She said:

After spending three nights in Ios, the consensus was to check out another island before heading to Santorini . We all agreed on Folegandros Island, quite possibly the best kept secret of the Greek isles so far. It was a bit out of the way, but we would come to be very happy for this decision once we spent some time there.

We arrived after a three-hour, fume-filled ferry ride and waited in the hot sun for an infrequently running bus to the top of the town. When we reached the top, Jamie helped with what is usually my solo mission (finding accommodations) while Chad waited with the bags and Bill looked into renting a car. I assured Jamie that we've only made reservations twice this entire trip and haven't had a problem, so finding a place in a smaller and less touristy island surely wouldn't be an issue. However, as we walked from villa to villa and were told "full", I began to worry that our luck had just run out.

Murphy's Law right? It will happen that all the hotels are booked at just the time when we are with two people we have been preaching to that they don't need to reserve (I am pretty sure they were beginning to wonder of this daytrip was a good idea given the short time they had in Greece, so needless to say, I was getting more nervous than if it were just Chad and I) . Luckily, we found a place and settled into the rooms while Bill picked up the car, and Chad debated whether or not he would have to talk down a crying girl sitting on the ledge.

We explored this small, quaint town by car, and were so pleasantly surprised at how beautiful and uncrowded it was. Barely touched by tourism, the winding roads and small beaches were exactly what I pictured a typical Greek island would look like. We stopped at many small beaches, swam, and enjoyed the sun. The boys each armed themselves with goggles and took off in search of fish. Vista point after vista point, this island was absolutely beautiful and the water was as clear as ice (not as cold, but definitely a bit chilly).

As the sunset approached, we drove to another small beach to watch day turn into night. We got beers and umbrella drinks and watched a beautiful sunset over Folegandros. That's the thing about Greece, there is no shortage of beautiful sunsets and you don't have to look very far to find a place to enjoy it!

We went for a pre-dinner aperitif, if you will, and received a recommendation for a local restaurant from the waitress . Chad and I have made it a habit to ask a local what their favorite restaurant is, as their recommendations are usually the least touristy places with the best local cuisine. She suggested a place, which was just that; mostly locals, slow and enjoyable service, and good food. I can't say it was the best food we had in Greece, but I am a big believer that when the company is good, it usually doesn't really matter how the food is...

After dinner, we walked around the little shops and boutiques. None of them were chains, and each one was different from the next. We sat in the square and listened to a local man sing Greek songs while playing an instrument that most resembled a ukulele. Although he had a terrible voice, it was fun to watch he and his friends just enjoying the moment on a beautiful night. After a local dessert of "honey balls" (like munchkins dipped in honey), and some local wine, Bill suggested we wake up early and climb to the church (on top of a hill with a very windy road leading up to it) for the sunrise . In theory, it was a great idea. However, I had my doubts that we would all motivate in time to make the hike up there. We agreed to set our alarms and give it our best shot.

True to our words, we all got up at 5:30 a.m. and began the hike. The initial walk was indeed uphill, however, there was a paved, winding path leading up to the church. When we arrived to the church and the gate was locked, Chad and Bill hopped the fence (guarded by goats) and began to hike up some treacherous terrain determined to get to a spot for ideal viewing. As Jamie and I trailed behind, we debated whether or not we would get arrested and did our best to prevent a fall (it really was a toss-up for who might fall first). But, no one fell and the goats behaved. We made it in plenty of time and witnessed a beautiful sunrise over Folegandros. Proud of ourselves, and tired, we headed for some coffee and beach time before catching the ferry to Santorini...

Attorney's Notes:

Initial hesitation about traveling and then beautiful cliff views,
driving on seemingly-impassable dirt roads to get to off the map,
different types of beaches (naked old couples at the first beach),
live music in the square,
most legit, authentic Greek experience,
sunrise trespassing past the Church and goats,
(not baa-aad) .

He Said:

My biggest concern with Jamie and Bill deciding to pre-book their time with us was that it would seriously decrease any chances of spontaneity. It wasn't really going to affect Alli and me because we had all planned to share only one accommodation during their stay in Greece (and god knows we weren't going to be staying at the Four Seasons Grand Bretagne Vistas Palace), but I had a feeling that at some point Jamie and Bill would want the freedom to move about the isles with leisure. After all, when so much of your normal week is comprised of morning meetings, appointments after lunch, and 5 pm conference calls, who wants schedules on vacation? And when we got out of the final night of our hotel reservation in Ios, we hopped on the three-hour ferry to Folegandros.

