David and I got a chance to take a trip to Mykonos, Greece! One of our vendors from work gave us this trip, and we planned Calvin's graduation events around it. May 2 was his party, and May 22 is his graduation day. Our trip is May 8-18! Violet's wedding is in one short month.
We think it's super fun to go back to a tiny island in Greece - since we went to a tiny island (Skopelos!) in Greece for our honeymoon in 2003. 23 years later, we get the blessing of being back on the hilly, white-housed landscape. Not the same place, but a similar vibe.
We are staying at the Myconian Royal. This island is 10 miles x 6 miles. The roads are hair-pin turns, curves, and one-lane. Let's go through the travel getting here first. In short, we took a 2pm flight on May 8 from Waterloo to Chicago, then a 4:45pm flight from Chicago to Athens. That one was 10.5 hrs - and we did our best to sleep, but maybe for 3-4 hrs each. We landed in Athens about 11am Greece time, then caught the last flight to the island from Athens to Mykonos, and landed there around 2:30pm Sat May 9. We snagged an Uber to the hotel, which was a 20 minute adventure. We quickly learned the landscape, roads, and how to navigate traffic by that experience. One memorable event was on the long flight from Chicago to Athens there was a medical emergency on the airplane. The flight attendants called for a doctor to help - and multiple people came forward. We could not tell what was going really, but Dave was in the aisle and picked up the fact that some guy was having fainting episodes, and maybe from low blood pressure. Somebody ended up lying in the flight attendant's center aisle space where they prepare coffee, etc....and recovered. Whoever was struggling was ok, but it was a couple hours of drama.
There was concern on our first flight from Waterloo to Chicago because there was a wind delay, and we got in much later than we thought. We had 30 minutes to get from our landing point to the flight to Athens, but we got to the gate right when our group was boarding. Our hope was the suitcase we checked in Waterloo made it to Mykonos, and it did, so that was a relief.
Upon arriving at our room in Mykonos, we checked in, kinda knocked out for a nap. Our room is cozy and has a gorgeous view, with a patio and a table we can hang out and enjoy the ocean view. Greek islands are really hilly and this hotel is nestled in the hillside, spread up the hill and has multiple levels. The lobby is gorgeous, so many decorations, and our room is simple with a king bed and bathroom, but the view is incredible. I can hear the ocean. Time for photos!! This encompasses travel and our first day.
Today we slept until we needed to wake up. Dave set an alarm to get up at 9am but I didn't hear it. We rolled out of bed reluctantly at 9:30am. Our goal was to get to breakfast before it closed. The buffet had amazing options - our favorite part of breakfast was the soft-boiled eggs on toast. Runny eggs...yum. Fruit, potatoes, eggs, fruit, juice, and espresso - so so satisfyingl
We rented a car and took some recommendations from the local concierge.
The adventure begins - we rented a car! Time to explore the island! We stopped in Ano Mera for espresso at Villago, then we were recommended to go to Kikis - a rustic well rated restaurant with gorgeous views. We saw an iconic lighthouse (Armenistis Lighthouse), then spent the rest of the day in Myconos "downtown" shopping, cigar shopping, and and viewing the sunset. Here are some pics.
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| first view of the main city |
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| the iconic windmills from the 16th century |
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| this little strip is called "Little Venice" |
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| Dave did some shirt shopping |
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| sunset was a bit cloudy - but still pretty |
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after sunset the lights and candles came out - made this little place look so cute. It was a restaurant called Coccos.
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Monday, May 11th, 2026
Beautiful views at breakfast again - we did a little shopping and I got a new pair of sunglasses while we waited for our room to be cleaned.
We are not really sure what today holds - tomorrow is the first hosted dinner so we have a lot of relaxation time.
I'm going to go ahead and call today "beach day". We just put on our lazy hats and sat on cushy chairs by the water. We did get into the freezing water once. I think we were there from 2pm to 6pm just chillin'.
We showered and got ready for dinner and took the recommendation by Zach, one of the front desk staff, to go to Alemagou - a beach club - it was an open air tucked away oasis that was delightful. It had a very cool vibe and I was given a blanket when I started feeling cold. We shared a burrata, cheese, olive and sourdough appetizer, shared steak slices, salad, and some traditional orange greek cake/pie and some profiteroles.
