Greece Part 4

In case you missed it, here are parts one through three before diving into part four:

Greece Part 1: The Planning
Greece Part 2: Athens
Greece Part 3: Paros & Antiparos

Even if you know next to nothing about Greece, odds are you've still heard of Santorini and seen images of its famous clifftop blue domes. Thanks to those blue domes backed by breathtaking caldera sunsets that make for great social media content, Santorini tourism is at an all-time high. TikTok is rampant with "what I expected" vs. "what I got" videos revealing extreme overcrowding and downright claustrophobic tourist conditions behind the scenes of those carefully cropped selfies. Plenty of reviews suggest it's not worth more than a day trip or to skip it entirely. We did our homework and tried to set realistic expectations, but ultimately decided that we couldn't spend two weeks in Greece without visiting one of its most iconic islands.

While in Santorini, we chose to spend our time exploring five places: Firostefani, Fira, Megalochori, Perissa, and Oia.

Getting Around the Island

Before I go any further, I want to explain the transit system in Santorini. While taxis/ubers were readily available unlike in Paros, much of the island consists of stone pedestrian streets inaccessible to cars. Ubering somewhere isn't as simple as calling a car to your doorstep and having it drop you at an exact location; you're probably going to have to walk a couple of winding blocks on either end of that ride. Because walking to a taxi felt about the same as walking to a bus stop but at a much higher price point, we opted to stick to using the public bus system.

My public transit experience is limited, but the bus system in Santorini is unlike any other I've seen. Instead of various routes with multiple stops where you can hop from one line to another, every single bus in Santorini starts or ends in the central town of Fira, and there are no midway stops. Think of Fira as Point A and all other towns as the rest of the alphabet. You can go from Point A to B, A to C, A to D, etc. But if you want to go from Point B to C, you first have to go from B back to A, then A to C. It's a simple system with no routes more than 20 minutes one way, but it can be time-consuming if you're trying to hit multiple destinations in a day. At around 2 euros per trip, we accepted the minor inconvenience and planned accordingly. 

Firostefani: Our Home Base

Having done our transportation homework, we chose to stay in a town called Firostefani which is about a 15 minute walk north of Fira. Spoiler: not all 15 minute walks are equal. As someone that lives in a completely flat city, I always conveniently forget to factor in hills and elevation when I'm looking at a map for walking distance. Our 15 minute walk was entirely downhill...until the walk back.

We took our time choosing a hotel, and I'm glad we decided that it was worth a slightly higher price tag to book somewhere with an unobstructed view of the volcanic caldera. I saw so many beautiful sunset photos from the island before visiting, but what I didn't realize is that most of those views come with a price tag and belong to hotels, restaurants, and local homes. There are limited free viewpoints and those become crowded quickly at sunset, so having access to a small private hotel was perfect.

Case in point, the view from my bed:

The weather was awful the day we arrived, so we spent the first night holed up in our room playing Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza (a card game for ages 7+ that will have your entire friend group in tears when you realize that you are collectively incapable of performing the Narwhal card). Eventually we braved the rain for dinner at Aktaion, the island's oldest restaurant, and were treated to the best calamari and lamb shank I've ever had in my life. It was totally worth the 15 minute uphill "walk" in rain and what had to be 20+ mph wind gusts.

On our third night, we finally got to take full advantage of our accommodations and camped out at the edge of the hotel pool for a stunning sunset. I knew Santorini would be windy, but nothing prepared me for the bone-chilling feeling of that wind in the evenings. I started the afternoon by the pool only slightly chilly in my bikini, but by the time the intense sun began to set, I was in a long dress with leggings, socks with sneakers, two jackets, a blanket, and my hair in a bun because the artsy windblown instagram vibes quickly devolved into "if I keep my hair down for more than 30 seconds, we're going to be cutting these knots out later." Freezing realities aside, I couldn't help myself from snagging a few of those picture-perfect tourist shots.

The view at the Villa Ilias Caldera Hotel

While we're on the topic of getting perfect social media content in Santorini, we were treated to an unexpected view during this sunset that I simply can't leave out. For context, our hotel was next to an empty lot secured by a pointy iron fence several inches taller than the average person. At some point while seated by our pool, I noticed motion out of the corner of my eye and turned just in time to see a young woman hopping the fence. This made little sense to me because the bars were easily wide enough to slip a phone through and take great sunset photos. Unable to ignore the petty crime suddenly unfolding behind me just as much as the breathtaking sunset before me, I found my attention divided between the two.

(pointy fence + empty lot from our patio)

By the time the tresspasser removed her pants in full view of the public street, I stopped trying to guess what would happen next and accepted the fact that I was clearly experiencing one of those "wtf is going on?" travel stories that is sure to yield at least three paragraphs of blog space.

What happened next is she changed into a mostly invisible thong and a see-through mesh mini dress, set her phone up on a tripod, and proceeded to record, idk, racy exotic dance TikToks? Bougie Onlyfans content? This went on for about an hour, and at one point I started taking a video of the sunset in front of me and flipped to selfie mode for a few seconds for eternal proof of my two contrasting views. I don't know what I expected, but it wasn't the full body gyrating against the concrete ground visual that I got. I certainly captured my own "What I expected vs. what I got" memory, but probably not one I can share here visually. I'll sum up the mental image with a much more family friendly description: There was a gorgeous sunset in front of me, and an unexpected view of the full moon behind.

Let's be honest, I can roast this girl's influencer spectacle for entertainment purposes, but she was gorgeous, has far better coordination than I could ever dream of, and probably has a million followers and paid subscriptions while I write about her to an audience of approximately seven Hanson fans. She also had some serious guts to scale the pointy fence and had to be absolutely freezing in that outfit. Honestly more power to her; I probably looked just as ridiculous in my own way, silently judging while sipping poolside hot chocolate and dressed like a baked potato.

