Planning a Trip to Greece: Where to Start

On August 2, 2018August 3, 2018 By wherekatieisIn Europe, Travel1 Comment

I had been dreaming of visiting Greece for years, and the reality of traveling here was even better than I’d imagined. The beautiful blue water of the Aegean Sea, the adorable cobblestone streets, all the blue and white domed buildings, the beaches, and of course, the food. Greece is honestly perfection if you ask me, especially if you plan your trip right!

Soaking in the magic of Santorini on our hotel’s terrace.

How to get here:
- From just about anywhere, you’ll have to fly through Athens to get to other parts of Greece, and if it’s your first time visiting Greece, I recommend spending at least one full day in Athens. This way, you’ll have time to visit the Acropolis and explore the Plaka, the oldest district in Athens, before heading on to other parts of Greece.
- You’ll fly into the Athens International Airport (AIA), which is about 20 miles outside of the city center of Athens and an easy taxi ride away.

The Acropolis is a must-see while in Athens.

At the Parthenon, which dates back to the 400s B.C.

When to visit:
- Mainland Greece and particularly the Greek Isles are a very popular summer destination, so to avoid the crowds and higher prices of peak season, I recommend visiting in shoulder season.
- By visiting in mid April to May, or mid-September into October, you’ll still typically have great weather, but will have significantly less crowds than you would during most of June through August.

The sunsets in the Greeks Isles just can’t be beat.

Which islands to visit:
- Many people want to visit Greece for the incredible Greek Isles, a group of over 6,000 islands, of which 227 are inhabited.
- Some of the most popular Greek islands to visit are Santorini, Crete, Mykonos, and Rhodes, with each one having their own variations of scenery and culture.

The views in Santorini are pretty incredible.

Visiting Santorini:
- Santorini is the most visited Greek Island, and after spending almost a week here on my honeymoon, I can certainly see why! I have traveled all over Europe, and nowhere else I’ve visited is anything like Santorini. The charming whitewashed streets and houses, with blue roofs and blue domes overlooking the caldera are simply stunning. I think everyone should have Santorini on their bucket list!
- Just wandering the streets of Fira or Oia is a great way to spend the afternoon, and hiking along the caldera cliffside from Fira to Oia is an absolute must! You’ll swear you’ve never seen more beautiful views.
- Santorini is also known for its wine, and a trip here is not complete without visiting at least a winery or two, or better yet, booking a tour so a sommelier can take you around to a few different wineries for tastings!

51D1AAFB-78A6-4AFC-BD33-765C0C9A03F3 — Hiking from Fira to Oia was a highlight of my entire time in Greece.

Visiting Mykonos:
- Mykonos is widely regarding as the “party island” and known for its nightlife, but by visiting Mykonos in early May, just before peak season, I found it to be quiet and so charming.
- Mykonos Town is full of winding cobblestone streets, with shops and restaurants that just get more adorable around every corner. Add in the beautiful beachfront views, watching sailboats and yachts come in on the Aegean Sea, and the hill of windmills, and you have a perfectly lovely place to visit.
- We spent much of our time here just relaxing poolside, overlooking the ocean, wandering the streets of Mykonos Town, and eating incredible Greek food.

Mykonos, where every street looks like a postcard.

This is just a starting point for planning a fantastic trip to Greece! I’ll be sharing many more details, including itineraries for Athens, Mykonos, and Santorini, and day trips and outings to consider while visiting. Stay tuned for more, and let me know if there’s anything you’d like to know about visiting Greece!

I wouldn’t mind waking up to this Santorini view every day.

Exploring Lake Louise

On July 31, 2018July 31, 2018 By wherekatieisIn Canada, North America, Travel2 Comments

Since Lake Louise is one of the most popular destinations in Banff National Park, if not THE most popular destination, I thought today I’d share with you some tips for making the most of your time here! Lake Louise is a beautiful, turquoise blue lake that gets it color from the light reflecting off of the glacial silt that flows into the water as the nearby glaciers melt.

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When to visit Lake Louise:
- If you’re wanting to see this lake at its peak teal color, you should visit during the summer months from about mid-June on, when the lake will be fully thawed.
- If you are hoping to see some fall colors at Lake Louise, it’s best to visit from mid-September through October. Many of the nearby trees are evergreens that stay green year round, but the larch needles of some of the pine trees change to a golden color that is beautiful to see.

