One thing that's hard to get wrong is choosing a Greek island for your vacation getaway. But in this week's episode, we want to compare and contrast some of the islands that we have visited to help you plan your perfect Greek getaway. I'm Scott.
And I'm Melissa.
And we're the Sunshine Travelers. is travel and sharing our experiences with those who enjoy it as much as we do, or those who want to learn more about travel, or even those who just want to live vicariously through our travel stories. No matter where you fall along that journey, get ready to hear about our first-hand experiences as we visit some of the most interesting and amazing places on Earth.
In the last episode, we talked about traveling to the island of Crete with our kids and grandkids. This made us think about putting together a list that compares and contrasts the different Greek islands that we have visited. While we would recommend visiting any Greek island, you will find differences among them, and this will be helpful when planning your perfect Greek getaway. So
So I have been to Greece three times, and Scott, you have been to Greece twice. There is so much to explore in Greece. And so even with the places that we're going to talk about, which I think are great starting points and great choices, I mean, there's so many other places that we want to explore. But on the other hand, I'm surprised that when we talk to people, I would say that most people say, oh, we've never been to Greece.
Yeah. And we're talking about like the islands of Greece, not even the mainland of Greece. So tons to do on the mainland of Greece as well, things things to see, and time that you're really going to want to try to spend there. But these are the islands that we're talking about this week.
And the other thing before we get into some of the specifics of the island is maybe in general, like why you should visit Greece. And I would say just the things that come to mind. I mean, first of all, it's just absolutely beautiful. The water is beautiful. And I just feel like everything is so aesthetic, right? Restaurants, they just like go out of their way. But like every restaurant is just like cute wouldn't you say like the the furniture is like is cute and the like the light fit just so aesthetic the light fixtures just the way that they present it and it doesn't matter if it like feels like more of like a mom and pop thing or is like trying to be more like trendy and cute but it's always it's always been that and I'm going to tell a story in a minute about about about Idra specifically. But I mean, is that kind of like, do you kind of get that vibe?
Well, I think like anywhere, there are some places that do better jobs of it than others. But yes, we did see a lot of that.
Yeah. That's just, that's just what I want to paint a wrong picture.
just what I want to paint a wrong picture. And then someone go and be like, what the heck was she talking about? I don't know. That's, that's just what I I... just don't want to paint a wrong picture and then someone go and be like, what the heck was she talking about?
I don't know. That's just been, that's like my impression. It's like no matter where I go. I've been in Athens. I've been in some of these other places. Like the majority of it is, you know, shops and everything is just really aesthetic. So that's number one. Number two is relatively speaking, it's inexpensive, right? Inexpensive to stay, inexpensive to eat. And of course, some places are going to be more expensive than others, but compared to a lot of other places. Well, let's get into some of the specifics around the different
get into some of the specifics around the different places that we've visited. So we're going to talk through a list today, and I'm just going to read them off real quick. We're going to talk about Idra, Santorini, Milos, Sifnos, Peros, Antiparos, and Crete. And those are all islands that we visited. Now there's a lot more than just this, right? These are the ones that we've been
to. Yes. And there's a lot more that are super popular. And then there's a lot more probably that you haven't even, you know, heard about or seen about for sure. So why don't you start off with Hydra? Because this
you start off with Hydra? Because this is a place that you and Carrie went while I was working in right outside of London one summer.
Yeah. So we had the opportunity to go to Greece a few days ahead of meeting you in London. And this was the year that Carrie was going to do. Carrie's our daughter was going to do her study abroad. And so we had the opportunity to do this. So we were going to do Idra and then spend a few days in Athens. And so Idra is a place that Rick Steves actually talks a good bit about as a good place to go because it is very close to Athens. It's a ferry ride away. So if you wanted to have the experience of Athens, but you don't have a, or I'm sorry, the experience of a Greek but island, you don't have or I'm a, the sorry, experience of a Greek island, but you don't have a lot of time, this would be a fantastic place. So there's not any cars on the island. If you want to have any kind of transportation, it's like donkeys. But so it has like a main town, which is also called Idra. And you can walk from the ferry port. And then there are houses and things like that further away. But just lots of what you would consider seat-to-table restaurants. We had the opportunity to eat at one of those where we sat down and they were like, okay, today we have fish and a lot of potatoes a lot of, a lot of potatoes and type like fried, you know, potatoes and different things like that. And so we ordered and, you know, had drinks and stuff like that. We're waiting and we're waiting. And so literally we see them go down and this boat comes up and they go down and they're like, looks like they're negotiating and come to find out, like they were waiting for the fish to come. And it's also not a place where I would say like you're always in a rush, right, to eat, right? It's like just that European laid back feel. And so we realize at that moment is that, oh my gosh, like they are getting this off this boat and then going in to cook it. And so that was like our first experience with that. Idra also has a lot of cats, right? That's just known, you know, in Greece for the cats. That was our first experience with that. And I think to be my first experience, I took like 10,000 pictures, right? It was just, you know, the white and the blue doors and the blue water. And I mean, just so many pictures that we took there. And then one other one other quick story about that is that we went into this one shop. And I think it was around the time when like Anthropologie's what they're like, they were starting to open more Anthropologie stores in the US. And, you know, if you're familiar with that shop, just the overall aesthetic of that. And we walked into the lady's shop and come to find out it was owned by a lady, a French lady. And I mean, just beautiful. And Carrie's comment was, oh my gosh, this is like a real live anthropology in other words this lady had gone and chosen you know those different aspects of the things that you would see and i'll just never forget that because it was it was i mean just an absolutely beautiful shop so let's talk a few a little bit about some of the pros i guess of going to idra and some of the cons and we'll do this with each of the pros, I guess, of going to Idra
to Idra and some of the cons. And we'll do this with each of the islands. So before we do, you know, one of the things that we've got to be conscious of here is the spellings.
Yes.
So we're talking about Hydra, but it's actually like Hydra. H-Y-D-R-A.
Yeah. And this one is confusing because it also has a town on. Idra. And like, if you look even on the map, like sometimes that will be spelled. I D R a. So, I mean, it can, it can be pretty confusing as well. And then the pronunciation, like you said, the other thing you have to be careful of is that there's lots of things on lots of islands that will have the same name. So, for example, we're going to get down to Milos in a minute, but we state it like Galini House or Galini something. You search Galini, like it's going to come up a million different Galinis on a million different islands. So you do have to be very specific to say, okay, there's this Galini on this particular island. So just be aware of that and the spelling and just double-checking, because, yes, that's true about the Idra. So we're going to go through some pros and cons of each island, and then just to kind of help you decide which ones you want to visit. So what were the pros for edra then so like i
were the pros for edra then
so like i sort of already mentioned easy and fast to get to from athens if you have a limited amount of time no cruise ships on edra you could you could visit in a day from athens you could go early in the morning and then stay i mean I would say that's kind of the beauty of not doing a cruise and then spend the night on these islands is because then you do have that evening, you know, having dinner and walking by the water and stuff like that. But you could if you wanted to. And then this also has amazing sunset views on Idra. So you say as a pro
say as a pro that there's no cruise ships.
