Day 23 - Athens

Espresso Freddo: 0

Today Mary and I did a food tour of traditional Greek food.  In hindsight, doing it at the end of a 3+ week tour of Greece was perhaps not the smartest move but the timing just worked out well.  We did it with Culinary Backstreets and it was very good value for money.  We really enjoyed it.

Because of the tour we just had coffee for breakfast before meeting up with our group at 9:30am.  There was an Australian couple (also from Melbourne) and an American couple (from Atlanta) along with Constantine (our guide).  He's been doing this job for 13 years and was very friendly and knowledgeable.  In addition to lots of food, we were also told a lot about Greek history and culture and why the various dishes were the way the were.  It was a very interesting tour, even if some of the food were things we had eaten before.  

Our first stop was a kiosk in the street which serves the Greek equivalent of a pretzel.  It was very similar in taste to a pretzel (i.e. rather bland) but had been brushed with a honey syrup to make sesame seed stick to it.  This meant we spent the rest of the day trying to discreetly pick sesame seeds out from between our teeth.

At one point we stopped to look at this church.  It is an illustration of the history of Athens.  The church is built on top of a temple to Hercules.  When modern businessmen wanted to build a hotel, they weren't allowed to demolish the church so they had to build the hotel around it.  Only in Athens.

Next stop was a bakery.  It was down a side street and looked a bit rundown.  However, it is wildly popular with local and had a constant stream of people coming in and out.  I think it had been in the family for several generations.  We had 3 different sorts of pies here.  One with spinach & feta, one with chicken and one with just cheese.  Each had a different sort of filo pastry.  There are many different types, not just the paper thin sheets we think of.  During COVID while we were all making sourdough bread, apparently Greeks were perfecting their homemade filo pastry. 

Next stop was a patisserie which has been in operation since 1930.  They make all the cakes upstairs.  Here we had traditional baklava (of course), a sort of marzipan made from pistacchios and almonds which was coated in chocolate (yum) and a piece of traditional marzipan made just from almonds (dull).  Apparently you can tell good quality marzipan from cheap marzipan by how sweet it is.  If it is very sweet then it has been made (at least partly) with apricot kernels.  If this is the case then they need to add lots of sugar to mask the bitter (and poisonous!) taste of the apricot kernels.

After this we ended up at a souvlaki shop.  It has, unfortunately, become very popular on social media.  The 3rd generation of the family are running it now.  They only make enough food every day to make a reasonable profit.  When it is all gone, they shut up the shop.  It is important to go early if you want to be sure of getting served.  It is a tiny shop but we all piled in a had one each.  You had the choice of pork (traditional) or beef (modern).  I had the pork and it as Absolutely Delicious.  Everything about it was tasty, even the tomatoes.  Unlike the Australian style, there was no lettuce and no garlic sauce, just a smear of Greek yoghurt.  There was also plenty of paprika.

After this we went to a taverna in a gorgeous old building for first lunch.  Here we shared a cheese pie, meatballs in a tomato sauce (Disappointing), dolmades (Good - fresh vine leaves make all the difference), saganaki cheese (Good  - although the name actually refers to the pan it is cooked in and the food can be anything not just fried cheese), zucchini fritters (Decent) and a beetroot salad (suprisingly Decent).

Next stop was a cafe name Melina which is in honour of Melina Mercouri.  The walls were full of pictures of her.  Here we had Greek coffee.  I had mine with some sugar, as did Mary, but the others all had theirs plain black without any sugar.  I'm not sure they realised what they were letting themselves in for.  I have my espresso without sugar, but unsweetened Greek coffee is too much for me.  They all drank it so perhaps they liked it.

We walked for a little while after this, admiring Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman ruins, while we digested some of all the food we had eaten before ending up at yet another taverna for second lunch.  Here we had mashed "fava" beans (Good - actually yellow split peas), horta (wild bitter greens - Good), beef cooked in a tomato sauce under tender and served with pasta (Decent), a rusk (dried bread) topped with fresh tomatoes, olive oil and feta (Good) and moussaka (Decent).

Our final stop, since we hadn't eaten enough yet, was a shop selling various olive oils.  First we had a traditional goat's cheese topped with honey and oregano (why?) before sampling 5 different extra virgin olive oils (by the spoonful).  

