Wow, what a holiday! If you’ve never considered a European twin centre before then seriously, it’s time to get looking! Me and Laura have done a couple of city breaks together now but with her finding herself with lots of annual leave to spare and me having unlimited anyway, we figured this year we’d extend our long weekend into a whole week. At this point, we’d already talked about the possibility of a long weekend in Athens or Rhodes, so instead of jacking that in for a week on the beach, we figured why not do both? A hot city break AND a relaxing time by the sea. The ultimate Jenni option (an infamous phenomena in my family, which involves always choosing both, finding the secret hidden option and generally getting everything you want). So when it came to researching the trip, I figured there’d be loads of companies offering Greek twin centre holidays, especially given how many islands there are. But weirdly, there were very few that offered it and certainly none that offered it for a decent price. Luckily, skyscanner has a multi-city option though, so that paired with the fact that the Greek islands have abundant ferry routes meant it wasn’t too taxing to plan it ourselves.
We’d already kind of decided on Athens at this point as it had the best ferry connections with the islands we were eying up; Mykonos and Santorini. We read up a lot to help us decide which to go for and in the end Mykonos won out, given it’s more of a party place and Santorini is better known for being romantic. We booked flights to Athens, a hotel for 3 nights there, a ferry from Athens to Mykonos (which was 3 hours 30 which could be as little as 2 hours if you wanted to book a quicker, more expensive route), a hotel for 4 nights there and then a flight back from Mykonos. We had it all perfectly planned! Until easyjet cancelled our flight to Athens, throwing an almighty spanner in the works. Luckily, we already knew the ferry connections were good so we simply did the second half of our trip in reverse in order to get there; flight to Mykonos and then ferry to Athens.
It ended up being a rather long day of travelling but the original flight to Athens landed really late anyway, so we actually ended up getting to our hotel ahead of schedule. We were SO happy with our choice of hotel in Athens. The hotels in Mykonos were rather expensive, so we figured we needed to allow a much bigger proportion of the budget for that one and therefore looked for something cheap and cheerful in Athens. We didn’t need anything super glamorous but I was quite stubborn on needing a pool given how hot it is; I knew we’d want a dip after a hot day of walking around! So we ended up choosing The Dorian Inn, which had a rooftop pool and was only £200 between us for 3 nights (bargain). I thought it’d therefore be fairly basic but it was so nice! Super clean and spacious and only a 5-10 minute walk from one of the main areas of restaurants and bars, and only a 20-30 minute walk to Acropolis and the old town of Plaka. Although, it was in kind of a rough area (surrounded by back streets filled with fruit and veg shops that looked like a very lazy front for drugs and/or money laundering). But we just walked the slightly longer way round to stick to the main roads and felt perfectly happy that way.
After walking the ‘dodgy’ way on our first night, we found ourselves in one of the main areas for restaurants and bars; Psyri. It was such a lovely area, covered in foliage and multi-coloured fairy lights and there was live music floating through the streets. Naturally, we chose the restaurant where the music was playing and just had to go all-out Greek with our food choices so we both got souvlaki and it was lovely. And although I made a perfect dinner choice, my outfit choice wasn’t necessarily wise. Lovely, but not wise, as it was just so hot, even late at night! This dress is a miss selfridge number and although I love the orange colour and broderie detailing, I think I’ll keep it for cooler climates in future.
We woke up fresh and ready to explore the next day! Although after a couple of hours out in the blistering sunshine, we certainly didn't feel quite so fresh. I was happy with the outfit I chose for the occasion though; denim shorts (shein), crochet detail crop top (miss selfridge) and brown sandals (new look). Our exploring started with breakfast, which was a simple pastry grab at this amazing shop just round the corner from our hotel. Seriously, if I could've tried one of everything, I would have!
After a quick pit stop for a drink, it was onwards up the hill to Acropolis. Which was seriously impressive and ultimately, what you go to Athens to see. It was so fascinating reading all about the history of the site and how it was built and I was pretty happy to find that it wasn't nearly as crawling with people as I'd expected, even to say we'd visited in the middle of July (which is presumably peak season). It was mega windy up there though, which not only made for some interesting photo taking, but also meant you got whipped with dust, which was fun. While it might've been quite a climb to the top, it was definitely the must-do that thought it'd be.
After a slow walk back down, we ventured into Plaka, which is the old town of Athens. Honestly, it was so cute and pretty, there were flowers and foliage everywhere and loads of beautiful old buildings. Again, I was surprised to find that it was pretty calm and serene, and we enjoyed a wander around (a phrase Laura kept saying as 'wonder around' all holiday) before a mini lunch and a cocktail. I always think you don't want to eat as much when it's hot so a bit of seafood and a feta and watermelon salad was just perfect.
We'd booked a hotel with a pool because we'd wanted to have somewhere to chill after a long day before getting ready for the evening and it was such a good call. Our rooftop pool was amazing, with a perfect view of Acropolis. The only downside is that it didn't have any sun loungers round it, so your only sitting option was basically the floor. Bad back central! But it was the perfect spot to have a gossip, soak up some sun and slowly watch the sun descend.
