How I Spent 10 Days In Greece

Traveling across Athens, Milos, and Sifnos.

Last month, I spent ten beautiful days traveling around Greece with my mom, who recently retired and turned 70. So we had something to celebrate! Neither of us had ever been before, and, personally, I was thrilled to see a Greek salad after a week of eating my way across Italy.

We started in Athens, where we spent two nights, and then visited the islands of Milos and Sifnos for three nights each. I did most of the planning, but relied heavily on recommendations from publicist Gillian Sagansky, who works with the Ace Hotel,

Melanie Masarin

via AmiGo, and travel writer

Monica Mendal

.

It’s no secret that Greece is inundated with tourists and developers. If you want to avoid the crowds (and girls wearing Duke sweatpants to lunch, smh), early June is a good time to go, but the water is still pretty cold then. I assume that September and October are ideal for this reason.

Every Greek person we encountered was friendly and welcoming. The blues are as blue as everyone says, and I now know what feta cheese is supposed to taste like. That said, there’s a difference between what you see on Instagram and what you experience in real life as a traveler. Below is my unfiltered account of where I stayed, ate, and shopped.

At my new favorite restaurant with a new friend.

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Athens

Where I stayed: The Ace Hotel & Swim Club.

Located on the Riviera, which is about 30 minutes outside the city by taxi, it’s a great choice if you’re flying in for a night or two and need a comfortable place to get on the time zone before heading to the islands. If you want to explore Athens, just be sure to factor in the commute time (and not unlikely taxi strikes). When traffic was an issue, we enjoyed dinner at the hotel restaurant.

What I did:

Of course, I had to see the Acropolis, but the real highlight for me was the Acropolis Museum, which is incredibly well-designed and brought it all to life. Because of

Marlowe Granados

, I also visited the Maria Callas Museum and was very moved by its small but mighty display. On our last day, my sweet sweet boyfriend organized an olive oil tasting for my mom and me with this company, and we loved it. (Points for boyfriend.)

Where I shopped:

Mouki Mou is a beautiful store, but I was looking for something that I could only get in Greece. I found that at It’s a Shirt, a small shop that, you guessed it, only sells shirts. They’re unisex, so I bought two. Both are made with Greek linen and naturally dyed. We also spent an afternoon walking around Varvakios Market, and I got a spinach pie at Μάμ, per the recommendation of our cab driver. I’m paywalling the rest of my food recs!