Greece - Sounion

I have never stayed at a Greek resort, so I had no idea what to expect when D's grandmother picked the Grecotel at Cape Sounion. The location was clearly fabulous, but I had doubts about whether fancy resorts actually existed in Greece. While traveling alone, I had never spent more than 30 euros a night for a hotel room (and more frequently paid 10 euros for some distinctly questionable accommodations), so I am obviously not an expert.

I needn't have worried. We were greeted by a giant pear (which was actually part of a fruit platter, and accompanied by a bottle of wine) and robes. Apparently this is standard resort practice. Who knew?

{sounion - hotel greeting pear}

We spent most of our time by the saline pool but we did make it down to the beach.

{yes, my legs are as pale in greece as they are everywhere else}

{palapas - or whatever they are called in greek}

It wouldn't have been our vacation without a little weirdness. We all signed up for the sunset champagne cruise, which sounds super luxe. We were a little thrown when the captain couldn't get the boat into the cove, had us clamber out on the slippery rocks in a failed attempt to board, commandeered Dustin to act as deckhand, and finally (rather inventively) solved the whole problem by having us mount a broken down jet ski, three people at a time, that he tied to an inflatable canoe with a bit of twine and proceeded to row us out to the boat.

{d, with the jet ski and the canoe}

We made it to the boat, clutching our champagne for dear life. And it was worth it.

{captain}

{temple of poseidon}

{sunset cruise}

Totally different from any Greek experience in my repertoire, totally lovely. And a truly perfect way to spend the tail end of a busy trip, with a bit of relaxation after all the craziness a family trip entails.