand Bretagne, which she was able to book using Marriott points. The rooftop restaurant, where breakfast is also served, has beautiful views of the Acropolis.
Today, we're taking a European journey to the Greek islands.
[00:00:15.900] - Announcer
Welcome to Vacation Mavens. A family travel podcast with ideas for your next vacation and tips to get you out the door. Here are your hosts, Kim from Stuffed Suitcase and Tamara from We3Travel.
[00:00:30.870] - Tamara Gruber
Today's podcast is brought to you by Atlas Ocean Voyages. If you've ever dreamed of cruising to Greece or Egypt, now is the time to book. Atlas Ocean Voyages just introduced its new expedition ship, The World Navigator. This small ship luxury vessel is built for adventure in a sustainable but energy efficient manner. It's perfect for adventurous families or multigenerational groups. Its compact size and small guest count of fewer than 200 passengers means a higher space to guest ratio and more intimacy and personalized service.
[00:01:00.750] - Tamara Gruber
From August through September 2021, World Navigator will sail seven separate 12 night itineraries to Greece and Egypt, and its small size and agility means she can dock in smaller ports, avoiding large crowds and getting a more authentic experience. And this summer, arrivals in Greece do not coincide with any other cruise ships, and port bookings are all inclusive, including both airfare and excursions.
[00:01:22.590] - Tamara Gruber
The ship's facilities and protocols reflect state of the art public health guidance, with stringent public health protocols followed by staff and crew. With preboarding and pre embarkation PCR testing provided for all passengers, social distancing will be maintained with small groups shore excursions. Atlas welcomes travelers to come back to something brand new. To learn more, please visit AtlasOceanVoyages.com, and we thank them for their support.
[00:01:48.330] - Tamara Gruber
Kim, I have to say after just coming back from Greece, now is such a good time to go that if people could still book a cruise for later this summer or the, you know, the fall, it would really be a great time to go.
[00:02:01.560] - Kim Tate
I can see that I was following along on your stories. I think a lot of people are just unsure about all the you know, I guess in some ways you'd say loopholes and things you have to think about when you're traveling. And so it might be the perfect time for summer in Europe.
[00:02:16.230] - Tamara Gruber
Yeah, it's definitely not as crowded. And people are very eager to welcome you back. And, you know, luckily, especially with Greece, the emphasis that they've put on vaccinating people in hospitality and on the islands and plus the fact that everything is outside it makes you feel so much more comfortable. So definitely a good time to go. But otherwise, if you can't go this year and you've dreamed about a cruise either to Egypt or the Greek islands, then check out Atlas Ocean Voyages for small ship luxury cruising.
[00:02:48.060] - Tamara Gruber
Sounds like a great way to go because it includes all your excursions and everything else. At least you know exactly what it's going to cost you.
[00:02:54.660] - Kim Tate
Yeah. And as we've already said, the small ships are really the way to get a more intimate experience with the destination. So you're not being dropped off on huge piers.
[00:03:03.390] - Tamara Gruber
Yeah, exactly. When we took our ferry back, I saw maybe one or two cruise ships that a couple of the islands that we stopped out on the ferry back to Athens. But those were mostly like small ships as well.
[00:03:14.070] - Tamara Gruber
So, yeah, cruising is coming back. We saw on our flight back to JFK, like one whole section in the back seemed to have those little celebrity bags. So it's nice. Yeah, well, that's exciting. And I think it's great if people want to look at kind of that new journey. And like you said, there's still a whole month of August left for the summer. So if you've got some free time to make an impromptu vacation plans, then the Atlas Ocean Voyages might have a good deal for you to jump on.
[00:03:43.800] - Tamara Gruber
Yeah, and if you want to explore Greece by land or at least to the islands, then I can give you some tips, because that's what we're going to be talking about this episode.
[00:03:53.460] - Kim Tate
I cannot wait to hear about your trip. It seems like you guys really enjoyed your time together. And, you know, for an anniversary trip, it seems like it it just checked all the boxes for you guys. So I'm looking forward to sharing with our listeners everything that you guys did and what you learned. And we should just get right into it.
[00:04:11.580] - Tamara Gruber
Yeah, definitely. It was one of those trips where I was prepping myself as we were driving down because we had to drive to New York and we flew from there just so that we could get a direct flight to Athens.
[00:04:23.550] - Tamara Gruber
So since our other flight was canceled, we wanted to not have to worry about transiting through another European country and worrying about what their entrance requirements were and such. And so we're driving down and I said to Glennn, like, look like something is going to happen, like not everything is going to go smoothly.
[00:04:41.010] - Tamara Gruber
You know, that's always the case, but especially right now, like, we need to prep ourselves like I've had in my mind, like this dream trip for two years now. Right. And that's like dangerous, you know, when you are putting so much like, you know, hope and everything into this trip that you've thought about for so long and especially, you know, as we're used to traveling. But, you know, after two years of not a lot of travel, it's like it gets even more focus, you know, for you.
[00:05:04.510] - Tamara Gruber
I'm like, something's going to go wrong. And it just ended up like, you know, OK, there are a couple, like, little bumps, but thankfully, like, nothing huge happened. And it was just it was just so nice. Still be in a different place, you know what I had said, like, I need a change of scenery. If we can't go to Greece, like we're going somewhere that has palm trees or something, like I needed a change of scenery and then it just it was beautiful, but it was everything is outdoors and we just.
[00:05:33.430] - Tamara Gruber
Yeah, you had to put on a mask when you were in, like, you know, a cab or something like that. But we just didn't worry.
[00:05:38.770] - Tamara Gruber
And it was really amazing.
[00:05:40.450] - Tamara Gruber
And I think it was like the combination of those couple of things of like feeling really normal and being in a new place and just having this amazing time.
