Greece

You know you've been travelling for too long when sleeping on the floor in public places has become normal. Our trip to Greece included a 7 hour layover in Istanbul after a red-eye flight from Dubai. We were tired. We probably could have resisted the urge to sleep if it wasn't for the conveniently located vacant area behind a large beam. We claimed our prime piece of airport real estate, put in our earphones and took a 3 hour nap. 

Our first home in Greece was the small island of Paros, a 4 hour ferry from Athens. We decided to spend the majority of our time here to recharge before starting our rushed itinerary around Europe. Our guesthouse was in the town of Parikia which is where the main port is located. The best thing about this location is that everything is within walking distance. We spent our first day walking around the charming streets and quickly found a restaurant with a friendly owner to become our regular spot. The architecture on the island is beautiful, some of the buildings dating back to the 17th century. The area is small so after a few hours of walking around we saw all the spots that were of interest in the town.

The beginning of our Greek adventure!

One of the tiny streets in the town of Parikia, Paros Island. 

An old and adorable church in Parikia. The entire island is filled with small churches almost everywhere you look. Some of them only have room for a handful of people. 

One of the original windmills around Paros.

The Church of 100 Doors, the oldest building on the island of Paros. Apparently only 99 doors have been found.

To make the most of our time on the island, we decided to rent a car for the remainder of our stay there. This was very convenient because the buses where running on a low-season schedule and were not very frequent. This was Aaran's first time driving on the right side of the road, luckily there was very low traffic on the island so he had plenty of time to get use to it. The island is small, so during our 3 days on driving around we saw nearly everything on the island, and some things more than once.

Driving around the beautiful island of Paros. It felt amazing to be in control of our own transport for the first time in months. 

Restaurants on the island where a bit expensive for us. We decided to take advantage of a small grocery store we found and assembled a picnic for our trip. 

The daily catch drying next to the boats in one of the towns we visited for a coffee break.

The water around the island was such a beautiful colour and absolutely crystal clear. Aaran had the chance to go diving on a shipwreck and visibility was at 40 meters. 

We pretty much had the small roads of the island to ourselves. We paid for a full tank of gas and were determined to get all of our money's worth!

Walking on one of the hiking trails spread around the island. 

One of the amazing views seen on our walk. 

After spending so much time in Asia, all we wanted to do in Greece was eat vegetables. In countries like Vietnam and India it's not a good idea to eat anything that hasn't been properly cooked, which means we went 4 months without eating a raw vegetable. When we got to Greece we were ordering huge Greek salads for almost every meal. It helped that the tomatoes were fresh and tasted amazing. Another thing we ate almost every day was kebabs. The meat was irresistibly juicy every time.

Our favourite kebab from a small restaurant on Paros Island. 

A Greek salad the size of my head with the most delicious feta cheese I've ever tasted. 

After spending a few days on Paros we took the ferry back to Athens for the obligatory sightseeing of Greece's most famous archaeological sites. We bought a city card which was valid for 3 days and gave access to 7 different locations, all within walking distance from each other (if you don't mind walking a few kilometres). As expected most of these locations were completely packed with tourists, but we weren't disappointed with the beauty of each site. Somehow the crowd enhances the experience because it helps you imagine how hectic these places would have been thousands of years ago. 

Greece's most famous archaeological site, the Acropolis. 

Almost every time we've visited an archaeological site it's been under construction. It's no surprise when you realise just how old these places are and how much maintenance it takes to keep them standing. 

The morning before our flight to Hungary we decided to visit the National Archaeological Museum of Athens. We gave ourselves 2 hours for the visit, thinking it would be more than enough time to see all the exhibits and have lunch before our flight. Before we knew it, we had been there for nearly 3 hours and had to rush back to our hostel. There was so much to see it was almost overwhelming. 

The range of objects and artefacts at the museum was incredible, including items from 6000 BC.

I think it's safe to assume that Greece will make the list of our favourite places at the end of this trip. How can you not love a place where you can get a double espresso for 1 euro and a kebab for 3 euros? We also loved how laid back the people were, especially on the island. One evening walking back after dinner we saw a dog walking down the street that looked like our guest house owner's dog. We quickly rushed to go tell him that his dog had ran away. He kind of laughed and told us not to worry, the dog had gone for his evening walk.