Honeymoon - Santorini Island, Greece

Greece

• 4/28/2010 Wednesday - Oia, Santorini (4)
• We took the delayed-for-2-hours ANEK ferry from Heraklion, Crete to Thira, Santorini and bused into town, then taxied to the town of Oia to find the hotel owner Maria waiting for us (what a surprise!). And then her staff Vasili helped us with the luggage and we finally got settled into the Cavehouse suite.
• Lena's House is very beautiful and featured in many postcards. It has great view of Oia (although no Sunset view due to the angle) and red/yellow colored instead of the blue/white buildings
• As the town of Oia is so small with one main street, we spent the afternoon walking around enjoying the town (and take photos of course), and stood in the cold wind to watch the beautiful sunset (IMO it's not that special as everyone claims it to be though). After the sunset, we walked some more and had a nice dinner (Lamb & Fish) at SKALA before heading back to hotel to shower and rest

• 4/29/2010 Thursday - Fira, Santorini
• We woke up early to explore more of Oia before checking out at 12, and jumped into a taxi to Fira. We then carried the heavy luggages down the ever-so-many steps to Hotel Keti, located on the edge of Fira (hence a great view of Fira). It was worth it (until we checked out and walked up)
• After settling in, we then had Pita & Souvlaki for lunch and walked around Fira, accidentally walking all the way to Firostefani and back. It's nice to walk without purpose nor attractions to rush to, and eat - we had Freddo, Freppe, and Crepes.
• We had dinner at this reasonably-priced Nikolas restaurant. The server wasn't too friendly but the food was okay. That wraps up the relaxing day at Fira before the packed day tomorrow.

• 4/30/2010 Friday- Fira, Santorini
• Kamari beach - we woke up early to take the bus to Kamari/Ancient Thira. The Kamari beach was simply a beach with black stones, cool to see but not cool enough to stay for too long.
• Ancient Thira - This is the only historical site to visit as Akrotiri is closed, and it was our first experience in one (since Palace of Knossos was closed as well on Crete island). It is located on top of the mountain, very windy and impressive to look down. There was road construction, and we didn't want to walk 2 hours each way - so we cheated by taking a minivan halfway up, walk over the construction site (500m) and take another minivan to the top. $10/person
• Boat Excursion - $18/person for a 4-hour boat excursion. The visit to the volcano island was the most interesting part, despite a long circle walk on the island. The hot springs in a bay next to the ocean was nothing special, but fun to see people jumping into water!
• Cable car - $5 for a cable car ride, or $5 for a smelly donkey ride. I would've chose donkey but we did cable car both ways <- shows how much I love my wife.

Honeymoon - Crete Island, Greece

Greece

• 4/26/2010 Monday - Chania, Crete
• As we landed early from the London-Athens-Chania flight, we saw the Chania on a Monday morning, which is many people standing around doing nothing (somewhat scary) on our way to the hotel. The hotel (Pandora Suites) was very beautiful (best part of Chania) with a wonderful view of the old port. We used this day to simply relax, rest, and walk around the old port. It was also our first and last meal of Mixed Greek Plate (it was good, but enough Greek food at once)

• 4/27/2010 Tuesday - Heraklion, Crete
• We woke up early to walk around the old harbor again, and jumped on the 3-hour bus to Heraklion (East of Chania). The hotel (Marin Dream) is 5 minutes from the bus terminal and nothing to write home about except thanking them for the honeymoon water & fruits.
• We then jumped on the 30-minute bus to Palace of Knossos, only to find it closed at 3 pm!!! And nobody bothers to tell any tourist before boarding the bus. $5 wasted and it was the place we both wanted to see, a true archaeological site.
• We came back to Heraklion disappointed, and headed to the 2nd largest Archaeological Museum in Greece - the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Another disappointment as it has been under construction since 2006 and only a tiny section is open. It took us 20 minutes to walk it with photography. On the bright side, they "only" charged us $4 instead of $6 and they did move all the important/famous artifacts into this small room.
• After 2 disappointments in the same day, we were saved by a walk along the harbor and a delicious dinner at Ippokampus with their fresh seafood and affordable appetizer plates. Then we strolled into downtown to see the night crowd before walking back to the hotel.

