Due to Covid, and me planning years ahead, all of Lauren and my travel has been triathlon related or seeing family. This was finally changing with the trip Lauren had spent her 15 years of studying dreaming of: Greece and Italy! I have always wanted to visit Greece, but Italy never quite had the same draw. I was open to being convinced and so off we set…
Sept 9/10th
Long trip (Penticton-Athens). We left our new house (don’t complete on a house 36hrs before going on a 3-week vacation) for Kelowna via a backcountry forest service road due to a landslide. 3 flights and 28hrs later we arrived at our hotel in Athens. No drama or fights, despite very little sleep, makes for a good start to the trip!! Some sleep and let the holiday begin…
Sept 11th
Athens – Ancient Greek Civilisation was one of my favourite lessons at school. Unfortunately, I have forgotten most of it now but finally seeing the Acropolis and Parthenon was awesome. The crowds were awful, and Lauren and I were in agreement they needed to be avoided whenever possible. The weather was perfect, hot with a gentle breeze, for exploring the city and walking the streets and shops of the Plaka.
For lunch we tried a little place opposite our hotel that appeared to have some locals. Our first taste of Greek food did not disappoint. Pita, tzatziki and a gyro were just what the doctor ordered. If the food was going to be like this for the rest of the trip I would be in trouble.
We faded in the evening after all the travel but felt one day in Athens was the perfect start. Now on to the Greek islands…
Sept 12th
We arrived at a very windy Milos and collected an already pretty beaten-up hire car. My subsequent driving experience suggested why. Driving was chaotic and the rules of the road are flexible shall we say!
It was too early to check-in, so we drove/walked around Adamantas. We completed the town in 30 minutes as there wasn’t much apart from the few shops and the ferry terminal for our next jump to Santorini.
With more time still to kill we set off for one of the top-rated beaches, Fryiplaka.
It was a beautiful spot at the bottom of a steep dirt road. We placed ourselves on a couple of sun loungers but when the owners came to charge us 30 Euros, we decided the sand wasn’t that bad after all. We sunned ourselves with the occasional dip, but the water was a little on the fresh side. With the strong wind it wasn’t quite as warm as hoped.
After our first taste of the Greek sun, we could finally head to our hotel. We were pretty excited as Lauren had spoilt us a little bit! There had been a few negative reviews online, but we were confident. One of the main complaints had been the ‘impassable’ dirt road you have to navigate to get there. I would describe it as a normal dirt country lane. Some people have no sense of adventure!
It instantly became clear anyone giving this hotel a bad review is a lunatic. The location is absolutely insane. The staff were so friendly, the dark reception and tour of the spa might have been a little much, but everything else about the hotel made this one of the most special places either of us have ever been.
The afternoon was spent sunning ourselves by the infinity pool overlooking the private beach. No one and nothing in sight and the soundtrack of goats on the hillside. Paradise.
Again, the water was a bit chilly, but the forecast was to warm up as the wind eased over the next few days.
I squeezed in a quick gym workout to burn off some of the tzatziki and pita before dinner. It turns out fancy hotels have fancy priced menus. After demolishing the breadbasket and two, tasty but pricey, risottos it was time to call it a night on our first day in paradise.
I could get used to this…
Sept 13th
I woke to a spectacular morning sunrise and squeezed in a little work. This might be the best ‘desk’ in the world. I couldn’t believe how amazing the hotel was, quickly running out of superlatives.
After a quick workout we ventured for breakfast at the hotel restaurant (included). Like everything else here, it exceeded expectations!! Poached eggs on salmon and avocado toast to die for!
The last 3 days were for travel so today was one for staying put. When your hotel has the most amazing infinity pool, private beach and lovely staff, there is no reason why we wouldn’t! For an added bonus the hotel seemed to be pretty much empty, so we made the most of having it to ourselves.
In the evening we ventured out to the cute mountain top town of Plaka. It had the traditional white buildings and blue doors, tight streets, little shops and restaurants. After an awesome dinner (maybe the best sausage I’ve ever had, stuffed with sun dried tomato and feta) we grabbed a cocktail and climbed the local hill to watch the sunset.
On the way back we discovered they water the dirt road to the hotel. Not entirely sure why as it has really steep up’s and down’s and wasn’t that dusty. Watering it, turned the dirt to mud and made things a little interesting, testing our car right to it’s limit! I enjoyed the challenge but not really sure why we needed to be challenged.