Brian and I on the shoreline of Lake Louise.

Avoiding crowds at Lake Louise:
- Going first thing in the morning (i.e., before 7:30 or 8am) or after dinnertime in the evening is the best way to get a spot in the parking lot and to avoid crowds here. In particular, try to avoid arriving to Lake Louise around 10am, when many of the tour buses start dropping off their visitors and the lake gets quite crowded, especially at the front of the lake.
- If the parking lot at Lake Louise is full, they will not allow any more guests to enter and will direct you toward the exit. In that case, there is an overflow parking lot several miles away that has shuttle buses that transport guests to and from the lake, but this is a less convenient and more time-consuming option.

We had the whole lake to ourselves by the time we finished hiking the Lake Agnes Tea House trail!

Where to hike at Lake Louise:
- Lake Agnes Tea House Trail:
- - The most well-known hike at Lake Louise is the Lake Agnes Tea House trail, named for the mountainside tea house that has been open since 1905. Be prepared that this trail is steep and quite difficult! Completing the full trail starting at the Lake Louise shoreline and going to Mirror Lake, the tea house, and the Big and Little Beehive Lookouts covers a round-trip distance of about 8 miles and goes up to an elevation of about 7000 feet.

73703255-91FB-487F-850B-E7BEF2E90172 — I was so happy to see this first lookout over Lake Louise after such a steep trail!

- - Brian and I started this hike at about 7:30pm on our first full day in Banff, after waking up at 4:30am to catch the sunrise on the way to Moraine Lake, so we’d already had a full day by the time we visited Lake Louise. This hike is steep with many switchbacks and is uphill the entire way. We only hiked about 2 miles each way to Mirror Lake, and did not make it to the tea house itself, or the Beehive lookouts, as we were running out of daylight (and energy!).

Soaking it all in at Mirror Lake, the first stop along the Lake Agnes Tea House trail.

Plain of Six Glaciers trail:
- This trail starts at the back of Lake Louise near its glacial silt delta, or what I like to call the ‘secret beach’. It covers about 6.8 miles round trip and takes you close to the Victoria Glacier, Mount Lefroy, and Mount Victoria, as well as another lesser known tea house at the end of the trail.
- Expect to see a lot of wildlife here, including chipmunks, mountain goats, and even grizzly bears. Bring your bear spray!

Part of the sandy delta at the back of Lake Louise.

Canoeing at Lake Louise:
- Canoeing the beautiful teal water of Lake Louise is such a great way to take in all the sights from the water. While renting a canoe here is not cheap, to me it was well worth it! The price is $110 CAD (or about $80 USD) for a one hour rental, which gives you enough time to canoe to what I call the ‘secret beach’ at the back of Lake Louise.
- In my (pretty extensive!) research before visiting Banff, I never read anything about the soft sand with streams of glacial water flowing into Lake Louise, but it’s lovely. Exploring this sandy delta and leaping over the flowing streams to see the turquoise water even closer up was honestly one of my favorite parts of visiting Lake Louise!

Waiting to rent our canoe at Lake Louise. Doesn’t this look like a postcard?

C2E7B57E-B3E5-4911-B032-0F07DE720ACC — I felt like I was canoeing through a dream world. This lake and these mountains are stunning!

Have you been to Lake Louise before, and if not, is it on your list? Lake Louise and Moraine Lake were some of my favorite places that we visited in Banff and Jasper, so I highly recommend making this a part of your trip! If there is anything else you want to know about visiting Banff, make sure you let me know in the comments so I can cover it next time!

Where to Eat in Banff

On July 26, 2018July 27, 2018 By wherekatieisIn Canada, North America, Travel4 Comments

If you’re anything like me, planning which restaurants you want to try when visiting a new place is half the fun of traveling! I love to try new places and new foods, and since I do have a severe gluten allergy, I always make it a point to research restaurants and menus before I travel, so that I know where I can safely eat. Banff has tons of great options for dining, so here are some of my top picks!

