STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

We just got back from our honeymoon in Greece late alst night!  It was a 10 day package through Gate 1:

* LAX to PHL to Athens to Mykonos.  We had the option of staying in Athens first, but we were both glad to have chosen Mykonos first.  Total transit time was about 20 hours and all transfers were included in our package. 

I. Mykonos - DH and I LOVED Mykonos.  It was such a lovely idyllic town.  Easy to navigate around by walking and bus.  Many tourists also rented ATV's, scooters, or cars, but the local drivers are crazy and roads are very windy and narrow so we didn't opt for that anywhere in Greece.  The little town was so adorable and I actually got to pet the famous town Pelican[s] a few times.  Lesson learned: apparently pelicans don't eat cooked fish - only raw fish.  who knew!

Our hotel [Artemis] room was tiny at best, but well maintained by a very lovely and warm staff.  The hotel was literally feet away from the mostly private beach.  We had a large balcony and slept with the doors open to the sounds of the waves every night.

Favorite Day: Wandered through the town, walking from the port through the windy roads that led us to "Little Venice" and then to the old windmills.  From there we found a bus that took us to Paradise Beach.  Laid out under straw umbrellas with drinks and partied beach with lots of Euro music and other travellers.  An Honorable Mention MUST go to the 80-ish year old man in the neon green G-string speedo! eek

II. Santorini - My highest hopes and expectations were set for this island as I had never been to the Mediterranean before.  Alas, a delayed ferry by catamaran allowed us our only Santorini Sunset view from the bus ride to the hotel [Albatros].  Our first full day in Santorini was met with rain all day.  By the time we reached the infamous town of Oia (Ia) - where "Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants" was shot - the rain had flooded the streets and we retreated to a very adorable restaurant.  
* I must say - the Greek have a fondness for colored chandeliers!  Red, purple, green, black, we saw them all!  
Our second day was spent walking around a good part of the island and it really is breath-taking.  No volcanoe cruise or swim to the hot springs for us.  They said the water was about 50 F that day. 

III. Athens - First day = Torrential Rain. 
Second day = sightseeing - as expected.  I'm very glad we did NOT participate int he guided tour.  DH and I had a lovely time wandering and getting lost and finding different points of interest.  Point proven very clearly in Athens that they do not really get started until after 8:30pm.  Late dinners, drinking and smoking until the wee hours of dawn.  The monuments all lit up at night were spectacular.  We only wished we had one more night to go party!

All in all - we think Greece was a great honeymoon choice.  
Pros :  I got to go to Europe finally!  The islands are beautiful.  Mainly all tourists were honeymooners and retired couples.  Hardly any children visible at all. 
Cons : The US $ SUCKS.  And it continued to get suckier and suckier as the trip went on.[This particularly upset me b/c of course I wanted to buy loads of goodies "from Europe"].  We were caught in a storm that wasn't standard for this time of year.  Oh, and many of the locals are very rude.  

I'd share pics if my internet was working but I'm using DH's company computer so no can upload pics.  And BTW - sorry this post was soo long - Jet lag is a b**ch.