Red Beach

We didn’t have any particular reason for choosing Santorini over any of the other beautiful islands, but while searching for hotels, my husband came across a really good deal for four nights at the lovely Lilium Santorini Villas, so that’s where we went. It was perfect: one of the nicest places I’ve ever stayed. Our room was comfortable and full of light, the balcony had a spectacular view over the pool and the sea, the included buffet breakfast was excellent, and the employees were all incredibly helpful. It truly couldn’t have been better.

View from Lilium Santorini Villas

Since Santorini is fairly small (about 30 square miles / 76 square kilometers), we didn’t rent a car, but instead explored the entire island on an ATV. We did some great wine tasting and discovered vinsanto, a sweet, fortified wine made only on Santorini (despite the similar name, it’s unrelated to Italy’s vin santo.) We also visited the Koutsoyannopoulos Wine Museum, with its delightfully (though not deliberately) cheesy exhibits in a natural undergound cave. The entrance fee includes a wine tasting – we were unimpressed by the red and white wines (though they make several, we were only allowed to taste one of each), but their vinsanto and, especially, their Kamaritis (a family recipe – this is the only place that makes it, and you can only buy it at the museum) were excellent.

Imerovigli, Greece

While wandering beyond the touristy part of Thira (aka Fira), we happened upon Andreas Alefragís’s pottery studio, where we chatted with the studio’s receptionist/greeter/clerk/cashier for over an hour, before buying several small but lovely pieces and meeting the artist.

All in all, four magical days on one of the most beautiful islands in Greece. Next stop: Crete.

Monastiriki Square

Our favorite part of Athens was Plaka, the historical neighborhood near the Acropolis, particularly Monastiriki Square, which was great for people watching and bargain hunting (it reminded me of Canal Street in NYC). It was very touristy, of course, but still fun to explore. Prices were fairly good on the whole, but not as low as we’d expected, given what we’d read in the news. We also visited the area around the university, which in most cities is a lively, fun part of town, but in Athens it was nothing special.

We visited the wonderful Museum of Greek Folk Art and of course the Akropolis, where we saw more tourists in one place than we’d seen everywhere else put together.

The Akropolis

This turned out to be an excellent idea, as the people we met were always pleased that we could say more than “hello” in Greek. With the help of books and websites, we’d learned such essential phrases as “we are vegetarians,” “a glass of white wine please,” and “I like it!” Since Greek schools offering group classes invariably required two weeks of study, we took a private class for four days, during which we learned how to carry on short conversations about where we are from (which was great, because pretty much everyone we talked to had a cousin or sibling or child somewhere in the US), where we live, and what we do for a living. Even when we then had to switch to English, I felt like we connected with people much more than we would have if the entire conversation had been in English. In addition, we talked to people that we wouldn’t have otherwise; for example, when we were practicing our Greek on each other on the métro, other passengers sometimes started chatting with us and gently correcting our pronunciation. It was great.

The only negative was that at some point, virtually every person mentioned what a difficult language Greek is. Yes, it’s true that there are three genders, numerous cases, and impossible spelling (for example, the sound [i] has six possible spellings), but the debate about whether a language is easy or hard is pointless. It depends on so many factors – your native language, your capacity for language… – and in my opinion it’s silly (and rather chauvinistic) to go around announcing that your own language is difficult, which presumably means that you, then, are of above average intelligence for being able to speak it. And the funny thing is that almost everybody does this. Just on this trip, we met two Dutch people, three French people, an Italian, and dozens of Greeks, all of whom insisted that their language is very difficult. (A Dutch teenager even told us that English is easy, which was ironic considering how poorly he spoke it.) Anyway, we’ve learned to just smile enigmatically and change the subject as soon as possible.

Not so spectacular view

Our first night was a bit of a letdown. I’d read somewhere that there’s a spot south of Voula with some ruins and an incredible view of the sunset, so when we got off the plane, that’s where we headed. Unfortunately, either my husband (ahem) or I misunderstood the location, because we didn’t find anything all that special. In addition, we’d chosen a hotel in Voula for convenience rather than comfort, and while it was perfectly fine, it wasn’t anything to write home about. So the first night was kind of a bust.

Loutraki

The next day we drove to Corinth, which is a surprisingly ugly town. When we failed to find a tourist office (a common problem throughout our trip) or an interesting spot to walk around, we continued driving south and west. Ancient Corinth, though tiny, was much nicer, and the coastal city of Nafplio is lovely. We spent our second night in the touristy town of Loutraki, with its long beach and wonderful views over the water (unsurprisingly, a recurring theme in Greece.) We tasted some terrific wine at a truly spectacular domaine near Nemea, and had a great time chatting with the propriétaire as well as our fellow tasters: three Greeks, a Chilean, and a Brit all traveling together.

Lafkiotis Winery

French love language
French terms of endearment
Spanish love language
Vegetarian aphrodisiacs

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