A pre-dawn van pulls out of central Athens and the city slips away while the Aegean air sharpens around you. By the time Piraeus appears—ships yawning at their piers—you feel the sea tug at the itinerary; ferries become the arteries of this trip, carrying you toward wind-scoured alleys, flat-roofed chapels, and sun-baked beaches. Mykonos greets you with whitewashed lanes and bougainvillea that dares the island’s relentless wind; Santorini answers with cliffs that drop like the page of a map, the caldera watching every step.