Greece + Italy + Austria : 30 June - 22 July 2024
Chris and Tami spent three weeks in Greece and Italy, and a night in Vienna, Austria on the way home. They spent three days in Athens and then rented to a car to drive around mainland Greece, visiting Delphi, Meteora, Patras, Nafplion, and the Corinth Canal. They spent a night at Athens port of Piraeus and then took ferries to the islands of Mykonos, Milos, and Santorini, spending 3 or 4 nights on each island. They flew from Santorini to Naples, Italy where they rented another car and drove to Positano for two nights before returning to Naples for two more nights. They flew home through Vienna, Austria, spending one night there and having a tafelspitz dinner at Plachutta. This was the third time they have stopped in Vienna for a tafelspitz dinner.
| Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday |
| 30 June Drive Home to Dulles Fly Dulles to Brussels |
1 July Fly Brussels to Berlin to Athens |
2 Athens |
3 Athens |
4 Drive Athens to Delphi to Meteora |
5 Drive Meteora to Patras |
6 Drive Patras to Naflion to Corinth Canal to Piraeus |
| 7 Ferry Piraeus to Mykonos |
8 Mykonos |
9 Mykonos |
10 Ferry Mykonos to Milos |
11 Milos |
12 Milos |
13 Milos |
| 14 Ferry Milos to Santorini |
15 Santorini |
16 Santorini |
17 Fly Santorini to Naples Drive Naples to Positano |
18 Positano |
19 Drive Positano to Naples |
20 Naples |
| 21 Fly Naples to Vienna Tafelspitz |
22 Fly Vienna to Dulles Drive Dulles to Home |
23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 |
30 June 2024, Sunday, Washington to Brussels
Chris and Tami drove a rental car from home to Dulles Airport, and
boarded a flight to Brussels.
Fly Dulles to Brussels, Belgium to Berlin, Germany to Athens, Greece
1 July 2024, Monday, Brussels to Berlin to Athens
The original flight from Brussels to Athens was cancelled due to
airplane mechanical problems. They were rerouted through Berlin and finally
arrived into Athens very late. Chris and Tami took a taxi to their hotel and crashed from the
long trip.
Wine in Brussels,
Rainbows in Berlin
They explored the Acropolis Museum and traveled around Athens on a hop-on / hop-off bus tour. They had dinner at our hotel rooftop restaurant. Chris and Tami made several walks on this day: Athens walk #1 on AllTrails, Acropolis Day Loop on AllTrails, Acropolis Night Loop on AllTrails.
They explored more of Athens, including the Acropolis, Roman Forum, Acropolis and Agora (walking route on AllTrails), Hadrians Library, and a hilltop sunset view of Athens (walking route on AllTrails).
South side of Acropolis
North side of Acropolis
GoPro Hero 10 4K Walking, Acropolis Crowds, 3 July 2024
Chris and Tami rented a car in Athens, and drove north out of the city headed for Delphi and Meteora. Here is their driving route from Delphi to Meteora on AllTrails. They checked into their hotel on Meteora, nestled in the rocky mountains that make Meteora famous. This was the first day of four days of driving on mainland Greece; here is their mainland Greece driving route from Athens to Delphi to Meteora to Patra to Naflion to Corinth Canal to Piraeus. After checking into the hotel in Meteora, the drove to the top of the mountains to watch sunset.
&n
Delphi
GoPro 10 Hero 4K, Drive west off of Mount Parnassus
from Delphi, 4 July 2024
Meteora
Meteora is famous for the monasteries that are built into the mountains on sheer rock outcroppings. They explored Meteora in the morning, visiting several of those monasteries. They then drove west and south, crossing the Charilaos Trikoupis Bridge (Rio-Antirrio Bridge) over the Rion Strait between the Gulf of Corinth and Gulf of Patras. They spent the night there at an apartment on the beach in Patras.
Meteora overlook of Kalabaka
Video: Meteora, Greece, DJI Mavik Pro 4K, 5 July 2024 |
Video: Driving and walking in Meteora, 5 July 2024 |
Rio-Antirrio Bridge, Patras, Across Gulf of Corinth
Chris and Tami drove their rental car south from Patras to Nafplion. They explored Nafplion on foot, then continued on to the Corinth Canal and walked across the bridge at the canal. They continued to Piraeus and checked into their hotel right across the street from the ferry terminal. Chris drove the rental car back to the drop-off spot in downtown Athens about 30 minutes away, then took the Athens metro train back to Piraeus. They had dinner at the hotel.
Patras, Nafplion, Corinth Canal
Nafplion
The first ferry through the Greek islands took then from Piraeus to Ermoupoli to Mykonos. The route of this ferry ride from Piraeus-Athens to Mykonos is shown here at AllTrails. The route in Google maps is shown at these two links: Athens to Mykonos (link 1 / link 2). After catching the hotel shuttle and checking in, Chris walked down the street and rented an ATV for their four days on the island. They set out to explore Mykonos by ATV, spending most of the first day at the Tropicana Beach Club. Here are their Mykonos ATV travels for 7 July 2024 on AllTrails.
Piraeus, Ermoupoli
Ermoupoli
Mykonos
Chris and Tami explored much of Mykonos by ATV on 8 July 2024, shown here on AllTrails.
View from our hotel room on Mykonos
Video: Explore Mykonos via ATV, 8 July 2024
They continued to explore Mykonos by ATV on 9 July 2024, with the route shown here at AllTrails. They spent a lot of the day again at the Tropicana Beach Club, and went to sunset in the town of Mykonos at a night club overlooking the famous windmills.
