Greece!
The ferry from Venice to Corfu was a kick! I had never been on a boat with an escalator before, and supposedly there was a pool. I was crushed when we went exploring and discovered that the pool was a hole in the deck and wasn't filled with water. Nonetheless, I was still very entertained playing with all the gizmos in the room, and the language labels including Italian, Greek, French, English, German, and Japanese!
We arrived in Corfu (Kerkya) the following evening, and Ben's grandparents met us at the ferry. I was delighted to meet them and Ben was glad to see them again. We made our way into Corfu-town, and spent a great couple of days hearing family stories (Ben's grandfather's family is from Corfu) and exploring the island.
Both Ben and I were amazed at how similar parts of Corfu-town felt to Venice. The influence of the Venetians was undeniable.
After our time on Corfu, we headed to the mainland to spend a bit more time with Ben's grandparents at their home in Trapeza on the gulf of Corinth. We spent our days eating, sleeping, and enjoying the beach. I loved getting a chance to swim regularly, and Ben didn't seem to mind it too much either.
We celebrated Ben's 28th birthday on the 22nd, and then Ben and I headed into Athens. Many thanks to Ben's grandparents, Ero and Eric, for helping make our trip possible. It was such a treat!
We stayed in the family apartment in Glyfada, a beach suburb of Athens. It's a great mix of California, my imaginary Miami Beach, and Greece. We found Ben's college friends Sam and Julie, and got the twenty-something take on Greece and Athens. Both Ben and I really liked having some folks who knew the city show us around, and we got to see some residential neighborhoods we never would have visited otherwise.
Ben's parents arrived in Athens in the evening, and we met up with them for dinner and fun. We then met up with more friends, Will and Maureen, and hopped an early flight to Santorini on our way to Folegandros. (In the photo: Alex, Ben's Dad; Ben; me; Debbie, Ben's Mom; and Will) We had a few hours in Santorini where we ate breakfast at the ferry landing and enjoyed the good company. From Santorini we caught a ferry to Folegandros, and settled in for a week of pure pleasure.
Folegandros is amazing. A very, very dry island, it was used as a place to stick dissidents and troublemakers. But now there are lovely hotels (we stayed at the ideal Anemomilos Apartments Hotel), a very sweet town, and nice beaches. Folegandros, at least during the late summer, gets a very steady wind (the Meltemi). Since I have literal and psychological meltdowns when I'm too hot, the wind helped me stay a bit cooler. Although we didn't let this slow us down from jumping into the sea or the pool. The wind also shoots up the cliff quite impressively, allowing us to throw peanuts off the patio and have them shoot back and hit our friends. An excellent party trick!
The view from the hotel is absolutely amazing. I could spend a significant amount of time (certainly more than one week) at the patio bar area of Anemomilos Apartments. Breakfast could be stretched out to several hours each morning, and even drinks could start around 4pm and easily last until 9pm. And I was very content.
One of the very best parts of day was watching the sun set from from patio. I could never get enough of the light at that time of the day (the home page photo is at sunset looking out from the balcony off of our room).
Everyone's favorite beach was St. Nicholas (Ayios Nikolas) -- a short walk over some dry hills, with a taverna, small trees for shade, and nice water. You can also take a boat around in the summer, but the 
walk is a great way to work up a bit of a sweat for the water. Once we discoved this beach, it was hard to keep up the motivation to keep exploring the island. Nonetheless, we persevered in the difficult task and had a great time visiting other beaches by boat on the protected side of the island, as well as driving out to a beach on the windy side.
But we couldn't help returning to the Nicholas beach both for good swimming, but also for great food. We met another family at the hotel with two very fun young daughters (I taught the younger girl how to cross her eyes and the parents suffered under her new skill), and they were also very fond of the beach. We had great lunches perched above the beach at the taverna.
The town itself was pedestrian only with lots of tourists, but also lots of locals, young and old. We had a great time eating lots and lots, and all became enamoured of a local handmade pasta dish.
Many thanks to Ben's parents for finding Folegandros and sharing it with us!
After Folegandros, Ben and I took a ferry to Mykonos so that we could visit the nearby island of Delos. I wanted to see some antiquities, and the descriptions of Delos sounded interesting. The island of Mykonos is party- and beach-central, so we felt a bit 
dorky going for the old stuff, but what are you going to do? We had a great day exploring, and then a very bumpy boat ride back to Mykonos with some very green looking passengers. I was reminded of a particularly horrible boat ride in Belize and tried not to think about things too much.
The main town on Mykonos is around a lovely crescent, and we got to watch huge cruise ships come in and flood the town with thousands of people for a few hours. It was very odd for this tiny little town with winding paths only a few feet wide to suddenly become packed, and then empty again by the evening. We also enjoyed the contrast between the hip gay men cruise and the middle America cruise within 24 hours.
From Mykonos, we took a couple of ferries to get to Andros and meet back up with Ben's parents. Ben's cousin Marilena from Athens was also there with her friends, and we had a rolicking couple of days eating, swimming, and exploring the island. We took a drive way out and managed to find a town that was set up for tourists but lacking any actual tourists. We felt a bit bad for looking around for half an hour and then getting back in the car to drive back towards the more popular parts of the island.
There was also a festival in a closer town celebrating the shared heritage of Greece, Albania, the rest of the Balkans, and Turkey through dance and music. Quite fun, and the ice cream shop around the corner was great! The photo to the right is of Ben's dad, Alex, and Ben's cousin Marilena.
But sadly, I was now cooked by the sun. I didn't have a burn, but my skin was sore. For me, I guess there is such a thing as too much beach and sun. Ben and I went back to Athens for a wee bit, and then headed north to The Netherlands.
Continue onto our adventures in The Netherlands.