Greece đŹđˇ
I spent 7 months of quarantine in singapore, and from there I went to off to start uni in London, so for nearly 2 years I hadnât been on a proper holiday. My mom and I had been planning to meet up in the summer if COVID allowed, and Greece is where we decided on. It was an amazing trip, made by the weather, the freedom, the company, the food, and those who hosted and helped us along the way.
I will include mostly pictures here, as well as our best memories from each day of the trip. We spent time in Athens, Hydra, Sifnos, and Milos, so I will also include our best tips and the places we stayed for each. If anyone wants a beautiful, cultural, fairly active, Greek itinerary with more low-key nightlife but still some bars and places to congregate involved, I would recommend these places.
ATHENS
Hotel Attalos
Right near to Monastiraki Square, Pysri neighbourhood, Plaka, and walking distance to nearly everything of note tourist wise in Athens.
We easily walked the shopping streets, saw the monuments and museums near to the Acropolis, and browsed bars and restaurants in what the âhipâ area of town is.
Attalos isnât the fanciest hotel youâve seen, and is rather unassuming from the outside, but it has a beautiful rooftop that offers 360Âş views of the city, and most importantly, the Parthenon.
HYDRA
We took at 45min ferry from Athenâs port, Pireaus, to Hydra. Hydra is a beautiful island with no cars allowed, and we were able to occupy ourselves for nearly the whole day. We walked around the tiny port and explored the backstreets, then we ate at Sunset Taverna which is a must if youâre there. There is rocky swimming around the coast, and we spend the afternoon in a nice little cove. Our ferry was quite late, only departing at 21:00 and we probably couldâve done with one a few hours earlier.
SIFNOS
Sifnos is the perfect island for a quiet romantic get away, or to go with family if you really want to relax, enjoy idyllic greek geography, and have amazing food and drinks at an affordable price. Maybe it was the time of year or the COVID situation, but there were hardly any foreign tourists where we were. It was the perfect way to spend a few days.
We stayed in Akrotiraki Apartments in Platy Gialos. The flat was amazing with a private balcony and very modern features. We were on the best beach in Sifnos in my opinion, and our little strip had a mini mart, several good restaurants and bars, and beach umbrellas for rent. What more could you want?
We also went to Vathi for a day which has another beautiful beach, and the capital Apollonia is also great for a more lively night out. Kastro and a few other towns on the island are good to drive to, park, and explore.
MILOS
After being lulled into a peaceful state on Sifnos, getting off the ferry in Milos was a bit of a rude awakening. Milos is more akin to the Mykonos Greek vibe, though not nearly as packed full of people partying. We rented a car again and quickly adjusted though. Milos is beautiful, with 30+ beaches to see all offering something slightly different. You could definitely spend more than 3 nights here, and if you donât have a car and/or a boat you might as well not come.
We stayed in Pollonia at Apollon Rooms which was quaint and chilled, yet a 5 minute walk put you on a nice little seafront town with great restaurants, shops, and cafĂŠs. To make the most of our time we drove to a different beach on a different part of the island every half-day nearly. Our favourites (and ones everyone will tell you not to miss if you visit) were Firiplaka, Loco beach club particularly, and Sarakiniko, force yourself to go early for sunrise before itâs infested with people you wonât regret it.
Also recommend a half day boat tour if you arenât renting your own, that way you can get a taste of the the entire Western portion of Milos that is inaccessible by car. Some of the most beautiful volcanic rock formations I have seen are there, and the most popular beach of Kleftikos is worth the amount of tourists boating and swimming around just to experience navigating yourself in and around the caves in the water.
ATHENS
Herodion Hotel
For the end of our trip we wanted to treat ourselves to a bit more luxury so we booked a fancier hotel. Still located in middle of Athens, just with a higher rating and a few fancier facilities. The ferry from Milos to Athens takes up a decent amount of the day so we just relaxed a bit that evening.
On our last day we got COVID tests at our hotel â I suggest using , they are decently affordable and come to you if you donât want to travel around Athens looking for a testing centre. Then we enjoyed a nice complimentary breakfast and went to the Municipal Market which was everything you would expect from a shouk in a city. Soaking up some last rays of sun on the nice rooftop with jacuzzi and dining at the rooftop bar on our last night.
Lots more photos are on my instagram, and if you want any logistical information about where we went / stayed / what we did, message me!