So you say as a pro that there's no cruise And I assume that that just ships. means that you're talking about that the towns are not set up in a really touristy area for the cruise ships when they come in that don't have anything to do with the And then you just have culture. a slew of people who come off the cruise you for the day and then ship, scurry know, away back to the cruise ship in the evenings.
Yeah, and that's true. And I guess, too, I mean, on Idra, you could still have the day trip visitors. And I mean, you may even get day trip visitors coming from, you know, the port of Athens or something like that. But meaning that a cruise ship doesn't dock right there. And then you just have like a flood of people. I mean, I think in most of these towns, you're still going to have like a wide variety of, you know, shops and, you know, trinket shops and stuff like that. But yeah, in general, that's what I would mean.
And so can you think of any cons for Idra?
Yeah. And you ask it that way because as we were talking about our notes for this, and you have cons list on here, and I was like, I really just, there's not any. I mean, it's just, yeah, it's just a really neat island.
Yeah, I think that's great that nothing comes to mind that you would say, I don't like this or I would do this differently or, or whatever. Yeah. I guess
Yeah. I guess one thing that maybe I would point out is that that main area didn't have like a beach, right? So you bring in the port, you have the port, and then you have the little town to walk around and stuff. So the beach would be kind of around the island. There was a boat to get from that town over to the beach. So we ended up taking the boat over, spending the day at the little beach. They had chairs that you could rent. They had the place that I mentioned that you could eat. And then we actually walked back. So I guess a con could be that, and probably on a lot of these Greek islands, it kind of would be, is accessibility. You know, now that we're kind of talking about it, is that might be a con. A lot of times, stone streets. So accessibility probably would be a con for some people if you had mobility issues.
Well, great. Well, let's move on to Santorini. Now, Santorini, this was my first Greek island that we got a chance to visit. And it is really known for its magnificent sunsets, the white cave houses that look over the caldera. And you see a lot of pictures come out of Santorini. And we've talked about Santorini in another episode before.
Yeah, we have another episode that's Grease Off the Beaten Path, episode 22, if you want to hear more about the flying dress experience that's super popular in Santorini.
We did learn in that episode, though, that if you come on a cruise ship, you either have to ride a donkey or take a cable car up to the little town. And I think the name of it, I'm probably going to butcher the pronunciation, but it's like OIA. So O-I-A. And that's where everyone goes. That's where you see all the cave houses and people are taking all the sunset photos. That's where they're doing it is in that little town.
And if you see, I'm sure you've probably seen pictures of that. And once you get there, that's absolutely recognizable. So we personally chose to stay just outside that town of Ea because that does tend to be pretty expensive, especially if you have a cave house or whatever right over that caldera. So we also did a little cave house, but it was just a little, it was called Finikia. And literally it's within walking distance. What would you say? Like 10 minutes, maybe. But I mean, in these cute little, you know, cobblestone streets and, you know, little short, you know, cave houses and stuff like that. So not very far. And ours had still had its own little private, you know, plunge pool type thing. And so, I mean, you can find better, you know, prices in Santorini if you don't want to stay. And this was part of the bigger trip that we did. And so we just, you know, having to kind of see how much we wanted to spend. But, I mean, if you could definitely go and like splurge on that, right, if that was like your big experience there. Yeah, Santorini was actually a bigger island.
Santorini was actually a bigger island.
We spent most of our time right there in that you the area where little, Ea or Oia or however know, you want to say it is. And the place where we you stayed, like you know, just a short said, 10 minute walk from there. But there was a winery down the I can hill, remember. We didn't even see the
cruise terminal.
Like the cable car going up you know, and, where people were taking the donkeys. We never even saw any of that.
of that. Yeah, no, we have no idea where that is. And I will say, so we, you can fly on to Santorini and we took a taxi from the airport to where we were staying or where the people were going to meet us. And one, I think the taxi driver mentioned, hey, are you going to go here and this beach and that beach? And so that really wasn't our focus for Santorini. So just know that Santorini does have beaches, but you're not going to find them in that town. You would have to take some transportation. I also feel like it would be difficult to rent a car on Santorini because I'm not sure where we would have parked either. So probably your best bet is then like to get some kind of transportation. And there's plenty of taxis and stuff like that, you know, down to those beaches and back and stuff like that. But so unfortunately, we don't have any like guidance on beaches for Santorini. That really wasn't our focus. It was to see the famous part.
And I think our recommendation for Santorini is it's a great place to go and maybe visit a day. But if you really want to experience the Greek islands, Santorini was expensive.
It was. expensive. And so some of the benefits that we're
And so some of the benefits that we're going to talk about, you know, that it was less expensive and, you know, great place, not so crowded to visit. Well, you need to get outside of Santorini. So put it on your list, go and visit Santorini. But I don't think I would spend my entire vacation
there. Yeah, definitely not. Because you get, you'll get a wider variety of experience because each of these islands is so different. But the other thing I would say is that it is, you want to at least have one or two nights there so that you can see that sunset, wouldn't you say? So that's one thing that I would say that doing, again, a cruise, you miss out on because I'm sure you would have to board that boat before the sunset.
Yeah. And I don't know if it's how the cyclades there, that chain of islands, I don't know if it's how those are positioned. But, you know, the sunsets, we saw magnificent sunsets on each of these islands. And so, you know, if that's what you're headed to Santorini for, just remember, you can find those great sunsets in all of the islands are small enough that you can get somewhere to be able to go and see a magnificent sunset over the water. And then also maybe the way that they're facing or something like that.
Yeah, because even so, Edra is closer to Athens, right? And it's not really considered part of the Cyclades. And we even had a place where it was like that was, you know, several bars that are like set up for that. So let's see, any other cons?
Well, I mean, just besides the fact that it tends to be very touristy and crowded, you've heard us say several times before, don't avoid a place because it's touristy, because there are some great things. Like that little town, you know, all the shops and the restaurants that were on the side of the mountain there overlooking the caldera. That was gorgeous. And especially probably if you're staying in one of those cave houses or one of the many hotels that are right there on the side of that mountain, you wouldn't regret it. It's just what we're trying to offer to you are some options of other places.