Bear Street Tavern
- If there was one place in downtown Banff that I had recommended to me over and over, it was Bear Street Tavern. They are known for their pizza, and I’d heard several times that their pulled pork and pineapple pizza was fantastic. Sure enough, it did not disappoint! They do have gluten free pizza crusts for those of us with gluten allergies or celiac disease, and overall this restaurant gets a huge thumbs up from me!

Already craving this pulled pork and pineapple pizza again!

Balkan Restaurant
- My husband Brian and I both love Greek food, and even though we know it typically won’t live up to the incredible food we ate throughout the Greek Isles while visiting last year, we still enjoy trying new places to get our Greek fix.Balkan is a great spot for lunch or dinner offering lots of classic Greek fare, with everything from spanakopita, to rice, veggie, chickpea, and hummus bowls (my pick), or pork gyros (Brian’s pick)
  Loved this Greek bowl full of chicken, veggies, rice, and roasted chickpeas.
Nourish Bistro
- If you’re looking for yummy vegetarian and vegan eats in downtown Banff, this is the place to go. While I’m only about 80% vegetarian, I find that vegetarian and vegan restaurants almost always have lots of gluten free options, making them a good option for me while traveling.Nourish has inventive, farm-fresh takes on some Canadian staples, like the vegan poutine that my husband devoured while I enjoyed the rice noodles with veggies, seared tofu, and coconut chili peanut sauce.
  King Kong Noodles at Nourish Bistro.
COWS Creamery
- I can’t finish this list without mentioning my now-favorite ice cream spot in Banff: Cows! This homemade ice cream shop has unique flavors that I’ve never seen anywhere else like Moo Henry, which has chocolate flakes, peanuts, and pieces of brown sugar fudge in it. I’ll take fudge in my ice cream any day! 😍
  My new ice cream obsession.

Where’s your favorite place to eat in Banff? There were plenty more places that I wanted to try, but since we’re already planning to visit Banff again someday, I’ll have a chance to try some more next time!

The perfect view from Cascade Gardens overlooking downtown Banff.

Visiting Moraine Lake

On July 22, 2018July 22, 2018 By wherekatieisIn Canada, North America, Travel

Today, I’m going to tell you (and show you!) all about visiting my favorite lake in Banff National Park, Moraine Lake. I visited Banff with my husband Brian earlier this month, and was honestly blown away by how much more beautiful Moraine Lake was in person than in any of the photos I’d seen!

img_1114-1 — Moraine Lake. No filters or editing needed– it’s that beautiful!

The stunning lake is located in the Valley of the Ten Peaks, aptly named for the ten peaks of the Canadian Rockies that can be seen surrounding it. It gets its beautiful teal blue color for an interesting reason. As the glaciers that feed it melt, they carry with it silt, or bits of glacial rock and debris, that the sunlight refracts off of to create the incredible color.

When to visit:
- If you’re wanting to see Moraine Lake at its peak teal color, it’s best to wait until mid-June. By then, the lake will have fully thawed and will have risen enough to take on its characteristic shade of blue.

img_2710-1 — This color is unbelievable.

Where to hike at Moraine Lake:
- There are several different trail options that offer stunning views here. The Shoreline Trail is an easy, 1.8 mile trail that covers about half of Moraine Lake’s shoreline and offers endlessly beautiful views. It ends at an area of rapids at the other end of the lake, and you hike back the way you came.
  - I loved these views so much that Brian and I did this trail twice– once on our first day in Banff and again on our last day!
- The Rockpile Trail is another popular hike at Moraine Lake. It’s a moderate, 0.5 mile climb up a large pile of rocks that offers stunning views of the lake and the surrounding mountains.

img_0998-1 — View from the Rockpile Trail.

Canoeing at Moraine Lake:
- Moraine Lake Lodge offers canoes for rent starting at 8:30am during the summer months. Since no reservations are allowed, coming early if you want to canoe is your best bet!
- We did not canoe here as it was too windy and cool on our first visit here, and on our second visit, we had just canoed at Lake Louise.
- Whether you canoe at Moraine Lake or Lake Louise, it is pricey. The current cost is $110 CAD (about $85 USD), but is well worth it in my book. The views from the water are honestly incredible, and my take is that who knows when I’ll be back again to experience it!

img_0955-1 — What a beautiful morning at Moraine Lake.

