Greece

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Trip start
October 23, 2025
Greece
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Hello Chania!
Oct 23–25, 2025 in Greece ☀️ 75 °F
After a busy week of work and exam study for E, we have been so ready for a break. Though we had an early start on Thursday, the London weather (9 degrees and pouring) had other plans and we ended up sitting in the plane for over an hour before takeoff. We landed in Chania, Crete at around 5 pm, the weather a perfect 24 degrees, picked up our car and headed to our spot. We ended up renting a fab 3 story villa with tons of indoor and outdoor space, every room its own balcony and bath and a huge pool on the roof. We decided to head out for dinner and walked about 10 minutes to a small restaurant where we could watch the sun set over the sea. Dinner had some clear winners and after finishing we found our local grocery. Greek is an experience! That goodness for google translate or else who knows what we would have purchased. Afterwards, we headed in for the night. Night swimming for a bit and a much needed good night sleep.

Pushing a big drive to another day we decided to have a chill morning and swim and read by the pool. Mid-afternoon we headed into Chania (city in the mid-ish of the north coast of Crete). The old town had the cutest harbor area (actually a Venetian harbor with lighthouse from the 14th century). The boys scrambled up wall to a lookout (this was allowed) and we walked the sea wall, enjoying the weather. We browsed in shops and had a dinner we have already put out of our minds! We usually try not to eat in the most touristy areas, but our host recommended a spot so we went. Not great, and H really not feeling well, but the view was amazing! We walked a bit more and gathered some snacks for our big day tomorrow. Chat GPT assisted with something epic (one way or another lol).Read more
❤️ [Mimi]
10/28/25Reply
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Greece
Samaria Gorge
October 25, 2025 in Greece 🌙 66 °F
Today was our big expedition on Crete. After a late night last night, we set alarms to get up for breakfast in before making the 1 hour drive to the entrance to Samaria Gorge. One of the most famous locations in Crete and home to their National Park, the Samaria Gorge was forged after tectonic plates met; later, snow and rainfall would carve the rock with the Taranto River into the 16km (10mi) pathway we hiked down. The entrance was at top of the mountain where we left our car. The first 5 miles were actually through a forest… and nearly straight down hill. It was a very rocky path and we skipped the hiking boots (extra luggage weight) and regretted it. The forest was cool and calm (though we did see lots of goats on the drive up) but you had to keep your eye out as you made your way down. Apparently, in high season, it can very crowded but we decided to start out a little later (9:40 as it turned out) to miss all the early buses from Chania dropping off hikers at the entrance. It was a stiff walk down and we finally decided to take lunch camp at 12:30 at the halfway point in Samaria village (now deserted but it looked like people used to live there). After we had sandwiches and a 20 minute break, we started to hustle as we wanted to reach the end by 15:30. Shortly after taking out, we finally entered the actual gorge. Must less steep (though no less rocky) but with a beach at the end, everyone was eager to make it to the finish. The gorge was very beautiful and so impressive. The hike made us think of a combination of Rocky Mountain Natl Park and Smokey Mountain Natl Park. The weather was beautiful and mostly sunny and dry… great for hiking. They even had springs every 2km that you could refill your bottle at. Though very thankful we weren’t doing this hike in the summer months. We finally found the end, with only a couple of casualties (both of Joce’s IT bands) and hopped a short bus to the beach town of Agia Roumeli. Only accessible through the gorge or by ferry, it was a quaint village with a black sand beach. Apparently they have only 40 actual residents. We found the boys some shovels and all got in for a swim. The water was very cool but refreshing after a long hike and we all enjoyed our first dip in the Aegean Sea. We had booked the only ferry out at 1730 and wanted to make sure the kids had time to enjoy the beach… in the end, we enjoyed it just as much as the kids. After about 90 minutes, we had time to rinse off and change back into clothes for the ferry. This was about a 55 min ride to Sougia - the nearest town with a road - while a couple in the party took a nap. After about 400-500 people got off the boat for large buses, we had a private van waiting (thanks ChatGPT for giving me that tip) which drove us 37 minutes (for a 50 minute trip) back to our car park with our awaiting rental. We were happy to be back (alive and only mostly carsick but certainly fast.). Then, halfway through our 1 hour drive back home, we stopped at a small, local, family owned restaurant for some home cooked food (souvlaki - basically shishkabobs, and moussaka). Finally home at 9:30, everyone enjoyed a shower before crashing in bed. Tomorrow, more driving but more relaxing too.Read more
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Greece
Elafonisi Beach
October 26, 2025 in Greece ☀️ 73 °F
We paid for our hike yesterday with calves of piano wire when we all got up this morning. Especially difficult when our villa is 4 stories tall. After gripping the walls for support, we all had breakfast before packing up for our beach day. Elafonisi is one of the most popular beaches in Crete but it’s also 90 minutes away. After seeing some pictures in town, we decided to make the trek. It was another nice (though partly cloudy) day and we made the trip without incident. After parking in the market car park, we bought lunch before making the 10 minute walk to the sand beach. Elafonisi is known for its pink ‘sand’ beach - which is actually small pieces of coral and crushed shells of the foraminifera. You could really only make out the pink shells at the shoreline as they washed up but it was very pretty and striking when the sun was out. This late in the season, we had no trouble finding beach chairs even at the lunch hour. After sandwiches on our chairs, we played in the water (American football) which was only waist high even 60 meters out. After a walk on the beach, parents and E read our books while the boys did some beach work and played in the water. With a short end to the day (due to DST), we headed back to car for the 90 minute drive home. Pizza and showers before a little movie time to relax our sore muscles. One more day to enjoy the Cretan sun tomorrow.Read more
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Greece
Chania
October 27, 2025 in Greece
We decided to grab food and stay in today to enjoy our villa and embarrassingly recover from the hike. We hit up a local pharmacy for magnesium, more ibuprofen and topical nsaid and then made a big breakfast. The kids have been enthralled with a Sasquatch update (the Apple Arcade game that they started playing together when we visited Idaho in 2021). While the screen time isn’t ideal, watching the three of them play and chat over the game definitely is.