Yeah. And I would say I'm definitely glad that we went, right? It's one of those things to say, oh, yes, we have been to Santorini. I would also say that, I mean, if you can pick a time that, like, maybe isn't, like like the super high season like that's probably going to be like a better experience we were there probably like mid to late June I don't remember it being packed out but I also don't like you said I don't remember like seeing anything about a cruise ship so we maybe avoided those cruise ship days which may be why it wasn't quite so crowded yeah
yeah that, that's true. And when we talk about crowded, I've seen pictures that show the kind of behind the scenes and where you see these beautiful sunsets. But what you don't see are the thousands of people that are lined up and stacked multiple rows deep trying to get that same picture. And so I think that's, you know, definitely one of the cons. I would also say that it's not very handicap accessible. There's a lot of steps and uneven pavement. So if you were, you know, dependent upon a wheelchair or something like that, or a scooter of some sort, it'd be very difficult to get around there. Yeah, for
sure. And I'm just thinking about like, we talked a little bit about, we did a couple of trips when you had your Achilles injury and your knee scooter, like this would have been very difficult for us. And I would say Santorini even more difficult than Idra. So overall rating, I would say, is that we definitely loved it while we were there. Like I said, we are glad that we went. So our overall rating for Santorini is that we definitely loved it while we were there. We enjoyed the cave house. Our hosts were just so gracious and nice, and we loved the pool, but I don't think we were prepared for how much we were going to love the other islands that we end up visiting on that same trip.
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Let's move on to the next island, which was Milos. And when we chose these islands, let me just say it was kind of like a Google search of what are the top islands in Greece, right? That's how we started out with the planning for this trip. Just a slight reminder is this was part of a longer six-week trip that we were on. And so this part of the trip was specifically around island hopping through Greece. And so Milos was the next island that we had put on the trip. And really what we were trying to do was to be able to take a ferry from one island to the next. And then in the last island, that's where we're going to take the plane back to the mainland. Yes, absolutely. And
And you had actually planned, besides saying, okay, we're going to start in Santorini that we had flown to from Naples. And you had actually picked out these other three islands. And again, like you said, like trying to pick out a good path, like what order to visit a man that made sense with the ferries as well, not to, you know, spend not to do any backtracking.
So we took a ferry from Santorini to Milos. And one of the things is the night before. And I think we might have told the story in episode 22, so I don't want to go into it too much. But it had gotten really windy the night before that we were planning to leave. Matter of fact, we thought somebody was outside of our hotel or cave house that we were staying in. And come to find out, it was just stuff banging around from all the wind.
Yeah, we had all this banging and I kind of peeked my head out and I was like, oh man, it's like super windy. And so we were a little bit concerned if the ferries were run and would run because I mean, it was, it was super windy. Like we walked outside and like sand was blowing in our face. And I had talked to our host, they had come to pick up our things. We had some time before the ferry, we were actually going to walk down to the winery. And I just asked her if the ferries would run. And she was like, of course, like the ferries always run. And so we were like, okay. So, but it was very choppy. It was very windy. This was actually our longest ferry to go from Santorini to Milos. So we did, and I would say anytime that you have like ferries or boats or anything on your itinerary is to bring along some Dramamine. We had actually gotten some of those wrist pressure bands. I mean, you can sit there and actually like hold the pressure points on your wrist as well if you don't have those. But I think that's a good thing to have, even if you don't typically get seasick, because this is just like extenuating
circumstance. Yeah. I would say go ahead and just take it before you get on the boat, we were probably fine the entire length of the stay until about 30 minutes out from our destination. And all of a sudden, they started cooking. And that was it. It was just a recipe for disaster. But one thing that we've learned from living at the ocean is anytime that there's wind, the seas are going to be rough. Yeah. And you know what? One other tip that I
Yeah. And you know what? One other tip that I think that some people who don't spend time on boats may not know is that you need to watch the water. It's almost like if you get carsick, like you need to watch the road, right? You need to be looking out. It's the same thing with a boat. For motion sickness, like you need to be watching that water. You need to be watching where you're going. I mean, no guarantees, but more than, you know, looking at your phone or trying to read or something like that, because this is one instance, like immediately people were getting sick. I put in headphones. I'm literally just watching the water. That happened one other time when we were on a boat in Alaska. Same thing. It was a little choppy, but we knew to watch the water. Don't look down. And I think sometimes people just may not know that. So just a tip for if you ever have that situation, Even if you've never gotten motion sick before, that may be helpful. Well, so we get to
so we get to Milos, we get to our bed and breakfast, we were able to get checked in. I think we went and maybe took a nap for a little while just to kind of let our bodies settle down and rest a little bit, grab a shower. And then we got interested in going out and exploring. But one of the challenges is that we had taken a taxi to get there. And it was a long taxi trip to get to this bed and breakfast. And so we started thinking about, well, shoot, if we're going to go out and explore and do things, we really need to have a car. And we had not prepared that in advance.
We had not. We were going to visit two other islands after this as well. And we just hadn't prepared for a rental car. Like I said, we didn't need it on Santorini. So we very quickly found out, I think we asked the people, you know, at the, at the front desk, which most of these places are going to be family run. And we, you know, like, do you know somewhere we can rent a car? I think is probably what we asked them or how can we rent a car? And we mentioned this in the last episode, they were like, oh, we know somebody, right? Somebody's brother, somebody's brother-in-law, uncle, somebody, right? And not only that is they literally are, you know, calling these people and then saying, oh, well, they can bring the car here, which is amazing. And so it worked out. But I would also say that if you're on a super busy island and it's like super crowded, super high season season you do want to plan ahead for this and i think the planner in me now would be like we need to plan for this in advance which is what we did on um crete that we talked about last week we're going to talk about in a minute but it was fine it worked out well i guess our only experience at this time was you had been to edra yeah and there
that we talked
out well i guess our only experience at this time was you had been to edra yeah and there were there were no cars. Yeah. Right. So that's the only thing that we had to base it on. But we did look up and get a car. I think Melissa's right is don't try that because there's a limited number of cars on these small islands.
Yeah. And two, I would say that we could have had it ready at the port too, instead of taking the taxi and then having to figure this out. And we'll share some other stories for the other islands too, but plan ahead for a car. And then most likely they're just going to be able to meet you at the port, which I think as we get further into a few of these, I think after the second one, we went ahead and did that for our last island for this particular trip. Somehow I do remember you like, I don't know, emailing or calling or something like that and getting organized for them to get the car at the port because we realized that we were going to need it. So just plan ahead for that. And, you know, you can use websites or stuff like that, but I would say probably for Greece, like it's not like on these little islands, you're not written from national. You're not written from Hertz or, you know, any of those places like you literally are going to be written from that hotel or somebody that they know. So I would say just contact the people when you communicate with them. And so if you're renting on booking.com, for example, a lot of times you can message those people and that would be a great way to say, hey, do you know where we can rent a car from? And sometimes they give you deals because then they get a cut of it and all that stuff. So matter of
of fact, your host, when you book through Booking.com, a lot of times your host will reach out and ask, you know, is there anything that can help you with? And that would be a great opportunity to ask them about whether or not you need to rent a car. And if so, can they help you do that? The
a
funny thing that we always talk about is when you're renting a car on these little small islands like this, you've got this great choice of either a white Fiat Panda, which is a little small two-door hatchback type car, or a white Fiat Panda. Those are your choices.
That's right. Yes. Three islands in a row. That was the car we were like, okay, different island, different license plate, same car. Yeah.