27 June
unexpected Covid test (my first)
Rooftop (coffee, baileyâs, old man hit on me with google translate)
DSLR notes at night
28 June
mom arrived early
Amazing Greek salad
Hot and limping
Shopping and saw the police
Picked up in luxurious van for private tour
Olympic stadium
Museum
Acropolis
Dropped us off in plaka and ate random fancy dishes
Bougie lady got something stolen
Walked home
Rooftop for wine and chocolate milk
29 June
went to port
Wandered for coffee
Hydra
Wandered around looking for pharmacy and got into argument lol
Sunset taverna meal (treated like royalty and only ones there at first)
Sprayed white shit on my leg
Went swimming on the rocks and drenched by waves
Walked to fishing village
Found shade and swam around everyone topless
First photo shoot
Went back to port sat for a good cappuccino
Talked about friends and gossip
Made our way back up and people watched to the sunset
Ferry back
Leg p swollen
Mila went out and mom got mad
Pollalis gave me grand tour
Late night only a few hours of sleep
30 June
early ferry
Good cappuccino on ferry
Rental car
Mom handling shift
Windshield wipers / anxious trip to platy Gialos
Flat amazing but not ready yet so we went to the beach
Umbrella at beach and late lunch at beautiful Greek place
Watched 5 episodes of GOT
1 july
Woke up late
Went to capital and wandered around a bit stressed
Got ripped off at pharmacy
Got ripped off at gas station
Supermarket but couldnât find much and didnât get red wine
Back to our beach for much needed relax
Dinner at Greek place
Finished game of thrones
2 July
vathi for something new
Brief argument and then stayed and it was nice
Stalled on hill at kastro and said no to further exploration
Went home
Finished GOT
Small tiff
Photo shoot
Late dinner / drinks & daiquiri and wonderful deep chats about boys and friends and life
Home to pack and sleep
3 July
returned car
Boarded wrong ferry and got kicked off
More cappuccinos
Couldnât find rental car at first
Drove to pollinia
Checked in and started beach hopping
Did northwest region
Went to strange beach with unhappy rich people and had YELLOW pita
Had private area but sun ruined it for mom
Checked out another hip beach in a little fishing place with a hill that freaked mom out
Came back walked here for dinner
Nice sunset and bottle of wine
Started queens gambit
4 July
woke up early for breakfast
Mila locked in
Went south and found the most amazing beach
Loco (treated ourselves to a beach chair, had an amazing 12-4 beach day, got a strawberry daiquiri)
Went home and chilled
Jordan meat ing for dinner
Read outside on balcony for a bit and watched queenâs gambit
5 July
woke up at 5am to watch sunrise at rocky beach
Came back for breakfast / coffee
Departed for tsrigado to catch the boat tour at 11am
Older crowd, arrived early and say sweltering on the patio so mila stripped
Boarded boat and stopped for a swim 30min in (mom braved her fears and came in with a noodle)
Cruised again until kleftikos
Crazy lady on board, beautiful caves and swam through together
Fishies and rocks and goats chilling on the shore
Back to Pollonia
Had a nice coffee at apollon and spoke to our hosts, one of which studied maths at imperial and the other which ended uo working ar Yialos, our fav restaurant in the town
Read and sunned at private little beach
Arm workout, organized, etc in the room until 7ish
Walked out to Yialos for our last dinner and enjoyed another bottle of wine while making this note
Exceptional people watching as per usual
Home to finish queens gambit for last night
6 July
up early ish to pack and have last breakfast
Moved out
Payed accommodation tax but got coffees for free in the end
Got gas and of course another small argument
Returned car way too early and sat on the curb for a bit
Moved to ferry lobby where some Spanish girl was crying her eyes out
Boarded ferry which was mostly empty
Peed 20 times and got another one of the good cappucinos of course
Same taxi driver that fetched me from airport almost like a circular ending
Dropped at new hotel which was quite bougie and very covid conscious
Set our stuff down and explored the roof
Walked around area to find a place to eat
Did some good people watching and had a lovely meal
Mom tried moussaka
500ml of red wine + sangria
Walked back full and content to work and read
Made a really good cup of coffee around 21:00 for no good reason but thatâs the best thing to do
7 July
09:00 COVID test
09:30 breakfast slot
Tan tan tan on roof time
Late afternoon excursion to the market just for the sake of it and to pick up a few souvenirs per chance
Tan again
Clean up and pack up and get ready for an extremely early morning
Rooftop / sunset drinks and dinner to saw goodbye to Athens forever
