The Wanderer's Agenda

After 3 years of silence on The Wanderer’s Agenda, I’m back to tell you all about our incredible trip to Greece. Greece has been on my bucket list since the early 2000s, when The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants convinced me that Greece was the most romantic place on Earth… and boy did that prove to be true. We’re grateful to our friends and family who gifted us with the opportunity to visit this breathtaking destination, and feel incredibly lucky that this was our first big international vacation together since pre-pandemic. This blog is dedicated to YOU, thank you!

After a long layover in London, we finally landed in Athens at 2:00am. We then took a 40 minute taxi ride to the Electra Metropolis Athens hotel. Although we were exhausted, we made sure to wake up before the free breakfast ended at 10:00am. The main reason we chose this hotel was because breakfast was provided for free on the rooftop overlooking the Acropolis. Jet lag was not going to get in the way of my free cappuccino with this incredible view!

After we filled our bellies with a delicious breakfast spread, we decided to re-energize by the rooftop pool until we were ready to explore the city. We only had one full day in Athens and wanted to enjoy what we could. Our hotel was located in the heart of Athens and allowed us to walk to the Hellenic Parliament building. We arrived right on time to witness the changing of the Greek guards.

Around the corner from the Parliament building was the Athens National Garden which is a 38 acre park with beautiful greenery. After our stroll through the garden, we discovered the Museum of Cycladic Art that provided a great introduction to Greek history and Cycladic art and culture. The museum also has a cute cafe inside where you can order coffee, tea, snacks and meals.

We then met up with our tour guide for our 4:30pm tour of the Acropolis. I found the tour through Airbnb experiences and had read that it was worth visiting with a tour guide who could provide more historical context. Our guide was fantastic, and provided such incredible insight given her archaeology background. It was also worth visiting the site for the sunset hour (like we did) because there is absolutely no shade. Perfect tour, perfect time, perfect experience!

We ended the night at Point A restaurant which is located on the rooftop of the Herodion Hotel and has an incredible view of the Acropolis. We ate the most delicious Greek salad I’ve ever had in my LIFE! We also tried sea urchin for the first time and loved it. Overall, eating at Point A was the best ending to our short time in Athens.

Next stop on the itinerary was the island of Santorini, where we planned to stay for 3 days. Our flight took less than an hour between Athens International Airport and Santorini Airport. We arrived earlier than our check-in time, but our hotel allowed us to leave our bags at the lobby while we sat by the pool and ate lunch. We stayed at the Elea Resort located in Oia and walking distance to the famous blue domes, the caldera and the Ammoudi Bay.

After exploring the resort amenities, we took a cab to St. Gerasimos Square in Firostefani to meet with our tour guide. We had scheduled another Airbnb experience, but this time it was a 4-hour long Food and Walking tour! Our guide was a young, local woman who built relationships with local restaurants and had a passion for sharing her island’s best spots.

We started the tour with traditional Greek coffee at To Briki, which was created by two brothers who decided to reface the traditional house where they grew up and create a cafe/restaurant. We then tried some local Greek snacks and drinks at Volkan on the Rocks, a local winery and brewery. My favorites were the fava beans (similar to hummus) and the Volkan Santorini White beer. We stopped by a street vendor for some chicken souvlaki before making our way to Ouzeri for more traditional snacks like tomatokeftedes and mousakas. The tour wrapped up with a gorgeous view of the Santorini sunset and loukoumades with ice cream!

Day 2 in Santorini started off with free breakfast at our resort, of course. The incredible breakfast at Elea Resort was delivered straight to our patio every morning. We had to eat it as soon as it arrived or the baby kittens hanging around the resort would get to it first. We then decided to walk to the caldera to explore the picturesque neighborhood of Oia.

Next, we attempted to hike from Oia to Fira which I read would take 3 to 5 hours. Wrong! At least for us, it was taking forever… maybe because we kept stopping to take photos or because it was hot and we weren’t in the best shape. About halfway through the hike we ran out of water and decided to go to the nearest resort and call a cab to take us the rest of the way. We had lunch reservations at Barolo Restaurant before meeting up with our scheduled wine tour. The view from Barolo was amazing – we felt like we were on the edge of the cliff overlooking the ocean. The food was delicious but pretty expensive. We ordered the seafood platter to share and a couple refreshing drinks to cool us off after our unsuccessful hike. Next time, we’d likely just stop for a drink and an appetizer.

At 3:30pm we met up with our tour guide who was a sommelier and would take us to three different wineries across Santorini. We booked the tour through Get Your Guide and were not disappointed. We were picked up in a Mercedes mini bus with four other couples from across the United States. We mostly tasted white and dessert wines and would have small food pairings at each stop. We visited Anhydrous Cellar Door, Artemis Karamolegos, and Venetsanos Winery. The tour ended with an incredible sunset view at the final winery stop.

After the sun set, we made our way back to Oia and ate at Niko’s Place for late night souvlaki and kabobs. It was delicious and very affordable! We then met up with my co-worker Belen, who was coincidentally in Greece a the same time. We grabbed a drink together at Marykay’s bar which was a cute little spot in the middle of Oia.

