touching down in greece

we had a bit of a stressful journey from the united states, which involved spending 9 total hours running here and there all over detroit wayne county airport and almost flying through thunderstorms in chicago (aiie!), and so much more, but eventually being allowed to board a super secret special direct red-eye to london and catching up with our original flight to athens.

oh, athens! flying over the vicinity of this ancient city was so exciting: my first glimpse of the deep blue aegean sea and the dusty, rocky terrain with shrubby looking trees. i had never seen land like this before, and it wasn’t until that moment right before landing that i realized how much i really needed it. sure, i’m living abroad (in the czech republic), but when you don’t have anything new stimulating your senses, you get to feel a bit dull after a few years of central european sameness. not so with greece… my senses were alive! (’naw mean?)

because we got in late, i scheduled us a rest day of “do nothing” in artemida (15-20 minutes outside athens near the coast) before catching a very early flight the following morning. anticipating jet lag coming from the eastern time zone and remembering the painful quick turnarounds from the poland trip last summer, i am all for taking it easy these days. we started our honeymoon with a stay at peri’s hotel in artemida village– a sweet little b&b that offers free shuttle transfers to and from the airport. being in a completely untouristy village, the slow pace was set. the kindly owner implored us to “take it easy, make yourself feel at home” and i truly did.
our rest day involved a lazy breakfast out front with views of those amazing rocky greek hills, which would become a common sight. second thing that amazed me about greece: dang, that yogurt is thick!

first dip of the toe into greece: taking a twenty minute walk to the sweet little beach (near loutsa) with moderately heavy wave action and bathed with the locals. the water to air temperature ratio was perfect!
i loved wandering the little lanes main street in artemida. to observe daily life in a place that was so foreign to me. i needed a quiet introduction to greece… i’m not sure i could’ve done athens immediately! that night we got our first taste of the delicious fix beer, and what would be the first of a gazillion greek salads over the next ten days.

(of note for my particular foodies: the salad wasn’t actually served like this– i’ve noticed greek salads are always served with an intact rectangular block of feta drizzled with olive oil and herbs on top, not broken up like i’ve done, below)