Halfway into our seventh or eighth consecutive Greek Salad, John confessed that he wasn’t actually much of a fan of tomato. Or cucumber. Or green capsicum and onion, for that matter.
I pointed out that this didn’t leave much besides feta, a sprinkling of oregano and the occasional olive to lessen the culinary torture I was unknowingly inflicting on him at every meal.
The strange thing, he said, was that despite not particularly enjoying some of the ingredients, it somehow all came together and worked.
A bit like our experience of Greece, as it turns out.
We arrived in the capital, Athens, to a taxi strike lingering into its twentieth day, a migraine for hotel concierges everywhere, judging by the pained look on the face of ours when we asked how we might get to the airport for our first Greek island hopping adventure, an 8am flight to Crete in two days’ time.
The first train wasn’t until 6am, it was an hour at least to the airport, and we were staying in a lovely hotel in a particularly unlovely part of the city (‘markedly seedy’, according to Lonely Planet).
There was nothing he could do, and so the morning of our flight saw us beating a very hasty path through pitch dark streets to the train station. We made it unscathed, and laughed nervously at our paranoia.
We could only imagine the mayhem the strike was causing though; it was summer, and thousands upon thousands of tourists were descending on Athens for its cultural glories and as a launching pad for Greek island hopping escapes.
Perhaps our most profound moment as part of the summer tourist phenomenon came after spending the morning winding our way around the epic Parthenon, only to find we couldn’t actually get off the Acropolis.
Granted, this is one of the world’s most well-known World Heritage sites, but still. Getting out turned out to be a Herculean effort that took several hours and had us, and most of the people around us, in hysterics at the sheer crush of humanity jamming the single, ancient entryway.
We’ve seen the sights….now how do we get out?
Once we did manage to get off the mountain, we were rewarded with some of the city’s other awe-inspiring vestiges of ancient Greece around the base of the Acropolis, like the impressive Theatre of Dionysus, and the majestic Temple of Hephaestus in the Ancient Agora.
Check out the highlights off the Acropolis.
A couple of days later, on the Greek island of Crete, we encountered a local version of Acropolis-mania at the ancient Palace of Knossos.
In my mind, Knossos had long conjured images of a romantic ruined castle outpost whispering of mighty Minotaurs and great battles.
That notion was dashed as we pushed through a welcome party of striking taxi drivers waving petitions at us into a seething mass of milling groups and tour leaders maniacally waving numbered paddles above their heads.
Evade the barbarian tourist hordes and find a quiet corner at Knossos.
Slightly crazed, we escaped an hour later with a sigh of relief as we took to the winding roads out of Heraklion, bound for what would rapidly become one of our favourite places, the charming seaside town of Chania.
There, we spent a couple of gorgeous, sun-drenched days wandering the quaint streets, relaxing on the beach, and eating Cretan Salad (a local take on Greek Salad, to John’s delight) with mouth-watering Myzithra cheese, delicious local sausages and fresh, grilled squid.
Heavenly Chania…
After that, it was back to Heraklion and on to a ferry to our next island hopping port, that most spectacular and renowned of the Greek islands, Santorini.
As dramatic goes, Santorini (or Thira as it’s officially known) has it covered.
Site of perhaps the biggest volcanic blast in recorded history, you can’t help but gape at the soaring cliffs that ring the shimmering blue caldera, the icing of white villages that hug the cliff edges, and the dark, bleak lump of young island Kea Nameni, a stark reminder that the Earth still grumbles beneath the waves here.
Santorini….dazzling by day and by night.
Then there are the sunsets. Which, just for the record, are spectacular from many places on the western side of the island.
‘Watch sunset from Oia’ is touted as a mandatory ‘must do’ for any visitor to Santorini, and so we dutifully joined the crowds boarding the bus from Fira on our first afternoon and raced along the pretty alleyways to the sunset end of town, then scrambled over walls and staircases to find a precious perch from which to watch the spectacle.
Finally, with an hour to go, bums numbing on a precarious strip of wall above a giant cactus plant, and surrounded by hundreds of people crammed into every available nook and cranny…we saw the moment for what it was. And left.
Instead, we watched the sun dip towards the horizon from the courtyard of a charming church near our hotel back in Imerovigli, with just a handful of others. It was sublime.
After four days of blissful very little, we farewelled spectacular Thira for our last Greek island hopping destination, the rugged and windy island of Naxos.
There, we we wandered the narrow, low-ceilinged alleyways of old Naxos town, and gorged on scrumptious spit-roasted pork under a canopy of vines while sipping local firewater Kitron in the delightful village of Halki.
Crispy spit-roast under the vines? Don’t mind if we do!
We also enjoyed another dramatic sunset, this time as backdrop to the majestic marble Portara, all that remains of Naxos’s ancient Temple of Apollo.
Then, just like that, our time in Greece was up. It was an intense introduction to Athens and Greek island hopping, with its fair share of both challenges and ‘wow’ moments. We’ll definitely return, but next time, we’ll avoid the peak season and we’ll opt for some more off-the-beaten track islands to visit.
On our last night back in Athens, we debated what to have for our final meal in the country. Of course, it was only right to finish our visit as we started it. With a Greek Salad.
Good to know
Getting there and around: Athens is the capital of Greece and the international gateway to the Greek islands. Ferries are the main means of island hopping in Greece, but you can also fly to direct to many Greek islands, including Crete and Santorini.
Visiting ancient sites: Crowds are inevitable at the Acropolis and most major ancient sites, especially in summer; head there either first thing or later in the afternoon after the large groups have moved on (check opening and closing times). You’ll also avoid the worst of the summer heat. When you need respite, head to the Ancient Agora at the base of the Acropolis, it’s an interesting site and the museum there is (relatively) uncrowded.
How long on each island: So many islands, so little time! It was tough to pick just three islands for our first visit to Greece. We spent two nights in Athens, four nights on Crete, four nights on Santorini and two nights on Naxos. We loved each place but with hindsight, we would suggest fewer islands and more time on each. Crete is a big island and offers a diversity of experiences, it deserves at least a week on its own.
Check out some of our other European adventures here.
This post was rechecked and updated in July, 2017.