[00:05:50.260] - Tamara Gruber
And and we you know, it was a splurge trip for us. So I booked, you know, some luxury hotels. And just like being that back in that experience. And you think about like what we talked about in our last episode about how like for the services and the hotels and stuff right now, you know, because of staffing, I like to be back in like what felt like a very normal travel experience was it was just amazing. It really is awesome.
[00:06:13.570] - Tamara Gruber
It really was so good. And I look yeah, I look at the pictures and I'm like, you can just tell, like, our smiles, like we're just happy.
[00:06:21.670] - Kim Tate
Yeah, exactly. That's what I got that sense from. Just everything that I was watching and following and seeing. It was just seemed like you guys had had a really great time. So why don't you start us, you know, for the people who are wondering, why don't you explain what you did before to be able to get to Greece, you know, so they just know what the requirements are maybe. And then walk us through your itinerary if you want or however you want to present it.
[00:06:45.960] - Tamara Gruber
Definitely. So, yeah, there's definitely a few things to know about going to Greece right now. I mean, they were one of the first European countries to open up. So what they require is you either need to be vaccinated, fully vaccinated, which includes the two weeks after your second dose or your one dose if your one dose person like I was. And you also need you know, if you don't have that, then you need to show a negative test PCR test within the last 72 hours.
[00:07:14.110] - Tamara Gruber
And you show that when you arrive at the airport, when you're checking in in the U.S. and the other thing that you need to do is complete a passenger locator form and you need to do that. You can probably would be emailed it from your airline carrier, but otherwise you can find it on like the Greek website.
[00:07:32.710] - Tamara Gruber
You need to fill that out before 24 hours before you leave. So, you know, at least a day before you leave, you fill that out and it has all your information, your passport information, all that kind of stuff. But also look where you're going to be staying.
[00:07:44.950] - Tamara Gruber
You know what places you're visiting, all of that. It's an online form. You you submit it and then you get a receipt that it's been submitted and that's what you show when you get to the airport to check in.
[00:07:59.020] - Tamara Gruber
Then when you arrive in Greece, it's kind of weird because they email you a QR code, but they only email it to you like after midnight the day of your arrival. So we were doing like an overnight flight. So it's like we couldn't show it at the airport when we arrived because we don't have it yet. But we showed it at the airport I'm sorry, when we arrived in New York. But when we arrived in Athens, luckily they have free Wi-Fi in the airport.
[00:08:23.800] - Tamara Gruber
Just connect and then you get the QR code and you show them as you're coming into the customs area for Athens.
[00:08:30.550] - Tamara Gruber
So that's really it. It's pretty simple, really. There are some other things to think about just in terms of, you know, traveling right now. Like if you're going on a ferry, you need to show your vaccination card or your test, but you also need to complete like a health form, you know, like one of those like you haven't had these symptoms, you know, that kind of stuff. And they give you a QR code for that.
[00:08:56.200] - Tamara Gruber
Of course, I can talk later about like the whole ferry boarding process. And it's such like a madhouse. They don't actually check that.
[00:09:02.110] - Tamara Gruber
But, you know, technically, you need to do those kind of things, too. So there are some things.
[00:09:07.900] - Tamara Gruber
And when we checked into each of our hotels, they checked our vaccination cards.
[00:09:11.620] - Tamara Gruber
So, you know, you keep that information handy. We had to do one for a boat that we went out on for the day. We had to show the vaccination card and fill out a health form for that as well. So I guess either a vaccination card or a negative test. Yeah, but then within three days, does it have to be within three days so we can keep repeatedly testing while you're there if you're not, you know, because we're vaccinated. That's something that you would look into if you have younger children that couldn't be vaccinated or something like that. Yeah. Something to ask. And then, of course, to come back to the US, everyone right now needs to have a negative PCR test.
[00:09:48.940] - Tamara Gruber
So when we arrived, I had already figured out what we were going to do to make sure that it was possible. Otherwise I would have bought those Abbot Binax Now test to bring with us.
[00:10:04.990] - Tamara Gruber
So they have two different Abbott ones. This is I guess good to know. Like there's one that you can buy just in like a CVS or something. That that does not qualify for overseas travel.
[00:10:15.310] - Tamara Gruber
Because it needs to be monitored, but they have another one that you can order online, I think it's one hundred and fifty dollars that includes like multiple tests.
[00:10:24.220] - Tamara Gruber
And what you do is you self administer it, but you do it like you get in an appointment with a doctor, like over Zoom. Right. And watch, you know, that you're doing it so that they can verify, you know that to you.
[00:10:36.700] - Tamara Gruber
So, yeah, that's a separate one. You have to order online and that's actually an option. But luckily for us, we were able to get to our second island of Naxos. We our hotel helped us arrange an appointment at a clinic there. We just it could take up to 24 hours before we were getting our results. So we did on Friday for a Sunday morning departure. And we had our results by Friday evening. And it cost us only 60 euro per person.
[00:11:03.400] - Tamara Gruber
If they came to the hotel and did it for us, it was going to be like a hundred and twenty euro per person. So that's what we did.
[00:11:08.950] - Tamara Gruber
But just one thing to note about when you are traveling and you're looking to go to a local clinic for your way back, the hours are very limited. Still, like the one that we went to is closed on Saturdays. So, you know, you needed to plan that into your time window. But then some of them will be open, like for a few hours in the morning or a couple hours in the afternoon. But it's not like all day or, you know, you know, 24 hours.
[00:11:31.600] - Tamara Gruber
So you need to definitely plan ahead with that. But overall, like, it was pretty easy. I definitely think the the most challenging part is, you know, just the long flight, you know, frankly, like, I've never had a mask on for 16 hours before. And that is true. You know, that was a really long time because we had to deal with our long flight. You know, you have your time in the airport, the long flight on the way there.
