Adventures with four girls: 5 days in Greece (quick trip!)

Hello. My name is Laura Puryear and I have clearly become a travel-a-holic. So-ooo we had a 5 day weekend and my *plan* was for us to stay home. Because we just got back from 6 weeks of travel, right? 5 1/2-ish weeks in the U.S. and 5 days in Kenya. Well, the draw (pushed over the edge by the fact that Jake was getting a few days off) was just too strong so after a couple of hours on expedia, kayak and tripadvisor to find somewhere somewhat close and not too expensive, we decided we could squeeze in a 4 night trip to Greece. Because, you know, we don't know how long our stay in the Middle East will be. And we get to travel to a place where the weather will be great but the summer crowds will be gone. Gotta take advantage of our time here, right??

Even though it was a bit rough to get back at midnight the day before the kids had to be back at school, I think we're all glad we were able to get this trip in while we could.

We spent all four nights on an island called Aegina (pronounced *kind of* like Agony with an "a" at the end). We struggled with the pronunciation the whole time. In fact, the immigration guy asked where we had been on our way out of the country and he had zero idea what we were trying to say. We showed him the word written and he said, "Oh! Aegina!" and to me, it sounded just like what we had been saying. Sigh. Foreign languages and pronunciation just aren't my thing.

We only got in the first day in time for dinner and exploring our villa. Day 2 we visited a few ruins on the island and met up with friends from Abu Dhabi who came to stay with us for a couple of nights. Day 3 was an amazing all day boat trip. Day 4 was an all day trip to Athens to see the sights and eat lots of traditional and special Greek food on a foodie tour. Day 5 was hanging out at the villa in the morning, watching a wonderful thunderstorm roll in and travel back to Dubai.

Another wonderful trip and enjoy the photos!

Happily on the ferry on the way to Aegina Island

First morning. Coffee and pistachio biscotti with that view.

Yup - not too shabby, huh?

Anna running to get in the picture. We are at the base of some very old (!) Greek ruins on Aegina.

You can see a ferry coming in behind. Ferries come and go about every hour or so here. Some are big and hold cars and trucks and take an hour from Athens (like the one above) and some are smaller and faster (only take 40 minutes).

The ancient Kolonna ruins on the island. Only one column left from the ancient Temple of Apollo

This was *about* as high as Anna was interested in going up these big steps to the tower ruin. And then she found smaller steps on the backside. Yay!

View from the ruins

Yay! Our friends arrived the next day to spend a couple of days with us.

Millie, Anna and Margot

Walking through the small winding streets of Aegina Town

On the fruit and vegetable boat where we stocked up on produce for our stay.

Treat time. The girls eschewed the special pistachio ice cream in favor of slushies. Jake and I tried the ice cream and it was yummy. This island is famous for its pistachios and we happened to be there for the pistachio festival.

Meredith enjoying getting into the pool vertically

Regan and Jane

The beach was right down the hill from our villa - about a 5 minute walk. They don't have the white beaches of Florida but the water is crystal clear and not too cold. This is Margot, Anna and Millie with Jake.

Meredith and Millie working hard on engineering and physics skills to rescue a cup at the bottom of the very deep in that is too deep for them to dive down to get.

BBQ at our villa. Weather was lovely for eating outdoors almost every meal.

View from one of the many terraces at the house.

Cartwheels (by Meredith) and views (courtesy of God and His creation).

Games on the terrace

More cartwheels and views

Jake getting ready for the boat ride with Meredith and Regan

Visiting peacocks on a wildlife preserve island. We also hiked high into the hills and forest looking for the deer but never found them.

View from near the top of our hike

Looking down at the cove where our boat is during our hike

Looking at the cave where we are about to swim. We were a little nervous about this prospect (well except for Margot who almost whipped off her cover up there to jump in without us - she was the little adventurer of the group!).

Look how clear the water is!!! Off to the cave we go.

We're waiting on all of us. First Regan really didn't want to do this but Christos our captain assured her it was safe and there were no animals in there. Christos is on the right giving us a few instructions.

We had to swim into the first part of the cave and then could stand up. It ended in a rocky beach area where a seal sometimes spends his time (he wasn't there that day). The two walls of the cave are made of different types of rocks (limestone on one and granite on the other, I think?). I was super proud that all our girls went for it and helped us explore the cave.

After the cave swim the girls helped Christos find some sea urchins. This is Christos cutting open the sea urchin.

You put a small fresh basil leaf on the back of your hand, cover it with two slivers of raw orange-ish sea urchin and then gobble it up. Margot (Anna's age) was the first one to give it a try but her mom Sara wasn't far behind.