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| Traditional Greek orange pie and Profiterols |
Tuesday, May 12, 2026
For some odd reason my photos are not loading from May 12, so I can't post any. Dave and I woke up and had a mostly lazy morning, enjoyed breakfast, then we settled at a table by the pool to work on payroll, which took a few hours. We were looking forward to the dinner event put on by Springs that evening at the restaurant. We didn't venture out at all, we stayed around the resort. We got all dressed up and had another delicious dinner (food here is so good) - the party got started by a band playing local music with some dancers getting the group going in fun lines - smashing ceramic plates - it got kinda wild.
We ended the night talking to quite a few people - the VP of Home Franchise Concepts (Corey) and President of Budget Blinds (Heather) with lots of other owners.
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
Today was another exploring day! We took the car out to some recommendations by our favorite front desk staffer Zach. He gave us three places to check out and they were gorgeous and delicious. First stop - Fokos beach, then another one I forgot the name of, then to Lia Tavern for lunch. The roads are just adventurous and fun - not much traffic now for this time of the year - we hear they're gearing up for busy season, and this is just the tale end of slow season. Dave said "These roads were built for optimism!" because you never knew if there was a car coming the opposite direction on the one-lane rock-walled-in roads.
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| this is our rental car |
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| can you see the steep road we're on? It's going 45 degrees down! |
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| this guy greeted us on the side of the road |
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| Fokos beach |
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| near this was another field of "sea lavendar" |
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| there were some seriously amazing skippers |
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| this goofy van belonged to a funny women building her own little fort out of natural things by the beach. It says "I can go slower" |
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| the second beach - just as pretty |
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| colorful granite |
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| my bouquet of weeds |
Our next stop was to venture into a national forest - which really was not much to see - the ocean views were incredible, but the roads kept getting worse and felt more like ATV roads, not car roads. We found the restaurant that Zach had recommended and it was 20 out of 10. Like...every sense was activated. The weather was perfect, the sparkling water with lemon was refreshing, greek salad just perfect with the chunks of feta, cucumbers, tomatoes, pepper, red onion and olive oil/vinegar mix, fried haloumi cheese, chicken souvlaki with potatoes and onions, bread with tomato paste and kalamata olives. Dave is starting to like olives, so that was fun to see him enjoying him.
We were quite hungry (2-3pm) so it hit perfectly. The place was just adorable, white everything, plants everywhere, a new beach in view, really nice staff...here's some pics.
We came back to our room to chill a bit and relax. Next up was an invite-only dinner at 7:30 (I know, more food?) with our Springs rep Julie Arford and three other owners. We were transported by van to the main Mykonos town and ate at M'eatings - another fun dining experience! We sat with Shannon and Julie (both Springs reps), Karen and Matt from Florida, Jeff and Andrea from Wisconsin, and Charles and Diana from Missouri.
We had a lot of fun with them - kind of a silly group.
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| this is veal in a tomato sauce on top of potato puree |
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| Dave and Jeff posed together after the girls took pics |
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| coke zero with lemon |
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| Julie had tripped on this chunk of messed up rocks on our way down and she was having fun with it on the way back |
Tomorrow is our last day in Mykonos - we have a really early flight Friday morning with the whole group to Athens.
Thurs, May 15, 2026
We decided to drive our rental car to the main town to do a little souvenir shopping for our last day. It was about a 15 minute drive.
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| all the streets are beautiful with white walls and colorful (mostly blue) accents |
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| We asked a tourist to take our photo with the iconic windmills original from the 16th century |
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| another view of "Little Venice" where all the shops are right on top of the water |
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| We stopped at Kadena for some souvlaki and greek salad. |
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| the waiter took our pic! |
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| a greek fishing boat - looks like an organized mess. |
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| a little stop so Dave could finish his last cigar - this tiny little spot with little tables and the best view on the island |
Our only goal was to get back to the hotel to get ready for a happy hour back at the hotel that we were invited to - all of the "Midwest" owners in the Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana areas were there.
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| Dave had some fun with the art |
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| last Mykonos sunset! |
We spent the rest of the evening packing. We were full from the snacks and didn't really want to eat another whole dinner so we skipped dinner. The group luggage was pulled at 10pm that evening, so we had to pack a LOT and quickly.
Mykonos was a very sweet visit - super friendly people, English speaking, very clean, absolutely gorgeous, food was 10/10, and the views were everywhere. Renting a car and going around on our own adventures was our favorite.
Friday, May 15, 2026
We set our alarms for 5:30am. It was funny timing with the kids district track meet because we were waking up as they were finishing their last races. Vanessa was out of breath from finishing her 4x400 relay and gave me a run down of the meet. Apparently Calvin ran his first and only (and now last) 400 meter in the 4x400 and ran a 56 second split. Vanessa did a 1 min 5 second split in hers - I got some fast kids.