Megalochori & Perissa

In addition to our stay in Firostefani and frequent walks to Fira, we made a quick trip to Megalochori to see "the heart of Santorini" followed by lunch in Perissa.

Megalochori was a bus ride to what felt like the middle of nowhere followed by a short dusty walk to a stunning elevated view of the island. You basically start at the top of a cliff and can choose to trek down a fairly steep incline to reach the famous heart of Santorini (which was pretty cool, but did not look like a heart from any angle we tried).

From there we took a bus back to Fira, then boarded the bus to Perissa which is famous for its black sand beach formed by volcanic ash. My lunch of fish and chips was probably my least favorite of the trip, but naturally a cat appeared and offered his assistance, so it didn't go to waste. We didn't do any swimming, but it wasn't very busy and would have been a solid place to relax without a crowd if we had planned to stay longer.

Oia (pronounced "ee-ya")

I've saved Oia for last for two reasons: one, it's the main tourist destination in Santorini, and two, we booked a sunset catamaran cruise that started and ended there.

First, Oia is everything social media led me to believe it would be: picturesque but overcrowded. Bonus points for also being overpriced. The main path from the bus to the maze of shops and houses got narrower and narrower, probably no more than six feet wide in some areas. It was so packed that we were shoulder to shoulder with everyone and barely crawling along at times. If this was the off season, I can't imagine the utter misery of being there in the summer when it's hotter with more people. I'm glad we got to see it, but an hour was long enough to get our fill of trinkets and photos. I'm convinced that everyone saying to skip Santorini must be spending all of their time in Oia.

The Mediterranean Sea

Our catamaran cruise was supposed to take a different route starting at the southern part of the island, but we got a last minute notice that we would need to follow an altered itinerary due to weather. I'm so glad we declined the option for a refund and took our chances on the altered route, because it ended up being one of my favorite experiences of the entire trip. It was also the perfect way to escape the crowd in Oia.

We left from the picturesque Ammoudi Bay around 2:30pm, accompanied by a group of 15-20 passengers, mostly from various U.S. states but a few from Mexico as well. I remember thinking that it was nice that we all seemed to be in a similar age range, only to later be hit with the unpleasant realization that everyone else was probably mid to late 20s and nope, that makes us the old ladies of the boat. I must be in denial.

Our abbreviated itinerary included a stop to swim at the volcanic "hot" springs, which I am putting in quotation marks because it was literally the coldest water I have ever felt in my life. I'm often the cold person sitting poolside at BTTI while all of my friends swim, but I wasn't going to miss out on the opportunity to swim in the Mediterranean Sea. I grabbed a pool noodle and forced myself to be the first one brave enough to take the freezing plunge. One by one, everyone followed, and we all had a good laugh at our shared trauma. It got better after the initial shock, but I wouldn't even say I got "used to" it. I think I genuinely went a bit numb. 

The cruise included a delicious dinner followed by a trip back up the coastline to watch the sun set over the water. It was gorgeous even through a few storm clouds, and I feel so fortunate that we somehow managed to make it happen in between bouts of rain without any fails along the way. The boat was immaculate, the company good, and the staff friendly. I can't recommend it enough if you ever find yourself in Santorini. We ended up with Sunset Oia booked through Viator, but there seem to be tons of great options to choose from.

Final Thoughts About Visiting Santorini

If you're considering a trip to Greece, I'd say don't skip Santorini, but don't go into it blind. 

• If you have any sort of mobility or physical limitations, research accessibility and transportation proximity before you go.
• Arrange private transportation for arriving and leaving. Buses were great for getting around without luggage, but I absolutely could not have handled dragging even my carry on suitcase uphill from the bus station.
• Bring motion sickness medication even if you're normally fine. The drive from the port into town is a zig zag formation at a steep incline up the side of a cliff.
• Leave the cute shoes at home and embrace the Tevas, the Hokas, and whatever chunky old lady shoes are going to keep you upright.
• Pack a windproof jacket and skip the short dresses because they are going to fly the wings of an eagle and glide along with the wind, very high. People will definitely be thinking of you when your dress hem is up to your ears. 
• Of course, there's always option B: Do pack a very short dress, hop a fence, and start funding your next trip.

Greece Part 3

Previously on "I originally thought this was all going to fit in one blog post because I have no concept of my own wordiness":

Greece Part 1
Greece Part 2

Welcome to Greece Part 3, which in true testament to the wordiness is somehow only about stop #2 on our Greek expedition. After two nights in Athens, we boarded an early morning Blue Star ferry and docked at the island of Paros a little before noon. I had seen a few horror videos about choppy waves, extreme motion sickness, and chaotic mobs, but our overall ferry experience was uneventful (our boat looked just like this). Leaving our suitcases in a shared luggage rack was a little unnerving, but thousands of passengers do it every single day, so I put it out of my mind. We had no issue locating our belongings again after docking, though I would never leave any valuables or a bag without a lock in the unattended cargo area.

But my main concern about traveling by ferry wasn't unattended baggage, it was my tendency for motion sickness. I religiously purchase window seats on planes to lower the risk, but the ferries we took pre-assigned specific seats with no option to select a location. My friend Rachel from Right Direction Adventures has been on a lot of cruises, so I asked for her advice before I left. She recommended these patches from Amazon, and they worked great. You can put them behind your ear or just below your belly button and wear them for up to three days. A+ recommendation. They were effective, never became loose, and were much more convenient than having to time pill doses.

Our rented apartment was a 15-minute walk from the main port in Parikia and was absolutely perfect with an above and beyond host. It was nice to be removed from the main hub for a quiet stay while still only being half a block from the beach. The walk back into town had an immediate backdrop of the Aegean Sea peppered with sailboats, so it hardly felt like a chore.

