Greece

Day 1: Freediving and incredible food

After years of talking about traveling to Greece, it’s finally happening: we’re officially here, on the island of Crete.

Our first day was physically and mentally demanding, but extremely rewarding. The main motivation for this trip was to learn freediving from Lampros, a spearfisher and instructor with quite a reputation. After just one day with him, we understand why. He’s deeply experienced both as an athlete and a teacher, remarkably clear in his explanations, and demanding in exactly the way we need him to be.

By the end of our session, we were completely exhausted. We spent the rest of the day conducting a thorough post-dive analysis: what we did well (a few things), what we can improve (basically everything), and what we’ll focus on tomorrow. We deliberately picked just one thing, because attempting to fix everything at once is a sure recipe to remember none of it.

We expected food to be a highlight of this trip, but Crete exceeded our expectations immediately. Our first meal included dakos, a typical Cretan salad made with impossibly light barley rusks, extremely sweet tomatoes, tasty local cheese, olives, and plenty of olive oil. The rusks soak up all the juices and turn soft and crumbly, leaving us briefly convinced that this is what a salad should always be. Ours was topped with kritamo, a juicy, delicate plant that the restaurant owner collects from the rocks by the beach.

Then came grilled octopus, Bea’s favorite protein and something she never misses a chance to order when it appears on a menu. This version was incredibly succulent, nicely charred from the charcoal grill, and seasoned just right. We also had giant bean stew, a Greek specialty of creamy beans and vegetables cooked until everything comes together in the most comforting possible way. Greece has set a very high culinary bar for day 1; we will do our best to meet it, one meal at a time.

We are now very tired, very well fed, and more than ready to sleep.

• Accommodation: Alianthos Estate Resort
• Freediving instruction: Freediving Crete

Day 2: Freediving and sunset

Our freediving session today started in the classroom. Lampros first showed us footage of world-record performances in the disciplines we’re practicing, then switched to videos of our own attempts from yesterday. We cringed, sank a little lower in our chairs, and found plenty of urgent reasons to look everywhere except at the TV. Point taken.

That comparison gave us the motivation we needed to give today’s session everything we had — and then some. Gradually, we began to see real improvement. Nobody is about to confuse us with world champions, but we finished the day substantially better than we started it.

To celebrate our small victories, we went to nearby Triopetra Beach to watch the sunset — while debriefing today’s freediving session, naturally. It was a bit like studying for an exam at the park: the scenery was lovely, but we were still preoccupied. Eventually, we managed to take a proper mental break, climbing the rocks at the far end of the beach to look back across the shore. The wide sandy beach was beautiful in the late-afternoon light, and we had it entirely to ourselves. It was a peaceful moment.

We even found kritamo — the wild green from yesterday’s salad — growing on the rocks. Being able to recognize it by name made Crete feel a little more familiar.

Day 3: Freediving and more food

As we were getting ready to enter the water for our freediving session, we noticed an older local man pulling on his wetsuit before heading out to spearfish. Spearfishing is woven into daily life here in Crete, and people of all ages practice it. To us, he and others like him are the people who invented cool, though we’re not sure they realize it. We want to be like him when we grow up. Not exactly a conventional pre-session pep talk, but we’ll take our motivation where we can get it.

Today’s session was extremely productive. Both of us are now doing things that, just three days ago, we weren’t sure we would ever be capable of. Our confidence underwater is growing, and our enjoyment is growing along with it.

Our food highlights have been accumulating faster than we can write about them. We’ve been prioritizing regional Cretan dishes, and have already found so many gems: zucchini blossoms stuffed with rice and herbs; apaki, a delicious cured and smoked pork; anevata pie, a small, lightly sweetened bun filled with cheese; sfakiani pita, a thin pan-cooked cheese pie served with honey; fennel pie, a small round flatbread stuffed with fennel; Graviera and Mizithra cheeses; and lichnarakia, a small cheese pastry. It’s remarkable how many distinct preparations come from a single island, and we’re pretty sure we’ve only scratched the surface.