I don't know if Athens is particularly known for amazing restaurants or if we just got really lucky, but it was another night of incredible food! Using the 'busy' indicator on google maps, we deduced that Plaka was more of a daytime place and Psyri was the place to be at night so we headed back there again (avoiding the creepy side streets this time). We happened upon this wacky Alice in Wonderland area first, before deciding on a place set in a beautiful outdoor garden with fountains and live music (again). We both went with saganaki; Laura got the mussels and I got the prawns and wow, it was certainly a million times better than the saganaki I make (which is still pretty good btw)! Something different about an authentic Greek sauce evidently. And then after dinner we went for a few cocktails. We didn't do any proper nights out in Athens as we were saving that more for Mykonos; Athens felt like more of a dinner and drinks kind of place. Hence, I stuck with my more casual outfits for this portion of the holiday. It was all things neutral for night 2 as I went with brown linen shorts, cream and brown printed bardot top and brown and cream wedges.
I felt very Greek in this outfit and it just so happened to be a prize of a find! This top is from River Island and I spotted it on a facebook advert; once I clicked through I saw it was £9 down from £28 and they had my size in stock! What a stroke of good luck, as it's simply perfect and I'd been looking for something to go with these white ripped denim shorts (shein). I wore a blue headband to match (for my burn-prone scalp more than anything else) and finished with white sliders. The first stop on our list for today's itinerary was brunch. Build it and they will come, as the saying goes. so naturally, when you put a beautiful, impressive structure on top of a big hill, people are going to put lots of rooftop bars and restaurants near it to take advantage of the view. One such place was the MS Roof Garden, which was so perfectly done with all the flowers and stuff (although the tables were super crammed in so we were practically on the laps of the people on the one next to us). I made a terrible menu choice though, thinking the banoffee pancakes would be of a reasonable size. They were massive AND drowning in chocolate so I could only manage less than half before feeling like Augustus Gloop. But the views made up for the food!
After a quick walk through Plaka the day before, we decided we wanted to spend more time there so we went for a proper look around and to do a spot of souvenir shopping. It was at about this point that we also discovered the main shopping area and Stradivarius were having a big sale so it would've been rude not to treat ourselves while we were there! Then after a couple of days spent mostly seeking shade, I was ready for a bit of sun. Laura, on the other hand, was very much topping up the factor 50 every hour and was not in the same mindset! Luckily, our yin and yang friendship found the perfect yin and yang place to sit for a sangria and a bit of halloumi!
We walked back a slightly different, longer way to see a bit more of Athens. We ended up going through the more modern area, which was a nice contrast and equally nice to see. I'd say we didn't actually cover that many of the landmarks and buildings and museums and stuff that Athens had to offer, but we only had a limited amount of time and a number of the ruins were essentially small versions of Acropolis so we felt we'd seen enough. The city as a whole was beautiful in my eyes; full of character and charm. Although there were a lot of run down parts and parts covered in graffiti so it may not be to everyone's taste. Either way though, 2 days and 3 nights felt like the perfect amount of time to soak in the city while still having enough time to relax and chill by the pool, which is again how we ended our day.
We managed to go three for three on the live music! For our last night in Athens, we chose a slightly different area which looked like it might be quite restaurant dense; Monastiraki. Which it was, but not massively with the kind of restaurants we wanted. We wanted authentic Mediterranean cuisine, whereas this seemed more like the world food section (noodle bars, American restaurants, burger places). Great if that's what you fancy, but we struggled to find a Greek place, until we stumbled upon Old Ithaki. It was right next to the church, dripping in fairy lights and yes, had live music playing. The food was literally incredible and we both got the authentic cuisine we'd be craving; I went with a beef orzo dish and Laura got lamb. My outfit for night was this red and white city print dress with my trusty wedges, ballerina hair and chunky gold jewellery.
Then it was time for another day of travelling! It was a truly vomit-inducing ferry ride to Mykonos that felt like the scene out of wall of wolf street in places (and seriously, people all over the place were throwing up) but after 3 and a half hours staring fixatedly at the horizon, we arrived! It was only a short taxi ride to our hotel, which was the Despotiko hotel (lovingly chosen for its resemblance to Despacito and the fact it fits in the song). We couldn't have been more impressed or happy with our hotel choice! It was a 5 minute walk down the (fairly treacherous) hill to the old town, our room was super spacious and beautiful (obviously I loved all the gold accents) and our balcony not only overlooked the pool but the sea as well! Mykonos accommodation was a lot more expensive than in Athens, but this one was around £900 for the 4 nights for 2 people which was still a hell of a lot cheaper than some of the other options available, especially ones so centrally located. We felt like we'd hit the jackpot.
