So, first full family holiday in, well, as long as I can remember. And, it took almost the same amount of time to organise. After about 6 months of convincing the grand parents that Greece is safe and first world, we booked an Airbnb on Paros. Because, obviously, the number of international flights to a major holiday destination is sparse, we booked flights with a very tight safety margin of 13 months (it was a close run thing…). We obviously needed to secure those elusive ferry seats as well but were ahead of the curve with no schedules released more than 4 months in advance.
We started in Athens for a couple of days which is surprisingly huge, but also surprisingly cool with a very Berlin esque vibe.
We obviously paid a visit to the Acropolis (which was heaving with tourists – expertly removed from the photos).
After Athens it was a short ferry trip to the island. It really was pretty nice. The beaches are stunning and the whitewashed houses and wind mills iconic.
Spencer discovered that Nana and Grandad are extremely cooperative when it comes to time in the sea, which is excellent as Mum and Dad most definitely preferred the bar.
A little table football is also good (try to keep your hands off the grease bar though).
Some excellent food of curse.
Some Grandad time.
And, bliss, some rest time.
With the in-house babysitters arranged, Nardia and myself decided to take a day trip to Santorini. The trip itself was pretty horrendous and the type of “package” tourist trip I would never usually take. Tour bus (packed and slow), boat trip (overcrowded and not enough seating), at the port (traffic jam from so many tourist buses)… you get the idea. However, ignoring that, Santorini itself is spectacular. First the town of Oia with its blue domed churches.
And then to Fira with its sheer cliffs.
After one more day of relaxing, it was back to Athens for a night (spent in a hostel with a live music bar underneath… whoops) and a three hour wrestling match on the plane home.
A really nice break.