As with Ios, Folegandros had small, white Orthodox chapels sprinkling the landscape like the remaining flecks of feta cheese in the oily vinegar remains of a Greek salad, sometimes in the strangest of places - on top of a bowl of mountains surrounding the town; on a fork of land stretching out into the sea; or amidst patches of cucumbers, olive trees, and grape vines in a farmer's field . These churches were so tiny and so remote, that we all wondered if people actually attend services there. When we arrived in the main upper town high above the Aegean sea, I observed the church of all churches watching over town from a hilltop terrace, and I took note of its photo-shoot possibilities.

As I stood in the main square of Chora with the bags as Alli and Jamie went to find a room, I was completely oblivious to the accommodation situation that was taking place. There was a ledge with a captivating view. The sea went forever. It went so far that it was impossible to tell where it joined up with the sky. And once the crowd cleared out that was deposited in the square by the same bus we took up from the port below, it was me and the breeze and my thoughts - and a girl I noticed sitting on the ledge who was also admiring the view.

She was wearing a long, blue dress, was exotically Greek with her long black hair and olive skin, and was probably in her mid-twenties . She was lying on the ledge, with what appeared to be a book of Greek poetry in her lap, and was staring at the surf below. It was a position of semi-prone contemplation, and watching her in the midst of reflection somehow made me observe even more than I normally would. I saw that she was fighting back tears, and then I began to wonder why.

Perhaps she had a relative that had recently passed away. Maybe she was taking the next bus to the port and was leaving friends and loved ones on the island of Folegandros. I thought that she might have done something she regretted and defiled the shiny, Greek cross that was simply draped around her neck. I remembered the story of the Greek poet Sappho, who jumped from a cliff to her watery grave below after she was rejected by her lover. And then I began to worry. A few seconds later, Alli and Jamie walked up in search of the bags, and we headed up the hill to our new accommodations. When we returned to the square to meet Bill and the car, the girl was gone . If Greece went from charming to enchanting on Ios, than in those few minutes next to the ledge in Folegandros, it went from enchanting to mystical.

We got into the car and drove to the far reaches of the island, where we found an amazing little beach tucked into the back of a narrow, but deep, cove. Bill and I swam out to the far reaches of the inlet and saw many fish, including a small school of jelly fish that glowed against the aqua backdrop of the water as if they were actually in an aquarium. The girls put their tops back on, and we went to another beach for another happy-hour sunset, something that never gets old. This was followed by another bottle of wine in a cliff-side restaurant by candlelight with another table full of good conversations, also something that never gets old.

That night, we started out to find a restaurant that had been recommended to us, and on the way, we stumbled upon parts of Chora that we didn't know existed . We had thought the main square with the lookout was all there was. Around the corner, though, we discovered square after tree-covered square of cafes, restaurants, lively bars, small boutiques, desert shops, locals sitting around playing music, and backgammon players drinking coffee. It was a total surprise, and I think in that moment, all seven of our eyebrows lifted (at this point, I have a uni-brow), and we simultaneously fell in love with Folegandros. Dinner that night was great, but the walk and time spent in the conjoined squares of town afterwards had to be the best part of the evening. And even on a Sunday night, evening for the locals of Folegandros goes well into the morning. Not just the youth, either. There were men and women in their seventies still chatting as we headed home.

We needed to get up early the next morning to see the sunrise, and after seeing the church on the hill above Chora upon arrival, there was no way I was going to miss that kind of photo op . Thus, Challi was actually up before sunrise. We climbed the paved switchbacks to the church in complete darkness, and then hopped the fence to continue up the rocky peak as light was emerging from the... east, Jamie, east. Bill went straight up the mountain, I went as far to the east as I could get, and we all met up at the top of the wind-blown ridge. The sunrise over Sikinos turned out to be a 45-minute photo shoot, and half way through, Alli had to delete pictures from our camera's memory chip because I used it all up taking approximately 200 pictures that morning.

Alli, Jamie, and Bill decided to head to another beach after the sunrise, and I went back to take a nap. I quickly fell asleep and found myself if the midst of a nightmare. Alli and I were sitting at a computer. We had run out of money and were looking for flights to come home.