After a busy couple of days, it was time to relax! So we spent the afternoon round the pool, reading and chatting and accidentally ordering too many toasties from the hotel. The pool was another impressive part of the hotel. Even with us arriving round it at like 3pm, we managed to get sunbeds okay and it was super quiet. We were never unable to get sunbeds, despite there not being loads of them, as people seemed to come and go throughout the day so there was a nice steady stream. Also, no one was ever in the pool which was quickly realised was because it was mega deep! So it wasn't the kind of pool you could just chill in; a quick in and out to cool off was pretty much the status quo.
It was another very Greek outfit for night 1 in Mykonos and this shein playsuit was one that I'd specifically earmarked for the occasion. Another fab thing about our hotel? Lots of beautiful outfit photo spots! As you'll see throughout the rest of the blog post. Something that surprised me about Mykonos was that it wasn't as crazy expensive as I'd been preparing for. I'd been expecting Marbella and Ibiza prices but it was actually still very reasonable. I mean, we read about crazy expensive places like some of the main beach clubs, but unless you targeted those ones, everywhere was pretty okay. I mean, I went for lobster pasta because I was feeling boujee, and it still wasn't bank breaking (it was around €50, which I reasoned wasn't bad given that the other pasta dishes were €25-€30). It was really lovely though, as were the cocktails we went out for after dinner. There were so many pretty spots in Mykonos and even in the darkness, you still got a feel for how amazing the old town was.
Following suit with a number of my recent holidays, we planned to alternate chill days and activity days so we'd pencilled in a beach club for the Wednesday. Unfortunately, when we did a load of research and tried to book beds, everything was either fully booked or it wasn't clear if you were booking it for the day or not. But having read up on loads of different places, we decided that paradise beach would be a good place to go as it had a load of clubs there and we figured we'd tried our chances as a walk-in. The first one we got to was Tropicana, and the sunbeds actually weren't badly priced at all! When we read the €30 price tag, we thought it was fairly high, but it turned out that was for 2 beds plus a parasol, so really good value in the end. Especially since some of the places we'd looked at had a €50 price tag plus a €100 minimum spend per person. They also had a happy hour deal which made the cocktails pretty reasonable, and we shared some wine and got gyros for lunch too. I'd dressed for the occasion of course, in cream bikini, cream hair scarf, wedges and black and cream cover up two piece.
Tropicana ended up being the perfect choice as it was beach by day and party by night! It really came alive once the DJ came on at around 4:30, and so we got the best of both worlds in terms of sunbathing and partying. The MC wasn't quite what I was expecting (check out those elephant pants) but the music was really good and the drinks were nice and strong!
The strong drinks were a great thing until we attempted to go back, get ready and go on a night out. Despite us successfully pulling off a quick turnaround, a whole day of drinking wine in the sunshine meant that we managed little more than some wine and food before calling it a night! Luckily, I didn't waste one of my favourite outfits, although I do still really like this leopard wrap skirt which I wore with cream top and heels. Atleast it still got a night out!
I was feeling pretty worse for wear the next day but there was no time to mope around as we were finally off to explore the old town! Honestly it was so gorgeous and picturesque, it was like something off a postcard. We had a wander round the little shops and down all the winding side streets before stopping off for an amazing pizza for lunch. Luckily, that was the most taxing thing we did all day, and I was free to sleep the rest of my hangover off by the pool!
That night we were women on a mission to get out nice and early so that we could see the sunset. There's plenty of bars and restaurants in Mykonos boasting a sunset view, with plenty charging you a price tag to see it but we did what loads of other people did too and simply wandered down to the coast where the windmills are and watched it as nature intended. It was honestly such a beautiful sunset and we timed it just perfectly to see all the gorgeous hues of colour. Laura and I had both gone in hues of colour too, with me giving this Stradivarius dress its first night out. It's honestly so lovely; the loveliest quality fabric and the perfect fit. The length also meant I finally wasn't worried about the wind blowing it up! (Mykonos is super windy). The after the sun had finally fully set, we ventured off in search of dinner and cocktails, and ended up with perfect options on both fronts.
The last day of our holiday and it was back to an activity day. This time, we were heading off on a boat trip which included visiting various beaches, having drinks, jumping off the boat into the sea, having a BBQ lunch cooked on board and sunbathing on the bow of the boat. There's not much more to say on it I guess than what it did on the tin but wow, it was such an incredible day! We got our adrenaline pumping by jumping off the top deck into the sea and just had literally the best day in the most beautiful locations. It was the perfect end to our holiday.
For my final outfit of the holiday, I'd gone with a black corset, purple floral print skirt and black lace up heels because the skirt reminded me of the all the gorgeous bougainvillea that was everywhere! We didn't quite make it out as early this time, but we still managed to catch another glimpse of that gorgeous sunset, before deciding on our dinner spot. It was another beautiful restaurant with jungle-themed garden and amazing food (with a bit of tableside theatre thrown in for good measure). We ended the night, and the holiday, by partying the night away. It was honestly such an incredible holiday and it was nice to finally do a proper summer destination with Laura. For anyone considering a Greek two-stop holiday, I couldn't recommend it more as you'll simply have a blast.
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