So let's talk a little bit about the pros of Milos. We love this because this was not a very busy island. Matter of fact, this is the one that I said, we might have ran into one other set of Americans on this island.
Yeah, we did. At one of the beaches, I think somehow, I don't know, maybe we just stood out or maybe something we were wearing or something like that, and we ended up chatting with them. But Milos is a place where I think a lot of Europeans, Greeks in particular, go to vacation and have a beach vacation.
And the great thing is that you can find a lot of these white painted churches with the blue dome roofs and stuff here as well. So, you know, you don't have to just go to Santorini to see that. You can find those here. You're just not going to have the collection of
them. Yeah, for sure. And different ruins and stuff like that. collection of them. Yeah, for sure. And different ruins and stuff like that. I would say the people are extremely friendly. I just remember. But that was the case like on on Idra as well. I mean, a lot of these places are family run. And so they're just willing to, you know, help you out with, you know, any questions that you have, any suggestions that you need. And again, I would say on Milos, like the seafood wasn't very expensive again it was like sea to table fresh catch i think scott this was the first place where we saw the octopus like being caught and like hung out to i guess we would say dry it's almost does it like tenderize like helps it to
it to be more yeah this was actually a unique preparation i think to grease that you don't see anywhere else but they would have these lines where when they caught the octopus they would hang them out and they would somewhat dry
be more
dry but i think the sun would tenderize them and so and then they would prepare them later that evening.
Yeah. And that just caught our eye because we love to eat, you know, octopus prepared a bunch of different ways. So, so lots of different places to visit on Milos that are very, very different. So some of the ones that you may have seen or heard about, there's a cute little fishing village called Mandrakea. So the fishermen had these little sheds that were almost carved into the cliffs, but the doors would be like different color, you know, so like bright red or bright yellow and bright blue. And they have, I mean, almost, they're like just little fishing boats, right? Like little skiffs that, you know, they would put in there and then you will see them tied up, you know, and they're usually white with the beautiful painted colors.
red or bright
Yeah. I mean, it's little, I would almost call them rowboats, wooden rowboats that they're going out and fishing in. And you see them there in that little port. And we're not talking about large fishing charter boats and stuff like that that's not the kind of fishing these guys were doing and so the the pictures with this turquoise crystal clear water in these you know little white rowboats moored out there beautiful scenery yeah it makes for just absolutely beautiful photography too if you're into that just the contrast between the sky the water is just the blue
makes for just absolutely beautiful photography too if you're into that just the contrast between the sky the water is just the blue of that water is amazing and then you have these boats and the colors so it just makes for some awesome photography and then it just has a variety of beaches and coves. And then there's also a very unique beach on Milos, which is called, I'm going to butcher this, but Sarakiniko, maybe? Sarakiniko Beach. And it almost looks like you're on, it's like white volcanic rock. And it's like, almost like you're on the face of the moon or something. But then you have that blue contrast and you can just like jump into the water. So this is like not, I mean, you can still swim and then climb on the rocks in it, but it's not a sandy beach or anything like that. And so one thing I wanted to point out, I guess, about the beaches in Greece is you're not going to have, if you're familiar with beaches like in the U.S. or other places, you're not going to have these long stretches of sandy beach. I mean, you may have some of that, but they're going to be then, you know, then you'll have rock. And so it's not just going to be like these long sandy beaches, right? So you might have to be prepared to like wear some kind of, you know, tennis shoes or some kind of shoes that you can walk to be able to get to those. And that was why a car was necessary because we wanted to visit some of these different sandy beaches, the rocky beaches, and we would need to drive to one place to the other. And so some of them are more sandy than others. Some of them are more rocky than others. It just kind of depends on how broken down that has gotten by the ocean. Because what you'll find in Greece too is that it's going to be more like calm coves of water. And so it's not going to break down those rocks, you know, quite as, you know, fast as well. So just a variety of beaches. So you want to have some shoes that you can walk i mean some people recommend water shoes we didn't do that but we did have some shoes where we could like get to the beach i would say some tevas would be ideal for this situation
say some tevas would be ideal for this situation yeah that's true
true i had brought a pair of birkenstocks just so that i could like wear them to the beach but then they also were like dressy enough to put on with a sundress for dinner, and that worked for both just because we were on the ferries and different things, and we didn't want to carry a lot of stuff. So I would say that Milos is a lot less expensive than some of the other islands, especially coming from Santorini.
Yeah, lodging, food, everything was so much less expensive.
So any cons to going and visiting Milos?
Well, we did talk about that you are going to need a car. I don't know that's so much a con. It's just something that you need to know. They don't have Uber, or at least the time that we went, they don't have Uber. But I doubt that they do now either. So that's something to think about. We talked a little bit about the beautiful beaches and how it's maybe a little bit more rocky versus the long stretches of sand. So we did talk about that.
you if you're there looking for you're going to And, find that know, in the Santorini's and the Mykonos nightlife, and those areas of the world of Greece. But you're not going to find those here on Milos.
Yeah. I mean, you go out to dinner, you know, but other than that, yeah, for sure not. Do you remember if the cars were manual transmission? I believe that they
that they were manual transmission.
that they were
Okay.
And then I would say the other con is most of the restaurants and shops were by the port. I do remember there was one other town, one of the churches that you mentioned, there was one other town that had shops and restaurants, but I wouldn't imagine they would be open like in the evening. And then the bed
bed and breakfast that we stayed at had had meals.
Yes, it did. Yeah. So we would have breakfast there, I'm pretty sure. And then I do think we ate there one night. So yeah, I mean, you could actually be there. It was also a beach that you probably had to yourself, absolutely. And it also had fabulous sunsets from that little beach. So if you didn't want to go anywhere else, but I think for us, we just wanted to see all of the island. And in, what would you say, I think three days, we were able to feel like we saw everything on Milos. Yes, we did see everything in
everything in the fact that we were trying to go to multiple islands. But quite honestly, I could go and spend quite an extended amount of time on Milos. If you need the relaxation and the downtime and just to kind of put the hustle and bustle behind you, Milos is the perfect island for that.
Yeah, that's true. Because I do think like, because we had, you know, only the three days, we were like, okay, you know, we'll go to this beach for a little while. Now let's go here and grab lunch and then go to this beach, that kind of thing. But yeah, in that case, you could have like an absolutely super leisure time and just, you know, visit one beach of the day and then go out to dinner at night or something like
that. So I think for the overall rating, we said this is one of those places that we could definitely live. And if nothing else, we could go and spend that extended time there. Very simple lifestyle, no hustle and bustle, great food, and then we enjoyed some really unique beaches. So let's go on to Sifnos. So Sifnos was the next on our journey. So we're going to leave from Milos and head to Sifnos once again on a cat ferry.
