Paros - Seaside Fun!

We arrived in Parikia, Paros on Monday afternoon and after a short wait were met at the port by our VRBO host who drove us the less than 15 minutes to our residence for the next three days, the top floor of his house located about a half an hour walk from the beach town of Naoussa.

Our lovely new spot had a magnificent view out over the bay on one side and to the hills on the other. The next closest house was a good 60m away and there were not many within eye range so it felt quite private. 

We were about a five minute walk to a local bus station to take us into Naoussa proper along the main road or we could opt for a forty minute walk along a dusty back road to approach the town from a different way. 

Once we had settled in, we opted for the back roads walk into Naoussa for our first visit to this very interesting town. 

Naoussa is an old fishing village that has been transformed into a modern tourist beach resort. It is much more upmarket than Ios, almost on par with Santorini, with high end boutiques filling the charming, narrow, winding streets as well as a slew of restaurants (fish primarily) along the old wharfside. 

It is a charming place with the typical white washed buildings, small churches with their blue domes tucked away around corners and of course cats sharing it all with people! Very laid back but upscale vibe.

We toured about for a few hours and bought some pastries before taking the bus back to our place for a little rest before heading back in to town for an excellent dinner (branzino) at the fish tavern "Mare Nostrum". 

Before heading back to our spot for the evening we stopped off at the wonderful bakery, Ragoussis, where baclava was acquired. 

The next day started with a quick hike after breakfast up to an old monastery about twenty minutes up the road. It was closed and an old man nearby told Christos (in Greek) "Nobody there anymore" and that the keys were in Naoussa if we wanted access (far too much trouble). 

Ah well, it was a good hike and it offered amazing views out over the island to the sea.

After a pit stop back at our place we hiked into Naoussa for another day of wandering about, shopping and relaxing as well as organizing a rental car for the next day. 

We opted for a different dinner experience and decided on Rada, located just outside Naoussa in an area called Agioi Anargyroi where several high end self-contained resorts have been built. 

Dinner was wonderful with amazing tarama, fish carpaccio, octopus and salad all done amazingly and as plays on Greek food rather than traditional Greek food (think California meets Greece?). 

All the other patrons were Americans likely staying at the resort and the staff was very surprised whren Christos spoke Greek. 

The view out on the beach was amazing and delivered a wonderful sunset although when darkness came so did the cicadas and they were both plentiful and huge! 

Some of the other patrons were a little put off but we are familiar with them from our time on the yacht so many years ago.

Our second full day and final day in Naoussa we opted for a tour of the island by car having rented one the previous evening for a 24 hour period. We visited a wild animal hospital but even though Christos had communicated with them prior to our arrival there was nobody there when we arrived. 

No biggie as it was only 10 minutes from where we were staying so on to the next spot, the Logovarda Monastery which was open but only to men! 

So Lisa had to wait outside while Christos got a quick tour and history from one of the few monks remaining. Fortunately, some of the men associated with the monastery offered Lisa cold water and a place to sit while waiting and of course once the tour was over we were offered sweets and raki! Gotta love a shot of 11AM raki! 

Then it was off to the picturesque village of Lefkes where we parked, toured the lovely village and then embarked on the awesome "Byzantine Trail", a 1000 year old path, much of it tiled with marble, between the villages of Lefkes and Prodromos. 

The trail is about 4km each way and while we were alone most of the time we did pass a few other hikers. One descends to Prodromos so the views out over the sea are quite stunning in places. Of course one sees the odd goat and donkey along the trail as well reminding you that some things don't change that much!

We were hungry and thirsty by the time we got to Pordromos and we found one of the two restaurarants in this sleepy town. Lunch was at the "Byzantino" and was quite good traditional greek food including octopus in a red sauce with pearl onions and ice cold beer and white wine. 

Then it was time for the hike back (uphill!) with an almost diversion at an icon factory (it was just a bit too far down the road). 

We wandered around Lefkes a bit and Christos ended up buying a small olive tree statue made in bronze (taking our count to two of these) and passing on a cast bronze octopus at the scarabee workshop. 

Having had a full day touring we then hopped in the car and started driving home when we opted for a last minute stop at the Moraitis Winery for a tasting of three white wines. A nice forty minute diversion and all the wines were good so Christos bought a bottle of one of them for later consumption. 

