I left my heart in Spetses - Part Two

Dress - Twelfth St. by Cynthia Vincent, Sunnies - Ray Ban, Bangles & Headband - H&M, Sandals - Primark

These are my final pictures from Spetses. What can I say? Gorgeous architecture, beautiful boats, great food (the best waffle I´ve ever eaten)... and we haven´t even made it to the beach! Can you believe it?There were just too many things to do and too little time to do them. It was an absolute highlight of my summer so far and I warmly recommend putting this tiny island on your travel wish list. Combined with a few days of Athens (about which I can´t wait to tell you all about) it was a pretty sweet vacay! ;)

 

Blowfish Shoes Giveaway

Remember these supercomfy summer wedges I've been rocking in the past few weeks? Here is the good news, you can now get a pair just for being such an awesome Gypsy*Diaries follower! :) Blowfish has offered to give away a pair and you can even choose which pair you want from their website! Sweet!

 To join the giveaway:
- please  follow Gypsy*Diaries on Bloglovin' (and/or GFC) if you haven't already
- and leave a comment below telling me which pair of shoes you'd like to win from the Blowfish website ;)

Georgia Brown Emma Floral Fab,  Gimmik in Black, Sandbox Red / White

For Additional entries you could:  (please leave (a) separate comment(s) for each!)

- add Gypsy*Diaries to your blogroll
- like En Route Photography on Facebook
- follow me on Twitter
- follow Blowfish on Twitter
- like Gypsy*Diaries on Facebook 
- like Blowfish on Facebook 
- blog/tweet/post on facebook about the giveaway (+1 entry EACH)

You have until Sunday, July 3rd 9pm CET to enter. The giveaway is open to Gypsy*Diaries readers worldwide and as always, the winner will be announced on my facebook page.

GOOD LUCK!

I left my heart in Spetses - Part One

Lace Dress - c/o Foley & Corinna (last seen here), Bangle & Rings - H&M, Gold Sandals - Primark

For an average person the road from the Xenon Estate to the beach / city center should be about a nice 10-minute walk. For us, it took more than an hour! :) The village is simply so beautiful that we were tempted to take a picture of every single door, every single tree in bloom and you just wait until you see the pics I took of Nora and her bump. That lil baby should be in the Guiness record book for having the most portraits taken before birth! :) But tell me, how could I´ve resisted when we not only experienced the beauty of the island for the first time, but we´ve also witnessed one of the most amazing sunsets I´ve ever seen in my life! Every photographers dream. To be continued...

 

Xenon Estate

*The view from our private roof terrace*

During our stay in Spetses, we were hosted by the breathtaking Xenon Estate. I´d like to take the opportunity to thank the wondeful team for an impeccable service. Not only is the resort spectacular, but we felt pampered all the way through as well! We have enjoyed one of the nicest views of the island, the rustic yet modern villa Lethe, the wondeful swimming pool and the peace and quiet which let us throughly relax and recharge. I have been to many resorts around the world, but Xenon is definitely one of my favorites due to its coziness and attention to detail. If you ever contemplate visiting one of the Greek islands, I can wholeheartedly recommend Spetses and the Xenon Estate. I can´t wait to go back with AC someday soon! :) I´m in LOVE!

*The 3 Villas - we stayed in the middle one, Villa Lethe*

*The view from our balcony*

*Our Cabana by the pool*

*My favorite, the pool! :)*

*The perfect mixture of modern and rustic in our living room*

*I loved the attention to detail throughout the complex*

THANK YOU XENON ESTATE for a wonderful vacation! We´ll be back! :)

Ferried Away

I thought I´d share with you a few snapshots of our roadtrip/ferry trip to Spetses from the other day. We drove avout 2,5 hours south from Athens and then enjoyed a 15min boat ride before we landed on one of the most beautiful Greek islands. I´ve been to Corfu, Crete, Evia, Santorini and the small islands around Chalkidiki before, but Spetses is my favorite (OK, it´s maybe tied with Santorini :) I´ve actually never heard of this tiny island before and now I also know why.... Don`t get me wrong, being a Central European girl, I pretty much enjoy any beaches I can get, but Spetses is so different from all the other overtouristic islands filled with drunk tourists and loud children. Spetses is the well kept secret of the Greeks and there are very few foreign tourist visiting (even though there is a direct boat from Athens). It´s charming, romantic, unbelieveably pretty and oh so typically Greek! Cannot wait to share the pictures I took on this magical little place!  Very Mamma Mia meets chic travelers. :D

EN ROUTE PHOTOGRAPHY

This is what I´ve been up to today

Let me tell you a little story. When I first started to think about my future in photography and a possible company name, my very first idea was EN ROUTE Photography. I felt ike it encompasses what I´m all about, my gypsy spirit, the coolness, the constant journey of my life and I was smitten right away. However, when I told AC my name name, he didn´t like the idea one bit. I got a bit discouraged, I started doubting myself and ultimately the idea to host a naming competition was born. As you know there were a lot of great submissions, however I´ve decided to give EN ROUTE another chance and secretely included it in my top 5. ;) To be honest, I was shocked how well it was received and even though BohoLux certainly made it run for its money, I´m really happy that based on your votes EN ROUTE has won the competition and it will be the name of my future company. :D A big thank you to all 220 of you who voted, I´ve learned another very important business lesson: LISTEN TO YOUR GUTS! (and now even AC likes the name too! :)

But as I told you at the very beginning, there will be a winner of the prizes and according to the rules I´ve drawn one lucky participant from my original post and thus the winner is..... drumrolls please....

Congrats ag and a big thank you to everyone else for voting! I cannot wait to share the next steps of this process with you and for now I´m just really happy that I finally have my name! ;) I´ll be sure to celebrate tonight! ;) 

Greetings from Paradise!

Greetings Webfriends! Just a very quick hello before I sail off to a magical little Greek island for the next two days.... I know... I´m very lucky! :) Here are a few impressions from my first day in Athens:

It hasn´t dawned on me until I´ve arrived that I´m actually on vacation! The weather is fantastic, the color of the sea is unreal and I even swam in the Mediterranean right out of the airport! I heart Greece!

Greek salad, souvlaki, gyros, frappe with ice cream! I´ve missed you!

My gorgeous and very prego friend who is my host in Greece. Basically we´re making a 5-day maternity shoot! ;D Exciting!

I hope the Sun shines on you wherever you maybe. I´m off to my very busy day of roadtripping along the shore, sailing to Spetses and lounging by the pool at the beautiful Xenon estate! ;) Giasas! (C U!)