Yes. So Sifnos is super tiny, probably one of the smallest places that we visited. And unfortunately on this one, we hadn't done a good job of plotting like or understanding where we were staying versus everything else. And again, this is not something that would be typical if like you were only going to Greece and you only had like 12 days or something like that. This was because I think we had so many places we're going, so much planning. And so it's like, oh, this place looks neat, but kind of not understanding where it was. And I do think our other clue should have been, I know you had mentioned to, you had communicated with the host of this. And I think you had mentioned, huh, she's asked me several times, like, are you sure you don't need a, what's it? She don't need to get a taxi, like I don't need to organize a taxi for you or you don't need a car or something like that. And so we get there. And the one thing is, is they're always going to have taxis. Like they know when those ferries come in, there's going to be transportation. And we did see, so in the little, where the port is, lots of shops, lots of restaurants, probably a lot of places to stay, a little beach, that kind of thing. We got this taxi and then we like drove and we drove and we drove and we get to this little tiny town. I mean, it was the cutest little apartment. I think it was super cheap, like less than $100 a night, right? Like a little efficiency. And so we get there and she actually meets us, I believe. And literally there was like one restaurant in the town.
And two.
Okay. Oh, that's true. Two restaurants in the town. They were
They were right around the little cove. That did have a
little cove. That did have a beach, too. And these were, I remember, sandy beaches as well. But then I think she was like, oh, okay, then what are you going to do? And she said, well, there's only like 10 taxis on the whole island. And so then she told us, okay, there's a bus. And so the next morning, you know, we could, you know, get that bus and then go into town. And I think we very quickly realized, I think we need to like find a rental car for this. And we only had, I think we're only spending two nights here. So it wasn't for a long period of time. And so again, we were able to, somebody was able to find We us. did like go, we walked to the rental car place and I think they were like, we oh, were able somebody to, was able to fund We us. did go, like, we walked to the rental car place, and I think they were like, we oh, don't have any. But we know somebody who does. So that's one thing is they're not, you know, I feel like a lot of places you go, like, okay, we don't have any. Yeah. Done.
Well, let's talk a little bit about, because the whole reason that we were going to these Greek islands was that we really just wanted to chill on the beach, right? We wanted to visit as many of the beaches as possible. And so when we talk and
We wanted
And so when we talk and think back now and say, oh, we didn't look to see where it was situated towards where we wanted to go. Well, we wanted to go to a beach and it was really near a beach. It just wasn't the beach that we probably wanted to spend our time. And then we had the situation around food and stuff like that. And by the way, Sifnos, everything that I've read about it is really known for its great food. But there was only those two little restaurants right there and they were like a
wasn't the
two little restaurants right there and they were like a bar, you know we did have fresh we did have fresh fish because that's the thing like
fresh we did have fresh fish because that's the thing like they somebody right there is going to go out every day and they're going to catch this fresh fish so i mean you're going to have you know fresh fish probably potatoes probably some kind of i don't know i'm trying to think what else that's usually like the main bread maybe you know greek salad which again does not have lettuce in it. You know, it doesn't have lettuce in it. It's just, you know, tomatoes and cucumbers and, you know, Greek olives, stuff like that. So, I mean, they're going to have that. And you're probably going to have that wherever you go. But we just don't typically like to eat at the same place over and, you know, over and over again. So that was really why. And wanting to explore some of these other beaches. Because that's the thing, like we mentioned on Milos, is every single beach is going to be different. That's the thing.
But what we found was there was a great little town on Sifnos called Castro. And in Castro, there was tons of restaurants. It's kind of like a high street, if you will, where you go up and they have shops and restaurants and stuff like that, a little village. And in hindsight, we would have stayed over near Castro. But that's why we needed the car, because we needed to be able to get over there to have places to eat and things like that. I do remember that we were in Castro on the 4th of July because we talked about how strange it seemed that we were there in this place and there was no fireworks. That's something you're used to seeing in the U.S. on the 4th of July. And so we had even messed around with like some filters on the camera and put fireworks in the background and send them to our
kids. Yeah, that just always felt really strange. But so yeah, I mean, just you definitely, you know, want to have a want to have a car just so you have accessibility to that. And yeah, but we were able to find some, you know, find some great beaches. I would say on Seafnost though, you are going to have to walk a little bit further to get to some of these. So I do remember they were very helpful, like giving us some recommendations. Actually, when we were renting the car, waiting for the guy, you know, where should we go? And what we had to park in this lot, you had to do a little, I mean, it wasn't a strenuous hike or anything like by any means and took you down to this cove we went to that beach for a little while there was like beachside restaurants one thing is is that you're probably not going to find the beachside restaurants and cafes and stuff as much in like if it's an off season you would find you know restaurants in the towns and stuff open, but in the off season. But we were there and like I said, in, well, it was 4th of July by this time. And so you're right. So having, you know, access to that. And then I think we walked to another, you know, beach for a little while just to check that out and then back to the car.
Yeah. I would just say that this is not a big tourist location. So, you know, this is why we found this place. It was an excellent place. Matter of fact, our host for the Airbnb that we had chosen was fabulous. I mean, when we got there, I think she had like some fresh baked goods that she had made herself. She had like some bread and jam. And so our B&B host was just absolutely the best. But at the same time, because it wasn't a large touristy place, there just wasn't a lot of tourism or shops or restaurants in the area where we were staying.
Yeah. So I would just say pay very close attention because it was even by the port in the town was very small. And even the town of Castro you're talking about was very small. So just kind of like pay attention to what you wanted to be, you know, closest to for sure.
So I think the cons here is we stayed in the wrong location. We spent most of our time traveling on these winding roads.
That's true, because I think it was pretty far in the taxi. And I think that's when we realized, oh, we are really far out. And then the next day when we had to take the bus back into town, we went to the beach. We had to drive back to that town and then back. So you're right. We did spend a lot of our limited time on Sifnos, like driving the same road.
So overall, though, I think our rating for this would be it is a really quiet island that's going to lead to tons of rest and relaxation. That little medieval town of Castro tended to be our favorite thing on Sifnos. So, you know, if you're going there and matter of fact, I would highly recommend it. I would go back to Sifnos and heartbeat, but if you're going to go there, definitely stay closer to that town of Castro. Yeah. And it's just neat to be in a place, I think where you're just
it's just neat to be in a place, I think where you're just like, there may not be any other Americans on this whole island. I mean, it's just kind of neat, like to, to feel like you're that far off the beaten path. The other thing I would say is that it is very close to Milos. It was not a long ferry ride at all. And the other reason that I kind of have noticed that too is that going back through pictures and looking at that, if I type in one or the other, it's so close proximity that those other pictures will come It can't up. even at if that, I type in one or the other, it's so close proximity that those other pictures will come up. It can't even distinguish that, which is odd for, you know, like an iPhone. All
right, well, we're going to leave Sifnos and head to Paros. So Paros was a slightly larger island, I would say, in terms of people, much more populated. It is also a cruise port. So Perikia is the port there. I don't think there's big cruise ships. I think it's the smaller cruise ships that come in to port there in Perikia. But we stayed on the opposite side of the island from the port. So we were definitely away from the hustle and bustle of the cruise
port. Yeah. And there were some smaller towns over there. I do think we did went one night for dinner. It just wasn't have as many option. It was almost like that place was like a beach club type of area. And so we like had lunch there. And then I think we had dinner there. But we really wanted to, you know, have time to explore that town. So again, this was another one where, you know, got into port, got the rental car. And actually this was a place where we found one of those wash and folds. It had been a while since we'd washed clothes. We found the wash and fold. We drove around to the other side of the island, did a couple of things. I think we went to a couple of beaches and that kind of thing, but then checked into our department that we had rented. But then we had to come back to get those clothes and then have dinner and then drive back. So again, this was, you know, having to spend time going back and forth just because of what we wanted to do. So just kind of paying attention to where you're, the place where you stay is compared to the things you want to do.