Jane and Millie getting ready to try the sea urchin. Christos says that sea urchins are the most expensive sea food by kilo you can buy so we got a real bargain by finding our own.

There they go!

Jane and Millie trying to figure out if they like it.

Hmmm. Not so sure about it. They said it was okay but didn't want to take another one. Margot, on the other hand, was happy to eat a few servings and then she also ate a raw mussel!

George's turn

One, two, three (you can see the orange sea urchin on top of his hand). Everyone in the Lane family tried it but just Jake, Jane and me in Puryear clan gave the sea urchin snack time a go.

We stopped at an island for the captain to cook us a fabulous BBQ. We swam in this gorgeous water and enjoyed the sun and views while he cooked.

Our family

More crystal clear water - this one was a little more of a light blue than the deeper blue by the sea cave.

Anna was the first one in. It was a little cooler at this point - a lot more wind.

Regan keepin' it warm by staying dry and enjoying the views

On the other side of the island

I think this was our best meal of the whole trip - all the various types of meat (maybe 7 or so kinds!) had such great flavors. We had rooster, different sausages (including a special one from Crete) and two types of yummy grilled pork.

Our BBQ spot

Boat ride home was really windy! We had fun sitting at the front of the boat getting knocked about and splashed. Anna finally had enough and I brought her back to the calmer back. Jane's hat blew off and before we knew what happened, the captain had turned us around and he fished it out of the water before it sank.

This is Perdika - another village on the island near our villa and where we were picked up for our outing.

Christos and all the girls. He had them all charmed - they happily followed him around all day!

Our whole group (minus the first mate who took the photo). Village of Perdika is behind).

Now off to Athens for the day. We started our tour with fabulous Ionna (who I managed to not get a picture of the girls with her - wah!). This is the Temple of Olympian Zeus. We did a Mythological tour with a tour company called Alternative Athens. It was a great way to keep all the historical ruins a bit more interesting for the girls!

We are at the big Theater of Dionysus amphitheater looking up at the Acropolis. We hired a fabulous guide through Alternative Athens and she happily let Regan be her assistant since Regan came to Athens last year on a school trip.

Overlooking the Odeon of Herodes Atticus which is still used as a venue for concerts today. I would really love to see a performance here someday!

You can see the stage a bit better in this photo by Meredith's right elbow

Almost to the top of the Acropolis

The Parthenon

View from the top. You can see why this was a valuable piece of land in the ancient days. It had water springs and views all over to see any invading armies.

Christmas card photo??

Looking down at the Acropolis Museum. The top that is a bit off-center is the same size and orientation as the Parthenon.

Taking a snack break and studying up on all the Greek gods

A little turtle on our walk.

Temple of Hephaestus in the back

Temple of Hephaestus

Hearing all about the temple from our guide, Iohanna

Getting ready to start our foodie tour with Andreas.

First stop!

At this small specialty grocery store in an old neighborhood, they only carry Greek items. We tried two different famous kinds of olive oil, Kalamata olive pate, roasted tomato spread, homemade feta cheese, a white wine vinegar made with honey and a special Greek wine. The vinegar and wine were so, so yummy, we bought some to bring home with us. We also had "spoon treats" (which is nearly overripe fruits or vegetables boiled with sugar to preserve them - they are either eaten in moderation with just a spoonful or put on top of yogurt). We also had special yogurt made by monks whose whole mission is to keep their cows very, very happy. They only milk them when the cows want to be milked so this yogurt truly does come from "happy cows" (like the old California cheese commercial). On top of our special monk-made happy-cow yogurt was a special "spoon treat" made from special roses and this particular treat has been made by the same family for hundreds of years. We *also* had special honey made from bees that only pollinate thyme. I somehow missed how these bees only have access to thyme and not other flowers but will ask the girls and Jake and update if they have a better memory than I do. What a stop!

The vinegar was very strong! Check out Meredith's face!

Happy cow monk yogurt with rose flavored spoon treat on top.

Next stop: Greek pies! We had savory (feta cheese) and sweet (cream) pies made with super fluffy phyllo.

Fun spice shop

The meat place was a big hit. The girls liked this sausage so much we bought some for breakfast the next day.

Meat shop is an Armenian family that started this shop after they came to Greece during the expulsion from Turkey. We loved the hanging garden on the front.

Snails for sale on the side of the road

Fish market

Meat market - cow stomach to the left. You can tell that Regan can't wait to buy it. I think the think hanging on the right is a heart (but not sure...) and you can obviously see the feet.