Visiting Banff National Park was a major check off my bucket list, and I highly reccomend adding it to yours if it’s not there already! Have you visited Banff before? What was your favorite site here? Let me know in the comments! And if you have any questions about visiting Banff, comment below and I’ll address them in my next post!

Planning a trip to Banff: Where to Start

On July 20, 2018September 21, 2018 By wherekatieisIn Canada, North America, Travel

Banff National Park is Canada’s oldest national park and is located in the gorgeous Canadian Rockies in Western Canada. It’s a popular destination for good reason, whether you visit in the summer to see the stunning teal blue of the glacier-fed lakes, or in the winter for skiing and other winter sports. Here are some tips to help get you started when planning a visit to Banff, and make sure you check out my other Banff posts for more details on visiting the stunning Moraine Lake, the best time to explore Lake Louise, and all the best places to eat in Banff. You can’t go wrong visiting this incredible place!

The beautiful Moraine Lake, my favorite of all the lakes in Banff.

How to get here:
- Fly into Calgary International Airport (YYC), and get a rental car from there to finish your journey to Banff. It’s about a 1.5 hour drive from Calgary to Banff, making it by far the closest major airport, and the drive is so gorgeous that it’ll go by fast!
- There are also options to take a bus from Calgary to Banff, like this one, but I highly recommend renting a car since you’ll need one to fully experience all of the different lakes, beautiful drives, and hikes that Banff has to offer.
Where to stay:
- For convenience of visiting all that Banff National Park has to offer, I recommend staying in either the town of Banff or Canmore.
- The town of Banff itself is adorable, with a fun downtown area to explore and lots of good restaurants, and is a easy drive to most of the popular lakes and hiking sites from here.
- Canmore is about a 15 minute drive from downtown Banff, and it can be a more affordable location to stay in, and still has grocery stores, a nice downtown area, and plenty of dining options.

Downtown Banff is just the cutest, right?

Plan ahead!
- Banff is a very popular summer destination, so planning as far in advance as you can is important! The glacial lakes, like Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, typically do not fully thaw and take on their beautiful teal color until about mid-June, so if you’re like me, you’ll want to visit between mid-June and early September to see them at their best.
- Hotels, Airbnbs, and campsites book up quickly (especially the more affordable options!) so planning ahead is a must. With that being said, this past summer, I found a great deal on directs flights from Nashville to Calgary on WestJet, so I ended up booking our trip only about six weeks in advance! We ended up staying in a camper in Canmore that I found on Airbnb, which was fine, but we probably could have gotten a hotel for about the same price if we’d booked six months plus in advance!

Go early or go late to the most popular sites!
- Visiting Banff in the summer means that it will be busy, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but means that you need to be strategic about when you visit the most popular lakes. Lakes like Moraine Lake and Lake Louise have limited parking, and once the parking lots are full, no more visitors will be allowed in until others leave.
- Going first thing in the morning (i.e., before 7 or 7:30am) allows you to practically have the lake to yourself, perfect for soaking it all in and taking all the photos you want.
- The sun sets quite late in Banff during the summer, at times as late as 10 or 10:30pm, so you can still enjoy several hours of daylight by visiting the more popular lakes in the evening. By mid-evening, Lake Louise and Moraine Lake are much quieter and are perfect for exploring on your own.

An early morning at Lake Louise. It doesn’t look real, but trust me, it’s even better in person!

Drive the Icefields Parkway
- A trip to Banff is not complete without a day spent driving the famous Icefields Parkway, a highway that connects Banff National Park to Jasper National Park. It’s considered one of the most beautiful drives in North America (if not the whole world!) and it’s just something you need to experience for yourself.
- Plan a day to just drive this gorgeous route, and know that you’ll be pulling over frequently to take in the sights, like Bow Lake and Bow Summit, which overlooks the stunning teal blue Peyto Lake.

Just one of many gorgeous stops along the Icefields Parkway.

Have you been to Banff National Park yet, or is it on your bucket list, like it was for my husband and I? I can’t say enough how incredible it was and how highly I recommend visiting! Banff is honestly one of my favorite places in the world now, and I can’t wait to go back again! What would you like to see on the blog next? Let me know in the comments!

The water is all so clear and so reflective, like it is here at Grassi Lakes.