We got ready, scoured the room, made sure we didn't leave anything, and left for the 6:15am lobby meet up time. They gave us a boxed breakfast, coffee, and a bus ride to the airport. Everything was so nicely organized. The plane ride was chartered by Springs so only our group was on the flight to Athens, which was only 45 minutes.
Athens! -- the portion of our trip in Athens was all of Friday, all of Sat, and we left early Sunday morning, so they really tried to maximize the time here. The charter flight was super fast, maybe 45 minutes. We landed and bussed directly to the base of the Acropolis and got on a 10am tour of the hill and Parthenon. Dave and and I had fun reminiscing and recalling moments from our trip there almost 23 years ago! I thought they'd finished the reconstruction project they were working on when we came there last but I heard that this project was estimated to last 40+ years. I don't know all what they're doing but there was scaffolding on the east side, not the north side this time, with a big crane in the middle.
The tour guide had our group split into smaller groups with other guides, and we put on the headset/earbud for 1.5 hrs and tried to focus on the information coming at us rather quickly and constantly even though we were feeling pretty tired in the hot sun. It wasn't as hot as our last visit (100+) but it was warm in the 80s. Our guide was actually hard to keep up with, moving quickly and getting lost in the crowds.
My biggest takeaways -
- it took 10-15 years to build the parthenon, and it's 2500 years old. It would have been approx 500 years old when the Apostle Paul visited Athens.
- it was built between 447 and 432 BC - dedicated to the greek god athena. It once had a 40 ft tall gold statue of her in it, but since was destroyed/melted down to use the gold
- most of the destruction occurred when a bomb exploded in it in 1687 during the Venetian siege - the Ottomans were storing gun powder in it.
- a lot of what used to be inside (sculptures, columns, etc) is in a British museum in London. Much of it was taken and carried away over time.
- It is all marble and used to be colorful with pigment, which fades easily
The whole group met up together for lunch and it was delicious greek traditional food, served in a predetermined list and order, family style. Dave and I sat with Amy and Collin Campbell (she is head of product development at HFC Corporate), and Terry and Abby, owners in Nebraska.
Here are some pics so far of Friday:
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| arriving at the base of the Acropolis (which means "high city or high point") |
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| the famous outdoor theater at the acropolis, called "Odean of Herodes Atticus" - built in 161 AD by a wealthy Roman senator Herodes Atticus in memory of his late wife Aspasia Annia Regilla. It seats 5000 people. It was heavily destroyed in a German invasion in 267 AD, and lay in ruins and buried under heaps of rubble 30 ft deep until the mid 19th century when excavations unearthed it and restored in the 1950s with new seating and better structure/drainage. It is kept up meticulously and still used for concerts today. I remember Yanni performed here! |
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| this is a piece of column from the quarry - it has the edging carved out as an example for how the rest of it should be carved out. Only one ring was done by the fabricator and the rest of it was finished on site. |
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| result of that gun powder bomb exploding in the 1600s |
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| the depth of this structure goes down a long long way |
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| the ruins of what base of where Athena's statue once stood. |
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| on our way to lunch! |
The whole group was delighted by the lunch, it was a lot of food and very delicious. We were taken to our hotel to check in, The Grande Bretagne. Super fancy and nice, this was an upgrade from the previous place!
We settled/rested -- then decided we needed to prep for tonight's cocktail-attire party. Dave didn't pack a suit jacket, so we ventured out shopping to get one. There was plentiful shopping near us within walking distance, so we spent a couple hours looking and found one at Zara.
Dinner was at the Acropolis Museum - they rented out an entire section of it with views of the Acropolis/Parthenon at night was pretty spectacular. We sat at a table with some owners Sean and Heather Kreidler, who have been owners of Budget Blinds of Grand Junction (CO) for 30 years - they are one of the original and oldest owners of Budget Blinds, which has a 30 year history. Neat to talk to them!
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| we spotted a yellow Tesla taxi |
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| before dinner was a tour of the Acropolis Museum - this is the entrance - a huge section of ancient Athens excavated and about 30 ft below the normal surface of the city. I saw the greek key pattern on the old mosaics! |
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| 40-60 AD stuff |
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| pigments used for color |
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| columns used a temple on top of the acropolis - 5 here, 1 in Britain. Called the Caryatids. Greece still wants the 6th lady column back, so there is an open spot for her if Britain will comply. It's a subject of international debate/tension. It was taken by Lord Elgin in the early 19th century. These are the originals, replicas are in place where they were here in this next picture. |
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| The lady porch here has all replicas - the originals are in the museum pictured above. This is Erechtheion, a temple just north of the Parthenon, built around the same time. |
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| dinner set up! |
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| Dave got lots of compliments on his flower pants |
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| gorgeous sunset! |
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| all lit up! (south side) |
After today's very busy day, we crashed hard...and were happy to have a "free Saturday" with no plans ahead of us.
