Paris is always a good idea

Now, I’ve never been the type of that has always dreamed of going to Paris. It was totally a place I would always want to go, but never in my top ten. Seems hard to believe, I know –
but it’s the truth.

In front of Petit Palais

So when the opportunity to go presented itself, I got well into my research and got really excited! 

Some basic posing in front of Grand Palais

We spent about four days in the magical city and I can’t wait to go back! There is no way you can ever do all of Paris in one shot, but we definitely have gotten a good start on it.

A view of Les Invalides across Pont Alexandre III

In our four days, we learned to navigate the metro, get familiar with the ancient cobblestone streets and discover the beauty of that keeps bringing people back. 

The posts I’ve planned for my Paris series will include details on how to get to Versailles by train, best tips for a short trip to Paris and how to do Paris on a budget.

Let me know if you’d like to see more! Let’s hope I can get these done and then backtrack by way back to my posts from this summer!

Here are some photos to give you ideas for a quick Paris trip. 

Enjoy!

xo

Place de Concorde

Eiffel Tower at Sunset

Tour Eiffel from Place de Concorde

Versailles’ golden gates

Tour Eiffel

Walking under the Eiffel Tower at night

Along the Boulevards

Notre Dame de Paris

Love locked on a bridge in Paris

Pantheon in Paris

Louvre Pyramid at night

Paris at night

Arc de Triomph

Versailles gardens

Louvre

Arc de Triomph at Golden Hour

View of the beautiful city of love from the Arc de Triomph

Grand Mosque of Paris

Football/Soccer anywhere and everywhere in Europe

Eiffel Tower at night

View of the city from Galleries Lafayette

Rowing along

Place de Concorde

Louvre Pyramid

The Oprah house behind us in Paris, France

Versailles Garden

Walking in the beautiful Versailles Gardens

Climbing down from the Arc de Triomph

Looking down along the Siene

Le Cliche – Baguette, strips, and a chapeau in front of Laduree

Grand Palaid

Gates of Versailles

#ootd – of course

Views of Champs Elysees from the Arc de Triomph

Macarons + Chocolate everywehre

The pond at the garden of Versallies

Want to see more? Keep up over on Instagram, Twitter and my Facebook page. Don’t forget to follow to see more photos from our adventures!

Arriving in Athens

The first sight you see when landing into the Athens airport is the vast amount of mountains all around the big city. Of course, this is the Mediterranean landscape but it totally escaped my memory when I saw it in person. A beautiful breathtaking view and we only just landed!

The City of Athens behind us

We once again took public transit to get to our hotel in the city centre and it was a very smooth ride. The only part that is no fun is having to drag your suitcase up narrow streets.

Downtown Athens can be a shock to someone arriving in a busy city for the first time. I have been to both India and Pakistan and walked around in large crowds and dirty streets on hot days so I wasn’t as shocked as I would have expected. We stayed right in the centre of the city, walking distance from the main areas. We checked in and decided to nap but ended up sleeping for much longer than we anticipated! We got ready really quickly and walked out to head to the Acropolis.

The Acropolis from across

Even from ground level, it’s an amazing sight to see. The highest point of the city looking down on the population of Athens. The Acropolis was used as the city center and was at the highest point to keep its city safe in case of war or unruly floods etc. We decided to walk our way there and went through the longer way up the mountain with lots of stairs and got a view of the city I can’t forget. On our walk we passed along cute little shops, lots of lemon trees, grape vines and olive trees in public places. We passed many other ancient buildings, local tavernas and lots of tourists. The walk up was breathtaking and scenic and that’s what helped justify the fact that we missed going into the Acropolis that day!

Looking up to the Acropolis from the Plaka District

Yes, we didn’t look at the hours and the last entrance was at 7:30, we got there at 7:35 and it was closed off. We were both quite upset but couldn’t really do anything. We walked across the entrance to a hill everyone had gathered on to view the sunset. In the time we missed it we planned to come back earlier before our departure to Turkey to make sure we can go up and see it. How we managed that? That’s enough for a whole other post!

Here are some of my favourite photos from Athens:

Mountains are all around the city of Athens

Temple of Olympian Zeus

Sunset in Athens

Eating pasta for dinner in Athens

Olive oil and Yogurt dip at Erato Restaurant in the Plaka District

Golden Hour outside of the Temple of Olympian Zeus at the Arch of Hadrian

Looking towards the mountains from up on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece

Ancient Greek ruins in Athens

The City of Athens behind us

Streets of Athens

Walking along the Plaka district in Athens

Temple of Athena on the Acropolis

The Acropolis from across

Looking down from our hike up the Acropolis

Tiny cars on the streets of Athens

Spinach and Feta pie at Erato Restaurant in Athens Plaka District

Greek flag on the Acropolis

Mapping it out in Athens

Waiting for our yummy food!