Overall

• Crete is quite different than your mainland or Cyclades Greece, as it is more industrialized and much less tourism-oriented. Everywhere we go, we are the only Chinese or Asian to be found and people look at us funny. In a way, it's good because we have more freedom (compared to Athens or Santorini where we hear Chinese everywhere)
• The Minoan culture, however ancient or important, didn't excite me one bit because I am just not into history, but the Crete island has its perks, especially Chania which I loved (vs. Heraklion which I hated). Nonetheless, it is good that we were there to experience it all, and I miss the seafood at Ippokampus!!

Honeymoon - London

London

• 4/23/2010 Friday
• British Museum - We only had 1 hour to visit and saw most of the worthwhile exhibits. It's a museum that you can spend 10 hours or 1 hour and still not satisfied. It was funny to see how British Museum defends its possession of the Greece artifacts (and later in Athen's Acropolis Museum, watching a video using the word "looting" to describe Lord Elgin)

• 4/24/2010 Saturday
• Tower of London - A bit boring to me but since everyone recommends it, here I am, to learn about Brisith history that I cannot remember. The White Tower was impressive and the Crown Jewels were gold-shiny!! We spent 3 hours here walking = tired legs
• Tower Bridge  - looks better on the outside than inside. We were also lucky to observe not 1 but 2 bridge "openings" to let a ship through
• Covent Garden - A crowded area (similar to Yonge & Dundas in Toronto) with lots of stores/restaurants/people
• London Eye - Initially thought it was closed at 8 pm but turned out it was 9 pm closing. We got on, took lots of pictures and came down. It was cool to see London from up top, but not that exciting really

• 4/25/2010 Sunday
• Harrods department store - Truly an world-class luxury department store. The inside is fancy, beautifully decorated, and a must-see in London for a tourist (in-store items are not must-buy though due to the high prices)
• Buckingham Palace - Walk from Harrods to Hyde Park, and then the Palace, took photos
• London Marathon - We were "lucky" to be in town for the Virgin London Marathon. Crowds all the way from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Bridge, stop-and-walk traffic throughout. Happy to see the city alive without interrupting our activities!
• Westminster Abbey - Impressive building structure, took photos
• House of Parliment / Big Ben - Usual must-take-photo buildings
• Thames River Cruise - Took the cruise from Westminster to Tower Bridge and back, with onboard commentary fun and informative

Notes

• We took advantage of the Days Out 2FOR1 offers wherever we can (actually, all of the above paid attractions)
• We purchased Travel Card 1-day pass (about $5.6~$7.5 depending on the zones) to use the 2-for-1 offers, and they allow us to travel unlimited on the Bus, Subway in Zone 1-2
• Due to the limited shorten time we have in London, we did not visit many restaurants to sit down and have a good meal (sorry honey), therefore doesn't have much comments on the food.

Overall

• London is indeed a great large city to visit for days or weeks, like New York, Paris, Taipei, or Toronto
• Bus is the best way to travel as Subway is not luggage-friendly and always crowded and hot
• People are friendly in London
• Things are okay-expensive in London
• I however probably am glad to say I have visited London (crossed off my To-Go places), and won't need to visit anytime soon

Honeymoon - Expenses

Overall it costs around $5000 CAD for the 2 of us, which is not too bad consider it's 10 days, and we stayed at luxury hotels and travelled nicely when we can. After all, it is once-in-a-lifetime Honeymoon worth spending every penny for, with my beautiful wife.