[00:11:54.490] - Tamara Gruber
We then had like a three hour layover in the Athens airport and then another flight to Santorini, because our itinerary was to have three nights in Santorini, five nights on Naxos, and then one night in Athens for our return. So when we arrived, we wanted to not have to spend time in Athens, but get right to our destination just because we didn't have we just didn't have a lot of time. If I had two weeks, I would definitely spend more time like in Athens.
[00:12:19.900] - Tamara Gruber
So we had that flight, you know, and then the cab ride from the airport to our hotel. So, you know, that's that's a long time, you know, to be in your mask. I definitely switched up my mask like midway. Yeah. About getting this thing kind of stinks after a while, you know. Yeah.
[00:12:36.490] - Kim Tate
Are they not doing food either? So do you have to kind of make sure you're packing your own food and then are you able to eat it.
[00:12:41.620] - Tamara Gruber
They do do food, yeah.
[00:12:42.770] - Tamara Gruber
So we had our flight was Delta from JFK to Athens. We did have a bit of a scare that we weren't going to make our flight because we gave ourselves five hours to get to New York and it should take three hours. But it ended up taking like five and a half. And we parked in like an economy pre booked online. So then we had to take an air train over to the airport. And we were so nervous that, you know, we started off so relaxed, like we have plenty of time. Then we were so nervous that we weren't going to make it, but we got there. It was kind of chaos in the JFK Airport because it's just super busy. And, of course, you know, everyone, not everyone had all the information they were supposed to have right now.
[00:13:25.360] - Tamara Gruber
And then that takes a little bit of a longer time. But we got triggered as we were boarding.
[00:13:29.920] - Tamara Gruber
We got on luckily, they were serving food because we our plan was to go to a lounge and have a meal and, you know, take some, you know, some time. We didn't have that. So we were getting on to the plane with a bag of chips and some trail mix for like a ten hour flight. So, yeah, luckily they serve food and basically, you know, they make announcements, of course, when you board just the same way they would in the US.
[00:13:53.560] - Tamara Gruber
And while you're eating, you can lower your mask. And then it's kind of like after they do their meal service, they're going around being like mask up, like making sure everyone was still lingering, you know, that they're lifting the mask. But I will say, and I've said this before, like with us travel, that if I was not vaccinated, I would not be comfortable going because there are a lot of people that, you know, it's an overnight flight, it's dark.
[00:14:20.080] - Tamara Gruber
People are kind of lowering their masks as they're sleeping. And on those kind of overnight flights, the flight attendants aren't up and down the aisles as much checking. So I think, yeah, you definitely see some like if they saw someone, they would say something, but they weren't being super proactive with. Checking often is I say, you know.
[00:14:40.840] - Tamara Gruber
But that's not the case in the ferries and in the, you know, Athens airport, it seemed like, you know, much more strict. And on the ferry, someone went around regularly like, you know, talking to people and even having a little confrontations with people. So if that's something that's worried, I know I've gotten a lot of messages. I don't want to linger on this too much because there's a lot of really good stuff to talk about.
[00:15:01.900] - Tamara Gruber
But, you know, I've gotten a lot of messages from people, like asking how comfortable I was. And I want to say, like when I was in Greece, I felt extremely comfortable. I really, really did.
[00:15:10.900] - Tamara Gruber
You know, we had masks on in the cabs, but everything else. Is really outside, you know, like it's it's amazing how much everything is outside, I came back and I'm like, oh, right, restaurants have indoor dining, but we don't want to do that, you know? So it's it's very comfortable in that way.
[00:15:28.320] - Kim Tate
Great. So you made it to Santorini. That was your first stop. So what sort of things did you do there?
[00:15:34.440] - Tamara Gruber
Yeah. So in Santorini, Santorini is a very crowded like over tourist island. It's really expensive, but it is very, very beautiful.
[00:15:44.820] - Tamara Gruber
And so I knew that we wanted to only spend a few nights there because they didn't have the budget to spend a long time. And I have to say that this year is such a great time to go because it still seemed a little crowded at times and it was picking up like throughout our stay seem to increase. But they were telling me, all the locals are telling me that it was only about 20 percent of the 2019 numbers. So it's definitely like an over tourist destination.
[00:16:12.600] - Tamara Gruber
And I had an opportunity to visit when there weren't that many people there, which made it like absolutely amazing.
[00:16:18.460] - Tamara Gruber
Yeah, we stayed like one of the main towns is called Oia. And it is it's an essential that everybody sees in the pictures. Exactly.
[00:16:30.130] - Tamara Gruber
Yeah. Yeah. So I really wanted to stay there again. This was our milestone anniversary, a birthday trip. So it was a splurge, something that we'd saved up for for a while.
[00:16:40.620] - Tamara Gruber
So I had booked us three nights at a luxury hotel that called the Canaves Oia Epitome. So this brand, the Canaves, they have, I think three or four properties that are well known, luxury properties, most of them are right in the town. This one is brand new and it is just about a ten minute walk outside of town, kind of like down the hill. But we love the location and I loved the property. It was gorgeous.
[00:17:07.740] - Tamara Gruber
I had booked us a honeymoon suite with a plunge pool. So big splurge on the suite. We've never spent this much on a hotel. I will admit, you know, definitely like a huge privilege here.
[00:17:17.580] - Tamara Gruber
But we walked in and so it was like you kind of opened this one door. You go up some steps and there's like our patio with our plunge pool to loungers, picnic table, a little bench. And then you go into the room from there.
[00:17:32.340] - Tamara Gruber
And we walked in and we were just like, wow, like this. It's just so nice to go back to, like a luxury hotel and have this beautiful place and beautiful, you know, setting. And it was just it was so nice. Like, I'm so glad that we had that splurge. They do have other they have some other spaces for families. And there actually I saw a number of families, both with teens and with like toddlers are smaller, like elementary school age.
