The Farr Family Big Fat Greek Vacation June 25th to July 15th, 2017

Athens

June 25^th

We flew out of Newark airport on Emirates Airlines direct to Athens, Greece.  It was our first time flying on Emirates Air Business Class.  It was very nice we had a great meal a few glasses of wine and a bit of sleep…. some breakfast and we were there….A little over 9hrs. flight….We arrived into Athens new airport…well it is new since we were last here in 1992….

June 26^th

We arrived into Athens and a driver picked us up and took us to our hotel the Electra Palace located right near the Plaka.  We had 3 rooms. One room was a suite with a sitting area, bedroom and bathroom.  The girls had a room that was adjoining to ours and the boys had a separate room a few doors down from ours.  It turned out to be a good set up for us.  The Electra Palace was a lovely hotel. During our first day, there we used the pool which was on the roof and it had a wonderful view of the Acropolis.  We walked to dinner that night it was about a 20min walk and had dinner at Papadakis.  We had a wonderful dinner everyone had some type of seafood, it was a pretty location.  We walked back to our hotel after dinner and a few of us went up to the pool on the roof to see how beautiful the lit-up Acropolis looked at night!!!!

The Acropolis at night 

View from our hotel

June 27^th

Today was going to be a full day, we all got a good night’s sleep and were ready to go we had a full day private tour of most of the main sights in Athens.  Our driver George picked us up at 8am and we set out for the Acropolis. We climbed up Filopappos Hill to The Acropolis. It is quite an amazing sight…and the views of Athens from the hill were spectacular!!! When Paul and I were here 25yrs ago the Acropolis museum was open on the hill however, now they have a new museum and we would be traveling to see that later in the day…. It was pretty hot, so we made our way down the hill and back to the van where George took us to our next destinations… We ended up seeing the changing of the guards at the tomb of the unknown soldier & Ancient Agora.  We then stopped for a much-needed rest and some lunch.  We ate at a little taverna and had a wonderful lunch of grilled chicken the most awesome potatoes and again a beautiful Greek salad.  We were all getting tired (jet lag was setting in) but we made one last stop at the new Acropolis museum which was stunning!!!

That night it was just Paul, Caleb, Jacob and I going to dinner (the girls were watching Noah and getting room service).  Caleb picked tonight restaurant the Funky Gourmet.  This was one of those crazy expensive innovative multi coarse experience restaurants!!! I was a bit skeptical but really enjoyed it…

The kids at the Parthenon

View of Athens

Noah at the New Athens Museum

 Just a few of the courses we had at the Funky Gourmet....

June 28^th

Today we had a laid-back day…we walked around the Plaka and had lunch…we also went to the pool and hung out…the pool is small and it was packed especially since it is so hot!!!!

We had to take 2 taxis to dinner tonight…The ride to dinner was nice….it took us thru Athens to what we would call the suburbs…there were actual freestanding houses with yards and parks…it was nice…We arrived at Eleas Gi Restaurant to quite a stunning view, it was located up on a hill top in a very green area overlooking the mountains…. Dinner was wonderful!!! Again, we ordered too much food….and the waiters brought out dessert on the house and pretty much made us eat it…Once again full and tired back to the hotel to sleep….

Me chilling at the pool

June 29^th

Today we had a half day tour with George about an hour drive down the coast to Sounio and the Temple of Poseidon.   It was a stunning sight!!! The Temple was in really decent shape and the marble was very white.  After our tour, we drove back to our hotel did some swimming and walking around the Plaka before dinner.  On our last night in Athens we had dinner at Dionysos Zonar’s.  The view of the Acropolis was nice the dinner was just ok, guess that’s what ends up when you eat at a touristy place. Today, was our last day in Athens, tomorrow he catch our flight to Crete. 

Here are some of my take aways from our Athens visit….

I have to say Athens was the city I was least looking forward to visiting…however, I left very happy we were able to spend time there…The city was very clean, safe, the people were friendly and there was very little pollution as that was a problem I remembered from last time… It was very special to be able to visit some of the same monuments that Paul and I took 25yrs. ago now with our kids!!!!

Waila Hawaii 201r

Hawaii Aug. 2015


Took the long trip to Maui.....this is our 2nd time to Maui last June we stayed in the Kanapali area at the Montage and this year we are staying in the Walia area.....We were actually going to go to Croatia but believe it or not couldn't get flights....Long story short glad we are in Hawaii...
Took the long 10 hr. flight from Newark to Honolulu then the short flight from Honolulu to Maui...pretty overall a uneventful trip except for the snorkel gear mishap!!! We have been flying carry on only for the past few years...and for a reason!!! Paul decided to bring the snorkel gear and I knew it was in to big of a bag for carry on....but no he said it would be ok...well guess what??? We ended up checking the snorkel bag and since we did that one we decided to check the rest....so instead of going right to our inter island flight when we landed in Honolulu we had to go to baggage claim to get our bags before hiking what seemed like 1/2 way across HI to get to our next flight....
Guess what bag never showed up??? all the bags showed up EXCEPT the snorkel gear bag!!!! so by the time we go to file a claim about our lost bag we missed our flight to Maui.....thankfully there are frequent flights so we hopped on the next one...
We arrived at our villa unfortunately it was dark outside so we didn't get to see much....but the villa was beautiful!!!VERY well done and well stocked...Jerry and Dea were already here...Everyone was exhausted so Dea made hot dogs and pizza and Paul and I went out....We went to Migrant had a very good dinner and came back for some much needed sleep.....
   I was up at 5am before the sun came up.....it is always hard coming this far west it takes me 3 days or so to get adjusted to the 6 hr. time change...but I was up having coffee when the sun came up and it was spectacular!!!! Once the sun was up I was better able to take in our surroundings...The villa grounds were beautiful...so many flowers a nice lanai and pool....and we were right on the water.
It wasn't a sandy beach very rocky and really to rough to swim in but we soon found out it was the home to a bunch of sea turtles!!!!

And for me it is all about the sunsets....this is our first night sunset!!!

Second Day
We could see a really nice big sandy beach from our villa so we loaded up the gear and the kids and took the 5 min. drive to the beach....it was a nice beach pretty big but had some rocks swam did some snorkeling...got the car full of sand!!! that is the bad part...always having to shlep the kids and gear to a beach....we are so spoiled when we stay at Seven Stars in Turks!!!! That night we ate at Monkeypod...had a really nice dinner but it was super busy and you could tell they were trying to turn tables!!!!

Third Day
Spent most of the day at the villa swimming hanging out....I took Caleb and Lily to the shopping area where we took a pretty long walk along the ocean and checked out some of the resorts down there...then we did some shopping...Dinner that night was at our villa....early to bed as the jet lag is starting to wear off....


Fourth Day
Paul and I had a spa day at the Fairmont Spa....had the AWE experience!!!! very nice 1 1/2 hrs. feeling really good after that!!!! Caleb was golfing so we sat at the bar at the golf coarse had a few drinks and appetizers waiting for him to get done....Kids hung out with Grandma and Grandpa for the day swimming and such at the villa....We all went to Migrant that night for dinner....had another great sunset!!!