Apart from the food and cats, Paros was incredibly different from Athens. There were no big buildings, no historic ruins, no trains, and very little Uber/Taxi availability. All of our transportation was done by foot or public bus, and that first winding, steep public bus adventure was all it took to turn me into a devout motion sickness patch user in every vehicle for the rest of the trip. The architecture style was exactly what we had expected from Santorini: white Cycladic houses, stone streets, blue domes, and plumes of pink bougainvillea, all without the sea of tourists. It was the perfect destination to see everything we had expected and hoped to find in Greece, but with the added bonus of feeling like we had it all to ourselves.

While in Paros, we visited:

Parikia
Lefkes
Naousa 
Antiparos 

As I've already mentioned, Parikia is the main port town where all of the ferries dock and also had the main bus terminal. The main strip was over a mile of flat walkway right up against the beach with ocean on one side and tavernas, mini markets, and shops lining the other. Venturing down any side street led into a tight-winding maze of white stone clothing and jewelry shops. My already poor sense of direction was rendered completely useless as there were no parallel streets or patterns that I could discern, just what felt like infinite branches of a vascular system of scenic retail therapy.

During one particularly busy day, my friends decided to rest in our room before venturing back out for dinner. I couldn't bring myself to miss a moment of daylight, so I spent a couple of hours exploring Parikia on my own. I never felt unsafe, and I loved taking my time to find the perfect souvenir in all of the shops (after seeing prices in Santorini and Crete, I wished I had picked up a few more in Paros). I found a cute romper on sale and was immediately accosted by a cat when I exited the shop with a bag. All of the cats we had seen up to that point had been a lazy, quiet presence; this one meowed at me relentlessly as though demanding to inspect the contents of my bag. "There's no food in there, I promise," I told him. He argued back loudly, I continued to have a totally unhinged conversation with this cat by myself in the middle of the public walkway, and he finally let me go in peace after I bent down and scratched behind his ears.

Lefkes was in the center of the island and was one of the few landlocked places we visited. I tried to do research about each of our destinations before going to Greece, but to be honest, I don't recall ever hearing about Lefkes until Yelena mentioned it when we were already in Paros. It was definitely a passenger princess moment that I can take zero credit for, but I'm glad that she did whatever homework led us to one of my favorite stops. Where Parikia had winding streets full of adorable shops, Lefkes was more residential. The bus dropped us off on a main road, but everywhere we wandered after that was built with narrow and occasionally steep walkways inaccessible to cars (we still had to watch out for mopeds). The entire town was 100% white Cycladic houses and shops with pops of blue, pink flowers, and lots of cute potted plants. Literally everything looked postcard perfect. There were very few tourists and just enough shops and restaurants to make us feel like we weren't just creepily wandering around a private neighborhood. I hardly saw enough of Greece in two weeks to discern what is truly "authentic," but Lefkes felt like a glimpse into traditional Greek island life that wasn't putting on a show for tourists or trying to lure us into mediocre restaurants and price-gouged souvenirs. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Holly (@_hollywouldnt)

We didn't spend enough time in Naousa for me to give it fair representation, but I'll tell you what I can. Naousa is another coastal town full of shops and sailboats and has more of a reputation for an active nightlife scene. We showed up just in time to catch the sunset after a downpour, then Google mapped our way to a restaurant that turned out to be closed for the season. We pivoted and had sushi for dinner instead, which was quite possibly the only meal we had the entire trip that didn't include feta. Every inch of Naousa that we saw was made up of shops and restaurants tightly sandwiched along the narrowest walkways yet. Despite arriving in the evening, all of the shops were still open and lively by the time we took a 9pm bus back to Parikia. My personal favorite moment was our first taste of loukoumades, a popular Greek dessert made of fried dough balls traditionally drenched in honey, but also available in a massive variety of other toppings.

Parikia, Lefkes, and Naousa 

While I'm grouping Antiparos into part of our Paros experience, it is technically a separate island about a mile ferry ride away. We took an express ferry to the main town, then hopped a bus to the more remote location of St. George for lunch at Captain Pipinos. It became apparent very quickly that we were visiting in the extreme off-season. There was almost no one else on our bus, and our driver passed a beach stop with the explanation "You can stop here if you want, but nothing there will be open." St. George was the last stop of the route, and we were dropped off on what looked like a deserted dirt road flanked by tumbleweeds and chickens. There were two Tarvernas to the left and beaches to the right. We explored the beach first and were met with a wide open dusty expanse of nothing that I can only assume is a parking lot on busier days. There were two main beach access areas with absolutely gorgeous water and only one other person in sight.

Lunch at Captain Pipinos was one of my favorite meals of the trip. I can't remember all of what we ate, but all of it was top tier. Mussels saganaki and octopus orzo were standouts, and this was where we tried the fried feta covered in honey. I remember loving the grilled fish, but I couldn't tell you which one we ordered.

After lunch we took a bus back to the main town and wandered for about an hour. Almost every shop was having an end of season sale, and one upscale boutique owner told me everything was 50% off because it was the last day they would be open. Several shops were already closed or had boxes stacked outside, clearly packing up for the cooler months. It felt like an unexpected treat to visit a completely deserted beach and to enter shops without having to fight my way through a crowd, but I'm curious if Antiparos would have felt totally different in a busier season.

Antiparos

Now that I've (over)shared a thousand words on an island I had never even heard of prior to 2025, I can't help but think that's exactly why I let this turn into a series of posts rather than trying to squash this trip into one blurred experience. It wasn't. Paros didn't feel like just a blip of picturesque blue and white amid a sea of Instagram shots. It felt like a place worthy of a thousand words, a dozen great meals, memories to last a lifetime, and maybe a return trip if I'm ever lucky enough to find myself back in Greece.

Part 4

Greece Part 2

This post is Part Two of a series about my trip to Greece. Check out Part One first if you haven't already.

Before I jump right into specifics about my time at each destination, I want to cover a few general things that were true of everywhere we went.

