our big trip: in instagram

Here is a look at some of the moments that I missed with my camera, but captured with my phone.

Sea urchin eggs.  They form the 5 points of a star!

Our view from our apartment at Alea.

We ate snails at the celebration in Lefkes!

 Grilled octopus at Karina.  The crunchy suction cups were the best part!

We played lots of board games with Dimitris.  We also played some with two guys from Athens who'd heard about Alea Apartments through boardgamegeek.com, Andres & George.

Playing 7 Wonders.

The octopus.

Poor thing was trying to get away.

Kenton brought the game we'd given him for Father's Day, Hive.  I beat him, as we played a game at the beach.  :P

Being herded like cattle, off the ferry in Santorini.

There were donkeys!

Cute boats at the port on Thirassia.

Our cheap meal of choice: Gyro for €2.50 & an iced coffee for €2.50.  Not too shabby & oh, so tasty!

Taking a swim in our pool at the hotel in Santorini (Oia Sunset).

A common sign near the toilets.  We weren't supposed to flush our toilet paper, but I always thought it was funny that they include photos of a bottle & some other plant/octopus?? :P

My phone had a timer for the camera!  Plus, the photo shoot in the background is pretty funny!

Some of the artifacts that were discovered at the Akrotiri dig site.

A portion of a fresco discovered at the dig site.  I got corrected for trying to take a photo of Kenton "in front of the monument".  Apparently, that is not allowed.  :\

Our dangerous walk down to & back from Oia's port for a swim.

The long, steep stairway back up to Oia town.

Our much appreciated ferry cabin for our overnight ride back to Athens.  This was actually bigger than our hotel room in London!  :P

A nice, shady street, where we ate lunch in Athens.

 Heading off to Hogwarts!  :)

 Our last look at London before heading underground to ride the tube back to the airport.  What an amazing, unforgettable trip of a lifetime!

our big trip: kolimbithres, loukoumades, varrias' home

 On August 22nd, we took a boat to a beach called Kolimbithres, that is known for it's sculptural rocks. We were the only ones on the boat ride to the beach, but not on the way back.  :)

 Approaching the rocks.

 Can't get over the water!  It was so pretty here!  We were really missing our boys during this outing & imagining how much fun they'd be having in the calm, shallow, warm water.  It would've been perfect for small children on this beach.  Reminding ourselves about the 9 & 3.5 hour plane rides helped when we wished we'd brought the boys.  ;)

 Cool rocks.

 Timer photo.

 Our boat for the ride back.

 Kenton found this hat in Athens & loved the way it fit.  He later forgot it at a cafe.  Sad.  But he sure looks nice in the photos!

 Kenton's turn to be behind the camera.

 Blue water.

 There is no shortage of cool boats!

White buildings.  Blue water.  Love it!

 We had to make a repeat stop at a little shop that sells Loukoumades.  They are like warm, crispy donut holes, covered in Nutella with vanilla ice cream.

So. Good.

 Cute streets.

 Weird shot, but you can see the yummy treats!

 We really liked the look of the cobble stone streets.

 Greek flags were decorating the town on this day.  It looked like an event might be happening, but we never found out what it was.

Later, we took a city bus to the town of Parikkia, where Dimitris lives with his family.  They prepared a traditional Greek dinner for us.

 Dimitris making Soutzoukakia - spicy meatballs in tomato sauce, served over rice with Greek yogurt -  with some help from his mother, Maria.

 His father, Aristides, made Greek salad that was "better than the restaurants serve!"  It was delicious.  He even taught us the trick to making raw onions edible (for us non-onion lovers).  :)

 Giant bottle of wine from their vineyard in Lefkes.  Yes, they made it themselves.  :P

 Mild peppers, wine, Greek salad.

 Aristides is also a very talented sculptor.

 We ate dinner on the front patio, but apparently I was too busy eating the delicious food to take any photos.  We also ate yummy desserts, but again, no photos.

 The Varrias family

Dimitris, Aristides, Maria & eldest son, Simos

 With Kenton!

 And me too!

 Dimitris showed us the custom Settlers of Catan board that he had made out of things he'd found in the sea.  Pretty, huh?  :)

Huge thanks to the Varrias family for opening up your home to us, feeding us delicious food & treating us so kindly.  We really had a lovely time!  :)