We arrived in Athens on Monday at midday and stayed the night near the port, ready to jump on a ferry first thing on Tuesday morning. Our ferry landed on Amorgos at the port of Katapola at midday, giving us time to walk around our first town of white walls with blue highlights before our bus left for Aegiale at 4pm. It was everything we hoped for, including being very quiet. We’d chosen this island for being typical of the area while not being a major tourist destination.

When we got to our hotel, we were met by a girl who barely spoke English. She showed us a suite with two rooms, a double bed in each, and a balcony overlooking the water. After a session of sign language and pointing at bookings on phones, we realised that in fact, this was our room for the next two nights. A young man in a bar gave us directions around the tiny town, and we ended up going back there for dinner. With all the tourists already gone, it was to be the last night they served food, but Constantine gave us tips for what to see on the island and posed for a photo with Sandra.

Sandra had asked her colleagues what they would like her to bring back from Greece for them. Four of them immediately stated that they wanted a Greek boy. We decided that photos were the best we could do, and Constantine was a good sport.

Our first stop was the Moni Panagias Chozoviotissas monastery. While not as high up as Tiger’s Nest in Bhutan, the monastery, like any structure built on the side of a cliff, was impressive. We were allowed to walk around inside, and drank a honeyed wine in a small room at the top, looking out at the azure of the Mediterranean Sea.

Next stop was a walk down to Anna Beach where, apparently, Luc Besson filmed Le Grand Bleu. The tiny beach was already crowded with a few groups, including a number of women sunbaking topless. We splashed around in the water for an hour or so, then left just as three young men arrived and stripped off entirely. Apparently lots of the remote beaches in the Greek Islands are free for naturists.

With the bus still an hour away, we walked up to Chora, the capital and lost ourselves in the narrow streets of endless white, eventually sitting down for a waffle in a gorgeous plaza under an olive tree. We were so comfortable that we missed the last bus, and with very little traffic on the island, we had to catch one of the four taxis on the island.

As much as we loved Amorgos, we decided to book a ferry to Santorini Friday morning, which would give us time for a look around Naxos on the way.

Our holiday got off to a rocky start when, while sitting in the Medellin terminal, I received a text saying that our 8pm flight had been delayed and I would get more information at 10pm. Our connecting flight from Bogota to Madrid left at 11pm, and we had to pick up and recheck our large bag. My mind immediately went to problem-solving mode, trying to work out how we would get another flight to Madrid and how much that was going to cost. Sandra was certain that everything would work out and calmly went to talk to the attendants. When we finally found someone, they were amazingly helpful, ensuring we got on the earliest flight out (which turned out to be our own, leaving at 9:30), and had our luggage brought to us as carry on. Bogota was the fastest transfer I’ve done, but they let us carry on our luggage again, and we made it to Madrid on schedule.

We chose to stop in Madrid on our way to Greece so that Sandra could spend her birthday with family and friends there. A short nap after arriving, her brother Daniel and his family took us to dinner in a restaurant at the top of a high end shopping centre overlooking the old abattoir. I was worried about having to eat paella, knowing that Sandra is on a mission to eat fish on this trip, but it was actually a Brazilian restaurant, which meant as much meat as we could eat, and it was fantastic. Sandra’s relatives were very welcoming and accepting of my Spanish, which was pretty poor in my tired state.

We arrived back at the hotel at around 2:30am, which isn’t particularly late for Spain, and ended up sleeping until midday. Sandra jumped up in a panic because she’d arranged to meet one of her best Australian friends at 1pm. Russel was one of Sandra’s students in Sydney and remained close throughout her years in Australia. He gave us a few options for an early (by Spanish standards) lunch and we chose a small place inside a market. I’m writing this too long after the fact to remember what we ate, but I do remember that both food and company were good. He then took us on a walk through some of the older parts of the city while he and Sandra caught up and while he and I got to know each other.

It was great to finally meet all these people after hearing so much about their roles in Sandra’s life.

We managed to avoid the concert on Saturday night by going to Bogota for the family reunion, but came back too tired to enjoy most of the festivities that run through the week. We took advantage of the public holiday on Wednesday to visit the award winning orchids in the Botanical Gardens, where we were visited by a curious, hungry iguana.

Then in the evening, we dropped by the concert which took over the streets of Floresta. There aren’t many parks in Medellin big enough to hold concerts, so they just barricade off streets and erect a stage at an intersection. You can even see the local bus stop in one of the photos.

Sandra’s mother, Lilia, was separated from her three siblings when she was very young. One of them moved to France and another to Venezuela. Twelve years ago, they tracked each other down through a TV show and were reunited virtually. This weekend, all four siblings met together for the first time in over 50 years and I was invited to be part of the gathering.

It began with photos in every combination, then lunch, but moved back to Lilia’s house for a long night of drinking and dancing, most of which I only saw on recordings because I snuck away early to sleep. The following day, the real reminiscing began and almost everyone in the room ended up teary as the siblings tried to remember why their family had broken up originally, and then recounted their various experiences afterwards.

It was truly an honour to be part of this occasion.

Our third time using our lucky dip of ideas sent us on a romantic dinner date. I chose a Turkish restaurant that had amazing reviews for quality of food and service, and we weren’t disappointed. We started with three types of hommus with fried crackers and fresh carrot and cucumber laced with paprika and olive oil. Sandra chose salmon with quinoa for her main while I went for an adana kebab, both of which were delicious. She was disappointed that they were out of the chocolate cake, but that meant I could order baklava, one of the few sweets I can eat in bulk, for desert and ended up eating most of Sandra’s share.

We laughed together most of the night, recounting more stories from our earlier lives and complaining only about the choice of music, which didn’t fit the atmosphere in any way.