From 'Love' we move on to 'Travel'. I'm sure most people close to me are probably very sick of hearing about the wedding so let's leave that one behind us and move on to the next best thing about getting married... the honeymoon!
And so we relive the delights of our honeymooning-bliss in the spectacular country of Greece. We started in Athens, checking into our hotel with a room upgrade, fresh fruit platter and bottle of wine, complimentary to the honeymooners. Sweet! Day one saw us sample our first of many (... so, so many!) gyros - a kebab with fresh tzatziki, salad and chips - as well as Greek salad, local wine and moussaka (kinda like lasagne but with aubergine/eggplant in place of the pasta). Yum, yum and YUM!
For our first full day, we spent it exploring the gorgeous city of Athens. The acropolis, museums, shopping, changing of the guards, the gardens, the history... brilliant! We bought our Greek magnet (for those of you who are interested, our magnet isn't that exciting but it does include a decoration of olives!) olive soaps, cute little shoes, olives and lots and lots of herbs.
From Athens, we flew to the island of Crete. We picked up our hire car from the tiny airport and headed off in search of our resort. It was so well hidden, we almost missed the turnoff. Hidden and exclusive - MY kinda place!
It was perfection. I will try not to boast but in an exclusive villa, with our own private pool, rose petal path, sparkling wine and love-towel-swans on the bed... well, it was pretty amazing. The staff were some of the nicest people I've ever come across, nothing was too much trouble for them and we lapped it up!
The resort was designed for laziness. Don't worry about walking anywhere, take a chauffeured golf-buggy. One set of steps too much for you? Take the funicular. Soooo laaaaazy!
Oh, and then there was the food! Breakfasts were just delicious. A daily buffet with so much selection it took me a few days to sample it all. Lunches, if we had room to actually eat them, were local delights - grilled meats, gyros, moussaka (still none beat the original from Athens though) and local beers and wines.
But dinners... oh the dinners! It became almost a challenge for us to guess what cuisine would be served at the daily dinner buffet. Seafood night. Greek night. Crete night. BBQ night. "You ask what tonight's buffet will be..." "No YOU ask, I asked yesterday, I don't want them to think I'm a piggy!" That was our daily conversation over breakfast after we tried to guess what that night would entail.
Another advantage of being on our honeymoon meant we were treated to a delicious meal in their fancy Greek Tavern. I had my third helping of moussaka in three days that night after we ate our body weight in local dips, breads and olives. When dessert came out - a traditional Greek pastry soaked in honey - I literally couldn't even taste it, I was that full. Just looking at it was making me feel ill to the point that I had to put my serviette over the top of it to get it out of my sight.
And just one more reference to food - local Greek wine was surprisingly good! Seriously good! I would never have taken the Greeks for wine makers and don't think I had ever even tasted Greek wine but all the ones we tried were from Crete and they were all amazing. Well, apart from one bottle of sparkling wine that neither of us could finish. And those of you who know B and I well you understand that wine NEVER goes to waste.
But I promise our honeymoon wasn't all about food. Our days were also spent exploring the island, visiting tiny fishing towns and taking photos of the incredible water. It was some of the clearest I'd ever seen - the colours were to die for.
When we weren't exploring the island, we spent a lot of time in the resort spa. Another gift from the resort to us as honeymooners, was our own private sauna, steam room and massage bath accompanied with fresh fruit and bubbly. Love is sweet and we sure enjoyed the freebies! That didn't seem to cut it though so we booked in another day for a couples hour and a half massage. Ahhhhhh, best massage of my life!
When we'd had enough of the spa, we spent hour upon hour sunbathing on the beach in the sunshine sometimes with a cocktail in hand, getting a tan and living the life of luxury. My pasty-white London body appreciated every minute of the sun and my wedding-stressed mind could not get enough of the hours of just lying on a sun lounger, reading. Doing nothing was bliss and for quite possibly the of the first times in our nine year relationship, B actually enjoyed doing nothing. Amazing!
And so eventually, it all had to come to an end. As much as I'm trying to make everyone jealous, you need to remember that as I write this, it's freezing cold, windy and disgustingly grey outside so perhaps I should stop bragging because I'm only depressing myself.
In a nutshell, it was everything I wanted in a honeymoon. We shopped, explored, relaxed, had endless sunshine, got a tan, ate incredible food, we LOVED it. We were very, VERY sad to come back to sad old London-town. Back to work, back to reality, back to winter... sigh!