Heading for bed we agreed today had been as perfect a day as is possible!!
I was little worried this might be the highlight of the trip and we were only a couple of days in.
Sept 14th
I woke early for a sunrise swim as trying to train a little while travelling. The water was perfect, and I couldn’t believe how clear it was. Saw quite a few fishies, including a few lionfish which is sad as they are invasive, but made sure I avoided those spikes.
Mixed up the breakfast order and it’s all delicious. The food in Greece is to die for. It might be my new favourite cuisine.
We enjoyed another sublime day by the pool, sunning ourselves and cooling off when needed with a quick dip in the beautiful pool. The absence of wind made it a lot warmer and Lauren a lot happier. Again, we more or less had the place to ourselves so were just basking in paradise. We aren’t entirely sure why all the other guests seem to leave for the day, but we were not complaining.
One guest did get a helicopter to land at the hotel and fly off in the direction of Santorini, but we decided to stick with the ferry. (found out later it cost 2000 Euros)
Today’s dinner destination was the cute fishing/boating town of Pollonia on the Northwest of the Island. Such a beautiful little bay with traditional Greek houses. Dinner was OK compared to some of the meals we have had, but it turns out that even OK Greek food is still awesome and better than most!
One observation is the cats on the island. There are so many everywhere, its crazy. They all seem pretty healthy, but still a bit odd that every restaurant, parking lot, garden etc. has 3-4 cats walking around.
Sept 15th
Started with another sunrise swim. I could get used to this but today is our final day in heaven.
Unfortunately, today we had to endure some awful Americans, the very worst. Every country has their clowns, and these were yours America! 2 ladies in their 40’s, loud, obnoxious, rude and drunk at 11am. We had to spend the day playing musical beach/pool just to get away from them. They even managed to get in a fight with another guest.
Luckily everyone else here has been quiet, respectful and friendly when we have chatted to them.
Pre dinner we fulfilled our tourist obligations by visiting two recommended beaches. The first, Sarakiniko, had cool rock formations but is listed as a hot spot and the experience drove home why our hotel is so special… No people! The second, Firopotamos, was such a cute little bay. Beautiful white houses and beach. Would be a charming little holiday spot as all the huts/houses were rentals.
For our final dinner we headed back to Adamantas to finish of what has been the most amazing 4 days. I have been fortunate to go on some very special holidays, but this is up with the best.
Milos has been perfect!
Sept 16th
One final early gym and delicious breakfast, pretty confident we won’t have a better breakfast. Definitely sad to leave Milos but the next step of our adventure takes us on to Santorini, then Italy so not all bad news.
After returning the car we had time to kill in town before our ferry to Santorini. Lauren found a spot for a quick massage while I did some work. Well deserved as it is usually Lauren working hard while I have more time off.
The ferry experience was pretty cool even as an experienced ferry connoisseur. No messing around at all, people are “cattle prodded” on and off as Lauren put it. It doesn’t really matter if it’s people or cars, whistles are blown, and people are directed. We were one of the first on and the ferry was underway before we even sat down.
Arriving in Santorini was chaos. We had organised a shuttle, but the other person was absent, so we had to wait. The arrival port isn’t very nice even if the sheer cliffs are impressive. This was where it clicked, we were in for a different Greece experience. I knew Santorini had cliffs but I didn’t realise it was pretty much all cliffs, and the towns are on the top, not by the sea. Really should have done more research, luckily Lauren knew.
Our hotel was lovely, with insane views, but everything is little and tight vs the space of Milos. We found a great little Greek fast-food place for a mid-afternoon snack (gyros) and returned to our hotel for a quick sunset dip. For the final sunset we moved to our private hot tub and what a sunset it was! I get why this place a little famous!
5 minutes after sitting down for dinner we discovered we had just been in the nick of time as the crowds descended. It turns out the whole island watches the sunset and then goes for dinner. Note for future evenings, be speedy.
Sept 17th
My early morning trail run took me towards Oia, the famous town. It was stunning running along the ridges of the island watching the sunrise. Needed to be done early as despite a strong wind it was already warming up. I only nearly fell a few times. You really need to look where you’re going when trail running, and the insane views were not helpful!
After breakfast on our balcony, we took the cliff pass to Fira. It was so hot, plenty of tourist shops to look in but way too many people. We much preferred the Milos vibes. The afternoon was spent by, not in, the pool as it was a bit chilly. They claim it’s heated but I’m not sure!