Alongside these Cretan discoveries, we’ve also had excellent versions of Greek classics, including grilled squid, rabbit in lemon sauce, shrimp saganaki, grilled lamb chops, and octopus salad. The last one was particularly important to Bea, who apparently cannot spend a full day in Greece without ordering octopus. We will continue this research with the rigor it deserves and report back.

Day 4: Certified and kneaded

Today, we’re celebrating: Bea completed her Molchanovs Wave 1 freediving certification, and Eric completed Wave 2. It still hasn’t quite sunk in.

We’ve had difficult moments, when a particular skill seemed determined to stay just out of reach; inspiring ones, as Lampros taught us how to overcome physical and mental challenges; and happy ones, as we high-fived whenever one of us achieved a personal best. Small schools of fish darted around us throughout, offering welcome entertainment between attempts. At the end of it all, we’re blown away by how far we’ve come, but most importantly, we’re so thankful to have enjoyed the process that got us here. Lampros’s instruction was exceptional, and a big part of what made the entire experience so rewarding.

We celebrated with an olive oil massage, which was exactly what we needed to decompress — pun intended — and ease into vacation mode. It was a well-deserved reset for our exhausted minds and bodies.

We’re now sufficiently relaxed and ready for the real vacation to begin.

• Olive oil massage: Massage from Agapi

Day 5: Kayaking

Today we traded fins for paddles and kayaked from Ilingas Beach to Loutro along Crete’s remote southwest coast. Beyond Ilingas, the coastline is reachable only by boat or by hiking a narrow seaside trail. The White Mountains drop steeply into the Libyan Sea, creating a rugged string of coves and beaches that feels pleasantly removed from the rest of the island.

We stopped at a little unnamed beach which we had entirely to ourselves, and at Sweet Water Beach, where small freshwater springs bubble up through the stones after flowing down from the mountains. The ocean water was so clear that every paddle stroke felt like gliding over an aquarium. We also learned a little kayak surfing by catching the wakes of passing boats — more enjoyable than elegant, at least at first.

It was an exceptionally relaxing day. We spent hours paddling, swimming, and taking in the coast at an unhurried pace.

• Kayak tour: Enjoy Crete

Day 6: Old streets and infinity pools

Today was a transition day, taking us from Crete’s quiet south coast to Santorini. Before our flight, we stopped in Rethymno, on Crete’s north coast, and wandered the narrow streets of its old town. After Plakias, which now feels positively sleepy by comparison, Rethymno was busier and more touristy — but still a pleasure to explore. We took our time following the little lanes, enjoying one last dose of Cretan town life before heading to the airport.

Then we flew to Santorini, which immediately felt like a very different Greece. Our first impression is that it is breathtakingly beautiful. Finding everyday Greek life among the infinity pools, souvenir shops, and €25 cocktails, however, can feel a little like an archaeological expedition. Still, we’re looking forward to exploring beyond the postcard version of the island and making the most of our time here.

We began our quest for authentic Santorini culture with fava, a local specialty consisting of yellow-pea mash served with a variety of toppings. We often make a version of this dish at home, so we were eager to taste the local original. It was excellent — simple, comforting, and a delicious introduction to Santorini’s cooking. Our archaeological expedition is off to a promising start.

• Accommodation: Alegria by Casa Sigalis

Day 7: Prehistory, pastries, and postcards

Santorini has a year-round population of about 15,000 people and receives between three and three and a half million visitors annually. Most of those visitors come to Oia, where we’re staying, in search of the postcard views that have made it famous. Oia is known as the island’s prettiest village, but it’s now almost entirely hotels, restaurants, and souvenir shops. Beautiful as it is, it can feel less like Greece and more like a very photogenic theme park loosely based on Greece.

With that in mind, when we met our driver-guide this morning, we had three requests for the day: visit the Bronze Age settlement of Akrotiri, eat a melitini — a typical Santorini pastry that had proved impossible to find in Oia — and explore a village where locals actually live.

