So, How’s Greece? |Two Month Recap

Hey there! So, I’ve been living in Greece for about ten weeks now, even though I started writing this post from Los Angeles, California (I’ll get into more details about that later). Greece isn’t the first European country that I lived in. My first duty station was Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. I lived there for three years and loved it. I moved there when I was 19 years old, and I was married at the time. Germany was the place where I would say my “college years” happened. There was much traveling, partying, and accomplishments that happened while I was there. It was my best assignment until I experienced Korea.

You guys already know how much I loved Korea, so let’s get into Greece. I currently live on the island of Crete in Chania. Crete is the largest island of Greece, and it’s about a 40-minute flight from Athens. I live on the economy here as well and found a cute townhouse to rent. Rent here is significantly less here than Korea, but utilities are way more expensive since we are on an island. I have a decent view from the balcony of my room, and I’m having a fun time decorating my place.

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I’ve taken a couple of day trips since I’ve been here. My first trip was to Knossos Palace and the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion. It took about two hours to get there from Chania, but it was a beautiful drive. You get to see a lot of mountains and beaches on the way there. Knossos Palace is the famous Minoan place and is mainly ruins now, but they have preserved some of the grounds. It is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has a lot of history there. The second half of the trip included the archaeological museum. A lot of the items that were found in the palace are now stored in the museum. The people of Minos were said to be one of the first civilizations. They created lots of different things that you would see in more modern civilizations, that you can view in the museum.

The second trip that I took was to an olive factory an winery. The trip was advertised as a wine tasting trip and that’s exactly why I went. Learning about how they make olive oil was a bonus for me. My favorite part was the wine tasting, of course. I got so drunk off wine it’s not even funny. After we left the winery we went to a wine festival where you could taste hundreds of different wine for only seven euro, and it came with a free souvenir glass. Needless to say, I had a good time.

I’ve met some pretty cool people since I’ve been here, and I am looking forward to spring/summer to go on even more adventures and explore more of the island. Last weekend I visited Stavros Beach and it was a nice vibe. It’s smaller and clean and right next to a mountain. I’m excited to see what else this island has to offer.