Athens to Rome

Two Weeks in Greece and Italy

This was a big one.

Two weeks, two countries and a route that took us from Athens to Santorini, then across to Venice, Florence, the Tuscan countryside and finally Rome.

Looking back at the photos now, it’s almost hard to believe how much we packed into those two weeks. Ancient ruins, churches, canals, tiny streets, beautiful architecture, the countryside and probably more walking than I want to remember.

In fact, other than renting a car for our day in Tuscany, we explored everywhere else on foot. Looking at the maps afterwards, we definitely put in some serious mileage.

And somehow, every stop felt completely different from the one before it.

Athens: Where the journey began

Athens was the beginning of this European adventure, although it wasn’t completely new to us.

My wife and I had visited Athens and Santorini together in May 2022, without the kids. Coming back just over two years later felt different. This time, part of the experience was getting to show the kids places we’d already enjoyed ourselves.

We arrived in Athens in the afternoon and had about two and a half days to explore before moving on.

And we didn’t waste much time getting out and walking.

We spent much of our time around the historic centre, from Monastiraki and the Ancient Agora through the streets around Plaka and eventually up toward the Acropolis.

Of course, the Acropolis was one of the places we’d most wanted to see. Standing up there among ruins that have been there for thousands of years, with modern Athens stretching out in every direction below, was quite something.

But Athens wasn’t only about the Parthenon.

We wandered around the Ancient Agora and the Temple of Hephaestus, explored the streets below the Acropolis, and continued around the southern side through more of the archaeological sites and historic neighbourhoods.

We also spent some time around the hills west of the Acropolis, where the crowds thinned out and we could look back across the city from a completely different angle.

For two and a half days, we covered a surprising amount of Athens, almost entirely on foot.

Looking at the map afterwards, apparently our strategy really was just to walk everywhere.

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Santorini: Back again, this time with the kids

After two and a half days exploring Athens, we caught an early morning flight to Santorini for the next part of the trip.

Like Athens, this was a return visit for my wife and me. We’d been here together in May 2022, but the kids hadn’t, so this time the experience was really about coming back as a family.

Most of our time was spent around Oia, wandering through the narrow lanes along the top of the caldera.

It was still every bit the Santorini we remembered: whitewashed buildings stacked along the cliffs, blue domes appearing between rooftops, little churches, winding paths and the Aegean stretching out below.

It was one of those places where walking a very short distance could take a surprisingly long time because there always seemed to be another view worth stopping for.

We explored from one end of Oia toward the other, eventually reaching the western side around the old castle and the paths overlooking Ammoudi Bay.

One evening, we had dinner at Oia Gefsis, sitting outside with seafood while the sun slowly disappeared over the Aegean.

The bill ended up being by far the most expensive dinner of the trip, but the sunset that evening was something else. The sky just kept changing as we ate, and with the seafood, the view and that incredible sunset over the Aegean, it became one of those evenings we’ll always remember.

The price, unfortunately, was pretty memorable too. ;)

Coming back to somewhere we’d visited before felt quite different this time. Instead of everything being new to us, part of the fun was getting to experience it again with the kids.

And after busy Athens, Santorini was a pretty nice change of pace too.

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Venice: Getting lost was half the fun

From Santorini, we flew to Venice and said goodbye to Greece.

And just like that, the trip changed completely again.

Venice was probably one of the easiest places on the entire trip to simply wander without much of a plan.

Starting from around Santa Lucia, we made our way deeper into the city, crossing bridges, following narrow streets and eventually finding ourselves around the Rialto Bridge and the Grand Canal.

From there, our wandering continued toward St. Mark’s Square and the surrounding streets.

But what I remember most about Venice wasn’t only the famous landmarks. It was everything between them.

Every few minutes there seemed to be another little bridge, canal, quiet square or narrow passage worth photographing. Sometimes we knew exactly where we were going.

Other times… probably not.

And of course, we couldn’t come all the way to Venice without getting onto the canals ourselves.

We took a gondola ride through the waterways, seeing the buildings, bridges and little corners of Venice from a completely different perspective. After spending so much time walking beside the canals and crossing over them, it was pretty special to finally be down there on the water.

We also spent time around Dorsoduro and the Accademia area, seeing another side of Venice away from some of the busiest streets, and travelled across the lagoon toward Murano.