[00:18:01.770] - Tamara Gruber
So there are other types of rooms, some larger, some smaller. So that was my big splurge. At one point, Glennn was like, how much was this place? And I'm like, I'm not going to tell you. This was one where I was like, I want to book this, you know, and surprise you. And so we we really, really enjoyed that, like, kind of sitting out by the our little plunge pool.
[00:18:22.500] - Tamara Gruber
But then they also have, you know, the property has like a really nice infinity pool and it overlooks the water. And you get really beautiful sunset views there, which, you know, in this part of Greece, like some some of the views, some of the places will face a caldera. So you'll get really pretty hues and color, but you don't see the actual sunset. So this is the sunset and it's like ten minute walk up to town or they can shuttle you and like a ten minute walk down to Ammoudi bay, which is where are the sunset catamarans go out.
[00:18:55.620] - Tamara Gruber
And it's just like there's a lot of cool fish restaurants. So I thought the location was fabulous.
[00:19:01.110] - Tamara Gruber
The service was amazing, the food was great, the breakfast is included. And it's one of those things where you can order as much off the menu as you want. You know, like you order a la carte and then they're like, oh, do you want fruit? Do you want this? Like the one day that I had breakfast, I like pineapple juice. And so on their menu, they had grapefruit and orange juice. And I was like, oh, do you have pineapple juice?
[00:19:22.440] - Tamara Gruber
And they're like, we can do that for you. And they came out, they had like blended a fresh pineapple for me.
[00:19:28.770] - Tamara Gruber
And the the food was just it was fantastic. Like everything was so good. And our first night there, like we were exhausted.
[00:19:35.280] - Tamara Gruber
Right, because we had this five hour drive. Then we had, you know, a ten hour flight, three hour layover, half hour flight, you know, so we got there and I saw those lounge chairs by our plunge pool. And I'm like, I am taking a nap right there. And so we kind of just like napped in the sun for like an hour or two was somehow like it. Just something about the excitement of the first day of your trip where you just like kind of have the adrenaline to keep going, right?
[00:20:01.320] - Tamara Gruber
So that little nap was like all I needed. I usually plan for something like this for our first day to just have dinner close to the hotel where we're staying. So I had booked dinner at the hotel. The hotel has two restaurants, one is like fine dining, one is casual. I had booked us at the fine dining restaurant and so we ended up having like a degustation menu, like a chef's tasting menu, seven courses. And so you would think we would be like way to jet lag to like appreciate it.
[00:20:31.580] - Tamara Gruber
But I will tell you, this is one of the best dining experiences of our lives. And we still go back and we're like, is it because we were just so happy to be there? Or is it just like that first night? You have nothing to compare it to.
[00:20:44.120] - Tamara Gruber
But it was really just wonderful because the service was so it was just so perfect.
[00:20:49.160] - Tamara Gruber
It wasn't crowded because it was primarily just people at the hotel. So, you know, we were outside. We are overlooking this beautiful infinity pool and the sunset and, you know, our tables were all spaced and our server was just so sweet. Like every time I was, like, really enjoying a dish. And I would compliment her and compliment the dish. She would get almost like a giggly, you know, like she was so pleased with how much we liked it.
[00:21:17.480] - Tamara Gruber
And it just like that shows like how much like it means to them to, like, present and prepare like something that someone's really enjoying, you know, like that kind of hospitality where it's not just like a you know, like a process, like a routine. You know, it was just like a lot of it added a lot of enjoyment. And the the food was just it was fantastic. It was so, so good. So, you know, another huge splurge for us.
[00:21:41.090] - Tamara Gruber
But like, if you stay there and I actually had like three people, I think like or more messaged me on Instagram saying that they had either already booked it or they were booking it for the fall, like that particular hotel and asking about the restaurant. So I definitely think it's the it's a luxury hotel. And the price point is just slightly below the places that are in town. So it made it you know, it made it fit with my budget.
[00:22:07.400] - Tamara Gruber
You know, it was already a splurge budget, but. Yeah. So anyway, that's what we did the first day. And then the next day, again, I didn't want to like over because I really wanted to make sure that this trip was like some exploration, but a lot of time for like relaxation and doubt and just time to enjoy it and soak it in. You know, I didn't want us to be like, go, go, go.
[00:22:26.300] - Tamara Gruber
And we also didn't want to be around a lot of other groups or people. So we did things, you know, like more on our own or privately.
[00:22:33.560] - Tamara Gruber
So the next day we decided to walk into town and I thought we're just going to maybe, like, wander around for a little bit. But it was so charming. And so we were just like going down all these side streets and I'm taking like a million pictures and we just loved it.
[00:22:47.810] - Tamara Gruber
And it was so quiet at first. Like in the beginning, the streets were like empty when we got there, probably like ten thirty.
[00:22:54.500] - Tamara Gruber
And the streets were so empty. And everyone says, like, go super early in the morning, but I'm like my first day. I'm not getting out there like 6:00 a.m. you know, that's not my idea of a vacation. And then it got like a little busier, like closer to noon. But I think if you're going on a regular year, you probably really have to get there early to avoid the crowds. That's why it's kind of nice to stay right in that area, because if you're traveling from another part of the island, of course, you're not going to get there, you know, quite that early.
[00:23:19.820] - Tamara Gruber
Right. But it got really hot, definitely. People ask me about the weather, too. It was probably in the high eighties, like maybe low 90s the entire time we were there. I mean, I loved it.
[00:23:30.470] - Tamara Gruber
Like it was it was the kind of weather where I could go out every night in a sundress and not have to bring a sweater, you know, just like, wonderful. And it was, you know, the sun was strong.
[00:23:40.940] - Tamara Gruber
So you would like a little break from it or take a swim. But it wasn't I didn't find it oppressive. Apparently earlier in that week, there was you kind of what's been typical Europe right now is the end of June, early July for the last few years has had like an extremely high heat wave. So they had temperatures well above one hundred for a few days. But then, like I said, when we were there, it was kind of more normal summer.
