JoAnna & Chris: Greek Honeymoon

I'm a planner—a real do-it-yourself, organized to the point of compulsion kind of gal. My husband and I gave ourselves a year to plan our destination wedding; it took me three months. That left me with nine months to anticipate the wedding, tie up loose ends, and manage the big day itself. It was my dream project—about us, by us, for us, and all planned by me. So what happens once the knot is tied, the thank-you notes have been sent, and life settles back into its everyday pattern? The honeymoon! For this new wife, our Greek getaway was a dream: not just a honeymoon trip to an exotic, romantic locale, but another delicious planning project for me to sink my teeth into.

We decided to stretch out our wedding celebration and make the most of the event—after all, we plan to do this only once. So in addition to our destination wedding and our hometown reception, we put the honeymoon off for seven months. As it turns out, this was a fabulous idea. We were so exhausted after the excitement of the wedding that had we jetted off to Athens straightaway, we'd have slept through most of our eight-day trip. Instead, by giving ourselves time to plan properly, research the culture and sights and activities, and rest up before our travels, we were able to make the most of our time there, see everything we wanted to see, and enjoy the romance and relaxation that everyone should have on their honeymoon. And I'll let you in on a little secret: The planning was a piece of cake!

Planning
As is likely the case with any bride of my generation, my first step in planning our trip was to boot up my computer. We’d spent several weeks reading up and deciding where in Greece we wanted to go, and finally settled on Athens and Santorini—a little time on the mainland, a little time in the islands. So I started investigating travel sites and comparing airfares and schedules. We had eight days to spend, so we chose to do four in Athens and four in Santorini. I priced the flights in several different ways—starting in Athens and ending in Santorini, vice versa, or book-ending our island time with our Athens time—and it turned out that the least expensive option was to spend two days in Athens, four in Santorini, and two more in Athens. So I booked it.

Then came the hotels. A few years ago while planning a trip to Italy, I discovered the web site Eurores.com (Euro Reservation System). Through this site, I found magnificent yet affordable hotels in both Venice and Florence. So when the time came to book our hotels in Greece, I immediately turned to the site again. They don’t offer bookings in Greece, but they directed me to Hotelpla.net, where I found affordable lodging in good neighborhoods (Omonia in Athens; Perissa on Santorini). A few clicks later, we were all booked and paid for—leaving us time to save up lots of spending money before we actually headed to Greece.

Packing
When it comes to packing, my husband and I are carry-on people. We like to keep our bags light and easy to carry, so we keep them small. We do this not because we’re afraid the airlines will lose our luggage, but because we don’t want to have to waste time reclaiming them at the other end of our flight. (Hey, we’re New Yorkers—if you’ve ever spent what feels like days waiting to claim a bag at JFK or LaGuardia, you’ll understand why we try to avoid it.) Packing for our honeymoon was no exception. Luckily we were headed somewhere warm (we went in early September, and the average temperature when we were there was about 86 degrees), so it was easy to keep it light—sundresses and flip-flops take up a lot less space than do sweaters and boots! And Greeks are well-dressed but casual people, so we knew we’d blend right in. (One caveat: When Greeks go out on the town, they do it in style, so if you plan to hit the clubs or party into the wee hours be sure to pack something chic and sexy!)

Getting Around
The Athens metro is a dream—clean, smooth, well-organized, and easy to navigate. Cabs can be expensive (and scary—we had one cab driver who gave us both a few gray hairs), so if you’re adventurous, give the metro a go. It’ll take you to all the major landmarks and sights, shopping districts, people-watching spots, and Piraeus, the main port of Athens. By taking a little time when we arrived to learn the subway lines, we were able to easily (and inexpensively) get ourselves everywhere we wanted to go.

We flew to Santorini, but there are also ferries and hydrofoils that depart from Piraeus for most of the Greek islands. To book one, just head to the port; there you’ll find many options, both for touring the harbor and for leaving the mainland altogether. Once you get to the islands, cabs and buses are your best bet. On Santorini, we were in Perissa, right near the beach, so we more or less stayed put, alternately sunning ourselves and strolling from one taverna to another. The best part? They were all open onto the beach, so the breeze and views were lovely, and we didn’t even have to bother donning any pesky clothing (as far as we could tell, swimsuits are perfectly acceptable attire just about anywhere in Perissa).

We did take a day to explore the rest of Santorini via ship; we signed on for a day-long excursion that took us hiking on an active volcano, swimming in hot springs, visiting a charming hilltop town, and taking in the sunset in Oia (one of Santorini’s two main cities) before heading back to Perissa on a charter bus—a great way to see the island and experience all that Santorini has to offer.

What to See
Our first stop in Athens, predictably, was the Acropolis, home of the Parthenon. This is a must-see landmark—its scale is unimaginable until you stand before it, and the beauty and history of the site are simply awe-inspiring. And in addition to the ruins themselves, the Acropolis offers a magnificent 360-degree view of the city from above, the city’s signature white, boxy architecture glinting in the sun.

Other recommended sightseeing stops are the Ancient Agora (marketplace), the Temple of the Olympian Zeus, Parliament and Syntagma Square, and the Sunday flea market at Monastiraki. In Santorini, the cities Thira and Oia are musts; if you have the time and constitution for it, there’s a walk between the two along the rim of the caldera. For a more low-key adventure, take a cab or bus from one to the other and explore on foot. Oia in particular is filled with charming shops and boutiques peddling local art, jewelry, and crafts, alongside more kitschy souvenir shops. And of course, the sunset as seen from the windmill or the castle ruins is breathtaking. Lovers of sea and sun should make a trek to Perissa beach, with its sparkling blue water and black volcanic sand.

Back on the mainland but outside of Athens lies Sounio, crowned by the Temple of Poseidon. There’s a bus that runs the 50 miles or so from Athens down the coast all the way to Sounio; it’s a 90-minute ride with unceasingly beautiful views the entire way. And the temple itself is striking, high atop a cliff with views of the water—a fitting monument to the god of the seas. This small side trip is a great way to see the areas surrounding Athens, without doing the work. (For us, it was exactly what the doctor ordered for our last day; after walking and hiking and climbing and swimming all week, our poor feet were tired!)

Culture
As always, it’s a good idea to learn a few key phrases and small courtesies in the local language. You may just find, though, that in this case you never have to use them—everyone we encountered spoke English, saving us all from the embarrassment of what would surely have been my awful butchering of the Greek language. Even if I had butchered it, though, I feel certain that the Greek people would have handled it gracefully, with kindness and good humor. They were warm and welcoming everywhere we went, and we felt free to observe and absorb all the little things that make Greece so wonderful and unique.