The Cuisine

First, there are tavernas everywhere. They're these open-air traditional Greek restaurants with little tables and woven chairs spilling out into the streets, the tables covered in half a dozen mouth-watering mezze dishes being shared by families and friends. There's probably music playing, and maybe even a live band. No matter where you eat or what table you choose, the person next to you will be smoking. And when you manage to flag down the bill, they'll rush over a free dessert or free drinks that you forgot to factor in back when you were hungry and over-ordering seven dishes, but you're going to consume the freebies anyway. The restaurant options are endless, and I really liked that even in the busiest areas, there were enough tavernas in close proximity that there was never a long wait.

I've probably mentioned this before, but I love trying new foods and will eat just about anything. This trip I was accompanied by three fellow foodies, which means we ordered a variety of dishes for every meal, shared everything, and came pretty darn close to trying every food we laid eyes on. The more exotic or obscure, the better. Never heard of Porgy fish? Let's order it. Stingray salad as an appetizer? Score! I didn't even know they were edible. I don't like licorice or shots, but I didn't go all the way to Greece to turn down free ouzo. I can't read this label on the dessert aisle, but I'm intrigued by the picture on the package. (We later dubbed that one "furry jello" and did not go back for seconds). 

And then there were the standard Greek staples I already loved at home and couldn't wait to try on their native turf. Big juicy olives. Dozens of honey varieties indistinguishable to my untrained palate. Feta cheese on everything. I tried so many different dishes with feta that I felt like Bubba from Forrest Gump listing off the many ways to serve shrimp: Salad topped with feta. Spicy feta dip. Deep fried feta covered in honey. Pan fried feta topped with lemon. Poached eggs in tomato feta sauce. Breakfast crepes filled with feta. It was an endless journey of delicious cheesy goodness and all superior to the dry feta crumbles I thought I loved back home.

The Cats

Second, there are cats everywhere. By our fifth or sixth cat on day one, we started referring to Athens as "Cathens." I honestly feel lied to by such a big omission in mainstream information about Greek culture. I grew up associating Greece with blue domes, white buildings, beautiful water, donkeys, and feta cheese. Greece had all of these things, but there are far more cats than blue domes or donkeys. (There might be more cheese than cats, but even that is debatable). They were friendly and not a problem at all, just a total shock as not a single person or video prior to this trip alluded to the overwhelming cat presence.

They roamed the sidewalks freely and were staples in and around shops. It wasn't uncommon to see one curled up asleep in a basket of souvenirs or cozied up on top of a sweater display. We met one named "Simba" brushing against our ankles in a grocery store mini market in Crete. Most of all, they were at the tavernas. We joked about using the number of cats present to pre-judge the food quality when choosing a restaurant, but it was never clear to us if a higher concentration of cats meant the table scraps tasted better, or if it meant the food was worse and they showed up because people were more willing to part with it. The only clear fact was that the only restaurants void of cats were also void of patrons.

Athens

Of our several destinations, Athens was the most metropolitan city of the trip. One of the most fascinating things about Athens wasn't just seeing the ruins, it was seeing the ruins elevated on a hill above a bustling city full of people casually commuting past pieces of ancient history like it's no different than my own work commute past approximately twelve Dollar Generals (not one of which existed before the birth of Jesus). It's hard to imagine that beautiful architecture just becoming part of your daily routine.

We bought 8:00 am tickets to see the Acropolis--the earliest time slot of the day--and it felt like the right decision. Crowds were minimal, the way the sun rose through the columns of the Parthenon was gorgeous, and it began pouring almost immediately after we left, so we timed it just right. I know the Parthenon is the most iconic structure of the Acropolis, but my favorite part was looking down into the Theatre of Dionysus. As a former English major and avid concert goer, I can certainly appreciate the beauty of an ancient performance venue.

The Acropolis museum was also interesting and worth the entrance fee, and I took at least 50 photos before spotting a sign that said absolutely no photos. Oops! Opa! There wasn't enough time in the day to read every plaque explaining every piece, but I got an unexpected laugh out of what looked like a basic marble slab with messy writing scribbled on it. With so many other more impressive relics, I don't even know what made me stop to read this one.

The caption below it read:

Hekatompedos. Fragments of a metope
The love inscription Auoia, kalós meaning "Lysias is handsome" was added with red paint in the middle of the 5th cent. BC, when the metope had already been discarded.

In summary, it was a discarded piece of building that someone graffitied with "Lysias is handsome."

Modern Translation: Think "Taylor is hot" scrawled across a middle school locker, but make it ancient Greek. Our lovesick fangirl predecessors were alive and well in 530 B.C. 

Beyond the ticketed historic sites, we spent time just wandering through the streets and walking everywhere our feet would take us. We explored the Plaka, Monastiraki, Anafiotika, and Psyri neighborhoods, though where one ends and the other begins, I could hardly say after so much wandering. We saw local homes and playgrounds and infinite cats and souvenir shops. We got our first glimpse of the olive trees and bougainvillea that we would continue to see all over Greece. We window shopped and made mental and physical notes about where to return if we didn't find better by the time we were back in Athens after visiting the rest of the islands.

I took a photo of a dress I liked in Plaka for 50 euros knowing that I might find one I liked better later, or hopefully a better price. When we made our way back to Athens on the back half of the trip, I was still dressless and prepared to go back for it, but on our final day, a quest for fish soup took us off the beaten path and down a side street past an Indian Bazaar full of dresses (the same styles that were 50-70 elsewhere) that were 10 euros each. I bought two and patted myself on the back for waiting.

Athens also  held a couple of my favorite food stops of the trip: Stani, a dairy shop that opened in 1931, and Diporto, a literal hole in the wall basement with no sign and no menu. I ordered a big bowl of "cream" for breakfast at Stani based solely on the fact that it looked like it was topped with cinnamon. It ended up being sweet, not tart like yogurt, and it was the consistency of an airy pudding. My only regret is not having time to go back and try the chocolate version.

