Currency: Euro (1 Euro=$1.5 USD)

Places Visited: Athens, Santorini, Naxos, Meteora, Kalambaka, Kastraki, Thessaloniki (Kardia)

If you want a seat, don’t book a train ticket 10 minutes before departure and arrive early to claim a seat.

A bit of knowledge of the Greek alphabet goes a long way.

Instead of celebrating birthdays, Greek people celebrate “name day”.  Each day of the year has a designated name or two so when it is that person’s name day, their family and friends celebrate it much like a birthday.

Greeks eat late.

Don’t miss Athens at night, especially Psiri Street which offers sidewalk cafes lit with string lights.

Admission into different sites in Athens is free on the first Sunday of every month (excluding the summer months).

It is best to purchase the special 12 Euro ticket which gives you access to 7 different sites in Athens for 3 days because it includes the Acropolis which is already almost 12 Euros by itself.

Museums, tourist information offices, ruins and pretty much everything else closes at 3 p.m. everyday.

Besides pleasant weather, May is a great time to visit Greece and the islands because it’s low season which means discount rates and good deals.

If taking the train from Athens to Kalambaka, go during the day so that you have a chance to view the scenery out the train windows.

Deenaree´s list…

• Food: Tzatziki
• Experience: I loved our visit to the Greek Isles.
• Something to remember: Yummy food!

Ben´s list…

• Food: Skepasti, just like pizza only better!!
• Experience: Driving an ATV around the Greek Isles
• Something to remember: The Greek public sector never works!  Don’t try to find a tourist information office in any Greek city because they will probably be closed!

Bits and Pieces

First things first, check out the markets.  In Athens, markets will move from neighborhood to neighborhood on their designated day of the week.  You will see everything from fish to cheese to olives.  Don’t miss this!

When we were on the islands, we saw many places advertising Ouzo and octopus.  We are seafood lovers so we made sure we ordered some when we had a chance.  Ouza, on the other hand, not our favorite because we don’t go for the black licorice flavor.

Forget McDonald’s, Goody’s is the Greek version and it offers the usual hamburger, but it also offers other things like pasta.  If you get fries, you’ll get a fork to eat them with.

The Cold Stuff

Coffee Culture – We noticed cafes everywhere in Athens and it took a bit of time for us to understand the differences between the cold coffee options.  Whether we ordered a whipped and foamy freddo or frappe, were able to ward off the heat and blend in with locals by sipping one of these cool drinks.

Greek Salad – The ingredients can differ from place to place, but the typical salad usually contains olives, feta cheese, onions (red, white, or spring), green peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, and olive oil.   Forget the lettuce.

Tzatziki Salad – My absolute FAVORITE!  Tzatziki is a very refreshing cucumber and garlic salad that can be eaten with pita bread.  Like hummus in the Middle East, there isn’t a single restaurant that makes their tzatziki the same way. (Pictured with the fries and the cheese below)

Feta Cheese – Found in everything, but can be ordered as an appetizer in which a slab of cheese is covered with olive oil.

The Hot Stuff

Gyros - This is a pita wrapped around meat, veggies, sauce, and fries.  You can order these with different types of meat and the sauces differ depending on the meat.  My favorite sauce was the tzatziki.

Skepasti – This dish resembles a Tex-Mex quesadilla, but instead of flour tortillas, pita bread is used.  Sandwiched between the pitas are ingredients such as meat, cheese, and some vegetables.  Another way to describe this dish is to picture two medium pizzas put together to create a pizza sandwich, crusts facing out.  It’s a bit greasy, but delicious none the less.  This is Ben’s favorite dish.  Unfortunately, not much on the internet about it.

Moussaka – This dish is kind of like a Mediterranean style lasagna.  It contains layers of potato, egg, eggplant, and ground meat.  Slather it with a healthy amount of olive oil and enjoy.

Meteora is a collection of monasteries in central Greece that were built on top of massive rocks more than 500 years ago.  At one time there were more than twenty, but today only seven remain in operation.   The nearest town of Kastraki provides a wonderfully quiet base to explore the area and we set up shop there for a few days to check out the rocks and the monasteries.

