“The best gift you can give yourself is a lifetime of adventure.”
Shelby two years ago would never have taken the time or spent the money to take a 10-day trip to Europe. My excuses were the typical ones “I don’t have money and I don’t have time.” But that was total bullshit; the truth is my priorities were completely out of whack. There is always a way to make more money and people MAKE more time for what’s important to them. November 2015 I made some changes, rearranged my priority list and now I only w o r k TO t r a v e l.
Finding someone who loves to travel is one thing, but finding someone who you love traveling with is a much harder task – I got lucky and found both. In January we decided we were ready to take on a piece of Europe together. We planned and waited, and planned some more, and then waited for what felt like forever! Finally, it was August 24th, and we were off for the adventure of a lifetime.
First stop – Zurich, Switzerland : Flying in, the view was absolutely insane. Im not being dramatic, the entire country was landscaped. No idea how that even happens or who has time for that, but it was wild.
Lucky for us we didn’t have to go find Swiss culture, it found us. The week before our trip we got an email from the hotel that Zurich’s Annual DJ Festival would be taking place right outside our window. What better combo than jet lag and a DJ Fest until 3am? Long story short, we got tipsy on Swiss spritzers and danced around this city until 2am! Going to bed was Sean’s favorite part; why? Well because there was two separate beds pushed together with two separate blankets, so there was no chance of me giving him only 10% of the bed and stealing all the covers [basically a hobby of mine].
The morning of the second day we got up to see the sunrise at Lindenhof, which is where we learned the most about Zürich. No sound, no coffee, no breakfast, no people, this city L O V E S their sleep. The rest of the morning we strolled around finding little gems like hidden parks, mini pancakes, and fun hobbit houses.
Switzerland was a blast, but unless we win the lottery we will not be going back anytime soon — $70 lunches don’t work well on the bank account when you’ve got a stomach with no l i m i t s !
Welcome to Thira, aka Santorini Greece, aka Greece’s most popular island. For a minute we weren’t sure if we accidentally got on the wrong flight and ended up somewhere in Mexico. Turns out we didn’t, and 30-minutes later arrived in the most stunning little village with the most incredible view. Before I tell you about the seven wonders of Santorini, I am going to give you some extremely realistic expectations in the event you make it there [which I highly recommend putting on your travel bucket list]. Greece has been in a financial crisis for years and filed for bankruptcy in 2008. What I am getting at is, the three famously beautiful photos you’ve seen on google or Pinterest are truly the extent of Santorini’s visual beauty. Outside of the villages and views, the island is dry and bare; however, that is probably one of the most amazing realities if you enjoy culture and gaining a partial understanding of your travels and their worth.
Our first couple nights in Santorini we stayed in a real life cave house on the cliffs of Oia, the island’s most romantic city. It lived up to its name to say the least!
Here is where your palate will never be the same; you will never want to come home, and you sure as hell will never desire American cheese, wine, olives or anything else for that matter. Holy heck, I cannot express to you how absolutely phenomenal Greek food is. I know, I know, you hate Greek food… NO, I am telling you that you absolutely do not. Unless you have been to Greece, you’ve never really had it. We had everything from lamb in the oven to saganaki, seafood risotto, souvlaki, and even true Greek yogurt + + We were in love with the food, but genuinely SHOCKED by the wine. I swear the bible has it wrong, Greece must be where God turned water into wine because it was magical! With this knowledge we did what any logical person would do… we rented an ATV and winery hopped! Just when I thought that would be the highlight of our time in Thira, Amoudi Bay made its grand appearance. Oia took cliff jumping to a whole new level!!! The hike getting there was slightly brutal, but totally worth it.
Santorini was only the half of it… Athens gave the island a run for their money. We stayed in the Plaka, surrounded by restaurants and just 100-feet from the entrance to the Acropolis. The food in the area was pretty good but a little more on the touristy side than we like. The weather was 76 and perfect, so we ventured out and came across some unbelievable indian food; by far the best we’ve ever had. Also, want a view that never ends? Have dinner at Mount Lycabettus. There’s really no words to explain it other than you’re basically on top of the world. Looking back, it doesn’t even seem real.
A 30 minute walk outside the hustle and bustle of the city is where we found the most perfect little wine bar – Cinque. Places and people like this is why we travel. Not only were they experts on wine, they were the kindest, most real people we met on our trip. We talked for hours about Geek wines, the history of the country and corrupt governments, how we are so different but also so much alike. We stayed until close and then stayed until close again the next night, which was a great end to our time to Greece. We are forever grateful for these people and their friendship — we will be back!
Vienna was the one place we knew nothing about and had NO IDEA what to expect, yet the one place we couldn’t get enough of! It was raining the majority of the time we were there, which almost made it more perfect. The architecture was beautiful and nothing like the rest of our trip. One of the really awesome things about Vienna is that it is centrally located in Europe, so you can take a 45 min boat ride to Bratislava, drive a couple of hours to Prague, or take a short flight to Croatia. Unfortunately we weren’t there long enough to take advantage of our location, but we’ve already agreed our next trip to Europe will involve Vienna. Our only night here we went to a classic Austrian cocktail bar, got a little tipsy and made friends with some germans 🙂 Oh, and just in case we didn’t already love Vienna enough… employees there get a mandatory 30 days of vacation [eye roll] — we can only dream.
WHATA freaking trip! I believe that I will never feel completely at home after being in such a place because a piece of my heart stayed in Europe. This experience taught me I am so little in this big world and I have so much to be thankful for. Until next time!
Below are links to places we ate, stayed, or visited that we give the highest recommendations!
Flights
International – https://www.vayama.com/
Athens to Islands – http://www.skyexpress.gr/
Santorini, Greece
Airbnb (Cave House) : Oia – https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2621747
Domaine Sigalas Winery : Oia – https://www.sigalaswinetasting.com/
King Neptune : Oia (Dinner) – http://neptune-restaurant.gr/
Amoudi Bay : Oia (Cliff Jumping)
Taverna Simos : Fira (Dinner) – http://www.tavernasimos.gr/
Vassaltis Winery : Vourvoulos – http://vassaltis.com/
Athens, Greece
Mount Lycabettus (Dinner) – http://www.orizonteslycabettus.gr/
Cinque Wine Bar – https://www.cinque.gr/
Indian Masala – http://indianmasala.gr/contact.html
Airbnb : Plaka – https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/16401940
Zurich, Switzerland
Hotel Adler – https://www.hotel-adler.ch/index.php/en/
Lindenhof Viewpoint (View of the city)
Vienna, Austria
Mercure Vienna First – http://www.mercure.com/gb/hotel-9959-mercure-vienna-first/index.shtml
Dino’s American Bar – http://www.dinos.at/ (Look at google for pictures)