Greece with a 5 year old while pregnant with the second one!

Gone are the days when our travel didn’t revolve around a school and dance team schedule. Our next opportunity was Thanksgiving break so we knew we just had to go somewhere! We narrowed down a few places and ultimately chose Greece for several reasons - the food, culture, history, strong recommendation by our Greek friend and it was Zika free (we were trying to conceive). But what really sold me was the fact that it was a low travel season for the country so there wouldn’t be hoards of people and travel cost were much lower. Fellow bloggers and travelers really scared me with their complaints of how crowded the country was and they couldn’t enjoy it! Most locals we spoke to validated the thoughtful timing of our travels and said the past summer was brutal, spring and fall are the best times to visit. We divided our trip into four different areas with a concentration on historical world heritage sites. We purchased the children’s book titled “This is Greece” for our daughter which gave her (and us!) a good history lesson and got her excited for the trip! We visited Athens, Santorini, Kalabaka (Meteora) and Delphi. A few weeks prior to this trip, I found out I was pregnant! We were so thrilled and also a little anxious for the long flights in the first trimester. I ended up being totally fine, very nauseous, but fine!

Days 1-2 were spent traveling from LAX to ATH. Addie was entertained with her activity pack, the same one I put together for her during our summer Europe trip. We checked into our beautiful apartment rental in the historical neighborhood of Plaka. Our street was lined with huge orange trees and every corner decorated with lovely overgrown bougainvilleas.

Day 3 in Athens, we arranged an electric bike tour through “We Bike Athens.” To get to the meeting point we rode the local metro. It was extremely straight forward and Addie pointed out that it was much cleaner than the Paris metro! We arrived at our meeting point and was greeted by a cat, yes the animal. It was the first of many cats we would encounter throughout our stay. We met our guide and picked out our bikes. Addie used a child seat attached to Angel. This was our first time riding e-bikes and I was pleasantly surprised by how effortless they were. This was much appreciated with all the hills throughout Athens.

Our first stop was the Hill of the Nymphs overlooking Athens and the Acropolis. Our guide explained the history and pointed out important landmarks such as the Pnyx where first democratic meetings were held. We then headed to the beautiful National Gardens and Addie enjoyed the ponds with turtles. Our guide perfectly timed a visit to Syntagma Square so we could watch the changing of the guards ceremony which was quite enjoyable. Not in this order but we also visited a Christmas decorated cafe, the Zappion, Hadrian’s arch and the Panathenaic stadium which held the first Olympic Games. Afterwards we tasted the delicious classic Greek salad! Greek tomatoes are so incredible, flavorful, slightly sweet and unmatched by any other tomatoes I’ve had around the world. We had Greek salad every single day we were in Greece. We also stopped by a little market to get groceries and cooked a few meals in our apartment. We also stocked up on sparkling water to help me with my morning sickness.

Day 4 it rained very hard all night but cleared completely by morning so we headed out to Acropolis which was just around the corner from our apartment. After entering the site, we strolled up the hill with excitement for reaching the top. I was struck by the beauty of the Odeon of Herodes Atticus amphitheater, I was more impressed by it than the Parthenon.

Once we reached the top we were delighted to find it nearly vacant with just a few fellow travelers and friendly cats. Prior to visiting Greece, we watched the documentary “Secrets of the Parthenon” which gave us such an appreciation for all the restoration efforts. We noted all the details where new marble had to fill gaps between old marble.

After our visit we enjoyed pastries, sweets and nearby scenery. We kind of aimlessly walked around just to take it all in. Much like Rome, the city of Athens is a charming blend of antiquity and modern. In the evening we visited the Acropolis museum. Addie was given an awesome children’s booklet to do a scavenger hunt. This was her second time doing a scavenger hunt in a large museum, first was at the Louvre in Paris, and I can’t think of a better way to keep her engaged! Kudos Acropolis museum staff!

Day 5 we flew to Santorini. I booked a traditional cave house in Oia and was fairly warned about all the steps but didn’t take it very seriously. It was A LOT of steps! A LOT! Mixed with first trimester exhaustion and nausea, it was almost unbearable. It’s a good thing we only had backpacks and a porter ended up helping me with mine. I can’t imagine what wheeled luggage or strollers would have been like! It was worth all the steps because our accommodation had the most incredible view! We spent hours admiring the sea and enjoyed private Oia sunsets!

