Greece: Four Islands Down 5,996 to Go

Ancient Greece …

Marble statues. Fistfuls of gyros stuffed with fries. Shops tempting you with fresh cones and heaping spoons of delight. My love for Greece began in 1995 when we drove through Thessaloniki and Florence on our way to Albania. This was my first experience with a "water closet." My first time seeing tomatoes the size of apples and experiencing the juiciest peach on the planet. I couldn't stop trying to decipher the Greek alphabet, hoping to be fluent in the blink of an eye.

Even as a 10 year old, I was whisked away by the stories of ancient Greece. Devastated when I learned Sparta wasn't some place I could visit, I threw myself into the gritty city of Athens. I never understood why there were so many naked statues but I stood in awe of the towering columns, the remnants of a mighty culture. Those memories of windy roads through the hillside, the monasteries peering at us barely holding onto the cliffs above.

I fell further in love in 2004, when my family and I joined a few others for an outreach program during the Olympics. Maybe it was the hustle of thousands coming together to celebrate their country's achievement. Those memories are deeply etched into my minds, the smells and sights still fresh.

This is why I was beyond excited to take Nate to a place filled with history, laughter and street cats. Actually, the street cats are a new thing, but I digress.

As hardworking teachers and a childless couple, we have the luxury of traveling with loose plans. A home base is all we need to throw our packs and then head out to explore the neighborhood. Yes, we center our trips on food, but mainly look for those places that beckon to you as you walk by. Not with sun-faded pictures but with the laughter of old friends—the kind of place the homies spend hours talking shop or remembering the past. We've come to adopt the rule of 4. That is, if a place has four old dudes sitting together day drinking, it's like a Michelin star. We've got to stop.

We purchased our tickets over a year ago but life got in the way and we postponed this trip a few times. So when we finally landed and hopped onto the metro, I was relieved. 10 days to experience the richness of Greek life and culture.

Our itinerary was simple. Athens and then some islands. Four days in the city flew by as we mobbed through the city, made guesses about where Socrates stood, and met up with colleagues for a glorious dinner of wine, Greek salad and grilled meats. The Parthenon and the Agora still held the wonder I felt as a child.

After galavanting around Athens for a few days, we hopped on a train for a short day trip to Korinthos aka Ancient Corinth—a significant village where the Apostle Paul kicked it.

After a little Googling we decided to spend a couple nights on Aegina, a quaint little island an hour out of Athens. To our joy, some grad-school friends joined us for a few days bumming around. When we docked, I immediately remembered this iconic church and our family photo.

From there we hopped a ferry to the Cyclades, a handful of islands East of Athens.

Most folks know about the instagramably views of Mykonos but not about the 600+ churches on this island. Turns out, this island is very small and pretty boring unless you like to party on yachts. It’s also insanely windy as evidenced from all our pictures. Thanks to a Greek ferry strike, we had plenty of time to drive the winding roads and eat a few more Greek salads drizzled perfectly with olive oil. We also popped over to Delos “Where Light Was Born”--perhaps one of the most intact and untouched archeological sites in all of Greece.

Our favorite stop of the trip was actually the shortest, the port of Tinos. After dropping our backpacks at the AirBnb and testing out grandma’s cherry liquor, we wandered through charming downtown. As we made our way towards the center, I glanced down main street and noticed a type of bike lane covered in green carpet. It felt important and like a normal Birkenstocks-clad person shouldn’t be stepping on. But we soon realized this was the road leading to the Church of Panagia Megalochari which it turns out everyone, who considers themselves a dedicated Greek Orthodox believer, makes a pilgrimage to. As a show of faith, you can buy a 6 foot tall candle to light inside the sanctuary.

From getting lost in gritty Athenian alleyways, visualizing the birth of democracy in the Agora, drinking another .5 liter of house wine, or witnessing the power of organized labour strikes, our ten days in Greece flew by. Maybe next time we’ll get an Anthony Bourdain tattoo that says "Be a traveler not a tourist".