[00:24:03.300] - Tamara Gruber
But still, we needed a place. We needed a little break. And their lunches are a little bit later. They're still like at one point we stopped and we just Glennn had, I think, like a beer and I had a smoothie and we just sat at a place where we're having this beautiful view. And then we walked around some more and then we had this amazing lunch. I like this salad with grilled shrimp and like, everything was like so wonderful.
[00:24:24.050] - Tamara Gruber
And all I could think was like years ago when I was a picky eater, I was like, oh, I could never do I could never go to Greece because I don't like and I like this like at the time I didn't like feta, now I love feta.
[00:24:34.970] - Tamara Gruber
I still don't like olives. And I didn't eat as much fish. But it is like the food was amazing. All the food that I had was really, really good and I did not have a problem with that at all because I for a long time ago I was like, I'm gonna have to do it on a cruise so that I like the food, but I've expanded my palate. So we had a wonderful lunch. Like there's just so many places that have beautiful views or cute courtyards.
[00:24:58.520] - Tamara Gruber
And it's just we had a lovely time and it reminded me a lot of the Amalfi Coast in Italy and in Capri, except the shops there aren't like the big designer shops. It's more like, you know, there's there's a lot of touristy kind. You know, now knickknacks and T-shirt kind of things, but then there's some more local shops, and so I liked that. You know, sometimes when you go to places and you see all these, like really upscale designer shops and like, well, first of all, I can't afford to shop there wherever I see them.
[00:25:30.650] - Tamara Gruber
And like, if you can get that at a city, like, near you, like, why do you need it like on vacation? You know, I'd rather find, like, more of the local kind of authentic things. Like we stopped into a gallery and I totally was ready to buy art until I realized we missed a zero on the on the painting price. But yeah, we just had a really lovely time. We went back and we sat by the pool and then we went back into town that night and we did another tasting menu at this place called Lycabettus, I'm sure mispronouncing it.
[00:25:59.150] - Tamara Gruber
But it's named that after a place in Athens that also has a beautiful viewpoint. But it basically is a restaurant like on a cliff side. So you pay more to sit on this like promontory that sticks out into the caldera. And you have this great view. Of course, Glennn was like, so where it is like, am I going to be nervous? And we had to go down all these steps to get to it.
[00:26:24.500] - Tamara Gruber
He was like slowly going down the steps and the the hostess kept turning and looking back. And I'm like, we're OK, you know? But I will say, like, that place was crazy expensive, which we knew it was going to be, because it's definitely very like this is one of the most beautiful places to have a meal or whatever. But I didn't think it was worth it. So I wouldn't say to do it like the food was good, but it was much more like it came out very quickly and it was like everybody near us was getting the same thing at the same time.
[00:26:54.950] - Tamara Gruber
And it just didn't have that personal feel to it. And for like a gas station menu was a lot of like phone this and, you know, like very I don't know, kind of it was inventive, but it also felt very like it's probably been done a lot, you know. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah. So I mean, but it was still we had a beautiful view. We wandered around town afterwards and it's just so nice.
[00:27:13.550] - Tamara Gruber
We sit as we're sitting there because we probably had like an eight thirty reservation, like, you know, the sunsets. And then so things start to have that beautiful glow and then the lights start to come on. And then by the time you leave, it's like all lit up and it's just, you know, like really, really gorgeous. I really fell in love with, like, that part of Santorini. But, you know, someone asked me, like, how long should you stay in Santorini?
[00:27:35.750] - Tamara Gruber
And I said, well, I think at least three nights, you know, maybe two nights if you've already, you know, been in Greece. But really, it depends on your budget. Like, how long can you afford to stay there because the food's expensive, like everything is definitely pricey.
[00:27:49.700] - Tamara Gruber
So our last day on Sunday, we ended up we had booked a half day wine tour with Santorini wine trails, and we did that. All the tours that they're doing right now are private. So, you know, we basically visited a vineyard and then Santorini is probably most well known for their wine, their white wine. And so we went to, I think, three wineries and did different tastings and tasting. We had like some local cheese or one thing I totally fell in love with was the tomato paste, because like Santorini is known for tomatoes, too.
[00:28:25.520] - Tamara Gruber
And you think about tomato paste like that, you would buy at the store, come to where the little can and you just like your lasagna or something like that. Like this was it was like you just want to spread it on bread. It was amazing. You know, I definitely had a great time on that tour. We learned a lot. You know, it's just the kind of thing that we like to do. Again, this trip was very oriented towards couples, you know, as I apologize, or people like looking for family, you know, kids, things to do because we were very focused on things that we love to do.
[00:28:56.390] - Kim Tate
Well, that still sounds awesome. Sounds like a gorgeous splurge. And I'm sure there's plenty of people listening that don't have kids are looking for an anniversary trip or, you know, some kind of luxury luxury time. So I think it's good.
[00:29:08.840] - Tamara Gruber
Yeah.
[00:29:09.800] - Tamara Gruber
And then our last night, we walked down to Ammoudi bay and we watched other sunset catamarans go out and man, those things were packed. Those were crowded.
[00:29:17.900] - Tamara Gruber
And then we had dinner down there at a Ammoudi Fish Tavern, which was it was just a great you know, it's very touristy feeling, but it's just it was like such fresh fish. The guy was like, no, no, come over to that, because I was asking, like, what is this type of fish like? And he's like, come look. And I'm like looking at it is not going to help me know how it tastes like, you know, he kept trying to like, you know, like, look at this one and we'll cut it this way.
[00:29:44.810] - Tamara Gruber
He'll do this. But, you know, it's very fresh.
[00:29:47.390] - Tamara Gruber
So, you know, that was that was a lot of fun. And I didn't mention. But if you follow on Instagram, you've probably seen.
