My Europe 2017

Its hard to believe its already been a month since we returned from our European adventure which took us from London to Dubrovnik, Athens, Santorini, Marseille and our favorite Paris! Yes that is my school age child with us but with straight A’s and the undeniable benefit of traveling the world we felt absolutely no guilt pulling him out of school for three weeks. In fact our son celebrated his 10th birthday in London which is something we hope he will never forget! We were quintessential tourists in London riding the Thames river cruise in this photo.  We also rode the London Eye, explored the tower bridge, strolled around Notting Hill, had tea in Shoreditch (although that’s not the usual Shoreditch activity) and I of course set aside a day to shop Harrod’s truly the most impressive department store I have experienced!

Conquering my fear of heights at the Tower Bridge

 

Me & Marilyn at the Tate Modern

 

Our Next stop was Croatia, which is where my family is originally from. I have been coming here since childhood and we also spent two weeks here four years ago so we kept our stay short this time.  We flew to Dubrovnik, an historic town on the south end of the country.  Dubrovnik has become well known recently for often being the shooting location of Game of Thrones due to its walled in architecture.  We unfortunately only stayed for three days, just long enough to see some family and eat like kings. 

 

Croatia was all about family and insane amounts of food 

 

The clear waters of the Adriatic Sea

 

Stop number three was Athens, it was the first time in Greece for all of us. I don’t know if I was more excited about all the amazing ancient ruins or devouring Greek food three times a day! This photo was taken from the terrace of our AirB&B it was surreal to sit in our living room and and look out at the Acropolis, it puts things in great perspective thinking about how long its been there and how many people have come and gone since it was erected. 

 

Me & my dusty sneakers on the backside of the Acropolis

Food was one of the major Highlights of our Travels and Greek cuisine was perfect for this vegetarian! 

The island of Santorini was our longest stop, we stayed for 7 days which in retrospect was a bit too long for this tiny island.  Do not get me wrong Santorini is amazing, stunningly beautiful but once you’ve seen the sights theres isn’t a lot to do especially when traveling with a child.  The only beaches are on the south end of the island which is about a $65 cab ride in each direction.  The black beach area is full of beach clubs where for $20 you get a couple of lounge chairs and umbrella and bar service. The day we went it was extremely windy and it made it difficult to enjoy. 

The Endless Beauty of Santorini

 

Santorini has no bad angles, every spot is perfect for photo opps an absolute dream for a blogger

 

Black sand beaches at the south end of Santorini. The sand was course and wasn’t dusty so I was not opposed to getting buried in the warmth of it.

 

Gorgeous crystal clear water however, it was a bit cold for my liking.

 

Prior to Landing in Paris we made a quick stop in Marseille, we were only there for 24 hours and didn’t have time to get a lot of great photos so I will skip directly over to my favorite city in the world.  There is something absolutely magical about Paris, the people, the architecture, the shopping, the food… but I think most importantly it’s the lifestyle that I appreciate most about Paris.  The city is really structured around quality of life. I love just strolling around the city, stopping at some little cafe to dodge the rain and just hanging out for hours people watching.  There is definitely no shortage of restaurants in Paris especially along the Seine, where so many have been built into abandoned river boats. I love that there are little parks everywhere equipped with lounge chairs and tables, Paris is seemingly everyones outdoor living room (and no one would think to steal one of those lounge chairs which would disappear in second in LA if it wasn’t chained down) I love that you can grab a bottle of wine and sit on the river and sip a glass of rose without looking over your shoulder.  The museums and beautiful buildings are endless we could have spent all three weeks in Paris and not ever get bored! 

An old friend of mine from college was also in Paris so we had dinner together and took advantage of finally having someone to take a photo of all three of us, at dinner on the Seine.

 

In celebration of our last Night in Paris and last night in Europe. Paris, Je T’aime! 

I hope you enjoyed a little peek at our family vacay, there is nothing I love more than getting out there and exploring this great big amazing planet we live on! There is so much out there to see, do and eat and so many new friends to make! 

Cheers, ~Zia