Greece – Castles and Champagne

Okay so I spent six days, nearly a week, in the Greek islands and it was absolutely incredible. I’ve been putting off writing this post because I feel that whatever I jot down here won’t do the real place justice. Does that make sense? How do I put to words what the warm salty air smelled like? How do I explain how the bugs chirped at night (and they weren’t crickets!)? And how do I explain the color of the hot pink flowers everywhere? Magenta is the closet color I can think of but even that sounds a bit intense. See, it’s hard to explain but I’ll give it my best shot. 🙂

I was completely exhausted my first day on the island as I stayed up the entire night to catch my shuttle / flight out of London. Note to self: DO NOT BOOK A 6AM FLIGHT EVER AGAIN. I decided to drop off my bags at my charming Airbnb and go grab lunch. My driver recommended a place around the corner and I’m so glad he did! It was unbelievable. The owner working was so kind and friendly – and he gave me a complimentary stuffed mushroom and a dessert. I went back again that week! I had sautéed shrimp (super fresh – this ain’t Sam’s club shrimp!), bread, a fresh Greek salad with tomatoes, feta cheese, cucumbers and onions with a Greek beer too. What a delight and I even went home with leftovers! I sat there with the patio to myself and light breeze. It was one of those moments and meals I’ll always look back on and remember with a smile on my face. The fresh food here is the kind of Mediterranean/Greek restaurants try to recreate how many thousands of miles away. Oh, and when I was paying my check, a neighborhood cat jumped on my lap! See, I was meant to visit Greece. If that’s not a sign, I don’t know what is.

That afternoon and night I slept really hard so the next day I could hit the ground running. I explored the area of Old Town before most of the tourists were out and about. This gave me a chance to take great photos of the area before those schmucks from the cruise ships got dumped off. LOL But all jokes aside, Old Town is amazing!! There’s an endless maze of cafes, shops, restaurants and so on inside the walls of a grand medieval castle. YES ITS TRUE! So you see this castle and think, “Oh cool! A castle.” And then you walk inside and the alleyways and paths are endless. I spent hours here and didn’t see it all. You’ll find all kinds shops and even tourist shops with mass-produced stuff overflowing the shelf’s and racks. Some touristy stuff is garbage like cheap magnets with chipped painting or can coolies that say “IT’S BEER O’CLOCK” and whatnot. However, some stuff was really cool! I loved looking at all the olive oil products, wine, breads, ceramic bowls and glassware. There’s once again something for everyone!

I truly felt like I traveled back in time. This castle was built in the 1300-1500s. So incredible! The island was ruled by the Romans for a long time and then the Italians before WWII so you’ll find lots of Italian influences in the architecture and the food. In addition to traditional Greek restaurants, I saw many Italian pizza, pasta and gelato restaurants. Another fun fact about the island?? There are cats everywhere! Honestly they’re all over the place. Most were strays and scared of me but some tame ones let me pet them. Bless their little hearts. One morning I spent an hour talking to this Greek grandpa at a cafe. I was able to understand his broken English for the most part. He was so sweet! His son owned the cafe we were sitting at and he used to be sailor and saw Duluth many years ago when his ship came in on Lake Superior. So cool!