Hotel and Transportations - $3700 CAD for 2 persons

Daily Expenses (rough estimate) - $1000 CAD for 2 persons

Honeymoon - Hotels

London

• 4/23/2010 Friday
• Travel Lodge City Road
• GBP $35.00 $56.00 CAD
• Wouldn't refund us for the 1st night missed due to flight delay
• No frills room, clean & big
• 4/24/2010 Saturday
• Park Plaza Westminster Bridge
• USD $137.00 $143.85 CAD
• BEST upgrade ever to a studio with living space and 2 LCD TV's!!
• Fancy, dark, modern interior and friendly staff
• 4/25/2010 Sunday
• Slept on the overnight flight

Greece

• 4/26/2010 Monday - Chania, Crete
• Pandora Suites
• EUR $90.00 $127.80 CAD
• It was homey, truly simple yet beautiful hotel and rooms. Very romantic on the beautiful roof with breakfast served
• 4/27/2010 Tuesday - Heraklion, Crete
• Marin Dream Hotel
• EUR $66.00 $93.72 CAD
• Nothing special for a small room but the honeymoon water+fruits was appreciated, and the breakfast was great buffet with beautiful view of the harbour
• 4/28/2010 Wednesday - Oia, Santorini
• Lena's House
• EUR $100.00 $142.00 CAD
• Traditional cavehouse, eye-opening and beautiful shared balcony with view of Oia
• 4/29/2010 Thursday - Fira, Santorini
• Hotel Keti
• EUR $138.00 $195.96 CAD
• Modern cavehouse with jacuzzi and private balcony. Warning: lots of steps down/up
• 4/30/2010 Friday- Fira, Santorini
• Intercontinental Athens
• USD $240.00 $252.00 CAD for 3 nights
• Upgraded to family room/suite for a wonderful stay. The dated green interior is strange though and not to my taste (green carpet, hallway, and sofa. REALLY??). Shuttle buses to Sygtama Square is somewhat useful (we took Trams more) and staff are friendly
• 5/1/2010 Saturday - Athens
• Intercontinental Athens
• 5/2/2010 Sunday- Athens
• Intercontinental Athens
# of nights = 10
Total $1,083.33 for 2 persons
$541.67 per person

Honeymoon - Itinerary

London (1)

• 4/23/2010 Friday
• British Museum
• 4/24/2010 Saturday
• Tower of London
• Tower Bridge
• Covent Garden
• London Eye
• 4/25/2010 Sunday
• Harrods department store
• Buckingham Palace
• Westminster Abbey
• House of Parliment / Big Ben
• Thames River Cruise

Greece

• 4/26/2010 Monday - Chania, Crete (2)
• Walk around old port
• Rest day
• 4/27/2010 Tuesday - Heraklion, Crete (3)
• Palace of Knossos (closed)
• Heraklion Archaeological Museum
• 4/28/2010 Wednesday - Oia, Santorini (4)
• Walk around
• See the sunset
• 4/29/2010 Thursday - Fira, Santorini
• Walk around to Firostefani
• Rest day
• 4/30/2010 Friday- Fira, Santorini
• Kamari beach
• Ancient Thira
• Boat Excursion
• 5/1/2010 Saturday - Athens (5)
• Plaka
• Sygtama square
• Panepistimio
• Acropolis
• 5/2/2010 Sunday- Athens
• Acropolis
• New Acropolis Museum
• Ancient Agora
• National Archaeological Museum
• 5/3/2010 Monday
• Depart for Toronto

Honeymoon - The End. Back in Canada, and left Greece just in time

I am back in Canada as of Monday afternoon after a long 11 hour flight, yet in Business class - the best $300/person upgrade ever :)

Things to do

• Catch up work email
• Catch up bills and house cleaning
• Organize 8000 photos from 3 cameras
• Blog about the trip
• Wendy to blog about the trip
• Be thankful we left Greece
• Athens wasn't a lovely city due to graffiti everywhere and unfriendly people
• My wallet got pickpocketed in a "staged incident" by a group on my last night in Athens. Good thing I only lost about $50 cash and learned a valuable lesson. Plus the VISA/Driver/OHIP replacement process
• The protests that started 1 day after we left (flight cancelled, riots, people died). Imagine we were just at the Acropolis on Sunday morning, without the banner below