Parliamentary buildings in Athens

Looking down from our hike up the Acropolis

Stuffed tomatoes in Athens

Library of Dionysus from Ancient Greece

The Parthenon from below, lit up at night.

Looking up to the Acropolis from the Plaka District

The Parthenon from the side

Church in Athens

Golden Hour in Athens

Dinner in Athens at Erato Restaurant in the Plaka District

Narrow streets of Athens

Little lemons growing on the streets of Athens

 

 

Have you had any travel troubles similar to mine? I’d love to hear! Comment below 🙂

As always, you can keep up with my over on Instagram, Twitter and my Facebook page. Don’t forget to follow to see more photos from our adventures!

 

The Sunsets of Santorini

You’ve heard, I’ve heard, it’s a thing people know – The sunset in Oia is one of the most famous in the world. Why? What makes the sunset in Santorini so good? How about that you can see the whole entire sun, with bare eyes, the whole way, right until in dips below? The calm Aegean waters reflecting back the golden light, or that amazing liquid gold swimming in the sky? It’s one of those moments you never forget and never want to miss when you’re there, something that will leave you speechless once it’s over with.

Watching the sunset in santorini is a must-do, it’s not overrated and it’s not a waste of time – we saw the sun set each night we were there. It’s an event every night, it ends with a clap from the audience, it’s an intimate moment, even with hundreds of people and cameras around you. Each time we looked out to the horizon and watched the sun set, we were amazed at how quickly it all happened and how the sky changed in those few minutes.

I was lucky to see four sunsets while in Santorini, all from different vantage points, three in Oia (that’s where we were staying) and one from Fira, the capital of Santorini. I also made a point to see the sunrise each morning on our balcony. While I didn’t get a chance to go to different places to catch the beauty, I’ve listed the best places to see the sunset in Santorini below. I’ve also included photos of the sunsets in Santorini and although they don’t do it justice, they’re a beauty on their own.

Top places to see the sunset in Santorini:

1. The village of Oia
   • So many places to do this. Obviously the famous windmill, any restaurant that offers the view (we ate at Strogili, as recommended by our friends), at the the kastro walls in Oia (ruins of an old medieval fortress or castle). The crowds here build up quick so be sure to go ahead and secure a good seat.
2. Imerovigli
   • Watching the sunset from here is much quieter, you see the sun setting behind the island of Thirassia – a quaint little village on its own island of only about 300 residents. We got a chance to visit in the day during our boat tour.
3. Firostephani
   • We watched the sun at its midpoint from Galini cafe as we took a break between our walk from Imeroveigli to Fira and had a fabulous vantage point. I would highly recommend having a dinner there and staying for the show!
4. Fira
   • Fira is a bustling town, the capital of the island with lots of vantage points to see the sunset. We walked up from the bus stop in Fira and set ourselves up in front of the Orthodox Metropolitan Church, along the road to the right of Hotel Atlantis. Here’s a map for reference.
5. On a boat or sunset cruise
   • Although we did not do this, we saw the boats sail into the sunset each evening. I can’t image what it looked like from down there, but I hope one day to find out! Here’s the company we used for our day tour. I will do a separate post on that later on – they we’re great!
6. The lighthouse at Akrotiri.
   • We were told by a local at a restaurant in Fira that her favourite spot on the island was here. We didn’t get a chance to make it to that side of the island, but I’d trust a local’s recommendation anytime.

 

 

Honeymoon Holiday Highlights

Hello all!

If you follow me on Instagram, you’d have seen my many adventures last month as I traveled to Greece, Turkey and by-chance, Spain. This week, I will be taking a deeper dive into each place I visited with some tips on where to go, what to see and of course, what to eat!

We left exactly a month from today and journeyed across the Atlantic to visit Athens, Santorini (my fave!), Cappadocia and Barcelona. We had originally planned to visit Istanbul but were stuck in Turkey because of the Military Coup. It was nerve-wracking and really did suck, but we tried to make the most our trip anyway. Because we chose to leave the country and fly out from somewhere else to get back home, we ended up in Barcelona. We were both really upset that we did not get to see Istanbul but really hope to go back someday – maybe for an even longer time that we planned, IA.

I am looking forward to creating a a guide to honeymooning in Europe. We’ve taking lots of photos, videos and can’t wait to share.

Below are some photos from my trip – let me know what you think!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.