Summer in Greece: the beauty, the food, being an empath and feeling it with my 6th Sense

My daughter Katrina and I always dreamed of going to Greece, and we made it happen.  Katrina brought along her lovely friend, Ursula,

of Greek descent, and my son Hanz joined us, so the four of us embarked on this unforgettable adventure.

We flew from SFO to Amsterdam to Crete, the food on flight we ordered vegan pre-flight of course, was not very good, as you probably know from flying.  Arrived after a long flight in Herkalion and jumped into van in the night to Chania, Crete.    Exhausted we arrived at Domes Norus Chania Hotel.  Good Karma landed to us and we got a free upgrade to a room with a view and our own plunge pool/hot tub, it was like a small townhouse so fun!  The young adults always adventured with the ATV’s road vehicle which are a hit in Greece on the streets.  The transportation can be challenging as there are no ubers and only taxis, but walking everywhere was really a treat.

The highlight of Crete was our excursion on a tour boat, first at the island of Gramvousa, so beautiful with mountainous views and a lovely beach and the “Venetian Castle” if you dare to hike the steep cliffs in heat.  Gramvousa is the island of Aelous in “Odyssey”.  Also habitat of more than 100 bird species and the sea turtle, “Careta-Careta.”   Our next stop was this magical place with shallow and warm waters where all the tourists and locals gather to sunbathe and enjoy the spectacular surroundings, called the “Blue Lagoon of Balos.”  The contrast of the white sands and blue waters, make it one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.  We sunned for 3 hours and then hung out at the hotel that had the best vegan food.   Walking everywhere was a huge treat.  Make sure you pack flip flops or comfortable shoes, that’s basically all I wore the entire trip with cobbled stones streets it’s no easy feat in heels.

Vegan Food of Crete:  Domes Norus Hotel ~ Greek salads, beetroot salads, Pasta with arugula, olives and veggies made up by the Chef at Domes Norus for us.  At the Sushi Bar upstairs they had a sushi bowl of edamame, rice, kimchee and veggies.  Hanz and I went to lunch located in Old Town Chania,  with a beautiful view of the harbor/waterfront and park at the beautiful “To Statchi” Vegetarian Restaurant and the chef/owner, Kirios Stelios with his thick Greek accent came out to greet us and gave us extra dishes and a beautiful dessert, he was so nice!   We dined on Black-eyed pea green salad, stuffed tomatoes with rice, fava bean hummus, dolmas, stuffed zucchini flowers.   It’s vegetarian but plenty of vegan options.  Then after lunch the perfect place to walk and see all the beauty with Old World character, it is such a gorgeous little town.  Three nights was perfect to explore this lovely Island, and the drive back during the day showed so much beauty of wooded areas, and desert landscapes of beauty.

Took a “Hydrofoil” Ferry to Santorini.  We arrived at the busy port and the van took us to our hotel, Volcano View, a Cycladic architecture of cliff rooms with minimal decor.  While it isn’t at the tip of Oia, the really beautiful part, it was the perfect location for the panoramic views Santorini is known for and with less traffic.

Vegan Food of Santorini:  We had lunch on the deck with expansive views and the vegan selections were great.  Greek salads, veggie sandwiches.   Falafel wraps at FalafeLand Vegetarian Eatery was our place to go for food.  Found my heaven in Greece shopping at an Organic Health Food Store, loved trying the European Violife vegan cheeses, with gluten-free crackers, greek black raw olives, pistachios and almonds, what a divine lunch, snack and dinner we had which made me skip dinner at the hotel.

The only real indulgence this trip was dinner at the Lauda in Oia, Santorini.  They had a Vegan Tasting menu of watermelon salad served on ice sheets, Polenta with veggies, Black Truffle Risotto was out of this world and an amazing dessert.  The only challenge of the night was walking down the steep flights of many stairs and back up along the streets of Oia, which turned out to be a pleasant experience to see all the beauty as taxis were seemingly non-existent much to our benefit!

The next day was the highlight of the trip sailing on the Mediterranean to the Sunset in Oia.  We had a special sailboat excursion to see the spectacular sunset in Oia.   We visited the famous mineral hot springs and got into the red mud baths and swam back to boat.  In Palea Kameni we sailed through magnificent colors of red and yellow reflecting off the white dwellings perched on the colorful cliffs of Oia for one of the most amazing sunsets in the world.  They prepared a delicious platter of grilled veggies consisting of zucchini and eggplant with a balsamic drizzle, greek salad, and sun-dried tomato pasta salad.  The others on the boat wanted to know what we got, they said they wished they had it!  Highly recommend this excursion to see the Oia Sunset.  Santorini is alive with beauty to fill all of your senses.  The nightlife was impressive too.   Three nights could have very well been a week!

