Once upon a time in the years 2016 – 2019, while Mila lived with us as our second au pair and then later lived in DC, she would anticipate her future wedding in Brazil and shared how much it would mean for Justin, me, and the girls to be there.
Fast forward to 2024…Mila and Artem, who she started dating in 2019 while working in DC, decided to celebrate their nuptials in Rhodes, Greece! While Mila envisioned the girls being part of her wedding, the timing of it just didn’t work for taking the girls out of school and their activities. Justin and I decided we would represent M-Unit and turn the trip into our annual anniversary trip. Mila, the girls, as well as ourselves, were disappointed they couldn’t be there for the big day.
Justin and I had been so busy with work, the kids, and life, that we honestly didn’t give much thought to the trip leading up to it once we booked it in the spring through our travel agent, Jim. In fact, I’m surprised we didn’t forget anything in terms of packing!
We debated back and forth if we should spend the whole trip in Rhodes or visit another island. We opted for the latter and while it was good to see both islands, we spent too much time on flights to do so. We also overbooked tours some so we didn’t have as much down and free time on the trip that we normally enjoy.
Wednesday
Our trip started out with nearly a three-hour flight delay Wednesday evening causing us to miss our connecting flight in Athens.
Thursday
We rebooked on another Sky airline, for an extra fee, so that we could arrive to our hotel Crete four hours late vs. nine hours late. We were given Sky Lounge privileges so at least we had some comfortable seating and free snacks while we waited. It was disappointing though knowing that we were missing out on an entire afternoon that we normally would have used to explore the hotel, hang out at the pool and beach.
It was nearly 8:00 by the time we checked in our hotel (Porto Platanias Beach Resort – Luxury). There were actually three hotels part of the Porto Platanias name….we were in the smaller adults only one and were upgraded to a room with a private pool and beach access! The best part of the upgrade was the two full bathrooms! We also received a bottle of prosecco, some fancy desserts, and had one free round of the filled mini-fridge.
We quickly showered/freshened up and got a taxi to take us up the mountain to a restaurant Cosmos. The location on the top of the cliff was very nice…food was good too though nothing that blew us away.
Friday
Our first full day started with a big European breakfast, that had a great array of options. With full bellies, we headed out to our first private tour…a Chania City and Food Tour. Our tour guide, Aphrodite, was great and we enjoyed eating and walking around Chania City. We were able to visit many historical sites including the Venetian fortifications, the Arsenals, the Greek Orthodox Cathedral, the Etz Hayim Synagogue, and the Turkish Quarters.
We also tasted some traditional Greek favorites: olive oil, olives, bougatsa, and more cheese, olive, bread and tomatoes.
Visiting the city of Chania was really nice. An hour or so to explore on our own would have been nice.
We spent the afternoon walking on the beach, swimming in the sea and the pool, enjoying our champagne, working out in the gym, and strolling through all the shops and restaurants in town.
For dinner, we went to a highly rated Italian restaurant right, Cugini, which was delicious.
Saturday
Saturday we were up again early for another private tour. This one a Private Hiking Experience, which combined visits along the Akrotori peninsula and offered a little bit of scenery, culture, hiking, and beach. Our tour guide Nina, was great. The first stop was the Monastery of Agia Triada, built in the 17th century; the Monastery is still active today producing wine, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.
Our next stop was a smaller and older monastery, Monastery of Gouverneto, where we hiked a rocky footpath passing the Bear’s Cave along the way. The Bear Cave was named after a stalagmite that looks like a crouching bear. The hike was mostly downhill, which meant the return was mostly uphill and had our heart rate up there!
A bunch of goats passed by us on the way up.
Next stop for us was the beach of Marathi, where we enjoyed a nice seaside lunch and then enjoyed the beach for an hour. The water was so calm and clear. It was a beautiful beach….though there were a lot of people there as it was such a beautiful spot.
Sunday
We had an early (7:00 am) pick-up to head back to the Chania airport for our flight to Athens and then to Rhodes. Thankfully both were on time. We arrived at our Rhodes Resort and Spa (Atrium Palace Thalasso Spa Resort) about 2:00 so we had time to enjoy the beautiful beach for a few hours in the afternoon. We were also able to get another workout in at the gym before dinner!
We ran into Mila on our way to the beach and she invited us to join all the wedding attendees at the hotel’s Italian restaurant that evening. We saw her parents and Nicholas again after many years. We also got a chance to meet many of Mila and Artum’s friends, who were all super nice and gracious. Many of their friends were friends from their time in Virginia and DC. Their friends and family came from everywhere….the U.S (Maryland, Virginia, Richmond, Pittsburg, Charlotte, Florida), Portugal, Brazil, London, Germany, and Australia.
Monday
Monday morning was our only morning where we didn’t have to wake early to catch a tour or flight. We slept a little later than normal, went to the gym, and had a leisurely morning eating breakfast (another great spread) and drinking coffee. We ran into Karolin at breakfast and she joined us for breakfast.
We spent a few hours in the afternoon at the sea, enjoying both laying out and the water.
Then at 2:30 it was time to get wedding ready!
First stop, the hotel lobby waiting for the shuttle bus to take us to the beach ceremony.
Waiting for the ceremony to begin.
The ceremony!
Mila and Artum each wrote their own vows. It was really beautiful to see that despite being very different from one another, they have a mutual respect for one another. They communicate, challenge one another, and support one another.
After the ceremony pictures!
Then the bus shuttled us about 20 minutes to a restaurant in the most beautiful setting where we took picture after picture witnessing the majestic sunset.
The location of the wedding was absolutely breathtaking. Mila and Artum had a few technical difficulties with some of their planned wedding festivities (i.e. translation of speeches, slide shows, etc.), but they made the most of it. The majority of Mila’s guy friends are gay and they knew how to get a party started on the dance floor. They had me laughing much of the night watching them.
The shuttle bus brought us back home about 12:30. Justin and I proceeded to go to bed. The younger crowd had a beach afterparty until 4:00 am!
Tuesday
Our last full day! We had a tour scheduled for the medieval Rhodes town and while we wanted to see it, we didn’t necessarily want the tour portion. We tried to cancel but it was too late for a refund, so we stuck with our tour starting a little later than originally anticipated and cutting the tour portion in in half so we had time to explore and buy some souvenirs on our own. Our tour guide, Mary, was very nice and she thankfully wasn’t too offended about us wanting to cut the tour short.
We saw the Palace of the Grand Master, once home to leader of the Knights of St. John of Rhodes. Today it is a museum housing medieval furniture, elaborate mosaics, and archaeological exhibits from Rhodes.
We explored the Jewish Quarters and the Kahal Kadosh Synagogue, the oldest synagogue in Greece, and the Jewish Museum of Rhodes.
We spent a few hours on our own eating gyros, gelato (my one time) and exploring shops.
We enjoyed a few last hours at the beach until dusk and then ate our last full meal at a local Greek restaurant.
We had a great trip, though this trip we didn’t stick to our travel principles and it was a reminder to us that our best times of travel are when we stick to the travel principles that are us.
Cheers to Mila and Artum and a second trip to Greece!