Saturday, May 16th, 2026
Our open day started with waking up whenever, getting breakfast on the 8th floor in open air with gorgeous views of the Acropolis and the never-ending expansive city.
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| checked out the pool area and sat to make plans for the day |
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| we walked through the hotel's cigar lounge, which was super cool |
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| bougainvillea is everywhere in Europe - I am hoping to find a small variety that grows in Iowa for our outdoor space. |
The only plans we made were to visit Aeropogus and get dinner at Manari - so we accompished that!
It is really neat to connect visuals with the Bible. There is a massive round rocky hill right at the base of the parthenon called Aeropogus - which is the exact location the Apostle Paul stood when he addressed the people in Acts 17. About a 30 minute walk from our hotel, we got there and climbed onto it and read that chapter, imagining what Paul's view was. The message is also amazing, true then, and true today. We don't worship worthless idols made by hands, we trust in "the good news about Jesus and the resurrection" Acts 17:18. Some people ridiculed Paul, but some believed, including Dionyios, an eminent Athenian philosopher and a high-ranking member of the Areopagus court. According to early Christian tradition, Dionysius went on to become the first Bishop of Athens.
It was raining in Athens pretty good so we settled in a little restaurant under an umbrella in Plaka, the oldest continuously inhabited neighborhood in Athens with 3000 years of history. The name came from a turkish word "pliaka" which means "old" (when the turks controlled it). At this little restaurant, we got a refreshing greek salad, pitas and tzatziki sauce. It was light enough to satisfy our appetite and keep us hungry for dinner later. Dave is learning to enjoy black kalamata olives! The fresh tomatoes never get old for me.
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| on top of Aeropogus hill reading Acts 17! |
The shopping and culture and endless - we stayed on foot the whole day and got ready for dinner, and went to Manari. We ordered yummy things - most memorable was the linguini in smoked broth, tomato salad, and lamb chops.
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| heirloom tomato salad with olives and oil - the white sauce is a creamy mix of feta and something else, so good |
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| ok...brilliant. Noodles, smoked broth, and cheese? Yes. |
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| mutton patties. I didn't grab a pic of the lamb chops for some reason |
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| this bowl of tomatoes - *mwahhh* |
Walking back from dinner, we started hearing thumping music, and as we came closer, found that a city party was happening with a DJ in full club mode - Dave just had to stay a bit and enjoy that music. It was very lively.
It was a very memorable trip, full of adventure, new experiences, and new places. Also full of relaxation and reconnecting - we will cherish this trip for our lifetime. Greece is a special place!
Sunday, May 17&18, 2026 - lumping these two days together because it was all one experience. Our flight from Athens to Chicago was smooth, and rather pleasant. We ended up with an empty seat between us letting us spread out a little more than usual. We chilled and watched some movies, talked, and tried to stay awake. The flight left Athens middle of the morning and landed 2pm Chicago time...weird. We then had a long layover to catch a flight from Chicago to Waterloo at 10:30pm. So we left the airport and got some pizza at LouMalnatis. We hung out in the Admirals lounge and tried to blog but my computer was having issues and needed a lot of updates, so Dave worked on that for awhile. We were so tired though, and resisted sleeping so we could try have our night match up with Iowa time as much as possible. Time finally came to fly to Waterloo but the weather prevented the airplane from landing safely (there were storm and tornado watches in the Waterloo area) so we had to fly back to Chicago and get a hotel. We ended up in the Loews hotel which was incredibly comfortable and we slept like babies. I got up "early" at 8am because I couldn't sleep anymore and Dave kept sleeping, but it allowed me to brew a cup of coffee and spent an hour and a half catching up on this blog in total silence.
Last pics!!
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| adorable geraniums right outside our Athens hotel |
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| "Panathenaic Stadium" - 1896 Olympic stadium built in Greece when the first modern Olympics started back up |
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| the tube of transport |
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| oh! forgot this part - we live-streamed Bethany's baptism service since we had wifi on the airplane. This is Chad, a friend Dave Weidenbacher has had for many many years and got saved recently - so sweet to see |
We fly home at 12:30pm this afternoon, and we'll hit the ground running with catching up with life/work life/wedding planning.