We swam for a few hours, much hotter today which made the cooler water and breeze welcome and read by the pool. We enjoyed hummus and tzatziki, fresh pita, delicious olives and cookies and just chilled. Groceries can be a bit of a gamble and Google translate struggles with Greek a bit lol.

Now all packed up, getting ready to grill some beef skewers and sausages and off to Athens bright and early. Excited for the next adventure, but loved our slow time here in Chania.Read more
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Greece
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Athens
October 28, 2025 in Greece 🌙 68 °F
Up with the sun today for our flight to Athens. A short trip, we arrived at 930 and made it to our Airbnb by 1030. Our metro link was closed as we came on a national holiday (Ohi Day commemorating Greece not joining forces with Italy in WW2) but we were able to backtrack from the next station and our host let us check in very early. We are in the center of Athens and, after dropping our bags, we immediately made the 20 minute walk to the Acropolis. The good news - all museums are free on a national holiday. The bad news - we weren’t the only ones that knew this. After getting our free tickets for 3 hours later, we then walked down to the small Roman Agora (market and meeting place). From there, we had lunch - delicious pita ‘tacos’ and Greek salad and meatballs. By far our best meal yet. Afterwards, we went to the Ancient Athens agora with the 2500 year old Temple of Hephaestus - with roof still intact. It was much larger than the Roman agora and the area where all main trade and talk was in Athens. Socrates taught here and the idea of democracy was apparently born here. It reminded us of the Roman Forum. It also had a beautiful view of the Parthenon on the Acropolis. After a relaxing post-lunch stroll in the Ancient agora, we made the trek back up the hill to the Acropolis (‘city on the hill’) for our 1500 time slot. At the top, we finally got to see the Parthenon - temple to Athena. At nearly 2500 years old, it has been through a lot and only the pillars and part of the front still stand but it is a beautiful and impressive structure that did not disappoint. We had another beautiful day and it was a relaxing stroll around the Acropolis with views of all of Athens. After coming down, we made an ice cream pit stop before we walked to the nearby Acropolis Museum for a tour of artefacts. After a full day of touring, we picked up dinner and groceries before heading back to our flat to unwind. A full day - we have one more left!Read more
Traveler What a great picture!
10/29/25Reply
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Greece
Last day
October 29, 2025 in Greece ☀️ 64 °F
We were back and forth about whether to head to the archeological museum today, but ultimately decided that we were all set with museums for the trip. Instead we booked a guru walk free tour and went and walked around the Monstiraki flea market and Plaka neighborhood for a bit. We stopped for some delicious gyros (and cheeseburgers for the weirdos) before meeting the tour. It was a lovely 3.5 hour walk around Athens and really complemented what we did yesterday well, with local insight into the landmarks and culture and visits to places that we definitely would have otherwise missed. We saw the cave on the Plaka side of the acropolis, which was where the common folk would gather and worship, and a very special tiny Orthodox Church that receives the flame first for all of the churches in Greece from the central church of Jerusalem at Easter. We tried Fredo Espresso and stopped for gelato. We learned more about columns (which we already knew from Gid’s GT project a few years ago when we turned him into a Doric column) and the mountain where they harvested the marble for the ancient temples. We ended with a visit to the ancient stadium (originally built in the 5th century). that held the first “modern” Olympic Games after they were revived in Athens in the late 1800’s. We also learned a lot of historical timelines and that Greece has lost the location of many important statues:). The tour ended near our apartment in Syntagma Square which is right in front of Parliament. We grabbed jackets and headed out to shop a bit and have dinner, which was at a delicious little Italian spot. Back home to pack up properly and get ready for morning flight home. It has been a great week together, and much needed after a busy first half of Autumn term. We barely scratched the surface of what Greece has to offer and will definitely be back when we need island time again in the future!Read more
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Trip end
October 30, 2025

Hello Chania!

Samaria Gorge

Elafonisi Beach

Chania

Athens

Last day