Sunday, June 28, 2009

Brady Visits 2009

Our first guest since we've been married! Guess who? Of course, it's Brady. Technically Michele and James visited as well, but they live in Brooklyn. Michele and I went to an outdoor Dr. Dog concert in Prospect Park as part of the summer Celebrate Brooklyn! concert series, and then met up with the boys. We ended up at Brooklyn Social to celebrate the birthday of Kevin's former classmate and writer Lila. Happy birthday, Lila!

Brooklyn 2009
James W, me, Kevin, Michele, and Brady

Brooklyn 2009
Brady beating Michele with a flower.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Honeymoon in Greece Review 2009

Our honeymoon in June was basically the best trip ever. It was a good trip on its own with wonderful beach weather, beautiful sites, nice hotel rooms, and great places to relax and do nothing. Add to that the fact that it was our honeymoon, so we're permanently biased in favor of it, and I wonder if anywhere will ever live up to it. But it's a good problem to have.

We started our trip in Athens where we took in all the big sites including the Parthenon, the Erechtheum, the Ancient Agora and the Roman Agora, Theater of Dionysus, Hadrian Library, and even the ruins in the subway. Basically classical sights heaven.

Acropolis- Parthenon 2009 
Acropolis- Parthenon 2009

From Athens we went to Folegandros, a small fishing island a ferry ride from Athens. Kevin loved this place. It's definitely my favorite place, maybe ever, but I don't know how much of this was from soaking in how happy Kevin was. There was nothing to do there ("and it was everything I thought it could be." - Peter Gibbons). The people at our hotel were super nice-- I mean, the 80 people on the entire island were super nice. The weather was perfect with the breeze off the water. The seafood was so incredibly fresh. The Greek food was the most delicious I have ever had. We spent the mornings on the different little beaches near the harbor and hotel in the village of Karavostassis. In the evenings, we had dinner just uphill in the village of Chora.


Folegandros, Greece 2009


Folegandros from our hotel balcony

From there we took another ferry to Santorini, which was much more touristy. We hiked around the volcano that the island of Santorini hugs, soaked in Mediterranean Sea hot springs, and watched the amazing sunsets every night. Our hotel room looked like it was built into a cave and had the most amazing view of Santorini and the village of Ea. I had a sniffly cold the entire time we were on the honeymoon, but the trip was still perfect.

Santorini 2009
Santorini from our hotel balcony

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Santorini, Greece 2009

Santorini is a small, circular archipelago of volcanic islands located in the southern Aegean Sea, about 120 miles southeast of Greece's mainland. Santorini has an active volcanic center.

The largest island is known as Thira, made of the town of Thira and the town of Oía. The island is the site of one of the largest volcanic eruptions, the Minoan eruption /Thira eruption, which occurred some 3,600 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization. One theory holds that the Thira eruption is the source of the legend of Atlantis.

We enjoyed walking around Santorini, enjoying nice meals, and watching every sunset from every location possible while we were there. But compared to Folegandros, it was more of a touristy island.

Santorini 2009
Our hotel

Santorini 2009 
View from our room

Santorini 2009
On our balcony

Santorini 2009
View from our hotel room's balcony

Santorini 2009
Walking around

Santorini 2009
Near our hotel

Santorini 2009
I like it here

Santorini 2009
So pretty

Santorini 2009 
At Stani Restaurant with a view of the volcano

Santorini 2009 
Kevin and the Santorini sunset

We took a boat to the volcano, and then hiked up the volcano to enjoy stunning views and a tiny bit of volcanic steam. But beware, it's windy up there! We then went to the hot springs which involved jumping off a boat and swimming through a little bit of cold ocean before we could get to the warm part. Also, you have to be able to tread water for about 20 minutes in the ocean, which isn't too difficult, but it's not exactly relaxing either. The island is definitely best for its stunning views.

Santorini 2009 
Boat to the volcano

Santorini 2009
Us on the boat

Santorini 2009
Port of the volcano

Santorini 2009
Hiking up the volcano

Santorini 2009
Fresh out of the hot springs

That evening we went out for a fancy dinner out.