[00:29:52.730] - Tamara Gruber
But we did a Flytographer photography shoot that morning before we did the wine tour. So that was a lot of fun to
[00:30:00.770] - Kim Tate
those turned out so well. And I'm happy with the dress you chose. It looked perfect.
[00:30:05.240] - Tamara Gruber
Thank you. And thank you. Yes. For your advice. I was going back and forth, but I'm like, you know, I just feel comfortable in this one. And I think, like, you know, Glennn is a pink shirt. It'll kind of go together and yeah, we worked with Nikola and he did a fantastic job. And he did so many different, like locations. We're like really fast, which is good because, like, I didn't think about poor Glenn because it was a lot of like edges. Edges.
[00:30:33.540] - Tamara Gruber
Yeah, exactly. I did at one point he was just like, I need a break. I, I'm sitting this one out, take some pictures of her on her own. But, you know, we had fun. It was it was really nice. So it's just something that it's just such a good memory. Like I know I will look back at those photos and like always smile, you know, I was they'll bring back such happiness.
[00:30:56.520] - Tamara Gruber
It's nice to have photos of the two of us because frankly, I don't know. We have some from our wedding, like, yeah, I have a lot of that.
[00:31:03.210] - Kim Tate
So he did a great job also of posing you guys. I mean, they were definitely nice anniversary shots. And I think that was part of it is some of the looks and the poses were great. So it wasn't just being in a beautiful area. I mean, they really were engaging of the two of you and good, good representative representation of your relationship.
[00:31:22.210] - Tamara Gruber
So, yeah, no, I agree.
[00:31:23.970] - Tamara Gruber
It was it was really it was very nice. And so I'm happy to do that and tip for anyone that wants to do something like that for a future trip. What I do for photographer is every Black Friday they have a sale and I buy a gift certificate like gift card for that sale and then I'll just use it whenever I book for a trip. So little money saving tip there.
[00:31:47.270] - Kim Tate
If it's that smart, is it? So it's like a gift card or whatever. And then you can. Yeah.
[00:31:51.840] - Tamara Gruber
And then I get a code or whatever you apply.
[00:31:53.670] - Tamara Gruber
Yeah. Yeah.
[00:31:55.320] - Tamara Gruber
So and that one I had a credit from, we had booked for Paris and twenty twenty that we didn't do and so I wanted to use it. I didn't know how long they were going to keep that credit valid and I didn't know when our next family trip would be. So my kids do this so.
[00:32:09.600] - Tamara Gruber
Yeah but so that kind of wraps up Santorini. And then the next day we were taking a ferry over to Naxos, which is one of the largest of the Cyclades Islands. And it's you know, but it's quieter and it is a lot less expensive. I know that our friend Eric from Travel Babo has gone there a lot with his family. And, you know, so I decided to do that as our second island.
[00:32:32.860] - Tamara Gruber
It would have been nice if we had a little more time to maybe squeeze in one other island. But, you know, that one was good. We did five nights. I think a lot of people will do like Santorini. Well, maybe they'll do Mykonos, but Mykonos is very much like a young party island. I'm like, yeah, I'm too old for that. And it's super expensive. Or they'll do Crete, but Crete is huge. And so you could do like your whole vacation.
[00:32:54.150] - Tamara Gruber
Yeah. Just on Crete. Yeah. So yeah, this felt like a good mix for us to have like one more of the famous ones and one of the slightly less visited ones. So we took the ferry and I'll just like a few words about taking the ferries in Greece just because it was new to me. And now I know. And if I had known what to expect, I may not have been so stressed out.
[00:33:12.420] - Tamara Gruber
But we got to the very port early. But it's just open. There's no like docks that have names of where to go. So we went into like the siege at office, which was the ferry that I had booked.
[00:33:24.000] - Tamara Gruber
We had filled out our forms and also done our mobile boarding passes. We had all that like on our phones, but we weren't quite sure where to go when we got there. So I went to the office. They're like, oh, just go to like this building like Terminal four. So, OK, so we go in there and we're sitting there and I hear different people talking around me and they're like, oh, we're going to make a noise, we're going to Athens.
[00:33:43.740] - Tamara Gruber
So I'm like, OK, so there's multiple boats. So we have to like, really listen for like when our boat is coming right. And the time is getting closer and closer and closer and the place is really filling up and everyone's talking and it's just like loud and you can't hear a thing. And then I hear some guy like all the way at the end of the hall, like coming in and shouting like anyone going to want, you know, and you're like, what was that?
[00:34:06.870] - Tamara Gruber
So there's like nothing on the loudspeaker to like. No. You know, which boat are they announcing? Should I go out? Do I not go out like what's going on? And then finally I hear them say, like Paros and I hear them say things.
[00:34:20.280] - Tamara Gruber
And so I'm like, oh, OK, that's not us. That's not us. And then finally, it seems like everyone is just walking and going. So I'm like, we should just go. Like, I was going, yeah. So as we get out there, the boat is coming in and I realize it's a huge boat. This boat is going to all those islands. It's not like there's one boat to meagerness, one boat to Paris, one boat to Athens.
[00:34:43.320] - Tamara Gruber
So I'm like, oh, OK, I get it now. But so you're in this giant, like heard and then they are running a few minutes late, which they often are. And so like the boat is not even like docked yet and you know, the gangplank is down, people are ready to walk off and they're like hurting us. They're like, go, go, go, go, go down. You, you know? And I'm like, you know, I have my you know, we have our luggage.
[00:35:07.230] - Tamara Gruber
Of course, I have my phone out to show, like the boarding pass. And I think I'm have to show like my health form and my boarding pass and like all this stuff. And the people are streaming off the boat and and, you know, we're like streaming on at the same time and the people are in the back almost with, like, cattle prods, like, go, go, go. And I hear the captain go in like, we got to go.