Diporto is a place we came across while researching restaurants online before the trip. It was tiny and we knew we might not be able to get in, but we got lucky and found only two groups ahead of us when we stopped by for lunch. We camped out on the basement stairs for maybe 15 minutes before a table cleared, which seemed like nothing when we saw the line up the staircase and out the doors as we left.

There were maybe nine tables total in the basement, and when three of us sat down to eat, they began to seat a random solo Greek man with us. We were ready to let it be part of the experience, unaware that space was so limited that they would seat strangers together, but at the last moment the server pulled him away and directed him to a different table full of men. There were no menus or questions asked, no prices to be found, simply sheets of wax paper at each place setting and random dishes brought to us throughout the meal. At Diporto, you're served whatever the single chef/owner cooked for the day, and that's that. It's not a place for the picky or the special requesters, which can lead to mixed reviews.

We were told what each dish was, but with the thick Greek accent and a moderate level of ambient noise, I was eating blindly. And I didn't care, because all of it was delicious. Once we realized we were only being given shared dishes (as in no individual plates, so we all ate directly out of every dish on the table), I was grateful that our potential table guest had been relocated. I was prepared to welcome a stranger to our table, but I don't think I was ready to welcome him into my bowl of mystery beans. I also wasn't ready to down two glasses of wine at lunch, but when that's all they serve you to drink, you roll with it. At least I certainly wasn't drinking on an empty stomach. 

The yellow pureed...split peas? Soup?--I feel like I should have coined the term UFO for "Unidentified Food Object" during this trip--Whatever it was was the best of the bunch, but garnishing anything with olives and a lime wedge will give it an unfair advantage. At the end of the meal, I headed outside while one of my friends paid because there wasn't room to stand around. The next thing I knew, they were calling my name and telling me to come back. I had clearly missed something, because when I got to the bottom of the stairs, other Holly was holding a metal pitcher with an amused look on her face, and the owner was corralling us all in for a photo. Since I was wearing my handy dandy phone lanyard and not carrying unexpected kitchenware, I caught on to whatever was happening just enough to extend my arm for a group selfie. A nearby tourist got up from her table and offered to take it, only to receive a brusque "no" and shooing motion from the owner.

I'm still a little unclear about how we wound up with a group photo initiated by the chef when I've seen comments suggesting that they frown on photos being taken period, but I kind of love the accidental M&G. 

Our final meal at the rooftop restaurant atop the Neoma hotel deserves an honorable mention. It had an amazing view of the Parthenon illuminated at night, and an even better beef tartare.

This post has been more food talk than I ever intended, but hunting the best foods ended up being a bigger part of this trip than I expected, and there were so many more great dishes that I didn't mention. "Cathens" might have been the more obvious wordplay, but looking back on the highlights I chose to share, perhaps the more fitting joke is you can't spell "Athens" without "Ate."

To quote a vendor sign I read in the Athens airport, "I'll be back when I'm back," aka Part 3 will be ready when it's ready.

Part 3

Greece Part 1

Though I've always considered this blog's content to be a mix of travel and music, it's obviously mostly a Hanson fan blog. And while you'll find several posts related to a song or an album that have zero to do with travel, I haven't had much of an opportunity to explore the travel side separately because 99% of the time, if I get on a plane, Hanson is at the destination. Welcome to the outlying 1%.

If you're here for the Hanson content, here's the extent of the Hanson connection to this post: three Hanson fan friends invited me to join them on a girls' trip to Greece during a non-tour year, and I said yes without hesitation. I've always wanted to go, and some part of me always thought Hanson would wind up there and give me an excuse to plan a trip. But with Hanson showing signs of slowing down and me showing signs of not getting any younger, I gladly chose a Mediterranean island-hopping adventure over a casino-hopping one this fall.


As someone who has always planned vacations around Hanson tour dates and lived a very "pick the destination and I'll pick the road" existence, having free reign over travel details felt absolutely unhinged. You mean normal people just pick a city in any country on whatever date they feel like going? If flights are too expensive on a Friday, you can just decide to go Tuesday instead? If the hotel you want is sold out, you can go another week when it isn't? And I don't have to factor in a minimum of six hours of my day for line/show/bus time? The open-ended options were almost overwhelming.

So we channeled our usual expertise in finding hotels walkable to music venues and securing front row tickets into researching which islands we wanted to visit and how to get there. We landed on a two week fall trip starting in Athens, with three nights each in Paros, Santorini, and Crete, then back to Athens before heading home. We chose October because while hitting the beaches during prime summer weather seems appealing, a quick TikTok search will scare you away from even looking at Santorini in peak tourist season, and climbing hilly cobblestone streets in 100 degree weather held zero appeal. The weather felt perfect with an average range between 60-75F, and I can’t imagine doing everything we did but 30 degrees warmer surrounded by triple the tourists. Yeah, the water was cold, but I stand by our timing 100%. 

Packing

You are almost definitely not here for my packing list, but I put a lot of work into this one and am going to proudly display it anyway. I'm that person that's happy to spend a few hours down a rabbit hole reading about the best waterproof travel shoes and the most packable jackets, so I choose to believe there is at least one person out there who will appreciate this journey into my suitcase.

I've already survived two weeks each in Australia and Brazil with just a carry-on suitcase and a personal item, so this was not my first rodeo. It was, however, my first time attempting to create a capsule wardrobe and truly weed out all extras. I realize the concept of a capsule wardrobe is choosing versatile neutrals where everything can mix and match, but then I accidentally found a mint green Eddie Bauer windbreaker that turns into a fanny pack and decided to build my capsule wardrobe around pink and mint green instead. I have no regrets.

pattern dress | blue dress | jumpsuit | windbreaker | rain jacket | pink cardigan | eyelet crop top | white gauze top | black skort | black joggers | ecco sandals | teva sandals | white vessi sneakers | black backpack purse | white backpack purse | phone lanyard | turkish towel

I used the Freeform app on my Macbook to upload photos of each piece I was considering packing to create a virtual closet, then made a chart listing out each day of the trip and its main activity. I created mock outfits for each day- a top, a bottom, a layering piece, shoes, and a purse. Then I looked at the finished product and weeded out anything that only made it into one outfit. The cute new mint green and pink sneakers that I realistically wouldn't wear more than once? Gone. The black shorts that looked a little too much like my black skort and served the exact same purpose for outfit matches? Bye. Basically any item that I could drag over to another day and mix into 3 or 4 other outfits made the cut. Anything that could be replaced by something else on the list didn't. It all felt so extra, but seeing everything laid out visually made it easy to identify what pieces were the most useful, what pieces were a waste of space, and I did most of it without ever opening my closet or suitcase. 