Embarked on Hydrofoil Ferry to a three hour ride to the Island of Mykonos.  The food is not impressive on the ferries, be prepared with your own snacks/lunch type foods.  We arrived at Saint John Hotel and another win where we got upgrades to adjoining rooms with balconies and hot tub. It’s been a lot of traveling so we skipped the itinerary of another sail and made this more relaxing.  Mykonos is stunning, with white and blue architecture and the most beautiful cobble stoned streets.  The city is full of life at night, you can walk this beauty and see nightclubs, restaurants, artists and clothing stores, it has a bohemian feel with a upscale touch.  We ate the Birra Birra and had another amazing risotto and Vegan burgers both nights.   Also the hotel had the best Falafel Sandwich, something to remember and will stay on our palates for a long time.   We sunned and walked and toured the island.  The nightclubs were a hit with the girls.  They open at midnight and you walk out at sunset, this is the “Ibiza” of Greece.  Very beautiful, fun island.  Three nights could have been easily 5!

Transfered via Hyrdofoil  four hours to Athens.  We arrived exhausted from the heat and could not do the tour today.  We stayed inside hotel and ventured to local veggie restaurants for lunch at ‘Vegan Nation’, it was a great casual eatery we had empanadas, hummus, crispy tofu dishes and the best coffees served on ice of course!  We rested from the heat and then had dinner at “Avocado”, had the V burgers and Tofu Spaghetti it was delicious and a vibrant great space.  Also located next to a health food store, where I luckily purchased Vegan yogurt for breakfast.  Was sorry to miss all the sights in Athens but we wanted to listen to our bodies, the heat was overwhelming.

We traveled the next morning back home with passing through Paris, we grabbed a great lunch at Pret A Manger, basically an Olive tapenade, arugula, avocado, tomato baguettes for our long journey back home.  Bringing your own food is a must on airplanes until they get their menus tasting better. 🙂

Sixth Sense:  My overall feeling of Greece was it is a must to see, so much beauty, the people of Greece are extremely nice it was a dream come true.  One of the best trips of our lives, we all concurred.  And on to my Sixth Sense!  Without telling my young adults what I was feeling underneath all the beauty; I was feeling apathy for the animals, as when you travel you see how many people are eating meat and dairy.  Greece has a ways to go to vegan.  If you’ve ever watched the movie “Speciesism” where you can feel the pulse of murder of animals on a vibrational feel everywhere you go.  It can overwhelm you, and knowing if we are suffering in this heat, the animals are suffering 10x more.  The heat in Athens and the overall feeling of drought, I felt that fire coming.  I wanted to know all the fire exits in the hotels just in case.  And all I can say is this world has to wake up and wake up fast.  This earth is not happy with what we doing to it, the wildfires in Athens this past week, only 4 days after we arrived back.  Luckily we missed the fires, but our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those people stuck and killed in the fires and all the animals of the fire.  Wildfires are not just in Athens but all over Europe and America.

We must know by now that raising more than 70 Billion animals for food each year is killing this planet with the biggest impact with a thirst for water, all this water goes to feed them and raise them.  Berlin, the UK, Israel and the U.S. with a 600% increase in vegan just last year, so many countries are joining in record numbers of vegans, come on Greece!  As James Cameron will tell you “This may surprise you, because it surprised me when I found out, but the biggest single thing that an individual can do to combat climate change is to stop eating animals.”

By going vegan 1 person can save approximately 829005 liters of water a year.  Source:  linked.in/gaieU-V    It’s never too late to save yourself, the animals and planet.  Ursula is joining us on the vegan path, she has realized that it is wrong to love her dog and then at the same time kill animals to eat and wear, how good our vegan food is, and is in it also for the planet.

Go vegan or start the path now, easy to do with all the amazing vegan products!  Feeling blessed to show my children this world and at the same time feeling the pulse of the suffering and devastation to our planet on a vibrational level is hard on the soul.  Every vegan awakens another vegan, so never lose hope!   Take good care and sending love to all.

Much thank you to Jale Robertson of Blue Odyssey Travel for all the travel arrangements.  It was impossible to upload more photos so you can check my VGP Instagram for a few more.  Remember there is so much beauty to see in this world. See the World in all it’s beauty.  Travel, have fun, and always look for the beauty!