Santorini 2009
We clean up nice

Santorini 2009
Sunset in Oía

Santorini 2009
Fancy dinner in Oía


Last day in Santorini:

Santorini 2009
Beachy

Santorini 2009
Beach cafe

Santorini 2009
Likes his drink

Santorini 2009
The town new the beach

Santorini 2009
Back at our room

Santorini 2009
Ready for a casual dinner after the sunset

Santorini 2009
Our balcony

Santorini 2009
Nikolae Restaurant

Santorini 2009
Nikolae Restaurant

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Folegandros, Greece 2009

Folegandros is probably the best place in the world. I am going to tell you more, but that's the only important part. It is a small Greek island with about 700 inhabitants. We stayed in Karavostassis and spent most of the morning there and then had dinner each night in Chora. (The third village which we never made it to is Ano Meria.)

Karavostassis is the port of Folegandros where we arrived by boat. Most of the hotels there have a view of the port. Kevin's favorite activity while we were there was watching boats appear on the horizon. I enjoyed beach hopping as the beaches on one side of the port were completely different. It was basically heaven. Add that we were on our honeymoon, and you can imagine what this place means to us.

Folegandros, Greece 2009
The bay where ships come in

Folegandros, Greece 2009
View from our balcony

Folegandros, Greece 2009
Kevin with his feet in a hot tub, pointing at ships coming over the horizon

Folegandros, Greece 2009
Beautiful and secluded beaches

Folegandros, Greece 2009
Sunning on the black sand beach

Folegandros, Greece 2009
We had the most delicious octopus, Greek salad, and chicken that fell off the bone

Folegandros, Greece 2009
Leaving was the worst idea we ever had

The village of Chora is built on the edge of a 200-meter high cliff. It's not that far from the port, but we made the mistake of thinking we could walk back from Chora to the port while the sun was setting. And by we, I really mean me. That was the most terrifying walk of my life both because it was almost pitch black on a narrow road with buses careening downhill. I jumped into painful brush in my flip flops countless times.

The church of Panagia in Chora is located on top of a cliff was likely built where an ancient temple was previously located. Its inhabitants were Dorians, then Athenian , then the island was conquered Venice until 1566, then by Ottoman Turks. The Greeks took it back in 19th century.

Folegandros, Greece 2009
The main square in Chora

Folegandros, Greece 2009
Little roads filled with restaurants and stores.

Folegandros, Greece 2009
The Path up to Panagia Church in Chora

Folegandros, Greece 2009
Climbing to Panagia Church

Folegandros, Greece 2009
Check out the second closest cross on the right

Folegandros, Greece 2009
We both climbed up there for the photo op

Folegandros, Greece 2009
Sunset from the cliffs of Chora

Monday, June 22, 2009

Athens, Greece 2009

Our honeymoon was basically the best trip ever. It was a good trip on its own with wonderful beach weather, beautiful sites, nice hotel rooms, and great places to relax and do nothing. Add to that the fact that it was our honeymoon, so we're permanently biased in favor of it, and I wonder if anywhere will ever live up to it. But it's a good problem to have.

We got married Saturday, June 6, and did our air travel on Tuesday. We started our trip in Athens, the capital and largest city in Greece. We spent June 10-11 there and took in all the big sites including the Parthenon, the Erechtheum, the Ancient Agora and the Roman Agora, Theater of Dionysus, Hadrian Library, and even the ruins in the subway. Basically classical sights heaven.

Acropolis- Parthenon 2009
At the Acropolis, in front of the Parthenon

Acropolis- Parthenon 2009
More in front of the Parthenon

Acropolis 2009
View from our hotel balcony of the Acropolis at night

Acropolis- Erechtheum 2009
In front of the Erechtheum at the Acropolis

Athens- Ancient Agora 2009
Kevin on the spot where Socrates lectured (Ancient Agora)

Athens- Temple of Zeus 2009
At my favorite, the Temple of Zeus

Athens- Temple of Zeus 2009
Temple of Zeus
Athens- Theater of Dionysus 2009
Kevin wandering around the Theater of Dionysus
Athens gets a bit of a bum rap, but after going there, I think it's only because the islands are so incredibly beautiful that by comparison, Athens is just regular-beautiful. The people we met in Greece were friendly enough though none seemed to speak any English outside of menu choices. On the other hand, all the signs in Greece were in both Greek and English, so that's handy.
Athens 2009
Walking around Athens

Athens 2009
Alphas beer, better than Mythos beer

Athens Central Hotel 2009
Honeymoon hot tub
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