What I could have left behind:

• I never wore the tan cardigan, the dressy sandals, or the green tank top (which clashed with my rain and wind jackets and therefore had no business coming in the first place). 
• I only wore the black sneakers once outside of travel days, so I probably could have cut them, too.

What was worth the packing space:

• The windbreaker that turns into a functional fanny pack with storage was insanely useful and easy to carry all day.
  
• I wore the Turkish towel on the plane as a scarf so I wouldn't have to pack it, used it as a blanket on the plane and in hotel rooms, and used it as a towel at the beach. I bought a second one in mint green and pink in Paros (how could I not?) and never left the room without one. I would wear it as a scarf or pack it in my purse, then whip it out and use it as a blanket when it got chilly at our outdoor dinners. It ended up being an invaluable accessory.
  
• The white gauze button down top was a whole $12.99 on Amazon and arrived the day before I left. I wore it as a swim coverup with shorts and as a layering piece over every dress. It was the perfect essential that worked with everything.
  
• I originally ordered a phone lanyard just for my outfits without pockets so I wouldn't have to keep digging it out of my purse to take photos. It did so much more than that. It kept me from dropping my phone over the side of various cliffs and boats and also served as an anti-theft device. I wore it as a crossbody rather than a traditional neck lanyard, and if it was fashionably acceptable, I would start wearing this thing to work daily. It was so convenient and is absolutely coming with me on every trip from this point forward. Welcome to travelingphonelanyardfan.com, folks. I'm in love; 2/2 Hollys agree.

Bonus shoutout to every single pair of shoes that I actually wore. They were all waterproof, gave me zero blisters after miles of walking, and had sufficient traction on rainy cobblestones. Also not pictured and definitely not getting its own paragraph: a $10 travel bidet. I know it's an overshare and that I'm saying the quiet part out loud, but I'm also not going to gatekeep such a useful item. This was my second trip where you can't flush toilet paper, but my first to a destination where bidets aren't standard in hotels. Let's just say my $10 gamble was worth it. I will not be taking questions at this time.

Getting There

With everything finally nailed down and booked, the final step was just plain getting there without any complications. My three travel companions all booked flights connecting through NYC on Delta, and while flying together would have been the most convenient plan, there were two things working against me. 1. I have an American Airlines credit card and can generally earn a lot more useable miles for myself by flying AA, and 2. AA had a flight that would get me home the same day I left without sticking me with an overnight layover on the way home. I adamantly did not want to take an extra day off of work just to not sleep before a jetlagged 6am flight out of NYC, so I opted to fly AA alone and meet up with my friends in Athens. The plan was to land at 9:15am on October 1st, take an Uber to the hotel, and meet them after they landed at 1:20pm.

Except a few days before we left, the area where I live on the east coast was threatened by a hurricane. I spent the final days before leaving obsessively watching weather forecasts in fear of a canceled flight. Then two days before we left, Greece announced a nation wide travel strike for October 1st that would shut down all public transportation and also threatened to include air traffic controllers, which could mean grounded flights for all of us.

The morning I left home, Greek courts finally ruled it illegal for air traffic controllers to participate. Our flights were saved, but all public transit would be halted at 9:00am. By some miracle I landed early, cleared customs quickly, and ran outside with my bags to the ride share pickup area and frantically tried to book an Uber at 8:57 to no avail. I accepted my fate, gracious to have made it to Greece at all, and camped out in the airport with my first freddo espresso and a giant sugar donut for a couple of hours until my friends arrived. They had booked us an expensive private transfer as a fall back plan the moment we learned of the strike, and I'm not sure what we would have done if they didn't. I remember commenting that there shouldn't be another strike in the next few weeks and at least we wouldn't have to deal with it again on the way home.

Two Weeks Later: 

TL;DR we somehow managed to book all of our flights to and from Athens on days they had transportation strikes. The moral of the story is always book a private transfer in Athens (though I also sincerely hope they come to an agreement about reasonable workday hours). Natural disasters, national strikes, and aftermarket toilet accessories aside, the trip was a truly amazing experience worth all of the minor hassles along the way. Stick around for Part 2 and I'll tell you all about it!

Part Two

Snoqualmie & Ribfest

The day I bought Snoqualmie Casino tickets feels like a hundred years ago now. I'm sure it's a long-forgotten detail at this point, but the tickets for this show went on sale just days after that email went out. Emotions for some of us were high, and at the time, it felt more important than ever to take advantage of some random casino show on the other side of the country because it felt like there might not be much else coming our way for a while. Pair that with the fact that this show fell on my usual travel partner's 40th birthday (happy b-day, Rachel!), and I knew I needed to be there. Scoring good seats sealed the deal. 

And in true "If you give a fan a ticket..." fashion, if you attend the first show with a friend that lives in the city of the second show, and she invites you to just fly back to her house for the next one...you're going to want to add that glass of milk, er...plate of ribs? Also, traveling fan math: when you're flying cross-country to see a show, technically anything in between is on the way home.