We had another small pit stop at home before dropping the car off back in Naoussa and taking another long stroll through the village. Christos ended up convincing Lisa on a lovely linen top and bottom from the Kori boutique. 

Then it was off to see the ruins of the castle in the port (providing wonderful background for selfies; see the cool shot of Lisa) before a second dinner at "Mare Nostrum" which while good was not as good as the first night. Lesson learned, no repeats!

Once more dessert was procured at Ragoussis (as it was all three nights in Naoussa) and devoured back at our spot. 

The next morning our host gave us a lift into Parikia, the port of Paros, where we had arrived three days earlier and where we now had two nights booked at the charming, albeit simple, "Hotel Livadia" located right on the town's beachfront. 

Parikia has a very laid back, not high end, feel to it. It has a stretch of seaside hotels and restaurants as well as its own beach (Livadia) and hosts a major port for the Cyclades islands. It certainly had a similar vibe to the port at Ios but much larger and more touristy. 

We wandered around the first afternoon with a visit to the 1700 year old church of Panagia Ekatonapiliani, where votive candles were lit, as well as some shopping (fun postcards like the acropolis made of watermelon) and general sight seeing before having dinner at the Parea restaurant just up the street from our hotel.

Dinner was a break from fish and consisted of fava puree (getting a lit bored of it), local sausages and meatballs in tomato sauce (both yum!). 

That evening after dinner we spent some time on the deck of our small hotel room enjoying drinks and TV, a usual practice of ours this trip as it seems we are no longer interested in the night drinking scene!

The next day was our final full day on Paros and we spent it with a trip to the wonderful Paros Archeological Museum, getting alternating manicures and pedicures (such a wonderful treat after almost two weeks on the road), another visit to the Panagia Ekatonapiliani (votive icons were bought and offered) a little shopping (see a typical storefront where we bought our friend Aare a souvenir) and more wandering before taking a break and getting fresh for dinner.

The museum was quite lovely, neither of us are as keen as we once were on museums as we have seen a lot of them (particularly Greek ones back in the day) but it had been a long time and it was not expensive (3 euros each) so why not! 

The museum was by no means large, which is a blessing if you ask us, but did have several wonderful pieces such as the Gorgon of Paros, the larger than life statue of Artemis (of the thick soled shoes), the tiny plump Fat Lady of Saliagos statue as well as lots of other wonderful pieces. 

It was just enough to keep busy for about forty-five minutes; our ideal amount of museum time. After the museum it was time for some grooming!

Lisa had decided she wanted a mani/pedi and we found a salon where she was quickly booked in for the 45 minute treatment while Christos wandered the town a bit more (buying postcards etc) and then when Christos came back to pick Lisa up it was decided that he needed the same thing so he was booked in a little later in the day (hence time for another visit to the church first). 

Dinner was at the locely "Little Green Rocket" where we had a wonderful green leafy salad (a rarity in Greece) and fresh sea breem cooked French style in parchment paper (delicious and different!). 

Dessert was once more sourced at Ragoussis as the store has several outlets on the island of Paros. 

The next morning the hotel proprietor gave us a life to the port just a stone's throw away but a sweaty walk with luggage! We soon boarded the ferry headed to the third of our five islands, Naxos!

Ios - A gem if you avoid the late night Younglings

We arrived on pleasant Ios on Thursday afternoon for a four night stay at the charming Brothers Hotel located just outside the port of the island's main town, Chora.  The hotel was simple, clean and perfect for our needs. 

The owners, Nikos and his English partner Lisa, were very attentive (and Nikos was pleased with Christos' Greek) to the point that Lisa made sure we had bacon every day with our fresh eggs on toast breakfast!

It was about a 15 minute walk into the main port area with restaurants and stores or a 30 minute walk up and over the hill into the town of Xhora itself so certainly a relatively isolated spot which after the crowds of Santorini was a welcome break. 

It was also a completely different price point, being about 1/3rd of the price of our spots in Santorini and including breakfast and room cleaning (as it was a hotel, not a VRBO). 

