a white dream

We first started our journey in Athens before flying to Santorini. We stayed quite central in Athens, and we were only a short walk from the Acropolis. Let me first preface this, as much as I loved my time in Greece, I don’t think I would personally return to Athens. This isn’t because it’s not worth visiting, but purely because you go to Athens to see the historic sites. Food was splendid as long as you stay away from the tourist traps (these are obvious!). My Athens highlight was definitely visiting The Panathenaic Stadium as the big sport fanatic really came out of me!

A short summary from wikipedia…. the stadium was built on the site of a simple racecourse by the Athenian statesman Lykourgos (Lycurgus) c. 330 BC, primarily for the Panathenaic Games. It was rebuilt in marble by Herodes Atticus, an Athenian Roman senator, by 144 AD and had a capacity of 50,000 seats. After the rise of Christianity in the 4th century it was largely abandoned. The stadium was excavated in 1869 and hosted the Zappas Olympics in 1870 and 1875. After being refurbished, it hosted the opening and closing ceremonies of the first modern Olympics in 1896 and was the venue for 4 of the 9 contested sports. It was used for various purposes in the 20th century and was once again used as an Olympic venue in 2004. It is the finishing point for the annual Athens Classic Marathon.[3] It is also the last venue in Greece from where the Olympic flame handover ceremony to the host nation takes place.

The other half of our Greece stay was something that I could only dream of. Santorini is stunning. The photos speak for themselves and the iconic caldera does not disappoint. We stayed in Imerovigli, just a short walk out of Thira and so much quieter. The highlight of Santorini was definitely doing the yacht tour. We opted to do a shared tour, which takes you around the Santorini island and you get to have a dip in the crystal blue waters. Lunch is provided so that was a bonus!

The other highlight was doing the Thira to Oia hike and back. This is a 10km hike one way and took us around 3-4 hours to complete (one way). The walk itself is quite challenging with lots of hills and uneven surfaces, but the views are so, so worth it. I got most of my favourite Santorini photos from this hike.

….and I definitely cannot forget recommending to watch the iconic sunset….a perfect way to end the day. Watching it in the heart of Thira town, right by the cliff is my recommendation.