GRECIAN GETAWAY

In our family when you turn 16, we take a trip instead of having a big birthday celebration. So, when our dear Annie turned that magical number, she told us that she wanted to go to Santorini.

Knowing this adventure was on the horizon, I began following travel blogs, hoping to plan the perfect trip. Thanks to travel influencer and former Lake Forester, Kirsten Maxwell, I purchased one of her “kidsareatrip” travel guides that outlined an itinerary for visiting Greece. It was the perfect launching point to create our Grecian getaway that would take Annie and me to Athens, Paros, Mykonos, and Santorini.

Athens

After an easy overnight flight from Chicago to Athens, we made our way to the Brown Acropol, just blocks from the Acropolis. The hotel is fresh and modern with a retro twist and was literally steps away from anywhere we wanted to go.

Just a few hours after landing trying to keep our jetlag at bay, we met our tour guide for the Acropolis— Michael Patmanidis (@michael_ patmanidis on Instagram)—in Plaka, the oldest and quite possibly the most beautiful neighborhood in Athens. Filled with charming little shops and cafes, you can easily spend an afternoon exploring.

Because of the summer heat, Patmanidis suggested we tour the Acropolis as the sun was setting. And even though our weariness was starting to set in, we had the most delightful two hours with Patmanidis where he tested our knowledge of Greek history and enhanced our understanding of this beautiful new world we had entered.

After our tour, we had dinner at the Hotel Grand Bretagne. The Hotel Grand Bretagne has an old-world elegance and is one of the most luxurious hotels in Greece. We dined in the atrium— Alexander’s Lounge—and split a truffle mushroom pizza and Greek salad before retiring for the night.

Paros

The first Greek island we visited after our day in Athens was Paros. We flew Sky Express from Athens to Paros. From the moment you exit the plane, you feel the island sensibilities take over, as the sea air and blue skies work their tranquil magic. Paros is best known for its beaches and traditional villages— Parikia and Naoussa being two of its most popular.

The airport in Paros is small and we quickly found a cab to take us to the Andronis Minois where we were staying. The Andronis Minois property had just undergone a multimillion-dollar renovation prior to our visit. The result was breathtaking beauty everywhere we looked.

After an afternoon poolside, we taxied from our hotel to Parikia that is filled with darling shops and more cafes and ice cream shops than we could ever visit. We went to the picturesque Dionysos for dinner in their outdoor courtyard. After dinner, Annie and I popped into Vanilla Gelateria where we sampled the Snickers gelato that was fantastic!

The next day after a lovely breakfast at the hotel, we headed off to Naoussa for the day. Annie bought the most beautiful summer dress and we celebrated with two Freddo (iced) cappuccinos and spanakopita (spinach, filo dough, and feta cheese) at Almond Café.

From there, we walked the cobblestone streets to the beach and swam in the warm summer waters until we were ready for dinner. That night, inspired by the hundreds of viral TikTok videos we had seen, we dined at Tsachpinis, where Annie ordered the fresh fish catch of the day and I had another Greek salad. We stopped at Nonna’s for dessert. When we returned to our hotel, we found two pieces of delicious lemon cake waiting for us in our room. We fell asleep to the sounds of the most beautiful piano music coming from the hotel’s bar.

Mykonos

After one last breakfast at the Andronis Minois, we made our way to the Paros Port to catch our ferry on the Sea Jet’s Express Jet to Mykonos.

The Mykonos Port is no joke. It’s a level of busy and chaos that you need to prepare for, especially if traveling in the summer when Greek tourism is at its peak. If you only make one reservation for your entire trip, be sure and pre-arrange your transport from the port to your hotel.

Because we were only in Mykonos for one night, we opted to stay at the Venecia Boutique Hotel, five minutes from the port and a 10-minute walk to Old Mykonos Town. This hotel was a clean, quiet, and convenient place to stay for the night.

The day we arrived in Mykonos, it was over 100 degrees. We decided to stay poolside until the temperatures dropped, rather than venturing out to a beach club. Once the sun began setting, we walked into Old Mykonos Town where the restaurants were just beginning to fill for dinner. At the suggestion of our hotel, we had dinner at M Eating. It was delicious, homemade fare with mostly Italian entrees.

After dinner, we roamed the streets of Mykonos where it is a scene. Merchants sit outside their shops, music is pounding, and people are dressed to be seen. Visitors from all walks of life are vacationing there—college kids, bachelorette trips, big international travel groups, large families, and mother-daughter duos like Annie and me. Because we weren’t doing the club scene, we returned to our hotel where we could hear the parties well into the night, including fireworks at 1 a.m.

Santorini

We returned to the Mykonos Port and took another Sea Jet Express Jet to Santorini, where our hotel had arranged to pick us up. It was another crazy sea of people when we arrived, but having a driver waiting for us started our Santorini visit off on a high.

Our hotel in Santorini was beyond anything I could have imagined. In fact, I don’t think I will ever forget Annie’s expression when we were led to our room at Astra Suites. Astra Suites is at the very top of Santorini with the most spectacular views of the island. Santorini was devastated by a volcanic eruptions in the 16th century, forever shaping its rugged landscape. For this reason, the terrain is not for the faint of heart. But if you can manage stairs, this spectacular hotel is for you.

We spent our first afternoon at the pool where Nicos the pool manager kept an eye on everything. Hungry? Here’s lunch. Thirsty? Here are some drinks. Too much sun? Here’s a beautiful umbrella to shade you. No surprise that we loved Nicos.

After some pool time, we dressed and walked in the direction of Fira—one of Santorini’s larger cities, a relatively flat mile-long walk from our hotel. We stopped at the Aegean-Restaurant for dinner where we enjoyed deconstructed gyros, while overlooking cruise ships that were in port that evening. We turned in early, but not before ordering breakfast that would be delivered to our room the next day.

Having enjoyed a good night’s sleep and breakfast on our balcony overlooking Skaros (a landmass resembling a volcano), we headed into Oia, Santorini’s other major city. We had been told to visit Oia before 2 p.m.—before the cruise ships empty into town.

Oia is as beautiful as the pictures we’d seen. We learned that white domed churches are Catholic and the blue domes belong to the Greek orthodox. We stopped in at a beautiful little seaside café and ordered two freddo cappuccinos and Annie had her first baklava that was served warm with ice cream.

After our visit to Oia, we returned to Astra Suites for a little more pool time before enjoying our last dinner at Aktaion, a family- owned restaurant that just celebrated its 100th anniversary.

We then wandered through Fira before retiring to our room for the night. As a treat, the hotel gifted us the luxurious Bulgari bath products we had been enjoying on our stay. They also left us macarons and chocolates on our pillows—the perfect ending to our storybook vacation.