Athens.

This year we were determined to take a long vacation, (holiday for the british readers.) It might be surprising, because we've been traveling a ton this past year and a half, but we have not take a week-long vacation together since our honeymoon.

We began our long holiday in Athens - our goal was to spend time seeing the ruins and get right out to the islands.

All of the hotels for the trip were chosen through the small luxury hotels of the world website. In Athens it was the O&B Hotel is Psiri. Everthing I've heard about Athens fell into the 'you have to go. but it's dirty and hot and a bit hectic.'

We loved it- and TJ even said as we were leaving that he'd like to spend a few more days. "Come on, do we HAVE to go to the islands, with the beaches, and the swimming, and the lounging and the doing-nothing?" Yes, yes we do.

The Acropolis and Parthenon were striking. They had such a sense of history and place. One of my favorite memories of the trip was an early morning run up and around the Acropolis.
We found this funky wine and grappa bar there and had a nice long chat with an Australian woman traveling alone. No grappa for us.

We ate one night in a rooftop restaurant with views of the iluminated Acropolis. This began a twice daily partaking of a set standard: greek salad, tzadziki, bread, (yes bread, not a pita in sight,) and grilled cheese, (note to TJ- I tried multiple searches but could not find the name....I will leave this up to you and your superhuman browsing abilities.)

We were told that our neighborhood was a bit shaddy, and run down - what they didn't mention, and we discovered during our last night, was that it was as we'd say 'up and coming' and just our style. We found these fantastic back streets with outdoor cafes, packed restaurants and a fantastic locals feel. Even the 'minibar' pictured above was fabulous - just as you can guess, all the alcohol was packaged in min-bottles like on a plane and all positioned in front of a stark modern white background. Very fun....alas we'll have to go back!

All of my pictures are here.