Tonight, we outwitted the crowds having dinner before sunset at a great little place nearby. Best pita and hummus we’ve had and the restaurant to ourselves. Very civilised. The early dinner also worked well as we were trying to do 2 meals a day to prevent me eating too much!
Unfortunately, some smog blew in, so the sunset wasn’t as good. You couldn’t see when the sun went through the horizon. Rather disappointing, but at least we saw a great one on the first night.
No doubt Santorini is beautiful but is pricey for what you get. We agreed we could have done one day less here. It might have been different if we had a car but driving seems tricky/scary and there are just so many people, every beach/site would be equally busy. (There are 15,000 residents and over 2 million visitors a year). Luckily our hotel is very nice, so we are perfectly happy just relaxing before the next stage of our trip.
Sept 18th
Another morning run to start the day, but shorter as my legs are feeling the up and down of the hills. Still to decide if trail running is for me.
We took advantage of our hotel by spending the day between our hot tub and the hotel infinity pool/bar (18 Euros a cocktail, eek!).
For the evening we headed to Oia, supposedly the highlight of Santorini with the blue roofed churches and sunset views.
Our taxi driver on the way was hilarious. Clearly very tired after a long season and pretty angry, in a friendly/funny way, at all the awful driving and traffic. We walked down the main walkway and saw a few churches. Neither of us were particularly enjoying ourselves as we didn’t want to shop, and it was too crowded and getting worse as sunset approached. We chose to have an early dinner and retreat back to our hotel for the sunset.
The taxi driver on the way back was equally hilarious. He didn’t understand at all why everyone went to Oia. He ranted about how the sunset is the same the whole way along the top of the island and the sunrise is actually more beautiful. This amused us as we had come to the same conclusion.
The highlight of Oia was the taxi drivers. Hardly a glowing recommendation.
The expedition highlighted how crazy expensive Santorini is. Food, drink, taxis are all expensive and no way round it. We have had a pleasant time and enjoyed relaxing with our pool and view but won’t be back.
Sept 19th
One final morning run, taking a longer/flatter route as my legs still hurt. Santorini is really windy. It was blowing the whole time and not just a light breeze. I thought the Med was meant to be calm!
We took a small walk to the peak of the route to Oia, before returning to the hotel a final day of R&R. A little bonus was a nice couple had bought too much booze and didn’t have room for their Prosecco so left it with us.
One final mention has to go the owner/manager. He was quite the character with the most amazing moustache. The hotel restaurant is called Moustache. He was friendly, helpful and really added something to our stay.
Sept 20th
Very sad to leave Greece. Not helped by what turned out to be our first tough day. In reality it wasn’t that bad, we had just spent 8 days in paradise and a long travel day led to frustration.
We flew to Naples and on the surface, it is not a nice city. Never judge a book by its cover but from what we saw, admittedly very little, it was old and run down. We had to spend 3hrs waiting for our ferry in a disappointing port. The hot, humid, weather did not positively add to the experience or our mood. The ferry was then late and in comparison to the ferries in Greece it was shambolic. No urgency, not a very nice ferry and it managed to get increasingly delayed as we travelled along.
Tired and disappointed by the lack of sun we arrived in Amalfi to hordes of people. It was awful and made Santorini look quiet!
After a shower, a rest, a short walk and dinner it seemed a bit of a nicer. When does a good pizza or pasta not improve things.
Not a great intro to Italy but it was always going to be hard after such a special time in Greece. Early days though and Italy has plenty of time to redeem itself!
Sept 21st
I went for a morning run but given the terrain and busy roads, I ended up running up and down the seawall. I can confirm it was not a long seawall and I have no idea how many times I went back and forth.
Breakfast at the Airbnb was great and continued the run of choosing accommodation perfectly for what we were looking for at each location. The thunderstorm and rain passed over while we ate and once it dried up, we went for a walk.
There are so many shops selling all sorts of things, but the overall theme is lemons. Lauren found a piece of art and I found a tasty lemon sorbet inside a lemon. A tourist trap as it was extortionate, it might have cost more than the art!!!!
The rest of Amalfi is small and one day was plenty, although I will admit we didn’t get very creative as there are day trips you can do. However, given neither of us like crowds, a day trip as part of a crowd didn’t appeal.
At a loss of what to do with ourselves Lauren suggested an afternoon walk up to a waterfall. And boy am I glad she did. It turned out to be one of the hidden gems of the trip, although it helps, I am a sucker for a good waterfall.