After checking in we had a drink (and salty tarama) at the Allo bar in the port and checked out a few stores before heading back to the hotel to freshen up and prepare for the walk into Chora. It was certainly a hike and we both worked up a bit of a sweat. Chora is lovely with its thin winding pedestrian streets, whitewashed buildings, short covered passages, cats around every corner and lovely views from many spots. 

We wandered about for a bit before grabbing a traditional Greek dinner of keftes, giant green beans in tomato sauce and potatoes at the "The Nest" before opting to head back around 10:30PM. 

On our way out of the town we noted that it just seemed to be opening up (when we arrived at 7ish it seemed almost deserted) and we soon realized that Ios, or Chora itself in any case, is a bit of a mecca for university aged youth to party. 

All the bars and clubs don't open until 10PM or later and go quite late into the wee hours. By 10:30PM the streets were filling up with with groups of young men and women seeking music, dance, libations and each other's company.  

We were just about out of town when we heard some sweet sounds and discovered some wonderful live music, a bouzouki and guitar combo, doing songs from a Greek songbook where half the crowd sang along. 

How perfect! We stayed for a 1/2 litre of wine (which we really did not need at that time!) before stumbling back to our hotel in the late hours.

The next morning, after a wonderful breakfast of oh so fresh eggs on toast and English bacon (with good coffee to wash it down), we decided on a trip to the nearby ancient archeological site of Skarkos! 

Skarkos is a short walk ten minute from the hotel and is one of the earliest known settlements on the islands, dating from between 1000BC and 2000BC.

The site is fenced off and costs 4 euros to enter; a government employee sits watching TV in a ticket booth certainly taking in less daily revenue than his cost (ah the Greek civil service). One can see the buildings of the modern port while standing where people lived almost 5000 years ago.

After wandering around Skarkos for a bit we walked the 2km back to the port and shopped for lunch basics (like dodonis feta!) and a few local products for use on our trip or taking home. 

After a little relaxation back at the hotel we headed out for the hike into Chora as we wanted to see the sunset from the renowned Panagia Gremniotissa.

The sunset was lovely, although a bit crowded by youngsters seeking the perfect selfie, with a view over the port below and and accompanied by a perfect breeze. 

Our hotel is to the right of Lisa in the sunset picture while the main part of the town of Chora is behind Christos (taking the photo).

After a little wandering we made it back to the port for a decent fish dinner at Enigma before heading back to the hotel for a good night's sleep as we had big plans for a driving tour the next day.

The next morning the rental car we had booked showed up at our hotel and we toke possession of it for the next 24 hours. 

We spent the next lovely day touring Ios with stops at (the reputed) Tomb of Homer, the Diaseli Cheesery and the site of Palaiokastro before getting back to our hotel around 4pm. 

To get to the "Tomb" one drives east over the island from Chora to an isolated spot (past some off half finished statues) where one can park and make the short walk out to the small ruin that houses the "Tomb". Who knows how real it is but the view is worth the drive alone!

The Cheesery was quite fascinating as the proprietors provided a sampling of their yummy wares and not all the good cheese in Greece is feta! Otherwise it was a day of perfect blue skies, driving along meandering roads through the hills and amazing views of the sea and the land!

Palaiokastro is an old ruined castle on a hill that one reaches by parking by the roadside and walking  along a narrow path (without a guardrail!) out to the castle ruins and the functioning (albeit closed up during our visit) church there.

After getting back to the hotel, we rested up for a few hours before hopping back in the car for a much anticipated dinner at "Vilaeti Taverna" located about a 15 minute drive from the port. 

It was opening night for the season at the taverna which it turns out is quite a popular spot with locals. 

We arrived early at around 8:15pm and already many of the tables were taken; fortunately we had a reservation! 

As the evening progressed the place just got more and more packed and the two young waiters were worked off their feet. 

At the table next to us, a foursome of Italians settled in for dinner seemingly oblivious to the madness going on around them and the spokesperson for the group started to become more frustrated with how long it took to order and then receive wine let alone to place their food order! 

It certainly didn't help that both the Greek waiter and Italian spokesperson were conversing in English as a lingua franca. 

With it being opening night of a (mostly) BBQ joint, the local cats mobbed the place, the poor workers being too swamped to do anything other than offer a token shooing away!