Day 6 we arranged a boat tour with our Airbnb concierge host and there were maybe 10 other guests on the boat so it felt very personable. The crew gathered us around to explain general safety and we all had to store our shoes in a bin. After setting sail they poured everyone wine which I had to sadly decline. They kept it coming so Angel had a good time drinking for two! It was a perfectly sunny day with low winds so I didn't get sea sick on top of the morning sickness at all! We sailed to red beach, white beach and stopped at the hot springs next to the volcano. We were given the option to swim so I sent Angel first to test the waters. He said it was cold so I knew there was no chance I was going to go in. However, Addie really wanted to jump in so I quickly changed her into her bathing suit and let her. She loved it, of course, no water is too cold for our little girl! We sailed more while the crew prepared a delicious lunch. We enjoyed grilled shrimp, fish, chicken, Greek salad and pasta. We headed back to our cave house and relaxed in Oia for the evening.

Day 7 We rode the morning bus to Fira and wandered around. It was extremely windy and we weren’t dressed for it at all. We had to buy a pair of random pants for Addie to wear under her dress. We rode the cable cars down to the port to walk around and when we were ready to head back up, they closed the cable cars due to maintenance! We had only two options to get back up: hike the steep cliff or ride donkeys!

I had no intention of riding the donkeys in fear of safety while pregnant on a steep slope but was reassured it was safe and we would go very slow. I’ve ridden a donkey once before in Mexico but Angel has experience riding horses through mountains so I felt much safer putting Addie with him and I solo. I clung onto that saddle so tight, squeezed my legs against that donkey, held my breath at every turn while hoping for a safe journey and thinking how much I would hate myself if something bad were to happen. Thank goodness we survived! I was told it was very pretty going up but I never looked around, I was just glad to be safe and ready to kiss the ground! After returning to the upper portion of Fira we walked around and admired the views of the caldera and volcano. We trekked to Aghioi Theodoroi (three bells) and got a little lost.

We eventually found our way back and took the bus back to Oia to enjoy one more sunset. We decided to experience the sunset from a different perspective other than our cave house and followed the crowds to a vantage point in Oia. It was wildly entertaining people watching! Women bending backwards in unnatural ways to get some kind of contorted look against the sun? I’m not sure! People politely AND aggressively pushing each other around to get a good photo! It made us really appreciate our private sunset experiences!

Day 8 We flew back to Athens and stayed the night. For the last portion of our trip, I arranged the “3 day Delphi & Meteora trip” through Astoria Travel only because

for the life of me, I could not figure out all the transportation nuances on my own. I probably could have gotten us to Meteora but not to Delphi so I’m very glad I arranged this. The company was great and the prices were also reasonable.

Day 9 We woke up very early in the morning to ride the train from Athens central station to Kalambaka. This ride reminded me so much of the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes in pursuit of visiting Macchu Picchu in Peru. The terrain had such a similar quality with features mirroring the Sacred Valley.

Day 10 in Meteora, we did a half day van tour which was practically private because it was just us and one other couple. Our guide was so knowledgeable and explained the history and significance of the monasteries. Much like Macchu Picchu, the structures were impressively built on high mountains to be closer to the sky and served spiritual purposes.

We took the evening train from Kalabaka to a train station outside of Delphi. Then a driver drove us for one hour from the station to our Delphi hotel. We arrived very late in the evening.! The tour company booked this hotel for us and we were convinced we were the only ones staying in it. This was verified the following morning when only one table was set for us to eat breakfast!

Day 11 After breakfast we visited the Delphi museum first and played a little game of find the oldest object which I'm pretty sure were the bronze items from 8th century BC. We then explored the ruins and much like the Acropolis and Meteora, was all uphill. Our daughter was over it at this point and we had to bribe her with cookies to walk up.

Then all she had an interest in were the cats who were quite scruffy and sketchy compared to the cats in the other areas we visited. She regained interest with the Temple of Apollo and made it to the top with gorgeous views. We walked back to our hotel and waited for the evening bus from Delphi to Athens. Then took a taxi to the airport to head home.

We had a layover in Moscow and our flight from Moscow to LAX displayed CANCELLED on the screen! Customer service told us there was technical difficulty and they were working on a new flight which would leave in 12 hours! 10 hours later they announced another flight delay so we spent a total of 14 HOURS in Moscow. It was awful but we finally arrived home safely. I’m always reminding myself that airlines are NOT in the business of timeliness, they are in the business of safety. Much better a flight delay than a plane crash. Thank goodness for airport lounges and the Moscow ones had playrooms for Addie! She even made a few international friends!

We had a fabulous time in Greece and I would certainly go back to explore other areas we didn’t get a chance to. I would love to visit lesser known islands in the summer time to fully enjoy the beaches and eat endless Greek salads! And of course, I would love to return with our new travel buddy, due July 2020!

For more photos visit: https://photos.app.goo.gl/2M4TU2vCZhZQYEFQ9