Seattle/Snoqualmie

I've been to Seattle once before back in 2013 for the Anthem Tour, but all I really saw was Hanson and a sidewalk. I was excited to fly in early with friends this time to become full-blown tourists for a few days, and we took advantage of every free moment. While there, I visited:

-Pike Place (Where I had smoked salmon mac & cheese at Beecher's, seared scallop chowder from Pike Place Chowder, and a turkey sandwich from DeLaurenti's. I saw the original Starbucks from outside because I didn't want to spend 3 of my 4 days in line to go in)
-Starbucks Reserve
-Underground Tour
-Jacob Two Trees troll
-Space Needle Tour
-MoPop
-Kerry Park

I'll share a few key takeaways with you.

1. If you ever visit Seattle in a car, pre-book parking downtown. We thought we were being smart looking up the location of a nearby parking garage; we did not realize that when we got there, every garage in the area would be full or that we would pay $81 for 3 hours when we finally found a spot. We learned from that mistake and pre-booked a space for 9:30am-3pm when we returned two days later for a grand total of $13.99. When we got back to the car to leave, there was a sign out front advertising $100 event parking. Maybe Ticketmaster dynamic platinum pricing is exploring the parking industry. 

2. Also pre-book any tours or paid sightseeing you want to do. We missed out on the underground tour we really wanted because we waited too long and it sold out, and we missed visiting the aquarium because we failed to realize even that needed timed tickets. 

2. You can mobile order Pike Place Chowder to cut the ginormous line if you don't care about sitting inside.

3. Probably just don't go to Pike Place period on a weekend in the summer unless you love unnecessarily giant crowds, long lines, and touching a minimum of three strangers at all times.

4. If you eat an overpriced hot dog from the stand outside of the Space Needle, don't skip out on the free plums even if grabbing a plum out of a communal watery bowl of ice at a hot dog stand sounds like a risky choice. I can now say with confidence that the best plum I've ever eaten in my life came from a hot dog stand in Seattle, and I'm hesitant to admit that it may have been the best thing I ate in the whole city. Who knew?

Snoqualmie Concert

The show was technically at the Snoqualmie Casino, but really it was outside in the parking lot. For someone escaping 110+ degree heat indeces at home, wearing long sleeves to an outdoor concert felt like a luxury vacation, and watching the sunset over mountains during the show was a much better backdrop than a smoky, carpeted event hall. A+ for location. There was an older man in the front row center section who I assume got his seat by being a high roller casino member, and he was clearly enjoying his luck. He was clapping along with the rest of us and thrusting his cane into the air on beat, and at one point, loudly exclaimed something along the lines of "That was pretty good!" Hanson heard and joked back "Hear that? This guy says we're not terrible!"

The setlist was pretty much exactly what I thought it would be (though we were "robbed" of TBS), but it just felt good and right to be there enjoying a bunch of songs I know in my bones. These days, acoustic "Madeline" is becoming a mid-set staple and a new favorite for me. The harmonies never disappoint. I got to celebrate Rachel's 40th side by side with her in the front row, and while we weren't all next to each other, the rest of my friends all had great spots, too. I really couldn't have asked for a better night.

Minneapolis

We put the phrase "Sleepless in Seattle" into effect when we went to bed at midnight and set an alarm for 2am to get up and go to the airport so we could drop off rental cars and check bags before hopping a 6am flight to Minneapolis. I think every person that was parked at Pike Place all weekend was also at SeaTac when we got there, because the bag check and TSA pre-check lines were the longest I've ever seen (our international friend without pre-check actually beat the rest of us through security). Things moved quickly enough once everything opened, but for once I'm glad we showed up cautiously early. I love and support my bag check friends for knowing their own travel needs, but standing in that line for a change definitely made me thankful that I've gotten used to traveling carry on only.

The show in Minneapolis was at Mystic Casino's outdoor Ribfest, and long gone was the chill in the air and the need for long sleeves. I felt right at home in the 90+ degree humidity and opted to enjoy a shaded spot in the bleachers rather than braving the sunny asphalt on no sleep. I don't regret my choice, and while I love front row more than anything, I also enjoy the occasional chance to sit back and soak in a giant crowd rocking out to Hanson.

I was happy to see Plain White T's open and thought they did a great job putting on an upbeat set and pumping up the crowd. If you think you vaguely remember their name from "Hey There Delilah" fame, odds are you probably know a few more songs than you think. Hanson's set was pretty similar to the one in Snoqualmie with a few changes and felt like a hit with the crowd.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Holly (@_hollywouldnt)

It didn't hit me until after the show that for the first time in forever, I don't know when my next Hanson show will be. For years now I've had a minimum of two guaranteed Hanson trips per year with BTTI and Hanson Day. With BTTI on a confirmed pause for next year and Hanson Day in some sort of silent limbo, this is the first time in at least 15 years that I don't 100% know when I'll be seeing Hanson again. It's a first world problem for sure; poor me, I don't get to see my favorite band five more times this fall because I'm taking a different trip in October, and they're probably taking a well-deserved break of some kind after that. I think I'll survive, and anyway, isn't a big part of the reason we all go to so many just living in the moment because the next one is never guaranteed? I'll hop back out of my feels for now to say I had a genuinely great time at these shows, and while I don't know what's next, I'm sure it'll be worth the trip--even if parking tries to cost as much as the flight.

P.S. Shoutout to Yelena's mom's homemade borscht for being even better than the hot dog stand plum🤤

Hanson Day 2025

The Wordy Intro

Greetings, friends!

If you're like me, you've probably spent the last few months on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what is going on with our favorite band. I know some are more removed from fan chatter and maybe haven't kept up with all the latest reasons to overreact, so just to make sure we're all up to speed, pretend you're back for a new episode of your favorite show, and here's a recap of what you missed last week. Previously, on "Hanson fans have a wide range of perception and reading comprehension": (see my previous blog post about that newsletter if you haven't already.)


