Santorini

Our last stop in Greece: Santorini.

All five of us (Yes, Will gets a vote!) agreed Santorini was our favorite island of the entire trip. Santorni must be synonymous with beautiful, breath-taking, absolutely surreal, and stairs. Its antonyms are stroller and babies, but we didn't let that stop us!

For those of you who don't know, Santorini is a volcanic island. A large eruption blew out two of its sides allowing the ocean to fill the center, thus becoming a caldera. It consists of several towns built into sheer cliff sides. Many of the villas (including ours) are literally cave houses, carved into the mountain side. But man, let me tell ya, the villas's balconies and views are pretty amazing!

Oia, where we stayed

The view from our patio, looking into the center of the caldera.
Beauty like this makes you forget the 119 steps it took to get to our villa.

A neighboring patio

Blue, blue water

The Zabel 5 out and about. Wandering the streets of the town felt a smidge like Venice where everything is so close-quartered, but the overall Greek-island feeling pervades!

We took a "walk" to a recommended fish restaurant for lunch. It was over 250 steps down to the harbor. You can see Jeff shading Will in the Ergo and Charley carting our umbrella stroller back up the stairs. Quite a trek, but totally worth it!

Does it get any prettier?

Awwwwwhhhh . . . .

I added this to the list of places Jeff and I have to come back to again. Maybe once our finances free up in say, 22 years . . . :)

Naxos

After another ferry ride, we found ourselves at island number two: Naxos.

We stayed in Agia Anna, a sleepy beach town just awakening for the tourist season. Many of the restaurants had just opened the week we were there. It was nice to have our run of the place, and it was fun to get to know the restaurant owners on a personal level. There were so many palapas to choose from and so little time . . . . It was really neat to see restaurants scrubbing out freezers, freshening fish tanks for the catch of the day, and refinishing deck chairs. The islands really do shut down for the winter!

Some grandparent snuggles at a beachside restaurant

Breakfast on the beach -- Seriously Will, could your life get any better????

Nana Bubbles and Grandpa were so sweet to take Will for the evening which gave Jeff and I a seldom-experienced night out for my birthday!

I won't name names, but one member of our group of five liked to rise earlier than the rest of us. Nonetheless, the other four begrudgingly found their happy places going for early morning walks along the beach. Funny enough, this became a daily ritual and was a true Naxos highlight for us all by the end of our stay.

Funny enough, our early riser would take a morning nap on our morning walks. Oh the humanity!



Waiting for our mid-afternoon bottle/cocktail




Our beach bum


My cute beach boys

Family Sunset Dinner - Mykonos

Our 2nd and last evening in Mykonos had us saying a sad farewell to Crazy Uncle Pete. Wouldn't you know, our little man napped so late that it was easier for us to walk down the street to eat at a Thai restaurant than it was to go back into Mykonos town. Ha! The view and sunset was beautiful, the food was great, and the family fun even greater. It was so great of C.U.P. to kickstart us off on a great Greece trip!

Our first island - Mykonos

Our first stop on the Greek Islands was Mykonos. We took a ferry from the port in Athens down to our first island stop.

We arrived Mykonos to blue skies, white houses and blue doors and windows. Every corner of the city seems like another postcard picture and island dream. Our first day we toured around the main city after walking down from our hotel.

A picture from Little Venice, Mykonos' version of the Italian hotspot.

Charley, Mary, and Pete next to Mykonos's famous windmills.















































Beautiful walkways

The beach beckoned us on our second day in Myknonos. We had fun in the sun and sand. Some of us partied until we pooped out under a palapa!
















The boys at lunch. As you can see, no one was having any fun. :)

On a Boat!

Before leaving from Athens, crazy uncle Pete decided to fly on over and join the family fun. He arrived at midnight and we left the hotel at 6:15 in the morning to catch the ferry from Pireaus to Mykonos. It was Will's first time on a boat (in the ocean), so we made a rap video.

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We arrived in Mykonos to a warm greeting from Pannos who picked us up and runs the Aeolos hotel in Mykonos.  Our beach vacation was underway.

Off to Greece - First stop Athens

Seeing that there are many German holidays in May and early June, after Ireland, we used another Thursday/Friday holiday to make our trip to Greece.  The plan was to start and see some quick sights in Athens and then to travel to various Greek Islands.  

Besides a fun trip, we felt lucky to have been able to coordinate with Nana Bubbles and Grandpa to join us!  We flew into Athens late Friday night to find them already in their hotel after another adventurous trip (Denver, Reagan, Laguardia, cab to JFK, JFK to Brussels, spend the day, Brussels to Prauge, Prague to Athens).  No they did not stay in those cities (except for the break in Brussels), but were just trying to make it to Athens standby:)  It was great to have them there.

We basically had one day in Athens to see all the sights we could!  We started out with a trip to the old Olympic Panathenaic Stadium, then we went on to Temple of Olympian Zeus.

It is amazing to think these structures have been around since 400BC!  The weather was hot and was Will's first time being in hot weather.  At first he wasn't so sure, but then he loved it!  Here he is literally over the ancient city of Athens.

Because it was so hot, we had to split up to go up to the Acropolis.  The view from the top was amazing.  Earlier that day we had visited the New Acropolis museum.  The building was incredible and helped us understand what we were seeing when we visited the Acropolis.

Later that night we were greeted by a special visitor.  Crazy uncle Pete flew out to be with us over the next couple of days in Mykonos.  Before we left, we took an early morning picture with Will still in his PJ's.

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Greece Firsts

Not only was Greece William's 9th Country in 8 months, but he celebrated two big firsts while on this 9-day trip.


#1 - We discovered that Will had cut his first tooth in Athens. Go Will! He didn't really make much of a fuss about it either. However, he has subsequently made up for this on his second and perhaps a third?? tooth which followed two weeks later. ;)

#2 - Greece was the first time Will ever went in the ocean! This California girl would have never guessed that her child's first time in the ocean wouldn't be in the Pacific. The Aegean Sea welcomed Will with its splashing waves and refreshingly cool temperature, neither of which Will was a fan of. Oh well. The Aegean may be his first ocean, but we have a feeling the Pacific will be his favorite!