Greece

We had one jam packed day in Athens to hit up the 7 Archaeological sites. It was a long day with over 20km of walking, but we did it!

We started at the Acropolis, enjoying the remains of the historic buildings,

And the views out over the city..

Wandering through buildings that are over 2000 years old is quite an experience.

Our next stop was the Roman Agora,

And the Ancient Agora,

Where the Temple of Hephaestus is well preserved,

And there is a great view of the Acropolis.

We then walked over to Hadrians Gate,

And the Olympieion, or temple of Olympian Zeus,

Coincidentally, while we were walking by the temple of Zeus, a lightning storm was visible in the distance.

We made a stop by the Panathenaic stadium, the site of the Athenian Panathenaea as well as the first modern Olympic Games in 1896,

Then we stopped at Aristotles Lyceum, where, as Liam said, there remains mostly ideas,

And lastly, Kerameikos, the location of an ancient cemetary as well as the Dipylon gate which gave access to the ancient city...

It was a whirlwind day in Athens but it was also a successful day! We saw all the major sites and finished our time in Greece with one last Greek salad. I am going to miss those blocks of feta but I’m sure we’ll find some equally good cheese in Italy!!!

Paros, the final stop of our island hop tour...
If I were to lay out the pluses and minuses of the three islands we visited, I would likely say that Paros comes out on top.
One of the top reasons was that we were able to rent a scooter and ride around to explore the majority of the island....

From the streets of the town where we were staying, Parikia,

To the harbor of Naousa...

And the quiet streets of Naousa...

I seriously cannot get enough of these pink flowers..

We also rode to the town of Lefkes which was previously the capital city of Paros, conveniently located further inland, away from pirates!

The only significant drawback to our stay...... in my attempt to no longer be the whitest tourist at the beach, I neglected to put on sunscreen soon enough and absolutely roasted my legs! Whoops.
In my defense I was distracted by the beauty of Martselo beach....

And Kolympithres beach....

On our last morning, we took our scooter on the short 10 minute ferry over to Antiparos. After cruising the quiet roads and visiting Agios Georgios beach, I can see why Tom Hanks has a house on this island!!

We also visited the cave on Antiparos, the site of the oldest stalagmites in Europe...

The location of the cave also gives a great view of the island...

Lastly, we took a quick walk around Antiparos town before heading back for our ferry to Athens.

Paros, it’s been a slice! Thanks for ending our island life on a high note!!

Hopping to our second island.... Santorini!
We arrived in the late afternoon via ferry and walked into the town of Thira (or Fira) for sunset.

And no sunset would be complete without a bit of wine!!

The next day was the last one with Conor and Thomas before their flights home.
It was also the morning of NBA finals game six. We committed to the 4am wake up for tip off which was 110% worth it. Watching the Toronto Raptors win their first championship was simply amazing.
We took advantage of the early morning wake up to see the caldera views of Oia before the streets became too packed with people...

We also continued our celebration of the Raptors win!

We took most of our pictures before 10am and it was amazing to see how quickly the streets began to fill. It was also unbelievably hot by about 9am.

After returning to the hotel, Conor and Thomas took their taxi to the port, and Liam and I hopped on a local bus to spend the afternoon at Perissa beach.

The black, volcanic sand beach was beautiful, and also hot hot hot!!

We then returned to Oia to brave the crowds for a famous Santorini sunset.

On our final morning on Santorini, Liam and I visited the smaller, less busy town of Pyrgos. It was amazing. We climbed to the highest spot for some great views...

Then wandered through the quiet and beautiful streets.

We had a chance to relax by our hotel pool before hopping another ferry and saying goodbye to Santorini!

After a couple of ridiculously long travel days, I made it to the port of Mykonos to meet both of my brothers and their friend Thomas.
Liam is on a two month Europe trip and I’m joining him for almost 3 weeks in Greece and then Italy. Conor has also joined him for a couple weeks, of which 4 days overlap with me.
After dropping our luggage at the villa, we made our way to Mykonos town for my first of many gyros to come and a walk through the streets..

Little Venice and the windmills...

And the old port...

Then we took a quick ride to the southwest side of the island to Kapari beach. We enjoyed a couple hours of sun and caught the sunset before heading back for the night.

On our second day, we took a ferry ride to the nearby island of Delos. In Greek mythology, this island was the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. Historically it was a vibrant port city of religious significance.
Fun fact: birth and death were not permitted on the island. Women on the verge of giving birth and those estimated to be close to death were ferried to the nearest island.
Second fun fact: the 2001 Greek census reported a population of 14 inhabitants on the island.

We started by walking through all the ruins near the port...

Past the Temple of Isis...

Then climbed up to the highest point on the island for some fantastic views...

We then walked down past the amphitheater...

And the house of Dionysus...

Before returning to Mykonos via ferry...

On our last morning, we took one last walk through the streets, and I took a series of photos titled ‘My brothers in the streets of Mykonos’...

After a couple busy weeks of work in Edmonton, it has been so nice to embrace this vacation and very special to spend it with my brothers. (We’re all missing you, Maddie).
Mykonos was great and the island hopping continues, Santorini is next!