It has been a little over two weeks since we left Minnesota and they have been packed with love and adventure!
On May 31st we flew on Aer Lingus from MSP to Dublin where we changed planes for Amsterdam. The first leg of our journey went pretty well, in spite of a kid kicking my chair for seven hours straight, but our connection was pretty tight, so our luggage didn’t make it. Luckily we have a little experience with travel so we had the essentials with us and we were able to pick up our luggage the next day when we returned to the airport to catch our flight to Athens. We hadn’t been to Amsterdam since New Years 2020 and it was nice to have a night to visit the neighborhood we stayed in during that time. We were even able to go to Cafe Oslo, one of our favorite places, for breakfast before we returned to the airport in the morning.
I feel like it is worth mentioning that in all the times we have traveled to Europe, together and apart, this was the least stressful experience I’ve ever had! We were prepared, we had time, and we were in the zone. My learning has taught me that worrying about things I can’t control serves zero purpose and with faith everything will work out, and it did.
We had two hot and incredible days in Athens. I haven’t been to Athens since 2006 and Dave had never been so it was really fun to explore together! It was in the upper 90s both days and we took advantage of every minute. We hadn’t had much time to research Athens before our arrival because May was so crazy, so we were very thankful for our incredible driver that gave us many amazing recommendations on the way to our hotel from the airport. Getting recommendations from locals is one of our favorite things to do while traveling and he did not disappoint. I think my favorite recommendation was to “eat all the balls!”
During our two days in Athens we also saw many amazing sites. We visited the Acropolis and saw the Parthenon, the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the Acropolis Museum, the Ancient Agora-where we saw some artifacts that were from 3200 BCE, which is difficult to wrap your brain around, Hadrian’s Library, Parliament, the Museum of Ancient Greek Technology Kotsanas and much much more. I love Athens. It is a bustling metropolis that does an incredible job of mixing ancient and modern. I’m so glad we made time to spend there and Dave did a great job finding a hotel in the perfect area that made it easy to walk everywhere we wanted to go. We will definitely be back!
After two wonderful days in Athens we returned to the airport to catch our flight to Santorini, one of the most visited Greek islands, where we would be meeting ten of my family members to spend five glorious days together. Nine actually because my oldest nephew joined us a few days later. This trip had been planned for over a year and is the reason Europe became the next leg of our adventure.
I had been to Santorini one time before, again back in 2006, and it was as beautiful as I remember and a lot more busy! Especially Oia (pronounced E-ah). The day we hiked there the streets were so crowded you could barely walk.
On the 10th of June Dave and I made our way from Santorini to Sarandë, Albania via a flight to Athens then Corfu and then a ferry to Sarandë. It took the whole day and allowed us to explore Corfu for a few hours before we caught our ferry which was fun. Corfu is a beautiful historic town with a fort on the hill overlooking the city and many winding streets in Old Town. I hope to explore more of Corfu some day.
We chose Albania as our next destination for a few reasons. First of all we needed more countries in the non-schengen zone of Europe. We didn’t get a formal visa for these six months and you can only be in the Schengen zone for 90 days of 180 days. Another reason was that our friends, who we visited in Eugene, recommended it as they heard the beaches are beautiful, which they are- some of the bluest water in the world, and that it is inexpensive, which it is. I’ll share a picture of the view from our apartment which is only $500 a week! I can’t even imagine what it would cost in the US. The last reason is that it is a great place for digital nomads which it needs to be since Dave is working while we’re here. Our apartment has great reception and plenty of space for Dave to comfortably do his thing and for us to not have to feel like we’re on top of each other, see “more than one door to close” from my previous posts.
I love it here! It is beautiful, the people are incredibly gracious and it has a relaxed vibe. It has been great reconnecting with Dave after the craziness of May and I feel more in love than ever! I’m so grateful for Dave and the life we’re choosing to create together and am enjoying every minute of it!
I’m also thankful for the extended time we have here so we don’t feel rushed to cram it all in in the one day of the one weekend where Dave doesn’t have to work, like we experienced several times when we were traveling in the US and Canada. We knew we wanted that for this part of the adventure and I’m so grateful for the learning our experience has given us.
We have been here for one week of three and have already seen many incredible things. On top of exploring around Sarandë we’ve taken the bus to Ksamil (pronounced sa-meel)- a gorgeous beach town about 29min away where the beaches have white sand, unlike in Sarandë where they are more rocky, and the water is crystal-clear. Another day we took the bus to Butrint-UNESCO World Heritage Site, which from Google “Butrint was an important stop along a major trade route in the eighth century and was controlled by various empires, including the Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, and Ottomans. Butrint’s archaeological remains reflect the diversity of the different cultures who built, lived and worked in the settlement.”
Yesterday we hired a driver who brought us to Gjirokastër which is also UNESCO site and “is the birthplace of former Albanian communist leader Enver Hoxha, and author Ismail Kadar” Communism in Albania fell in 1991. It is crazy to think of how recent that feels. We also visited the Blue Eye which is in another National Park. From Wikipedia ” The blue eye is a water spring And natural phenomenon. Occurring in the village of Muzinë in Finiq Municipality, southern Albania. A popular tourist attraction, the clear blue water of the river can be seen from a depth of more than 50 meters. Divers have descended to 50 m, but it is unclear of what the actual depth of the karst hole is. “https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Eye,_Albania#cite_note-Gloyer2008-4 It was AWESOME and crowded.
We finished our excursion with a visit to the Kantina e Verës winery in Isak. This 50 hectares farm and winery makes wine, Raki- which is an Albanian digestif, olive oil, it has a large organic greenhouse where it grows several different kinds of vegetables that it sells to the people of the town, grocery stores and restaurants. It also has horses, chickens, turkeys and geese. I learned that you can eat turkey eggs, which is what they keep them for, I had never heard of that before. It was a lovely way to end the day!
Before we leave we hope to go back to Ksamil at some point and plan on taking a boat trip next weekend to some of the destinations you can only get to by boat- Kakome, Krorez and the islands around Ksamil. I’m grateful that we have two more weeks here and we’re already talking about how we can come back!
I hope this finds everyone well. Wherever you are I’m sending you love!