The next morning we spent time at the Elea Resort before we got picked up for our final tour: an all-inclusive luxury catamaran small group cruise! The 5-hour tour had the most beautiful views of Santorini, stopped at two swimming stops and provided unlimited drinks and a delicious Greek barbecue meal. The catamaran dropped us off at the Ammoudi Bay which would have been a fantastic place to have dinner, but we had already made reservations at a cute spot in Oia. This tour was definitely one of the highlights of our trip, but Daniel would recommend taking dramamine before the boat ride.

We ended the night at Oia Vineyart which was a modern, romantic restaurant off the beaten path in Oia. Reservations are a must at this restaurant, and it’s well worth it! The food we had was some of the best in all of Greece. We ordered the “textures” appetizer which was four different textures of tomato. We then ordered the “fish” as our main course and wow! The baklava was a perfect ending to an incredible meal and an even more incredible visit to Santorini.

We said goodbye to Elea Resort and took a cab to the ferry station; we had pre-ordered ferry tickets from Santorini to Naxos. The ferry ride is just above an hour between these two islands. Our hotel in Naxos, the 18 Grapes Hotel, coordinated transportation to pick us up at the ferry station and take us to check-in. We ate lunch at the hotel and were surprised by the concierge who gave us a greeting card and romantic dessert in honor of our honeymoon!

Since our hotel was not in the center of Naxos, we took a quick 10 minute bus ride to the city center to walk around and explore. We visited the Temple of Apollo just in time for the sunset which was breathtaking. The Temple of Apollo is a giant marble gate that is part of an unfinished temple from 530 BC. It also serves as Naxos’ main landmark since it’s one of the main things you see upon arriving by ferry or boat. We then walked around Naxos Town which was filled with shops and restaurants between winding sidewalks.

For dinner, we made reservations at Barozzi Restaurant & Cocktail Bar. I was especially excited for this meal because it was our first fine dining experience and had “farm to table” ingredients. The restaurant itself was gorgeous and the food was **chef’s kiss**. We both opted for the 5-course Aegean menu which was all seafood. Every dish was a delight to the senses!

Our next day in Naxos was probably our favorite day of the entire honeymoon. Walking distance from our hotel was a car rental place which allowed us to rent a “buggy” for the day and explore the entire island. Daniel was the driver because I was too scared to navigate the windy mountain roads (he did a great job).

I had mapped out our visit the night before using Google Maps’ route planning feature. Here’s where we visited:

1. Kouros Statue: an 8th century statue of the god Apollo or Dionysus.
2. Panagia Drosiani: a 5th century ancient monastery with amazing frescos.
3. Town of Chalkio: a beautiful village and the former capital of Naxos. There’s lots to see in this village, including a distillery, a Byzantine Church, art galleries and shops/restaurants.
4. Lunch at Rotonda: restaurant with the best view of all of Naxos – this is a MUST DO!
5. Pyrgaki Beach: we initially came here to go cliff jumping but chickened out because we were the only ones there. Instead, we enjoyed Pyrgaki Beach which was beautiful and nearly empty.
6. Deoudas Restaurant: we ended the night watching the sunset on the beach and then eating a seafood taverna near our hotel.

Check out this slideshow of our adventure below:

Naxos has a special place in our heart. It’s less touristy (read: crowded) than Santorini and has a lot of character. The island is more reasonably priced and has a lot to do, including visiting beaches, windsurfing, hiking and eating delicious food. Compared to the other Cycladic islands, Naxos’ land is more fertile allowing residents to farm and export agricultural goods to Athenian markets. Our recommendation would be to visit Naxos, definitely! Also, stay at 18 Grapes Hotel. I’m still dreaming of their all-you-can-eat breakfast options. Best I’ve EVER had.

The last stop on our honeymoon was the Athens Riviera, which essentially is the coastal area in the southern suburbs of Athens. We took a small plane from Naxos back to Athens and then rented a car to get around. We chose the Athens Riviera because our good friends Patty and Junaid were getting married, and their wedding day was the perfect way to end our honeymoon trip. We stayed at the Three Olive Trees apartment hotel because of the proximity to the wedding. The hotel was affordable, very spacious and had a nice balcony overlooking the ocean.

The next morning we met with the wedding party to join their “welcome reception” on an all-day sailboat tour! The views, food and company were just the BEST. This time, Daniel took dramamine and felt much better. The waters were crystal blue and gorgeous!

Our final day in Greece was also Patty’s wedding day. Since we weren’t expected at the ceremony site until 5:30pm, I booked us a private area at Lake Voiliagmeni which was a 23 minute drive from our hotel. Lake Voiliagmeni is considered a “thermal spa” because the lake’s brackish waters are continuously replenished both by the sea and the underground thermal springs. There’s different areas you can book at the lake, but we opted for the private area because it was only 35 euros per person and gave us the peace and serenity we needed to end the best trip of our lives. We also ordered lunch at the lake and everything we tried was surprisingly delicious.

Last but not least, we celebrated Patty and Junaid at an intimate wedding at Island Art and Taste which had the most exquisite views. We’re so grateful to have been able to join them.

Our honeymoon in Greece was a dream come true. Even better than my teenage self could have imagined. We feel so incredibly lucky to have had this opportunity and are thankful to our friends and family who made this possible. Daniel and I chose three words each to describe our trip:

Liana: captivating, serene, delicious

Daniel: peaceful, adventurous, delicious