Greece with the Whips Part II - Megalochori, Santorini!

We flew into Santorini at sunset and we could tell instantly that we'd love it.  At this time of year,Santorini's vineyards are in full bloom all over the island, with spools of green vines contrasting against the whitewashed buildings, bright blue roofs and the dark rock of the caldera.

Since its so hot, they grow the vineyards in these spools close to the ground

 We stayed in two parts of the island because we wanted to experience both the small village feel of Megalochori and the tourist sunset heaven of Oia.

We had an awesome cave house in the tiny village of Megalochori.  While we were there, we rented a car and checked out the ancient ruins at Akrotiri and did a day full of wine tasting.  We also did some driving around the island during which JC amused us by greeting all Greeks with an enthusiastic "Kalimeraaa!"  The Greeks were very receptive to this - they were such friendly, outgoing and relaxed people!

Entrance to the Cave House, which was a former school for the tiny village

It was not tough to relax in this patio every day...

Date night!  Erin and JC were nice enough to watch Ellie while we grabbed dinner together.

Yes, yes I did buy this scarf to color coordinate with Santorini...

Akrotiri was settled as early as 3000 BC, making it the oldest ruins we'd ever seen.  They'd been preserved by a volcanic eruption around 1500 BC, so it was neat to see all the layers of civilization they had.

We went to two Santorini wineries and enjoyed tastings and beautiful scenery.

Brotha/Sista wine tasting at Sigalos

Wine Tasting with a beautiful view at Santo Winery

Every morning we'd take a little walk around the village with Ellie in the carrier, which she loves.  It was fun to see the towns all quiet in the morning... the only other people we'd see were parents like us with babies, getting them out and about since they get up so early!

Next UP - beautiful Oia!

Greece with the Whips Part III: OIA!

After Megalochori, we moved to the tiny cliffside town of Oia, which is renown for its beautiful sunsets.  We had a small cave house with a little jacuzzi and upstairs and downstairs decks for watching the gorgeous view of the caldera all day long.  Our weather and location were perfect.

I have tons of pictures, so I'm just posting a bunch of them.  Its too hard to choose!

Bathing beauty lounging in a shady area we created for her.

Upper deck view

This church was literally right next door.

Not relaxing at all!

At the edge of town where everyone watches the sunset.

Ellie also took a dip in the water, but the real point of this pic is to show off those chubby thighs that we love!

Scooting backward is Ellie's big thing right now.

At the sunset viewpoint.  Unfortunately, we had a bit of cloud cover for the sunsets, but it was still just gorgeous!

 

Ellie loved Greece as much as we did!

And some panoramic scenic shots... I finally figured out this feature of my camera. 

KALIMERAAAA! Greece with the Whips Part I - Athens

We were lucky enough to go to Greece with Colin's sister Erin and our brother-in-law JC.  They left their kiddos in NY and came to enjoy a vacation and delayed honeymoon in Santorini.  They were pretty darn nice to let us tag along with a 6.5 month old baby, and it was truly one of our best trips.  There is something so awesome about traveling with family in Europe - so many laughs and good times were had.  It reminded me of the great time we had last summer with my family in Austria.  We continue to be so thankful to have had the opportunity to move to Europe and enjoy all this!


Our trip started in Athens.  We'd heard mixed reviews on Athens, but we ended up loving it.  The Acropolis and ancient sites were outstanding, and the weather was very warm, which was much welcomed by yours truly after the LONGEST WINTER EVER IN GERMANY.

Ellie looked a bit like an Asian tourist in her white hat.  Perhaps this is why we walked up the steps of the Acropolis with an entourage of Japanese ladies taking video?

We read that St. Paul preached on top of a rock next to the Acropolis, and at first we thought it was this one...

until we realized it was the one below...  We might be the only tourists in history to pose proudly by this random rock.

We saw the Tower of the Winds, the Temple of Zeus and wandered the Plaka by day and night.

And then we hopped on a plane and went to Santorini!

Third Anniversary

What better way to celebrate our Third Wedding Anniversary (over a month ago now ... oops!) with a beautiful sunny day, a picnic in our backyard with our baby and dog and our fave wine purchase from Tuscany, and our first date night with a babysitter?!

One thing I'm not sure I've mentioned on here is that we share our anniversary with German May Day - a day off for Colin here with NATO!

 In the wee hours of the morning on May Day, drunken local German boys drive their tractors around and set up May Day trees on the houses of the girls they like.  If they are an item with the girl, she gets a flower/crepe paper heart with her name on it propped up on the house somewhere.

We tend to wake up to their techno music at 5 am every anniversary, but we do like that we get to share the day with some amorous kids!  I don't have any good pics of the trees they set up except this one from my iPhone, and another from the May Pole set up in the Heinsberg square.

I'll definitely miss having the day off for our anniversary once we move back to the States!