Yeah. And when we say it's on the other side of the island, it was like a 30, 40 minute drive. So it wasn't like, you know, it was two or three hours to get over there. Yeah. We stayed in an apartment there and it's a really nice apartment. You know, it was up on the top floor and we had great views from there of the little small town. I would say that most of the accommodations over there would be like an apartment that you would rent out through booking.com, something like that, that you would find. Great host, very, you know, attentive, but then also kind of left us alone and let us do our own thing. And I know that the beaches over there were more sandy. So this was the one where I would say on Peros, there tended to be long stretches of sandy beaches.
Long stretches of sandy beaches and more beach club type places. Because I do remember like we went to to before we even went and checked in because we'd gotten there fairly early I think we stopped at this one place but it was like chairs that you could rent and umbrellas you know place where you could like sit down and order food that kind of thing it's almost more set up like beach clubs same thing one near the apartment a lot more chairs and stuff like that restaurants and amenities type of a thing but the waters there once
but the waters there once again crystal clear turquoise waters beautiful beautiful beaches to to enjoy yeah and sky remind
me if i'm not remembering quickly i don't remember though any like having besides like maybe in our apartment looking down, any like higher elevations where you could like look out over the waters? I don't remember that on Paris. Yeah.
don't remember that on Paris. Yeah. Yeah. Those are fairly flat piece of land there. Because sometimes that's where you get those like viewpoints to of
sometimes that's where you get those like viewpoints to of the blue water and stuff like that. If you're like up over that. And I didn't remember that on Paris as much.
Well, there was the one area right there in the cruise port where the windmill was. And so you got a little bit of a higher elevation up there. But I think overall it was fairly flat.
Yeah. So any other pros to going and visiting or staying on Paris? I
mean, I liked Paris. It was a neat island and I thought that the beaches were really nice. So I would have, you know, I would go back to Paris again and I would still continue to recommend it to others.
recommend it to others? Yeah. So a pro would be that you can fly to Paris from Athens, probably from other islands as well, but definitely from Athens. We actually, when we left Paris, we actually flew to Athens compared to Sifnos. So Sifnos is only going to be by ferry, right? And so that's what makes it less, you know, less people visiting. For the same. example, Milos, I don't believe there was an airport on Milos. You know, probably not a commercial airport, even if there was like a small one as well. So any cons?
Well, before you go into the cons, I would say that there's definitely more nightlife. So if you're into the nightlife, there's a whole lot more going on there in Peros than any of the other islands. Yeah, for
sure. That was a much bigger, like that port area was a much bigger town, lots of shops, lots of restaurants. I think we even, this was the first place where we saw, it was like a guy on a bicycle with like a TV on the back. And it was like, he was peddling different advertisements. And we were like, oh, well, that's a genius way to have the scrolling advertisements going up and down the street. I think that was also the one where, well, like a lot of the restaurants, and then they have the outdoor seating, and so they have to go in and out from the places. Like across the street. Across the street, and that's kind of divided. So then you would see that guy going up and down. But yeah, lots of shops, like almost a maze of all kinds of different shops as well. But that's kind of true throughout all of these Greek islands is a lot of the restaurants
across the street. Across
that's kind of true throughout all of these Greek islands is a lot of the restaurants would be across the street or across a pathway or something like that. And the seating would be to where there's some kind of view. Yeah, for
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. So any cons then? The only con that maybe you could think of is
con that maybe you could think of is that we stayed on the opposite side of the island from that. But then it's also not a con because we got away from the hustle and bustle of that area. Because like we said, this was a cruise port, so you are going to have a lot more people there, a lot more tourists in town. So it's kind of nice to get away from that and be over really in an area that was probably mostly inhabited by locals.
Yeah, locals or like Greek people visiting as well. So not a lot of the people, like you said, from the cruise ships or, you know, just there for the day.
Now, we are going to fly from Peros back to Athens or to Athens. But before we do that, we actually took the ferry over one day and went to an island called Antiparos.
Yeah. So smaller island, just right close. So we, you could just ferry over and just like go on the boat. But there was actually a car ferry too. So because we wanted to then, you know, be able to, since we had the car, be able to take the car and drive and see more of Antiparos. But you could just go over and their ferry port was in a cute little town too. Lots of shops, lots of restaurants over there as well. So you wouldn't have to leave that area. So I don't think you have to have, you know, a car or that car ferry. But then to go out and see some of the other beaches and stuff as well.
Yeah, the restaurants and the shops, I think you fell in love with a lot of those because like once again, the aesthetic of it. But then they would also have the big planters of bougainvillea that just went out and covered with those beautiful bright colored flowers and stuff like that. And I don't know if you have always loved bougainvillea or if it's when you got back from Greece is like, that's my flower.
I Yeah, think it's when you got back from Greece is that's like, my flower. I Yeah, think it's two. It's like the white and then a lot of them are going to be like a bright magenta or orange. And then you have the different shades of the blue, right? That they paint everything and the water. And so just that juxtaposition in it, you know, it's like a bright colors and stuff too. But yeah, I think I've always loved it but just like especially after visiting Greece and seeing that but yeah great I remember in this little town I bought a pair of suede sandals that were handmade there and so just a neat little souvenir a neat little town to visit yeah I'd say from
from all of these towns we ended up with a ton of Turkish towels. Yeah,
and that's what I was going to mention in the packing too. That was something that we picked up as we would see different ones that we liked. So those are actually great. We actually use those as bath towels, beach towels. They're great for, you know, tablecloths or or whatever they're lightweight they dry quickly and so that was a souvenir that we you know had that we got and and so it's nice though to I was going to mention that in the packing but that's nice to have because you're not you know I guess unless you're in like these beach clubs and they provide them but you're going to these different beaches where you need some kind of towel right to put To put on the sand, to sit on, to dry off. Those don't, you know, they dry quickly. They don't, the sand just kind of goes off of them. So that was a nice way for us to have those to use there, but then also to bring
home. So we did drive around on Antiparos and looked at some of the homes because we had read or someone had told us that Tom Hanks lives on Antiparos.
