Europe 2025 - Greece, Croatia, Spain, Morocco and Portugal

[Coops1]

Off on a 6 week trip, starting tonight:

10 days Greece - Athens, Santorini and Milos
8 days Croatia - Coastal Cruise
4 days Barcelona including the F1
22 days exploring Spain, Morocco and Portugal on a tour

Off to a poor start, Qantas ex HBA cancelled which meant Jetstar and collect bag and recheck in Melbourne (1.5hrs)
Got to the Amex lounge 15mins before closing (no food)
Hungry, but have boarded and looking forward to Barcelona (1 night), don't ask why!

Last 2 trips were SQ J, now in Emirates Y
Can't complain at least we are on our way and on-time.

Will post regular updates I hope.

 

[VPS]

Looking forward to it

 

[Seat0B]

I’m onboard too. I love to armchair travel when I’m not actually travelling.

 

[Coops1]

Emirates economy, flew 777 and A380. Way to noisy on 777 even with earplugs! A380 a lot more comfortable.

Inflight service was mediocre on both flights MEL-DUBAI-BCN, seat was way better on A380, but don't choose Rows ~62-66 if you dont want to be one with the wing, no plane wing shots at all . Actual food was surprisingly good, after coming down from SQ J and lobster.

Red Curry Chicken - damn nice


Mountains out of Oman into Dubai


Over Sri Lanka and India


View from 66K Emirates A380



PAU CASALS lounge at BCN, Star Alliance (thanks HSBC) BCN - ATH. First lounge of the trip, lots of spaces, clean, and good food options, no hot for mid-morning though, although great selection of drinks and wines. No coffee barista though

And thanks for Aegean free wifi for this post
Barcelona shots later

 

[Flyfrequently]

On board @Coops1, enjoy!

 

[Coops1]

Geez, I am well behind. Posting once I get a chance to rest tonight. Photos of Barcelona, Athens and Santorini. Currently on Superjet from Santorini to Milos in Club Class (seat is worth 10 euro upgrade on upper deck) am actually nearly up to date on instagram (@ashcoops1), but will do justice to this thread too soon

 

[Coops1]

Barcelona - Stayed at Four Points by Sheraton Barcelona Airport on points.

Specifically selected for the rooftop bar and pool! yeah. As @VPS is aware this is one of the criteria that is high priority on our trips

The backstory is that the 20k in points were compensation awarded due to Milan Sheraton hotel having the rooftop bar closed for renovation (2023 trip)

Blow me down, after seeing the pool and terrace on the webpage main page, and making sure it was open in May......it was bloody well only open on weekends. FFS

Received 5000 bonus points that day in compensation, which doesn't cover the difference the cheaper and closer B&B hotel was

Oh well, this part of the trip was going to be painful anwyways as we only had 24hrs in Barcelona before backtracking to Athens.

The backstory on flying to Barcelona was that we should have taken $1500 in airfare credit from a later tour and flown direct to Athens or Istanbul. Amazingly the airfares were real expensive and a distinct lack of points flights, thus we just went with the flow.

Easy public bus L99 from and to the airport @ 2.65 Euro each way. And just a 600m walk!

Even better when somebody got off the bus and gave us a ticket for 2 free trips . Thanks to the Japanese traveller at BCN for being so nice

Tried the ATMs at the local mall, and
ATM charge for Euronet and Caixa etc were 5 and 7 (yes 7) euros. Same in city, so waited until Athens, as we had coins and small notes to cover the start anyways

Would I stay here again, yes for transiting, as it was cheaper than the city, but only if the rooftop was open

 

[Coops1]

We did a trip into the city that afternoon / evening. Got off at Passeig de Gracia and walked down past Casa Batllo (gaudi inspired), Placa de Catalunya, La Rambla and wandered thru the backstreet finding a perfect Tapas bar (Bar Centric Raval) for dinner and lovely buildings!


Backstreet off La Rambla and Placa. Some busy, some quiet


Casa Batllo and La Rambla


Building entrance and Placa de Catalunya. So many pigeons (see insta for more)


Bar Centric Raval, superb Tapas restaurant with a 4.5 google rating, i just give out 5's to places like this

 

[ellen10]

Great start, looking forward to following along.

 

[Coops1]

Not much time in Athens, but had some great food over 2 nights, and saw the Acropolis / Parthenon along with its museum. Caught up with other family who just happened to be passing thru Athens as well









The flight in had some amazing views!


Metro trains were easy, regular and cheap. Just need to know your end stations for the right direction of travel. Travel from airport was 9 Euros each, we ended up taking a taxi back at 50 Euros, which wasn't much more as a group.


The Stanley Hotel was nice, chosen for its rooftop pool and bar. Fantastic views. Although a little pricey for the room.


We left Athens for Santorini on Aegean, and made good use of the Star Alliance lounge belonging to Lufthansa. Very nice, good food and drink options, but very small!