We had placed our order early, mixed grill for two, early and when it arrived we dived in to the lamb, pork, sausage, meatballs (keftes like but much more moist) and chicken all washed down with local white wine from the barrel. Al the food was amazing and very reasonable priced. 

It was much more than we needed and we ended up with left-over meat for later lunches! The sun had now set and the evening was getting long but diners were still arriving when we left well after 10:30PM. Perhaps live music or some such occurred later but by this point we were beat and still had to drive back to the hotel. 

We left with the Italian foursome just starting to receive their food order which, given our portion size, was likely going to overwhelm them (I watched the spokesperson order many things from the menu!). 

Our final day in Ios had a bit of rain (?!) and was a Sunday so we took it easy, watched some TV, read a little bit, walked into the port a couple of times for fun (and a libation) and into Chora for one last visit before opting for a lovely fish dinner at the port (where we saw the Italians again) at Akrogiali. 

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped by one of the beachside bars where it every seat was filled and all were entranced watching a basketball match between Greece and Real Madrid. It was very passionate and who knew basketball was now a thing in Greece!

The next morning after our final bacon accompanied breakfast of the trip it was off to the port for the ferry to our next destination; the island of Paros!

Santorini - The Island of Crowds

We arrived by plane (via Athens) on Friday afternoon and soon found our way to our little bungalow with a view of the back-side (not the much more popular, pricey and crowded) of Santorini stretching away from the small village of Oia. 

After settling in we went for a quick tour of lovely Oia with its marble streets, white washed buildings and amazing views over the Caldera of Santorini (or Thera as it is known in Greek). 

Even with the less chic digs (ie no caldera view), Santorini is still ridiculously expensive! 

As it was our first day and already late, we grabbed a decent if unremarkable dinner of gyros and after touring the main drag of Oia a couple of times (each time taking less than 20 minutes) we retired to our hot-tub to enjoy white wine and TV while looking out over the island to the sea.

The next day (our first full day in Greece) we opted for the renowned hike from Oia to Fira along the Caldera route after a modest breakfast of spanokopita and coffee. 

The hike was more challenging than we had anticipated (or we were still more jet lagged than we thought) and we struggled over the hills a bit. 

When we reached the village of Imervogli, about 7.5km of the 10km to Fira, we opted for a cold beverage (8 euros each for a small bottle of bubbly water!) and then a short diversion to Skaros Rock! 

Skaros was inhabited in ancient times and during the Medieval period housed a ramshackle castle from which the Venetian lords ruled. 

Skaros is to the the left of Lisa in the picture below with the trail leading to it while the village of Oia can be seen behind Lisa and to the right of her in the distance.

The short diversion was fun except that it claimed the life of one of Christos' sandals! 

The strap on his Teva gave up the ghost on a bad rock and so we ended the hike a little early at Imervogli and took the bus back to Oia. 

Still an amazing hike with views like no other. The only negative is that it was much busier than anticipated; foreshadowing our entire Santorini experience! 

That night we dressed up and went for the long climb down the stairs to Amoudi Bay, the fishing port below the village of Oia. 

We had to traverse the entire main drag of Oia, past the ruined castle and down the old main stairs where one can pay a fee to take a donkey to the top. The ancient stairs are made of stone and polished marble and can be a little treacherous in bad shoes. 

Given that it was approaching sunset, Oia was jammed with people, particularly near the ruined castle, trying desperately to get the perfect selfie. It was a slow descent.

Dinner was at the "Ammoudi Fish Tavern" and where we had an amazing tuna tataki and then split a 1.5 pound fish that was delicious. 

All washed down with a decent, albeit expensive, bottle of Greek white wine. Super expensive (our most expensive meal of the trip) but an amazing meal and top notch service.

The entire waterfront is dominated by two or three restaurants and everyone is cheek to jowl but the views of the harbour can be quite amazing and the lively bustle of the scene is invigorating. 

With the night having fallen by the end of the meal, many of the diners preferred to take the long way in a cab back to Oia for 20 euros instead of the stairs straight up but not us! 

We huffed and puffed our way up the stairs, dodging the donkey poop liberally spread on the lower levels, for half an hour before getting back to our hideaway and repeating the previous night's hot tub oriented activities. 