[00:35:26.710] - Tamara Gruber
We got to leave. We got to leave my. Oh, my God. Like, what are they going to do, like leave people, you know, we're barely on the boat. And the thing is coming up and they're pulling away and we're it's just like you're in the hold of the boat with, like, the cars. And there's like these racks where you can put your luggage and some of them are labeled with certain islands. But, you know, people are just throwing their luggage up on racks and like you're running out of space.
[00:35:51.910] - Tamara Gruber
So Glenn's like putting it up on the top thing. And then there's this huge, like line to get up the stairs, you know, but it's like very bouncy at this point. So you're, like trying to keep your balance, but there's like a catch point because that's where you then have to show, like, your boarding pass. They never checked the health forms, you know, and then we get up there and then finally they're like, OK, these are your seats.
[00:36:11.650] - Tamara Gruber
And we sit down.
[00:36:12.160] - Tamara Gruber
We're like, oh, OK.
[00:36:14.200] - Kim Tate
Like, that was very stressful. How long ago, right? Was it?
[00:36:17.560] - Tamara Gruber
It was. I think I was like about an hour and a half to go from Santorini to Naxos.
[00:36:22.900] - Kim Tate
What do they do with the people who don't have their boarding?
[00:36:25.120] - Tamara Gruber
I know. Exactly. And they start from like they stopped at another island like Ios, I think first, you know, and so I don't know. I don't know. Do they like I have no idea what you put your kind of don't want to put your bag in first either because like how do you get your bag out then these racks of everybody and throwing their bags on top. And I believe that they wait there for a while. They'll let you get your bag.
[00:36:50.590] - Tamara Gruber
so then we're sitting there and you hear and it's, you know, how things are. At least they had a loudspeaker on the on the ferry. And the ferry is very much like, do you actually hear it, though? It's probably like what you're used to with your ferries where, you know, you have assigned seating. It's more like airplane seating, like, you know, like you have seats.
[00:37:07.330] - Kim Tate
We don't run out here in Seattle. It's open seating.
[00:37:10.790] - Tamara Gruber
So, yeah. So we had assigned seating and I was like, there's a concession bar. So it's more like, you know, it's, it's a big, you know, it's a big boat.
[00:37:17.410] - Tamara Gruber
There's multiple tiers.
[00:37:18.790] - Tamara Gruber
So there is a loudspeaker, there's like TVs playing but they're in Greek. I don't know what's going on in them. And they're making the announcement first in Greek, but then in English. But I tell them, you you cannot understand it. It's just Charlie Brown. Yeah. And so we're just like, what?
[00:37:33.010] - Tamara Gruber
You know, what was that?
[00:37:34.000] - Tamara Gruber
What was that? And like, luckily we had seen as the boat was coming in, there was like one of those leg things where it was like Ios, Naxos, Paros, and it gave like the order. It seems like we're going to be the second one. Just remember where the second one, you know, but they're like, oh my, please report to whatever.
[00:37:50.770] - Tamara Gruber
So basically, like before you get to your island, they're calling you to go down to the hold and that's where you grab your luggage. Yeah. So then we grab our bag.
[00:37:59.920] - Tamara Gruber
But even then, like, it got stuck on, like there was like a net up there and like the wheel was stuck and we're like, oh, I got to get it out, you know. And then we're, you know, standing there and again, like it's like the thing is barely coming down. Stop, drop and roll.
[00:38:12.280] - Tamara Gruber
Yeah, like, go, go, go, go.
[00:38:15.040] - Tamara Gruber
And then the cars are coming off and they're like, get out of the way. And I'm like, oh my God. Like, what am I supposed to do? This is crazy. But one thing I will say is when you arrive at an island by ferry or by plane, it's really helpful if you have your transportation already arranged because there are not a ton of taxis on these islands. So we saw people like waiting a really long time for a taxi.
[00:38:37.510] - Tamara Gruber
So I had used I read about it online somewhere, but it's called Welcome Pickup's. It's like a little bit like an Uber, but you arrange it ahead of time and it worked seamlessly. They weren't on Naxos, but it worked in Athens and it worked in Santorini, you know, where we walked out of the plane in Santorini. And there's a guy holding a sign, you know, Gruber, and we get right in and go. And that's how it was when we arrived in Naxos.
[00:39:00.730] - Tamara Gruber
Although I didn't use that service, it was like through the hotel. But it was just so nice to be like, oh, here's a guy. You know, we do that we like just super long line to try to find a taxi. And, you know, so that was really great. I would definitely recommend using the welcome pick ups because the hotel in Santorini was going to arrange something. I think they were going to charge us maybe like seventy five euro.
[00:39:21.580] - Tamara Gruber
And then I booked through this and it was like less than 50 euro. So I'm sure it's even cheaper if you got a taxi. Sometimes it's like you're already spending that much money. It's like, do you really need to save twenty five bucks or whatever?
[00:39:38.170] - Tamara Gruber
Then that's how a lot of like when we were in Naxos, we the main town is called Naxos Town or Chora, I guess like what I've learned is that on the islands there's one town and all the others are villages, you know, so you have to like get to a certain size. And then all the main town is called like or something like that. And but it's also just called Naxos.
[00:39:56.620] - Tamara Gruber
So so we were about fifteen minutes south of there, like on a beach called Agios Prokopios. I always like switch the key in the P and so you could take a bus like back and forth. But we were like, yeah, I'll just take a taxi. But, you know, like, it's it is a little bit more so I can see why people would like to stay in town, but I really loved our location. So we stayed at a place called the Virtu Suites.
[00:40:30.980] - Tamara Gruber
Maybe they have a dozen rooms or so. They have different ones. We didn't we didn't go with the top of the line there. I just looked like a Seaview suite. So it was just like basically you walked out of our room and the pool was right there. But I love this hotel again. It was really new. Like they opened, I think late 2019.
