Istanbul

Istanbul is everything you would expect.  Exotic smells wafting from restaurant doors; brightly colored scarves and rugs hanging in the bazaars; and the gorgeous geometric patterns of the mosques and buildings.  It is an enormous city filled with noisy pedestrian streets and quiet corners.  You can eat fish sandwiches under the Galata Bridge, or some of the world's finest pistachio and walnut baklava with some chewy Turkish ice cream.  It is a spectacular city to explore, and you could spend weeks doing so.

Ceiling of the Blue Mosque

The Galata Bridge

Galata Tower

The Grand Bazaar

The Blue Mosque

Bulgaria

When we entered Bulgaria, our first stop was the beautiful Rila monastery pictured above.  We continued that same evening to Sophia, where we stayed with a really generous young man who had the most uncomfortable couch we have ever slept on.

Sophia is a simple city with some beautiful buildings.  There is not a lot to see in this city; it is not as extravagant or architecturally sophisticated as many western European cities.  But the day we spent there was sunny and clear, and we enjoyed our walk.

We next visited Plovdiv.  Our drive to the center of Bulgaria was marked by an enormous increase in the humidity.  The air was thick.  Plovdiv is a very cute town with some nice ruins and plazas.

We then crossed north over the mountains to Veliko Tarnovo.  Unlike Plovdiv which has the architectural feel of the Austral-Hungarian empire, Veliko Tarnova feels more like the Ottoman empire.  We had a wonderful tour by a friend of our hosts, including a trip to the medieval fortress of Tsarevets.

The Chalkidiki Penninsula

After a couple evenings in the city of Thessaloniki, we ventured down into the Chalkidiki
Peninsula.  This peninsula has three long thin lobes on its southern end called "the three legs" by the Greeks.  These three fingers are all different.  Going from west to east each one is more isolated than the next.  The first lobe - furthest west - is very touristic and developed.  The middle lobe is fairly wild, but has many quiet hotels along the beaches.  The lobe furthest to the east is a highly protected series of monasteries that are forbidden for women to visit. 

We of course could not visit the third lobe together, so we decided to check out the middle lobe.  We drove the whole thing, looking for some beach that we could go down to.  The hotels are hidden by the forest, so it is difficult to figure out which road to take.  We took our chances with a random road, and it worked out brilliantly for us.  The beach we found was so quiet and still.  The water seemed to have an extraordinary amount of salt.  You could lay on top of the water with ease.  We were only accompanied by a few Russians who were also enjoying the water.

Paros, Naxos, and Santorini

The beautiful Cyclades - we could have spent an eternity hopping from island to island, laying on beaches, and driving through scrubby terrain.  We chose to visit Paros, Naxos, and Santorini.

Paros and Naxos are less touristic than Santorini.  They are situated very close to each other, and it is only a short boat ride between the two.  On Paros we rented bikes and spent our time navigating the whole island.  We rented a room for really cheap and were fortunate to have a small kitchenette to cook on.

On Naxos we decided to forgo the bikes and rent a four-wheeler.  This was a blast.  We spent all our time zooming around the most remote parts of the island with the wind in our hair.

Santorini is much more touristic, but there is a reason for this.  It is absolutely breathtaking, and while the other islands were also very stunning, this island just tops them all.  The island is the remains of a volcanic caldera.  A crescent moon - sloped down to the sea on its outer curve and ending in an abrupt cliff on its inner curve.

We stayed with a South Korean woman who was working on the island for the summer.  Each day we would drive around on the four-wheeler we rented.  Going to one side of the island to play in the surf of the blood red beach, visit the lighthouse, or enjoy the black sand beach.  We would rush to the other side of the island to watch the sunset from Oia.  Our days there were unprecedented.

Athens

Athens is a city with a big reputation that it did not really live up to.  The Acropolis is impressive and parts of the city are very nice, but the ruins in Athens are not the best or oldest I have seen and the city is not particularly impressive.  Our time in the city was good.  We stayed with a young woman and her boyfriend in a part of the city far from the center.  They were very sweet and allowed us to leave some stuff in their house when we went to the Cyclades.  We had a nice time in Athens, but the city wasn't particularly stirring.