To cheer myself up, next post... FOOD!
Please do sign up to my blog... if you actually like it that is! Scroll to the bottom and you can add your email address so you'll automatically receive my blog when I update it. I'll update it regularly, promise!
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| Newlyweds! Athens |
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| Mmmm... gyros and beer |
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| Greek wine overlooking Zeus's temple - heaven! Royal Olympic Hotel, Athens |
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| Olive trees Athens |
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| The Acropolis Athens |
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| Enjoying some Greek heat The Acropolis, Athens |
It was perfection. I will try not to boast but in an exclusive villa, with our own private pool, rose petal path, sparkling wine and love-towel-swans on the bed... well, it was pretty amazing. The staff were some of the nicest people I've ever come across, nothing was too much trouble for them and we lapped it up!
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| I've always wanted towel love swans Diaos cove resort |
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| Our own private pool Diaos cove resort |
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| The resort - perfection Diaos cove resort |
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| Being lazy by taking the funicular I swear we walked most of the time... Diaos cove resort |
Oh, and then there was the food! Breakfasts were just delicious. A daily buffet with so much selection it took me a few days to sample it all. Lunches, if we had room to actually eat them, were local delights - grilled meats, gyros, moussaka (still none beat the original from Athens though) and local beers and wines.
But dinners... oh the dinners! It became almost a challenge for us to guess what cuisine would be served at the daily dinner buffet. Seafood night. Greek night. Crete night. BBQ night. "You ask what tonight's buffet will be..." "No YOU ask, I asked yesterday, I don't want them to think I'm a piggy!" That was our daily conversation over breakfast after we tried to guess what that night would entail.
Another advantage of being on our honeymoon meant we were treated to a delicious meal in their fancy Greek Tavern. I had my third helping of moussaka in three days that night after we ate our body weight in local dips, breads and olives. When dessert came out - a traditional Greek pastry soaked in honey - I literally couldn't even taste it, I was that full. Just looking at it was making me feel ill to the point that I had to put my serviette over the top of it to get it out of my sight.
And just one more reference to food - local Greek wine was surprisingly good! Seriously good! I would never have taken the Greeks for wine makers and don't think I had ever even tasted Greek wine but all the ones we tried were from Crete and they were all amazing. Well, apart from one bottle of sparkling wine that neither of us could finish. And those of you who know B and I well you understand that wine NEVER goes to waste.
But I promise our honeymoon wasn't all about food. Our days were also spent exploring the island, visiting tiny fishing towns and taking photos of the incredible water. It was some of the clearest I'd ever seen - the colours were to die for.
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| No filter. It really did look that incredible Agios Nikolaos |
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| Agios Nikolaos |
When we weren't exploring the island, we spent a lot of time in the resort spa. Another gift from the resort to us as honeymooners, was our own private sauna, steam room and massage bath accompanied with fresh fruit and bubbly. Love is sweet and we sure enjoyed the freebies! That didn't seem to cut it though so we booked in another day for a couples hour and a half massage. Ahhhhhh, best massage of my life!
When we'd had enough of the spa, we spent hour upon hour sunbathing on the beach in the sunshine sometimes with a cocktail in hand, getting a tan and living the life of luxury. My pasty-white London body appreciated every minute of the sun and my wedding-stressed mind could not get enough of the hours of just lying on a sun lounger, reading. Doing nothing was bliss and for quite possibly the of the first times in our nine year relationship, B actually enjoyed doing nothing. Amazing!
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| Our daily beach view Diaos cove resort |
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| Wine in our pool Diaos cove resort |
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| Crete |
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| Wandering the resort Diaos cove resort |
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| Infinity pool Diaos cove resort |
And so eventually, it all had to come to an end. As much as I'm trying to make everyone jealous, you need to remember that as I write this, it's freezing cold, windy and disgustingly grey outside so perhaps I should stop bragging because I'm only depressing myself.
In a nutshell, it was everything I wanted in a honeymoon. We shopped, explored, relaxed, had endless sunshine, got a tan, ate incredible food, we LOVED it. We were very, VERY sad to come back to sad old London-town. Back to work, back to reality, back to winter... sigh!
To cheer myself up, next post... FOOD!
Please do sign up to my blog... if you actually like it that is! Scroll to the bottom and you can add your email address so you'll automatically receive my blog when I update it. I'll update it regularly, promise!
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