 

[Coops1]

For the foodies

'
Tapas - Bar Centric Raval, Barcelona


Moroni. Athens. Moussaki, Bifteki, chicken skewer souvlaki. Sorry for best of bad photo


Salero, Athens. Paella, Calamari, Greek Salad, chicken and mash, guacomole


Lotza, Oia, Santorini. Lasagne, pork hotpot, lotzas burger, pastitsio




Avocado, Imerovigli, Santorini
Seafood, gyros, cod fish (buttered but battered)



Little Kook, Athens..hazelnut praline crepes!
Actually relatively cheap compared to Oz..this place is a Disney themed street!!

 

[Coops1]

Lufthansa Business Lounge - Star Alliance

Easy access to most gates, especially B gates.

A very small lounge, but lovely. Lot of drink selections, and food, but it was more breakfast type for 10am. They do turn away people when it gets busy. Probably 10 people total when we were there.

 

[Coops1]

Here is a single taster of Santorini..... I will post more of Santorini later, but this shot wasnt even the best of Santorini! It was amazing, so much better than expected, and not that expensive!. I have no idea why people would want to go in "summer"

It took me months to decide where to stay and I booked 2 weeks out, and actually got IMO the best room in the hotel. Happy to take queries on where to stay, kinda all over it now I have been

 

[Coops1]

Hi all, feel free to peruse my insta profile, lots more in posts and stories! https://www.instagram.com/ashcoops1?

Santorini was special! Not expensive, and we had a fantastic caldera sunset view and a hottub for less than $350 a night! Could have been a little cheaper if I didn't procrastinate.

We hired a car for 2 and a bit days @ $130
A one way taxi on day one would have been $80. Easy to drive, and only really used it on departure day 3 to travel the length of the island.

We covered the length of the island from Oia to Akrotiri, staying in Inveromigli which was a superb place to stay. Mainly did the caldera edge and didnt venture to the low Plains

Fira to Oia Walk, a must! We did it in a few hours in the afternoon. Skaros Rock, beautiful to walk down to and around, and for the adventurous you can climb on top (i didn't!)






Oia township


Skaros Rock

View from under side of Skaros Rock



Fira township and three bells. Just beautiful views





The Heart of Santorino. A hole in the rock which was a heart in past years



Yes, we drove to the edge!

Akrotiri lighthouse, just to say we did the length of Santorini


All in all, glad we went, and surprisingly not as expensive as I thought. And we got to more places than i could have imagined inside the caldera itself

 

[Scash]

Looks awesome! We’re currently in Athens and head to Milos on Saturday, followed by Santorini, Paros and Thessaloniki. Have already booked accommodation but any tips on food or things to do would be appreciated. Enjoy your trip.

 

[Coops1]

Looks awesome! We’re currently in Athens and head to Milos on Saturday, followed by Santorini, Paros and Thessaloniki. Have already booked accommodation but any tips on food or things to do would be appreciated. Enjoy your trip.

Totally recommend this in Milos
- Medusa in Mandrakia for the seafood. Sundried octopus is to die for.

- Sirocco in Paleochori. Lamb and potatoes cooked on the beach in a volcano vent. Just superb, and they will show you the tangines being buried or retrieved.

- Boat trip. Don't be perturbed by the 135 euro round milos boat trips. Just pay and enjoy the beaches you stop at and the crystal clear waters that you cannot get to otherwise

Beach - Sarakiniko Beach, the moon Beach, superb. Plaka for sunset from the town Church, dont need to go higher. And we went to Plathiena beach for sunset to, all beautiful

Pollonia is a lovely town, as well as several other beaches and so much more, but the hotel and hire car companies will have the recommendations and maps. We did 4 nights and missed some small beaches still!

Have a quick look at insta for stories , and you will see some other bits we went to

Have a great time. It was our first for Greece and loved it!

 

[Scash]

Totally recommend this in Milos
- Medusa in Mandrakia for the seafood. Sundried octopus is to die for.

- Sirocco in Paleochori. Lamb and potatoes cooked on the beach in a volcano vent. Just superb, and they will show you the tangines being buried or retrieved.

- Boat trip. Don't be perturbed by the 135 euro round milos boat trips. Just pay and enjoy the beaches you stop at and the crystal clear waters that you cannot get to otherwise

Beach - Sarakiniko Beach, the moon Beach, superb. Plaka for sunset from the town Church, dont need to go higher. And we went to Plathiena beach for sunset to, all beautiful

Pollonia is a lovely town, as well as several other beaches and so much more, but the hotel and hire car companies will have the recommendations and maps. We did 4 nights and missed some small beaches still!

Have a quick look at insta for stories , and you will see some other bits we went to

Have a great time. It was our first for Greece and loved it!

Thanks @Coops1. That’s awesome . The places we are visiting are a first for us also. We did have a rough budget for but have given up! We’re just going to enjoy ourselves and hang the expense (and the calories ).

Have a fantastic trip!