The gist is Hanson kind of dropped a bomb on us in March and then went silent, and reactions ranged from totally missing that anything was out of the ordinary to being convinced the band is breaking up. As you can see from my previous post, my initial reaction was pretty serious, but with time and other factors that have popped up since (like heavily hinting that BTTI will return), I think the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. If you think it’s business as usual, your head is probably in the sand, but if you think the band is completely done, I don’t think we’re there yet, either. So this was my headspace as I headed to Tulsa: I got on a plane hoping for the best but also knowing there was a chance that it could be my last visit, at least for a while.

If you’re a regular here, then you’re familiar with my usual Hanson Day review format. First I fake-whine that it’s hard to write about an event that always sounds the same on paper, then I struggle to come up with witty new ways to describe similar experiences while somehow reiterating that it’s a welcome familiarity rather than a chore. Karaoke is karaoke is karaoke, but I still enjoyed it for the 8th time this year, you know?
But my struggle this time isn't with sounding fresh and original with stale content; it's with finding the balance between "Look at this baseball I caught! Don't you love my 80s dress? Everything's fine!!" surface level commentary and not going too melodramatic. I probably leaned a little too hard into my feels, but that's just the kind of trip it was for me.

So I’m not going to give you a neat linear list of facts like “Mac co-hosted Karaoke” or “I’ve never felt older than when I watched Isaac’s adult(?!) son perform an original song” or “a bird pooped on me on our walk to lunch.” Instead, I want to give you my totally biased account of what Hanson Day 2025 felt like to me as a fan showing up with a lot of questions and uncertainties.



The Hanson Day Experience

The setlist for the first show was actually really good, which made it all the more offensive that I kept getting emotional during songs that normally wouldn’t have affected me that way. I had a lump in my throat for most of the night, and “Make It Out Alive” kept punching me in the face with lyrics like “we’re just holding on/ just bracing for the worst” that weren’t supposed to be about the uncertainty of the future of this band, but sure felt like it in the moment. I felt irrationally sad during “Cut Right Through Me.” “Better Days,” of all songs, was the one that finally got me to crack and shed actual tears. And as soon as I started crying, I began hysterically laughing at myself while crying, because who cries over a song like “Better Days” that isn’t even sad?


I couldn’t tell you when the realization hit, but I had a moment of clarity that night when I realized exactly why I was feeling so choked up over every minor detail. For the last 18+ years and 200+ shows, Hanson concerts have been my escape. They’re my safe space and my comfort zone. They’re the place I run to for a guaranteed 90 minutes of stress-free happiness that feels like home, no matter what other challenges are going on in my life. And for the first time ever, my beloved happy place wasn’t a place to hide at all; it was the thing causing me stress and grief. I wasn't crying over "Better Days," not really. I was grieving the sudden loss of something I hadn't expected to lose.

If you're ready to change the channel and escape the downer vibe, don't worry, that's the worst of it. Fortunately, I didn't live the entire weekend in my feelings. They played "I Was Born" shortly after, and I still swear that song is like chocolate after a Dementor visit. After several lengthy talks with friends and a few conversations with members of the band, I managed to find an upswing on the emotional rollercoaster, and those were the only tears I shed all weekend. I didn’t walk away with any solid answers and am still convinced that the ongoing silence is because Hanson doesn’t know what the future looks like themselves, but I did come away with a sense of hope that I didn’t have before. My takeaway from this weekend is that the band has reached a period of necessary transition, and while we may not know what that looks like just yet, I respect the fact that they seem to be putting in the time and effort to figure it out.

The Rumors

As I said above, I didn't walk away from this weekend with any solid answers to share, and Hanson made no official announcements to the class at large. That being said, they did have conversations in smaller settings, and naturally fans asked lots of questions. This information launched an unofficial new Hanson Day event: Fan Club Telephone. To be fair, some people got actual video evidence of their interactions and shared willingly, so bravo to them for not spreading misinformation. I'm not saying that every person sharing information by word of mouth is sharing misinformation. I'm just saying that some people will tell you "Taylor said ____" when what they actually mean is "I struggled to overhear the stranger two people down from me in line saying that Taylor said _____", and from a fact checking standpoint...those two things are not equal.

The bottom line is it can be fun to share our experiences and trade stories, but it's also important to be conscious of how you both share information and consume information shared with you. It's not worth panicking over hearsay that might be completely wrong, and I definitely heard a few details that were laughably incorrect being shared as fact. Use good judgment out there!

Better Days

I may have gone into this trip uncertain and a little bit wrecked during the first show, but I'm coming out of it with hope that we do have better days ahead. Change can be terrifying, especially to a fan like me who has made visits to certain Hanson events as routine as trips to the dentist. If we're being honest, maybe there's something a little bit wrong with the fact that Hanson Day has gotten to that level of routine anyway (if you heard me shout "YES WE DO!" when they sang "Don't want a ticket to the same routine" at the first show, no you didn't). I can remember back when I was the fan club reporter at a show approximately three zillion years ago, The Walk album was new, and one of my questions was "What is the 'it' that you're tearing down?" They told me that "it" isn't the important part; "it" is almost irrelevant, and I remember Taylor in particular saying it's not just about tearing something down and destroying it, it's about tearing it down so that you can reinvent it and figure out how to rebuild it in a stronger way. I think that's where the band is at right now, and maybe that's not such a bad thing. 

To my fellow fans: I hope you are well and that I haven't sounded like too much of a drama queen with this post. Feel free to roll your eyes and continue not crying over "Better Days," but know that if you are in a weird place right now, you're not alone, and there's a song for that and a crowd full of us looking for a blue sky together.

To my favorite band: I'm sure you won't read this, but just in case you do--I'm proud of you for recognizing that you needed a change and for deciding to do something about it, even if it scares some of us to death. Even if it scares you to death, too. I hope you find the right path for your next steps and that whatever that looks like, you'll bring us along for the ride. We may have strong opinions and lofty expectations and big feelings and far more feedback than you could ever want from us, but at the end of the day, we're here for you. And I hope that when you have more figured out, you'll feel comfortable sharing it with us. We're always listening. 💙