Yeah, I do think. Or has a home there at least.
think. Or has a home there at least.
Yeah. And this was another place where I think we found one of those more of like a beach club type of a thing where there's things to eat and stuff like that. And so again, I wouldn't be in like the super low season. You're probably not going to find those open as much, but that's a nice amenity to have when it's open and you're there in high season.
From an overall rating perspective, what would you give Peros?
So we definitely enjoyed exploring the island and seeing how it was different from the other places that we had been. But I would say that we both agreed that we did not enjoy it as much as Milos or as much as Sifnos. I think those were probably in our mind already like our top two.
Yeah, I think so. If you're having to choose one or the other, but if I was going to do hopping and like we did, I'd leave Per Paris on the list.
Oh, yeah, for sure. And I think it's good to see just what these different islands are like. And I think it's good to see just because it is bigger, right, then you have more options of places to stay, the different beach clubs, the different restaurants as well. different beach clubs, the different restaurants as well. So I definitely think you should visit as many of these as you can, because you might have different opinions than what we have, depending on what you
enjoy. Well, let's move on and talk about Crete. Crete is a place that we were just at recently. Earlier this year, we went with our kids and grandkids. And so if you go back to the previous episode, we talked about that. But let's talk about it in terms of these other islands. So in comparison to these other islands, what would you say about Crete? So
Crete is actually the largest of the Greek islands. It's actually a little bit bigger than the island of Puerto Rico. And so when we were actually planning this trip, we looked at a whole, between us and our daughter and son-in-law, like they looked at a bunch of different places trying to figure out where to go. And I think we had seen Crete maybe on a, like a, maybe one of those house owner internationals or something like that. And I just threw it out there to her to say, hey, go, go look at this and see if this is something that you would enjoy. And so that's what they ended up picking after they kind of did some research about the towns and the beaches. But having said that, it was way bigger than any of the places that we had visited.
Yeah, I didn't get to do a lot of tourism on Crete. I was working during that time. My personal opinion is that Crete is kind of in the same bucket as Mykonos and Santorini. It's these very populated, very touristy type places that you would visit. Yeah, it's
it's definitely, you're going to have more tourists from the U.S. You're going to have those cruise ships. There's not one, but there's two airports on the island. There's just a lot to explore. And so the other thing that I would compare it to, like that we have done, we have been, for example, to the big island of Hawaii. done. We have been, for example, to the big island of Hawaii. We've been to Kauai. And so when you're doing a vacation and if you're like me, like I want to see as much as I can. Well, the big island is so big that you aren't going to be able to, you know, drive around and see the whole thing, especially if you choose to stay in one place. Whereas on Kauai, you pretty much can on several, you know, day trips and then still have some time to relax. So that's kind of what I would compare it to. And there's so many different things I would say to see and do on Crete. So it really just depends on what you're after. Lots of different beaches, lots of different towns. It's actually the largest olive oil producer in Greece, wineries. So having said that, you definitely are going to want to rent a car unless your goal is to come to the island and choose like a beach club. And then that's your like, that's your vacation, right? To literally just go to the beach. And But we like to explore more. I mean, too, because we have a beach at home, right? And we want to see as much of the island. So this one, you're definitely going to need a car in order to explore.
You keep talking about beach clubs. So when you guys went out and you went to these different beaches, was this one of these things where you like pay to get into? Or I don't remember seeing any beach clubs. So when we went in early April,
So when we went in early April, you're not going to find that yet. But in the higher season, the summer, I wouldn't say you pay to get into, but you would pay like there might be on some of these like chairs and umbrellas and things like that there would be food and stuff right there but what I what I mean by that is like I know on Crete like then there's places where it's almost like more of like more of an all-inclusive not necessarily all-inclusive but like a feel like their hotels like right on the beach they're that kind of thing the ones that we went to yes you would have to travel there some of them had hotels like kind of nearby or that would have been open in you know the higher season nearby so what are
are a few of the key beaches that you're going to want to try to hit on creek we
we ended up going to Ballos Beach. Now for this, you definitely want to have a rental car and make sure that you are filled up on gas and have a little bit of cash with you, but, and be adventurous. So this was like a seven kilometer on like a dirt road to get to the beach. to get to the beach and then probably a one to maybe two maybe one one and a half kilometer hike to the beach now again in the we had to carry snacks and water and stuff like that in the summertime though people they would have like vendors and stuff out but just an absolutely gorgeous beach El Finasi was another beach. Again, so they had already, it's so popular that they had already, like there was a guy and you had to pay for parking and stuff like that. But none of the facilities, like you could see, like they were working on getting stuff ready. There would be places to eat and stuff like that in the summertime. But just absolutely gorgeous beaches. I mean, that one was still pretty busy. The one that you got to go with us to was Matla. And again, there were things that were open, but not everything was open.
You guys had a much different experience than I did. But one of the things that I would say is when we went to that Matla, I took my bathing suit. I was ready to go get in the water. I'm thinking Greece. My experience is these places that we've been to where you had the nice water. It was not too cold. But oh, my God, the water in Matla was straight off an iceberg.
Well, and the reason because you have to to keep in mind, is that this was April. And the last time we had visited was in late June, turning into July. And so that's why. The other reason on Crete is that they also have mountains that actually get snow. And those mountains still had snow on them when we were there. Yes, it was starting to melt. Yes, it melted a lot. And so we were told that then, especially that time of the year, that water is going to be extra cold because you're having that snow melt as well. So I don't know that, I don't know how warm it gets in the summertime. I also know that the beaches were still fairly crowded. A lot of people there. I wouldn't say crowded. I guess a lot of people there. I cannot even imagine where you would park, how far you'd have to walk to the beach, and how crowded they would be in the absolute high season. Because I do imagine that the water, as it gets hotter, even though the water might still be fairly cold, like it would feel really, really good. But yes, the water was cold. I don't think that we got in the water at Matla. We did get in the water at some of the other places having to, you know, cross these little bays and stuff like that. But yeah, the water was still very cold at that time of the year. So I would say one thing that you need to know about Crete is that if you are going to want to explore lots of different places, I would definitely split your time between a couple of different towns. Now, you could pick a couple of the larger towns. That's what we did. And this was part of, so go back and listen to the previous episode to hear a little bit about how they planned everything and how they researched and stuff like that. So they had specifically heard or researched the towns of Hania and Heracleion. That's where the airports were. We spent half our time in one and then half our time in the other. And then we could drive to some of these places, right? So when we were staying in the one, these were the things that we were going to go do. And then we had a day as we transitioned there about two hours apart. We flew into one airport and out of the other so that we wouldn't have to backtrack, especially with kids. It wasn't any more expensive to do that. Like we literally bought, you know, one way ticket there and one way ticket back. And it's actually cheaper to buy it that way on Aegean. And but you could stay also in some of the smaller towns that we visited. So that would give you a little bit different experience as well. So a couple of the other towns that you could explore or you could stay at if you wanted like a smaller experience were Aegeus Nikolaus and Rethymno. And so we visited both of those neat towns. Aegeus Nikolaus had a couple of little beaches that you could go to as well, but lots to explore. The pros, I would say, of visiting Crete is there is a lot to see and a lot to explore. And you get like a wide variety of the things I would say on the other islands. You have a wide variety of beaches. If you like hiking, there's lots of hikes, lots of different towns. You have the olive oil, you have the wineries. Crete is really known for having a lot of places where you can enjoy good food as well. So the beautiful sandy beaches, there's a pink sand beach, that El Phanasi, again, the hiking. So lots of different things that you could, you know, see and get a feel for the wide variety, I guess, that is Greece. So cons. I think for
for me, the cons was is that we stayed in two big cities. And so if I'm thinking Greek island, those two cities are not what I'm thinking of from an island perspective.