The route took us up through a beautiful valley full of lemon trees and past the ruins of the old paper mills. The smell and views were amazing. The path eventually revealed a small waterfall and as is required in this scenario I went for a quick dip.
Not my most athletic performance though!
On the way down we stopped at the Villa Dei Mulini. A small restaurant on the route for a refreshing drink. Lauren and I split a limoncello slushy and some homemade wine. The slushy was dangerously tasty on a hot day and also great value.
Amazing what you can find if you venture off the beaten path a little bit. There weren’t many people up there and the route required a little bit of adventuring (the path had been washed away by a landslide) which is always a bonus.
Sept 22nd
The day started with another repetitive and humid morning run.
We were headed to Positano which is meant to be the crown jewel of the area but turned out to be a tourist hell hole. The heat/humidity and more people than can be crammed in makes for a severely unappealing experience.
We walked the streets for a bit shopping and found some nice shops. I finally found the pair of shorts I had been looking for all trip! Suffering from the crowds we retreated to a fancy restaurant on the waterfront as it was quiet. After a yummy pizza we made the decision to cut our day 3 hrs short and return to Amalfi. Amalfi had seemed horrifically busy but on returning from Positano it was pleasantly busy!
This was the first part of our trip that hasn’t been pretty much perfect. Positano was so bad it had us considering rerouting the rest of our trip to try and avoid that experience again.
Sept 23rd
For now, we were sticking to the plan and set off for Rome at the perfect time, under the threat of severe warnings for thunderstorms and rain. Luckily, we spent the day on ferries and trains. The weather gods were kind to us.
What wasn’t lucky was getting to the ferry and finding they had all been cancelled due to the weather forecast (currently calm and not raining). The only ferry running was to Salerno, from where we could take a train to Rome. As it turned out our luck was back in, as this route was far more efficient, even if we did have to buy new tickets.
As our train sped through the storms I overhead someone saying a couple had just arrived at Amalfi, for their honeymoon, to heavy hail. Since we had arrived, I had been trying to understand why everyone raves about the Amalfi coast.
For sure it has a pretty coastline, and the towns are cute but no more so than many other places I have visited.
It feels to me it is one of those places that was once cute and quaint (we agree if no people it would be a nice place to visit). So, people start visiting, but now so many people visit it has been ruined. These visiting people still say it’s nice, as everyone else said it was, even though the charm was lost a long time ago.
It was super expensive, people were jammed on to the few small beaches, sun loungers cost 35 Euros, the list goes on! Madness!
Anyway, rant over and we arrived in Rome!
When we planned the trip Rome was the part of Italy I was most looking forward to and the first impressions were great. Perfect temperature. No humidity, which was nice post Amalfi. Easy to walk around. Colosseum very impressive and lots of other things to see.
We logged a lot of steps in the afternoon taking in the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain and Pantheon. There had been some confusion this trip with Positano/Portofino and Pantheon/Parthenon.
A great afternoon was topped off in style by the best carbonara I’ve ever had, and I love carbonara. Exquisite! I also had a salted beer which was tasty but interesting. A lot of credit has to go to Lauren as she has been in charge of food, and she has chosen exceptionally well throughout the trip!
Sept 24th
Early morning run and loving Rome. The biggest compliment I can give is I didn’t want to turn around or stop my run. I had no route and just went where my feet took me. The combination of Roman ruins and the more recent history/architecture make for an amazing experience. It helped there is a perfect run/bike path along the river Rhone. Then as a bonus I saw a guy catch a decent size carp. Through universal fishing hand signals, I learnt they get much bigger.
I am not a city person, but Rome is right up there as one of my favourites. Greece exceeded our very high expectations. Amalfi under delivered on low expectations. Rome over delivered on good expectations. I think that has us coming out ahead.
It was a long day on our feet as we ventured off to the Vatican. Without thinking we arrived at Midday on Sunday to unbelievable crowds! Turns out that is when the Pope gives an address from his window. Once he finished the crowds dissipated to leave us at the front of the queue. This was lucky as not long after the queues were insane and we would have left. Lady luck shining on us again.
We saw the Basilica and I am glad we did but again this just isn’t really our cup of tea. Life experience ticked off, don’t really need to go back.
We took a different route home which highlighted how walkable the city is. We managed to do everything we wanted as well as find bonus market/shops by wandering around. Lovely! The advice we received was you only need a day in Rome and I wouldn’t disagree but would come back.