Venice was unlike anywhere we’d been before. Even getting from one place to another became part of the experience.

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Florence: Renaissance everywhere

After Venice, we took a boat back to the mainland and continued by train to Florence.

Florence was another city where our walking apparently got slightly out of control.

We spent a lot of time in the historic centre, especially around the Duomo. It’s difficult to appreciate the scale and detail of Florence Cathedral until you’re standing right beside it.

From there, we wandered through the streets around the centre toward Piazza della Signoria and the Uffizi area before eventually reaching the Arno and Ponte Vecchio.

Crossing the river took us into Oltrarno, where we explored around the Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens area before eventually making our way back through the city again.

We also wandered farther across Florence, including the area around Santa Maria Novella and plenty of little streets whose names I certainly couldn’t remember now without looking at a map.

That was actually one of the things I liked most about Florence.

There were obviously major landmarks we wanted to see, but the city itself was interesting enough that simply walking from one place to another became part of the experience.

Churches, old buildings, little squares and narrow streets seemed to appear around every corner.

One of the funniest coincidences of the entire trip happened here too.

We unexpectedly ran into a family from back home whose son swims at the same club as ours. Running into someone you know on the other side of the world would have been surprising enough, but somehow we crossed paths with them twice in Florence.

The second time was inside the Accademia Gallery, right by Michelangelo’s David. Naturally, I had to take a photo of the two boys together with David. ;)

Of all the places we visited over those two weeks, Florence was definitely not where I expected to have a completely unplanned swim-club reunion.

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A day in the Tuscan countryside

Partway through our stay in Florence, we decided to give our legs a break and change things up completely.

We rented a car in Florence and headed south into the Tuscan countryside.

Almost immediately, the trip felt different.

Instead of crowded streets and historic city centres, we were driving through rolling hills, vineyards, small towns and the countryside we’d always associated with Tuscany.

Our route took us south through the Chianti countryside, eventually reaching Siena before continuing farther south toward Montepulciano.

This was one of those days when the drive itself was just as much a part of the experience as the places we were heading to.

Having the car also gave us something we hadn’t really had anywhere else on the trip: the freedom to stop whenever something caught our attention.

Sometimes it was a town or viewpoint, and sometimes simply a stretch of countryside that was too beautiful to drive past without stopping.

After days of exploring cities on foot, driving through Tuscany gave us a chance to slow down and see a completely different side of Italy.

At the end of the day, we drove back to Florence, where we still had more time to wander around the city before moving on to our final stop.

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Rome: One last big stop

After our remaining time in Florence, we boarded the train and headed to Rome for the final stop of the trip.

By this point we’d already done an incredible amount of walking, but apparently we weren’t finished yet.

We explored the Vatican and the area around St. Peter’s Basilica, wandered through the surrounding streets and made our way toward Castel Sant’Angelo and the Tiber.

From there, Rome seemed to become one enormous walk through history.

We spent time wandering through the historic centre, including the streets around Piazza Navona and the Pantheon, with something interesting seemingly around every corner.

And of course, eventually we reached ancient Rome.

The Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill were some of the places we’d been looking forward to seeing most. Standing there among the ruins was also a pretty fitting way to finish a trip that had started among the ancient sites of Athens.

That was something I hadn’t really thought about until looking back at the trip afterwards.

We started at the Acropolis in Athens and ended among the ruins of ancient Rome, with Santorini, Venice, Florence and Tuscany somehow packed into the middle.

Not bad for two weeks.

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Two weeks to remember

Looking back, this trip almost feels like several trips combined into one.

Athens and Santorini gave us a chance to return to places we’d enjoyed before, this time sharing them with the kids. Venice gave us canals, a gondola ride and a city unlike anything we’d seen before. Florence was filled with history, art, architecture and one very unexpected reunion, while renting a car for the day gave us the freedom to explore the Tuscan countryside at our own pace.

And then Rome somehow brought everything back to history again.

For almost the entire trip, we simply walked. Through ancient sites, city streets, across bridges, beside canals and up and down more hills and stairs than I could possibly remember now.

Fourteen days went by incredibly quickly, but we came home having seen and experienced far more than I expected when we started.

It was one of those trips that felt full from beginning to end, and somehow still left us wishing we had a little more time.