That's true. And so, of course, when we say cities, not like skyscraper cities, but way bigger than a lot of the towns that we had, you know, visited.
Traffic.
Exactly. Yeah, traffic, lots of cars. Now, as you kind of wound in and got, for example, in Hania, as you wound down toward the port, like lots of little shops, local vendors, lots of restaurants, but still a pretty big place compared to the other places that we had been for sure.
Yeah, it just gave me a little bit more of a feel of an Athens. Yes. More so than what we saw on the other islands. Now, I'm coming from the perspective, I didn't go to these beaches with you, so you guys have a different viewpoint than I did.
Yeah. But the smaller towns. So if you stayed in one of those others, especially like Rethymno, like that would be a lot smaller town. But still, you would say way bigger than even the town on Paris, for example, like way bigger, like streets and streets and streets of the shops and restaurants and stuff like that. So it doesn't have that small quaint feeling of some of the other islands that we have talked about. So that would be a con unless you're getting into some of those smaller towns. And there's probably even more towns that are even smaller than that that you could get and find it but I think the other con is maybe for us is that we are also tempted to then well you know want to get out and see and explore as much so yes I mean we did utilize these beautiful places that we rented but like you literally could have rested and stayed the whole day. One of them enjoyed the pool a lot more, that kind of thing. Or, you know, if you'd been in a smaller town. So that was probably, so it really just depends on what you're looking for, but lots and lots to see and do. So what would you
give it from an overall rating?
to see and do. So what would you give it from an overall rating? Well, I would say you didn't get to explore as much of this island. And then I think just thinking about, you know, while you did get to go out to dinner and stuff like that, you didn't get to enjoy, I would say, like the most beautiful part of it, which were some of those beaches. Right. And then I would say, just like you mentioned for Sifnos and Paros, we did spend a good bit of time driving to the different beaches, almost driving to do the day trips, which was fine. But then that does like for the driver or the navigator or whatever. I mean, we enjoyed it. You get to see a lot. The kids did great, but it doesn't almost have like as a relaxing of a feel. You couldn't, I wouldn't say you can beach hop for sure, right? It's like pick one and go. Cause that would consume like the driving there, the getting there consumes, you know, most of the day. So I guess in, in summary, like it's almost a pro and a con. There's so much to do, but it makes it feel hard to do and see everything, which makes it maybe less relaxing, but still beautiful. The water's beautiful. The beaches are beautiful. I would say even I would argue, though, that some of the beaches on Crete were more beautiful than any of the other places. But then you still have the beautiful, you know, port towns where you get to see the little boats and, you know, even the bigger boats and stuff like that. So I guess in that way, it's kind of a pro and a con. So the other thing I wanted to mention about Greece is, though though that because of its affordability, I would say in terms of accommodations and food, and again, some of the islands being more expensive than others, but you could literally have almost a luxury vacation in Greece if you could get a decent flight deal or use points or something like that. And then of course you had the time to get there and back for like super luxury for way less than what you could spend on like a similar vacation in a beach vacation in the U S or in the Caribbean, for example, and have just that absolutely fantastic food, fantastic accommodations, and just enjoy that blue water. So just something to keep in mind about Greece is if you can, you know, have the time to get there and back and get a good flight deal, it can be far less expensive than a lot of other places. What would you suggest as a packing list
you suggest as a packing list if you're going to go do some island hopping through the Greek islands?
So definitely pack light because if you're going to do island hopping, you're either on planes or you are on ferries and just having to take all that stuff. And we have found either between having these places that we rent that had washers and dryers or just being able to find a wash and fold, you can wash those clothes. Backpacks are going to be your friend or a suitcase that you can pick up and carry and not have to drag on cobblestone. Like we did say, you're really, for the most part, going to want cars. And then we were on Santorini. They helped us with our luggage. But that just makes it so much easier as well and like Scott mentioned a pair of Tevas or something like that pair of Birkenstocks where it kind of serves double duty maybe a pair of tennis shoes if you're going to be doing some hiking or sturdy shoes and and the other thing that Scott mentioned is having one of those Turkish towels. I would say buy one like early in your trip. When you get there, you're going to see them everywhere. And it gives you a nice souvenir and, and, you know, have one for each person and take it to the, you know, take it to the beach, but you're going to want to want those. You're not going to want to like take their bath towels and, you know, take those either. So, and then as far as like what to wear, so bathing suits, I would say bring in coverups though, that you could then like stop by and be able to eat out or something like that at a restaurant or stop by where you would feel comfortable doing that as well. And then other than that, just things like sundresses, shorts, tees, tank tops, you know, sun hat, sunglasses. I would say buy sunscreen once you get there you and, know, not worry about carrying that. And then like a lightweight sweater or jacket just depending on the time of the year. But sometimes, you know, with like the wind or something like that, maybe a rain jacket just depending on the time of the year. The other thing I would say is a reusable shopper bag that you could take it to the beach or bring a badge that you can take to the beach. It could be your backpack or your carry on or something that you can fold into your luggage. And then, like I mentioned about the fairies, bring along some Dramamine or here's the thing about Greece. Literally every third store is going to be a pharmacy. You're going to see one on every corner with the green pharmacy sign. So get some Dramamine or those pressure bands or something like that and just have those on hand. The Greek islands will forever be one
be one of our favorite places we've ever visited. There are so many others that we want to go and check out. What's your favorite Greek island? Email me at scott at sunshinetravelers.com and let me know. We are always encouraged by your travel stories. We hope you enjoyed this episode and found some inspiration to help you with your travel journeys. If you could take a moment to leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform, it would be greatly appreciated. Your five-star reviews help us get discovered by others and possibly featured on your favorite platform. Don't forget to follow or subscribe to our podcast to get notified of new episodes as they are released. You can also find us on Instagram and Facebook at Sunshine Travelers Podcast. Remember, that is Travelers with one L. Most importantly, please share it with your friends to help them catch the travel bug. You never know, they may become your greatest travel companion.