As soon as we arrived in Kastraki, we were already fascinated.   Massive, brownish rocks were jutting out of the ground like the humps of giant camels, buried under the worst of Saharan Desert sandstorms.   For some reason, the fact that they were capped with a thin layer of impossibly green grass on the flat tops made them even more alluring.   As dusk approached, the rocks seemed to take on an otherworldly presence, as the earthy color of the rock started to disappear into darkness, it was hard not to think we had accidentally walked onto the enormously expensive set of Jurassic Park.  We were convinced that the rocks themselves would be the attraction of the area, possibly more than the monasteries we came to visit.

The day after we arrived, we were sure to visit the biggest of the monasteries in the area to see if they could possibly live up to the beauty of the rocks which they sat on.  We caught a bus up the hill to the entrance behind the rocks, unsure what to expect from the religious sites.   Our first glimpse of the monastery from the entrance was quite impressive.   The monastery was looming large, well over our heads and perched above a valley situated below where we were standing.   The entrance to the place was not apparent at first, until we walked to the edge and realized we had to head down the hill to get to the entryway and then a long walk back up a narrow rock carved stairway.

Once there, the actual monastery was not much different than the others we have visited.   The views of Kastraki below us were amazing and the interesting history of the Meteora monasteries included fighting off Nazi troops in the area during World War II.  Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the monastery that we learned is that our narrow rock carved stairway was not always there.   For the first part of its history, all transportation, including supplies and people, to the monastery was completed by a basket on a pulley.  Anyone who wished to enter just hopped into the basket and waited to be hauled up!

As our time at Meteora came to a close, we could not have been more satisfied with our decision.  We never felt the ruins we had missed calling our names and cannot be sure why the Greeks never stumbled upon the rocks of Meteora in ancient times.  The very best places we visit seem to be composed of breathtaking natural beauty with a healthy serving of cultural heritage.   Meteora was certainly no exception.

When we arrived to Santorini, we utilized the tips our Athens hosts gave us by finding a room for rent as they are much cheaper than pensions/hotels.  We uncharacteristically took the first place offered to us from a man named Lefteris, who the place was subsequently named after.  It was a great deal and located away from the touristy center of Fira in a quiet neighborhood with various alleyways.  We were quite pleased with the rental, as it was spacious and resembled a one room apartment with a full kitchen at our disposal and a patio in front that allowed for views of the Mediterranean.  We took advantage of our kitchen by cooking meals every chance we got and eating these meals on the patio.  Patio meals were always interesting and a bit amusing (more for Deenaree than for me) because the young Greek men living in the house next door seemed to have lost their clothes, apart from their briefs, and had no problem running around like this.  There’s nothing like a bowl of cereal, half-naked Greek men, and a Santorini sunrise to start your day.

Apart from accommodation, our other order of business was to secure a mode of transport that would allow us to explore the whole island.  We were initially set on renting a moped, but were denied after the rental guy found out we had no motorcycle experience.  He showed us to an orange ATV instead and quoted us a higher price than the moped.  At first, we thought this was a bit of a typical tout ploy to get us to take the more expensive option.  After he insisted and offered the ATV for the moped rate, we agreed and finished the paperwork, eager at the chance of seeing the rest of the island.

The ATV turned out to be the perfect alternative to the moped.  Although it was quite slow, the island was small enough to be easily accessible.  We also saved time on parking because it fit just about everywhere.  Thanks to our new four-wheeled friend, we were able to see the lighthouse on the southern tip, take a detour to a winery for some wine-tasting, drive on different routes to get to the famous cliff-side village of Oia, and park at the beach to take advantage of the free umbrellas and chairs.  We were even able to discover a few beaches that were completely empty and more natural compared to the more popular ones.

After Santorini, we made a short stop on the island of Naxos.  Much bigger and harder to get around, we decided to try and find another shop with cheap ATV for rental for a day or two.  With ATV in our possession and sun making its way way down, we were able to quickly drive up a nearby mountain for a spectacular view of the sunset over Naxos.  The next day, we took our ATV down bumpy back roads for a short tour of the beaches on Naxos.  All are beautiful and we were able to find a long stretch of white sand that was completely deserted except for us.

In the end, our experiences on the Greek Isles met all of our grandest expectations (except maybe a few more degrees of warmth so we could swim!) and we were even able to stay within our meager budget during our time there.  We loved our low budget apartment and putt-putting along on our little road warrior, even if we were annoying the cars to all ends.  Of course, we would not have been opposed to living it up, or even catching a glimpse of the good life a week later when Brangelina stopped by, but we will certainly take what we can get.  It’s hard to complain when you are in paradise.