Akrotiri was a good place to start. Long before Santorini became a destination for postcard photos, it was home to a thriving Bronze Age settlement and port. A volcanic eruption eventually covered the town in ash, preserving its buildings and streets for thousands of years. Seeing it was a reminder that the island’s history is at least as dramatic as its scenery, and considerably older than its infinity pools.

Our pastry search took us to a local bakery, where we finally found a melitini. It was very good — crumbly, local, and well worth the search.

The best part of the day was visiting Emporio, the village where our guide was born and still lives. We wandered its little alleys, got lost, found our way again, and kept exploring. Here, Santorini felt lived-in rather than arranged for an audience, giving us the glimpse of everyday island life we were looking for.

We ended the day at Oia Castle for the obligatory sunset photo of the village’s cascading houses. It’s a view that appears on every Santorini postcard for a reason: as the light faded, even we had to admit that the crowds have excellent taste.

• Tour: Private Santorini Tailor Made by Santorini Road Trips

Day 8: Oia before and after the crowds

Oia is growing on us. Beneath the pile of blue and white fridge magnets and overpriced açaí bowls, there is a village with its own rhythm — as long as you catch it at the right moments.

We started before sunrise, getting up to photograph the blue domes at first light. Oia was empty, and in the soft morning light, its whitewashed houses, blue domes, and winding paths looked especially beautiful.

Later that morning, we had a photography session in Oia, which gave us another reason to slow down and take in its details.

Afterward, we happened upon a religious procession marking the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, an important day in the Greek Orthodox calendar. It was a small, unplanned glimpse of island life continuing around the visitors.

We then found tomato fritters at a local restaurant — another Santorini specialty we had been looking for — and loved them.

That night, after the cruise-ship visitors had returned to their ships, we found a traditional Greek music concert in the village’s central square. Tourists and Greeks danced together, and Oia felt transformed once again.

By the time we went to bed, it felt as if Oia had let us in on its secret: visit early, stay late, and be hungry in between.

• Photo shoot: The Santorini Photographer

Day 9: Serious pastry research

Today we took the ferry from Santorini to Athens, closing one island chapter and beginning another. Once in Athens, we came across Mitropolitikon, a traditional family-run bakery opened in 1930, whose counter was filled with sweets from across Greece — many of them not easy to find even in the capital.

We were the only customers, so the woman working there gave us an in-depth tour of Greek pastries and several generous tastings. It was incredibly educational. We sampled and took notes with the concentration of researchers who had unexpectedly found the perfect museum. By the time we left, we had bought several favorites to continue our studies later.

The standout was baklavou, Lesvos’s wedding baklava. Unlike the more familiar walnut- or pistachio-filled versions, it has blanched almonds layered between paper-thin sheets of phyllo and soaked in a dense honey syrup. Cut into small cubes and individually wrapped in paper, it is traditionally associated with a bride presenting a tray to her future mother-in-law. It was rich, fragrant, and wonderfully satisfying — reason enough to add Lesvos to the itinerary for a future return to Greece.

• Bakery: Mitropolitikon
• Accommodation: The Marble Suites

Day 10: Athens, layer by layer

Today was a full history day.

We began at the Acropolis, where the audio tour transformed familiar silhouettes into a much richer story. Across its nearly 2,500 years, the site has been damaged, repurposed, and restored again and again. The Parthenon began as a temple to Athena, then became an Eastern Christian church, then a Catholic church, and later an Ottoman mosque. In 1687, a Venetian shell struck the gunpowder stored inside it, blowing out much of the building. Suddenly, it was not simply a famous ruin, but a survivor of a remarkably dramatic life. The more we learned, the more unexpectedly emotional the visit became. Apparently, we are only one good audio tour away from getting misty-eyed over columns.