Timelapse Video, Mykonos & Santorini, Greece +
Positano & Naples, Italy Sunsets, 9 - 19 July 2024
They explored a little more of Mykonos by ATV on 10 July 2024 shown here in AllTrails, before returning the ATV and taking the hotel shuttle back to the port. They boarded the next ferry, which took them from Mykonos to Paros to Sifnos to Milos. That ferry route is shown here on AllTrails. This ferry arrived late into Milos, and they shared a cab with two other passengers to Pollonia, checking into their hotel later than they had hoped.
11 July 2024, Thursday
The rented an ATV again and began exploring Milos. Here is their route for 11 July 2024 on AllTrails. Chris and Tami visited the north part of the island, going to Papafragkas, Sarakiniko, Mandrakia - where they had lunch, Firopotamos, Plathiena, the Trypiti windmills, and Klima. The Venus de Milo statue, housed in the Louvre Museum in Paris, was found a short distance from Trypiti.
Plathiena Beach
View from windmill hill in Tripiti
Klima
They explore Milos by ATV on 12 July 2024, with the path shown here on AllTrails. They visited the south part of Island, had lunch at O! Hamos! Tavern, and went to several beaches: Agios Sostis, Fyriplaca, Tsigrado, Agia Kriaki - where they reserved a boat for next day, and Paliochori.
O! Hamos! Tavern, Fyriplaka Beach, Paliochori Beach
Tsigrado Beach
Agios Sostis Beach
Ladders down to Tsigrado Beach
Milos Island, View from
here looking north-west
Chris and Tami rented a boat for the whole day, going all along the south coast of Milos; here are their ATV and boat travels on AllTrails.
Kleftico
Video: Kleftiko, Milos Island, Greece, DJI Mavik Pro 4K, 13 July 2024 |
Video: Pollonia, Milos Island, Greece, DJI Mavik Pro 4K, 13 July 2024 |
14 July 2024, Sunday
Chris headed out early on the ATV to visit Papafragkas and Sarakiniko beaches, where he flew his quadcopter for some early morning aerial video. Here are the ATV travels for the morning on Milos at AllTrails. Chris returned the ATV then they both took a taxi to the port of Adamanas and caught the ferry to Santorini. They had a rental buggy waiting for them at the port in Santorini, where they loaded their baggage and drove to their hotel at the northwest corner of the island in Oia. Driving a manual transmission buggy up the very steep hills on Santorini was an interesting experience.
Sarakiniko, Milos
Papafragkas, Milos
Sarakinikos and Papafragkas, Milos
Video: Sarakiniko Beach, Milos Island, Greece, DJI Mavik Pro 4K, 14 July 2024
Adamantas, Milos
Oia, Santorini
Sunset from our hotel room, Oia, Santorini
They set out to explore Santorini, going to the beaches on Monolithos and Kamari, and making it almost all the way to the southwest corner of the island. Here are the buggy travels on AllTrails. They went to the Santo Winery on the caldera rim to watch sunset while tasting wine, and then returned to the hotel after sunset.
Video: Explore Santorini by buggy, 15 July 2024
Chris got up early to walk through Oia before the big crowds arrived, getting some morning photos. Chris and Tami drove the buggy to Ammoudi Bay, with the route shown here on AllTrails. Chris went swimming and cliff jumping in Ammoudi Bay, then they both returned to the hotel and relaxed at the pool for the afternoon, before attending a concert and having dinner at the hotel restaurant that evening.
Video: Ammoudi Bay - Driving / Swimming / Cliff Jump, 16 July 2024 |
Video: Oia, Santorini, Greece, DJI Mavik Pro 4K, 16 July 2024 |
17 July 2024, Wednesday
They loaded their bags to the buggy, drove to the Santorini airport, and returned the buggy. They boarded their flight from Santorini to Naples, Italy, and picked up a rental car in Naples after arriving. They then drove south out of Naples to San Pietro and then Positano, where they spent the next two nights. Two days later they returned to Naples via Amalfi and Revello, to spend two nights in Naples. This route shows the drive from the Naples airport to Positano to Amalfi to Revello to Naples hotel to the Naples airport.
San Pietro
Positano
They spent all day on the beach in Positano.
Video: Drive San Pietro to Positano, 17 July 2024 |
Video: Drive Positano to Amalfi, 19 July 2024 |
19 July 2024, Friday
They drove the rental car from Positano to Amalfi to Naples and checked into their hotel at the Naples harbor. They had famous Naples pizza for dinner.
Mount Vesuvius
Bay of Naples
20 July 2024, SaturdayThey explore Naples by foot near their hotel, and had other famous Naples pizza for lunch.
Chris and Tami drove back to the Naples airport, returned the rental car, and boarded their flight to Vienna, Austria. They spent one night in Vienna, using the City Airport Train to get into town. Their hotel was a short walking distance from Plachutta, where they had tafelspitz for dinner. This was the third time they have had tafelspitz in Vienna at Plachutta, also eating their in 2015 and 2016, Chris walked around Vienna before dinner; here is his route in AllTrails.
Danube River
Plachutta Wall Of Fame
22 July 2024, MondayChris and Tami took the train back to the airport and got on their flight home to Dulles Airport in Washington D.C. Here are the routes for their flights home from Santorini to Naples to Vienna to Dulles.
