Musings and Moments

Planning this trip took a little more time than usual because our destinations were quite far from one another. But overall, we felt it was a wonderful journey, filled with new experiences, beautiful places, and many unforgettable moments. Our first impression of Istanbul was that it felt a little like India. But as we started exploring the city, we realized how different it really was. We enjoyed visiting the grand mosques, and for us, it was actually the first time we had entered a mosque. Visiting Topkapi Palace gave us a glimpse into the history of the Ottoman sultans and their empire. We also enjoyed the Bosphorus cruise, which offered a completely different perspective of the city. We felt that having a guide at Topkapi Palace was not necessary and might have taken away from the time we had to explore the palace. To avoid the long waiting times, the key is to arrive early. Visiting Hagia Sophia was also slightly disappointing because it was undergoing renovations during our vis...

This post is part of our Europe Travel Series. In my previous posts, I shared our experiences in Istanbul, Cappadocia and Athens. If you’d like to follow our journey from the beginning, you can start reading the series here . If you’d like to read the previous post, please read it here . Our final destination was Hydra, a small and peaceful island near Athens in the Saronic Islands. Unlike most travelers who visit it as a quick day trip, we chose to stay overnight because we had noticed something during our journey—many places feel more magical in the evenings and early mornings when the crowds are gone. After the busy energy of Santorini, we were curious to experience a quieter Greek island. Hydra has a rich history. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, it was an important maritime center and played a major role in the Greek War of Independence. The island became wealthy through shipping, and even its shipowners supported the revolution with their own fleets. Our journey to Hydra was...

This post is part of our Europe Travel Series. In my previous posts, I shared our experiences in Istanbul, Cappadocia and Athens. If you’d like to follow our journey from the beginning, you can start reading the series here . If you’d like to read the previous post, please read it here .  We woke up at 6 a.m. and were greeted by breathtaking views of the sea and the caldera cliffs from our hotel. Watching the morning light spread across the water was an unforgettable experience. After spending some time soaking in the views, we got ready quickly and headed to the Firostefani bus stop to catch a bus to Oia Village. When we reached the bus stop, we learned that the bus to Oia would not be stopping in Firostefani and that we would need to go to the main bus station in Fira instead. Rather than losing time, we booked an Uber. The journey took about twenty minutes. By the time we arrived, the streets were still quiet, the sun had just risen, and the day was already beginning to warm up....

This post is part of our Europe Travel Series. In my previous posts, I shared our experiences in Istanbul, Cappadocia and Athens. If you’d like to follow our journey from the beginning, you can start reading the series here . If you’d like to read the previous post, please read it here .  We were so excited to finally visit our dream destination, Santorini. One of the Cyclades islands in the Aegean Sea, Santorini is famous for its dramatic volcanic landscape, whitewashed villages, blue-domed churches, and spectacular sunsets. The island’s most distinctive feature is its vast caldera, formed when a massive volcanic eruption caused the center of the ancient volcano to collapse thousands of years ago. We started early from our Airbnb and had breakfast at the airport lounge. Our flight to Santorini was at 10:30 AM. By around noon, we arrived on the island, excited to finally see the place we had dreamed about for so long. The hotel-arranged driver was already waiting for us at the...

This post is part of our Europe Travel Series. In my previous posts, I shared our experiences in Istanbul, Cappadocia and Athens. If you’d like to follow our journey from the beginning, you can start reading the series here . If you’d like to read the previous post, please read it here .  We had read about the Meteora monasteries and watched YouTube videos but seeing them in person for the first time left us absolutely speechless. I’ll share all the wonderful details of this unforgettable experience in this post.  After breakfast, we packed our luggage and got on the bus. We started around 8:00 AM, and just 10 minutes into the journey, we saw the sight we had been looking forward to—the magnificent monasteries of Meteora perched high on top of the mountains. Perched dramatically atop towering rock formations, they looked almost unreal. Our jaws dropped as we finally stood there and saw them with our own eyes. The history of these monasteries is fascinating. Monks beg...

This post is part of our Europe Travel Series. In my previous posts, I shared our experiences in Istanbul and Cappadocia. If you’d like to follow our journey from the beginning, you can start reading the series here . If you’d like to read about our Athens experience, you can begin here . When we were planning our Greece trip, we watched a video of Meteora and immediately fell in love with it. It didn’t look real at first—huge rock pillars rising from the ground with monasteries built on top, as if they were floating in the sky. At that moment, we knew we had to visit. Meteora is famous for its dramatic rock formations and ancient monasteries-built centuries ago by monks seeking peace and complete isolation. At first, the monks lived in caves on these cliffs, leading very simple and difficult lives. Later, they built monasteries on top of the rocks so they could live and pray in silence, far away from the world. The idea behind Meteora is simple but powerful: living away from distracti...