The Acropolis Museum gave those layers a human scale. In its Parthenon Gallery, original sculptures that remain in Greece sit alongside plaster casts of sections now held in the British Museum and elsewhere. Many of the missing pieces were removed by Lord Elgin in the early 1800s. Seeing the originals and the absences side by side made the debate over reunifying the sculptures feel less like a distant argument and more like part of the story itself. Greece has sought their return for decades, and discussions about a possible partnership are still ongoing.

We finished at the Ancient Agora, once the civic, commercial, and legal heart of Athens. Here, Athenians shopped, served on juries, and discussed politics; Socrates debated philosophy, while ordinary citizens took part in governing one of the world’s first democracies. They also practiced ostracism: citizens scratched a name onto a pottery shard to vote someone into ten years of exile — basically, ancient Athens had its own version of Survivor. It’s remarkable how many ideas that still shape our world were debated and practiced in this small patch of Athens 2,500 years ago.

Day 11: Athens at street level

We spent the morning walking through Plaka, our Athens home base, and nearby Syntagma. Outside Parliament, we watched the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, where the guards perform their slow, precise ritual in honor of Greece’s unidentified fallen soldiers. We also stepped into several beautiful Greek Orthodox churches, including the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens. It was a welcome glimpse of the present-day city beyond its ancient monuments.

At the National Archaeological Museum, our audio tour once again turned an overwhelming number of objects into a story. We were especially drawn to the evolution of Greek sculpture: the earliest figures stood rigid and formal, while later works introduced more naturalistic bodies, motion, and personality. The progression was easy to see once the works were laid out in sequence — although we are not yet confident enough to date a statue without reading the label.

After days of island specialties and seafood, Athens gave us an excuse to revisit familiar Greek classics, including gyros, souvlaki, moussaka, gemista, and pastitsio. We make pastitsio at home, so tasting it here provided a useful benchmark for our own version. It set a very high bar.

Day 12: Mind the gap

We flew from Athens to London today and spent the afternoon with Bea’s brother Jorge and his partner, Louise, who live here — the very good reason for this London stop. Having Jorge and Louise show us around made the city feel less like a quick stopover and more like an afternoon with family. We walked along both banks of the Thames through central London, taking in landmarks, catching up with them, and eating very well along the way. It was lovely to see London, however briefly, as their everyday home rather than just a list of tourist destinations.

In addition to all the sights, we managed to fit in a respectable number of London classics in just half a day: a ride on the Tube, complete with its obligatory “Mind the gap”; fish and chips with vinegar (yes, on the chips, and yes, it’s genius); a black cab — although ours was yellow, so we’re not entirely sure it counts; and a Banksy art installation.

• Accommodation: Wilde Aparthotels, Covent Garden

Day 13: London on foot

We gave London a full-day effort today, walking between Westminster, Whitehall, and the South Bank. Along the way, we took in the guarded entrance to 10 Downing Street, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye.

At the National Gallery, we lingered over works by Gauguin, Monet, and Van Gogh. Gauguin is Bea’s favorite painter. During her time in college in the UK, she used to come to the National Gallery to look at the Gauguins whenever she could. His work is a big part of why French Polynesia has long held such appeal for her.

The British Museum offered a different kind of immersion. We were especially drawn to the Greek, Egyptian, and Assyrian galleries. Coming just days after visiting the Acropolis and its museum, the Parthenon sculptures made the Greek galleries feel like a second chapter of our Greece trip. In Athens, we had seen the temple and the gaps left by sculptures now in London; here, we encountered many of those missing pieces. The two visits together completed the story in a way neither could have done alone.

We ended the day at NOPI, a restaurant by our favorite chef, Ottolenghi. The food was out-of-this-world delicious — a richly deserved reward after a full day of walking.

• Dinner: NOPI

Day 14: The last stop

We began our final morning with a scone, clotted cream, and jam — one last proper taste of London before heading to the airport. We then took a double-decker bus part of the way there, which felt like the most London way we could think of to leave the city.

And with that, our trip came to a close. It began with us learning to hold our breath in Crete and ended with us eating scones in London, which feels like a suitably unlikely itinerary. And that’s a wrap.