Sept 25th
Started with an early train to Florence. My first impression is very charming, but not spectacular. Walking around there are some great things to see but nothing in particular that grabs the eye. The main take away was the millions of shops selling leather items. What’s even more bizarre is 99% of them are selling the exact same thing. I’ve ever seen anything like it.
Not much else to report other than I found a delicious Gelato, forest fruits, and for the first time on our trip we had a disappointing hotel. There wasn’t anything awfully wrong with it but there wasn’t anything right either!
Sept 26th
The morning was spent exploring Florence. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really the place for us but that is nothing against the city. It is very attractive and has a lot of cool museums but that just isn’t what entertains us. We went through the Uffizi gallery in record time before, venturing to the Michelangelo Plaza for a great view over the city and a replica of Daniel.
The most entertainment was had in the afternoon at the market watching Lauren wrestle with all the stalls. They all had the same bags and there was one Lauren wanted but turns out none would go to 20 Euros. Across all the stands, despite many different approaches, 25 was the lowest we could get. No Deal! (some started at 95)
Not sure Lauren even wanted the bag that much, she just wanted to win!
It is very odd to have a market where 90% of the stalls sell exactly the same thing. No idea how they are all in business when they seem to have the same lower limits as well.
We left not having tried either of Florence’s specialties, leather and T-Bone steaks. Lauren hadn’t cracked 20 Euro’s, and the steak was for 2-3 people and started at 1.2kgs so I had to ‘settle’ for a little fillet instead. Delicious!
Sept 27th
Initially we had planned to go to Venice today. However, having had enough of large crowds, and a slight worry about mosquitos, we changed tack and set off for Siena, Tuscany. The new plan was to enjoy some wine country R&R before heading home.
After surviving our first, and last, tiff of the trip at the train station (3 weeks of permanent company and one clash suggest we are well set up for future adventures) we arrived in sunny Siena. We have been so lucky on this trip, apart from some wind in Greece, the weather has been perfect every day and our longest train day coincided with thunderstorms and hail!
Our final hotel was a cute, converted farmhouse on the outskirts of the city, perfect for a reboot. Sun, greenery, a pool and no people.
We walked into town for lunch which turned out to be quite the expedition. You can, we did, take escalators all the way up the hill to the walled old city. For the first time in Italy it felt like we were somewhere that people actually live. Students, people going to work, locals at restaurants rather than tourists. It was nice to get a feel for proper Italy.
Siena is pretty but not spectacular. The coolest part is the bareback horserace, twice a year, around the city square which I imagine is pretty nuts. Plus, I found a giant pizza!
After walking home, we were too tired to walk back so taxied to dinner (we have done so many steps on this trip!). Lauren’s pasta was of note “best pasta I’ve ever eaten”. Personally, I thought my Rome carbonara was better, but it isn’t always a competition….
Sept 28th
The final day on what has been a spectacular trip, but after 3 weeks we were also ready to be going home where our new house awaits!
I started the day with a long run in to the Tuscan countryside. It was so beautiful and with the exception of the Milos hotel, which was ridiculous, this was my favourite part of the trip. By complete coincidence I ran past the winery Lauren booked for our afternoon wine tasting. I could confirm she was in for a treat. I could also confirm they had dogs who made sure I didn’t hang around as I went past!
With the travel and Canadian Winter ahead of us we made the most of the sun relaxing by/in the pool before our wine tasting. We splashed out on an exquisite charcouterie board to accompany our wines as we took in the beautiful Tuscan landscape.
I honestly can’t think of a better way to round off the trip than sitting in the sun with Lauren, an amazing view, bread and olive oil, Italian cheese and hams, sipping delicious wine. Even the dogs were friendly this time.
Thank you, Siena/Tuscany, we will be back!
Sept 29th/30th
We flew out of Pisa. Lauren insisted there was no time to see the tower, she was correct in hindsight, unsurprisingly. We broke the return trip up to avoid 3 back-to-back flights and give me a chance to catch up with family and a few friends, which was long overdue. It’s amazing how much changes in 6 months and having a young niece and nephew emphasises this. It’s always been hard living on the other side of the world, but I am fortunate to get back as often as I do. The blow is softened by the fact Lauren and I have just bought our dream house in paradise. The next adventure of being homeowners begins!
Adventures of a fishing triathlete 