[00:40:51.880] - Tamara Gruber
So then they were closed most of last year.
[00:40:55.090] - Tamara Gruber
And so there, you know, they are back and they were like, please leave us a review. Or if you like, we need, you know, we need to get the word out and like don't you worry. Yeah. I'm going to like let them know. So we, I loved it. Like everything was all these natural materials. It was like rope and wood. And, you know, it's just like a very, very nice style, very comfortable style.
[00:41:16.990] - Tamara Gruber
The service was wonderful. It wasn't I don't even know if all the rooms were filled. Definitely not when we got there, because we got there on a Monday, I felt like at first. We might have been like one of the only ones in the place. The room was pretty large, you know, it was just it was just so nice like you.
[00:41:32.230] - Tamara Gruber
We walked out of our room, you know, two steps.
[00:41:34.930] - Tamara Gruber
There is the pool, you know, ten steps. We're at the restaurant, which is like open area, restaurant, bar facing the street. And then you go across the street and there's the beach and the beach is gorgeous.
[00:41:46.840] - Tamara Gruber
And they have you know, they have loungers with umbrellas. And all you have to do is a hotel guest just have them reserve it. They give you a form the night before and the reserve you loungers down in the front. And then if those don't fill up, then like people can come and pay to stay at the other ones, you know, and they can bring you drinks and food and stuff. And so it was the and the beach was beautiful.
[00:42:09.850] - Tamara Gruber
The water was like fairly calm, whereas up by town, like there were a lot more waves. It was rougher. Like that's where people like surf and windsurf.
[00:42:17.260] - Tamara Gruber
So I thought it was great even for families, you know, like it. And it was it was fun because someone had said like, oh the yeah, the because the beaches in Santorini are like rock.
[00:42:28.990] - Tamara Gruber
So they're like, oh no. Naxos has really good beaches there. It's like silk. And I'm like, OK, they haven't seen, you know, some beaches because that was not like Florida. Well, it was it was not rock. It was more like, you know, what I'd have here in the in the Northeast, like, you know, coarse sand and then, you know, maybe some rock, like as you are getting into the water.
[00:42:51.400] - Tamara Gruber
And then it kind of drops off fairly quickly. And then it's super, super soft, like there is no seaweed, no shells.
[00:42:57.130] - Tamara Gruber
Like it was just really beautiful.
[00:42:59.470] - Tamara Gruber
You could go out, you know, and just kind of float or swim. And you had a pretty good current. Glenn tried to swim a little bit and it was it was tough.
[00:43:06.700] - Tamara Gruber
But, you know, you can just float and just like, you know, enjoy and relax. And the water was clear and, you know, a couple of fish swimming around. It was just it was really, really beautiful. Like, I was like, why am I in the Caribbean like this water? It was so turquoise. It was really beautiful and quiet. there were families. They would play like beach games and, you know, kids around. But it was it did not feel super crowded at all, like especially if you were out there in the morning. I think I posted some pictures and you can see there was like no one in the water. It was just it was beautiful, really, really beautiful. So I loved where we stayed.
[00:43:40.720] - Tamara Gruber
The town right where we were staying was smaller. So it was basically like a couple of beach shops with like beach bags and bathing suits and stuff like that.
[00:43:50.200] - Tamara Gruber
Maybe one boutique shop where I actually bought something and a few restaurants, you know, there were there were a few like attached to hotels. There were a few like right on that beachfront road and then a couple of others, but like very, you know, authentic and good food.
[00:44:07.000] - Tamara Gruber
You know, like we had our two dinners that we did. There were forty euro total and we had an appetizer to like giant entrees that we couldn't finish, I think. Well, the one place they brought us a free dessert, two drinks, like I was like forty euro versus Santorini. So it was it was really very affordable there. Even the hotel restaurant, which was really good, was not overpriced, you know, for anything. A hotel restaurant is always going to be a bit more.
[00:44:35.380] - Tamara Gruber
So we loved it there. I would definitely recommend looking at staying there. Like I said, it was very comfortable, great service.
[00:44:42.520] - Tamara Gruber
And, you know, the distance from town was a little bit of a challenge, like we did take a taxi back and forth a few times. But it depends like if you're planning on renting a car or if you're going to, you know, just spend time on the beach, like you don't necessarily need to be going back and forth every day. Yes, I really enjoyed it. And then our first sounds nice.
[00:45:03.010] - Kim Tate
You know, first full day there, I had arranged for us to charter a private sailing on a sailboat. It was something that we had done. When we were in Italy one time and it was like one of my best travel days ever, so like, I really want to do this and we just didn't want to do like we wanted. I felt like we're in the islands, like, how do you not get out on the water and see it from the water?
[00:45:25.360] - Kim Tate
And like that felt like part of the experience. But I didn't want to do like a big group thing. Like, it just wasn't comfortable with that.
[00:45:31.900] - Tamara Gruber
So, yes, I had booked it through Naxos Sailing and the guy, the Captain George was like he was such a character, so funny.
[00:45:40.960] - Tamara Gruber
So I don't know, like, sarcastic, like just he was great. But he also like, you know, he really took care of us and he had like another guy that was kind of like apprenticing for him, helping out too. But we went out for the whole day and we went first to it. So basically, like from Naxos, you can see the island of Paros. So we went over to Paros and then there's some small, like a smaller island off of Paros called Antiparos And so there was an area there where we were snorkeling or is like definitely popular. You could see like a number of boats coming out to do snorkeling there. There are a couple like yachts sitting there. It was a little bit rough. It reminded me a little bit of when you and I were in Key Largo and we went, oh, yeah, yeah. So not as seasick, but like, remember when we got in there and we're like, really bobbing around like the water bobbing like this.
[00:46:37.390]
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