Greece

We went to Greece in October 2006. We stayed three days in Athens and ten days in Oia, on Santorini Island. This has been my favorite trip so far. Ryan said Fiji is still his favorite.

In Athens we stayed at the Athen's Imperial Hotel. It was really nice, and a great value for the price. The only minor problem was that it was a bit far from the cultural district; where the Acropolis, etc... is. But the subway system in Athens is fabulous, so it wasn't too big of a deal, really. The ministry of culture tour is great. You pay one flat rate of 20 euro, I believe and it gets you into several cultural attractions. Acropolis, Parthenon, Temple of Zeus, and more. Athens is really great, if you enjoy big cities, like we do.

Santorini is amazing for relaxing and taking in the view. We stayed at Lena's House in Oia. The owner was great and even let me bargain for the off season price, since we were so close to then end of high season. The weather was perfect. In the morning we would sit on our patio and have breakfast and wait until all the cruisers were gone, then we would go to lunch and bum around. Sometimes on foot, sometimes on a four-wheeler. We took the bus to the Red Beach, on the other side of the island and stayed there for a day, which was very nice. The island is so small that we traveled nearly the whole thing by four-wheeler one day. There are also a few wineries on the island, so we stopped and enjoyed some tastings. Oh, the island is actually a volcano and part of the island sank after an eruption, so the volcano is still there, called the caldera, surrounded by the remains of the island. So we were able to take a little boat trip to the volcano and walk up it and around it. Ryan really enjoyed this, because of the science nerd in him.

We will go back to Greece for sure one day. There are more cultural places to see on the mainland, like Meteora and Delphi.