Our second day in Oia was a Sunday and thus somewhat slow. Christos had a visit to the maritime museum and we wandered around Oia a bit but much of the day was spent chilling in our bungalow. Dinner was once more at Ammoudi Bay but at a different restaurant, "Dimitris Ammoudi Tavern". Decent meal but not as good as the previous night albeit 30% cheaper. 

After another evening relaxing in the tub we got some sleep before waking up Monday morning ready for the next destination, Fira, the main town of Santorini. 

While Oia is stunningly beautiful, it is about as far from authentic Greece as one can get and even in mid-May was far too crowded for our liking. 

To top it off, Oia is famous for its beautiful sunsets but for all three of our nights there the sunsets were not what they can be due to the dust and clouds. 

Still worth the visit if one has never been but not worth returning to in our opinion. 

Our VRBO host picked us up around noon and we were settled in to our new digs in Fira, the island's largest town, about 1/2 an hour later. Our accommodation in Fira was quite a bit larger than that in Oia and included both an indoor and outdoor hot-tub! Of course we used both during our stay! 

Unlike our last spot which was literally 20m from the main drag of Oia, this new spot was on the edge of town about a 15 minute walk into the main part of town, all through built up tourist housing which was likely open field when Christos was here in 1984! 

We were in one of a set of three new suites, all quite well designed and built. 

Our view from the interior tub was into a donkey inhabited valley and beyond to the sea and the (what I believe was) island of Anafi.

After settling in, we toured Fira which was even more crowded than Oia and we soon discovered why! 

The cruise ships come to Fira's lower old port and disgorge several hundred (thousand?) tourists into ship's boats who come ashore and swarm up to Fira in the cable car (the cable car line at 5PM to go down to the port was astounding) for a day trip. 

Some make it to Oia or other places but most stay in Fira making the tiny streets thick with people to the point of frustration. 

After an afternoon of dodging tourists and seeing the town we got back to our spot in time to try out the indoor tub prior to dinner at the restaurant "Pelican Kipos" (Kipos being Greek for garden). Our dinner of lamb, fava bean spread and salad was good but the highlight was a bottle of Greco Di Tufo; the same vintage that Lisa keeps our cellar stocked with. 

After dinner we wandered through a much more empty and sedate town enjoying the wind swept views out over the Caldera before making it back to our place to try out the outside tub; it worked quite well!

Our first full day in Fira started with the quest for new shoes for Christos. After visiting several shops (Fira is thick with mid range and fancier boutiques) a pair of Tom's was found and although radically different from the sandals (being instead a closed toe espadrille type shoe) these were soon embraced as being perfect! 

The remainder of the day was spent touring the town, shopping (water, wine and salad/snack material) and relaxing until it was time for dinner at Tholoto where we ordered too much and ended up taking a pork chop home with us after dinner.  

The next day we opted for an adventure ("peripetia" in Greek) and hopped on the bus to Exo Gonia to visit the Santorini Brewery as well as a nearby art-space and the well regarded restaurant "Metaxi Mas". 

The brewery was a fun (short) visit with a couple of brews sampled but nothing purchased as we knew we would be coming back the same way later. 

The visit to the art space was brief as well as we had no reservation and a tour was just arriving (and we did not appear to have money) but rewarding as we saw a set of lovely bronze olive tree statues (by Angelos Panagiotidis) which we did not buy but inspired us. 

We then wandered through the lower outskirts of Exo Gonia eventually leading to a solid but short hike up to and through the village to Metaxi Mas where lunch was simply amazing; Lisa had an arugala salad that made up for all the previous meals with no real salads and Christos had dolmades and other Greek delights.  

We hiked back down the hill, bought some beer at the craft brewery and hopped on the local bus in time to get back to our pad around 5ish. 

We opted for dinner in this night consisting of some items we had picked up in town and the leftovers from the previous night. 

That evening a tiny young mom cat visited us and she received the remains of the pork chop (devouring even the bone splinters) as well as some sliced turkey from a sandwich we had for the next day before departing.

The next morning our host gave us a lift to the new port of Fira where the large ferries arrive and after a slight bit of confusion with our tickets we were safely on board and headed to our next destination, the nearby island of Ios!