Finally we waved a good-bye to our cheerful guide and staggered back to our hotel for an afternoon nap.

Later in the day we ventured out again.  We ambled around for a bit and stopped for a gelati at a shop that they recommended to us.   It was the 2nd gelateria I've seen here that uses the proper pozzetti (covered containers) instead of the cheap, nasty stuff piled high in the window.  The first place was in Athens airport of all places.  Here Mary had pistacchio (Good) and I had marscapone with figs (Decent).  We weren't hungry but felt it important to test out the place.

We ambled about a bit more before collapsing in a cafe with good views for people-watching.  We had to order a drink to rent the table so I had a Campri spritz and Mary a limoncello spritz.  After getting pleasantly relaxed we staggered back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we are off to Istanbul.  We are taking another food tour there the day after we arrive.  We must have fully digested all of today's food by then.

I hope.

  

Day 22 - Back to Athens

Espresso Freddo: 1

Today we got up bright and early to get our lift to the port to catch the ferry back to Athens and the end of our holiday.  We got to the port and sat in a cafe and waited.  After a while, we went and queued up at the dock and waited some more.  And then some more.  Our ferry ended up arriving 20 minutes late.

Our particular ferry started in Crete, then came to Santorini, then on to Naxos, Paros, Mykonos and Syros before reaching Piraeus port in Athens.  At every stop, in spite of the best efforts of the crew, we ended up a little further behind schedule.  We got to Athens an hour late.

The seas were fairly rough today.  I kept expecting the captain to put the seatbelt sign on except, of course, there is no such thing on a ferry.  It was quite amusing to watch the passengers staggering around like drunkards while the crew had no trouble walking in a straight line, including one woman in a pencil skirt and high heels!  

At one point it got so rough, one crew member was walking around with an armload of seasickness bags to hand out.  Fortunately I didn't need one (good drugs for the win).  Although, when we were met in Athens our taxi driver either had very strong cologne/aftershave or air freshener.  I was feeling distinctly queasy by the time we got to our hotel.

After checking in, we went clothes shopping.  I'd packed for warm weather.  I'd even bought a bathing suit especially for this holiday but never wore it once.  However, tomorrow the prediction is for light rain and the same is predicted for the two days we are sightseeing in Istanbul.  

We went looking for waterproof jackets but we are in a trendy part of Athens and there aren't the right type of shops here.  We really needed an outdoor gear shop but instead we could have our choice of party outfits.  I ended up buying a water resistant jacket that looked as if it was a very dark maroon colour in the shop.  Just my thing.  Now I have it back in the bright lights of my hotel room, it looks distinctly brown.  I never willingly buy brown clothes.  My school uniform was brown.

Grumble.

Day 21 - Santorini

Espresso Freddo: 0

We started the day with an interesting breakfast.  Our hotel, the Aria Lito Mansion, is a relatively new (few hundred years old at most) mansion that obviously belonged to someone rich before being converted to a hotel.  There are only 5 rooms and 5 suites.  There are courtyards (and a pool) but no breakfast room.  Instead, we were seated in a courtyard garden and our food was brought to us.  We were only offered a choice of tea or coffee.  The rest was a set menu.  We were given scrambled eggs & bacon, bowls of fresh fruit, another of (Greek) yoghurt, bread and tiny fresh croissants, a selection of jams, slices of cake and a plate of tomato, cucumber, feta & olives drizzled with balsamic vinegar.   We did our best to eat it all.

After this fortifying breakfast we headed off to the site of ancient Akrotiri.  This was a Bronze Age port town that was destroyed went the volcano erupted and was buried under volcanic ash.  It was only discovered back in the 1960s.  They've only excavated about 3% of the site so far.

When I think of a Bronze Age town I think of something small and primitive, but this was a big, busy port.  Most of the buildings were 2 or 3 storeys tall.  The streets were paved and there was a sewerage system.  One guide said the infrastruture was better here, in some ways, than Athens in the 1950s!  One house had evidence of a toilet connected to the city's sewerage system.  He was very excited about that.

We'd downloaded an audio guide to the site but it wasn't very good.  Or rather, the labelling on the site wasn't very good.   It is all very well listening to a description of a particular building when you have no idea which one that is!  There were several groups having guided tours, so I just followed along behind one and pretended to be part of the group.

We spent a couple of hours at the site.  Before leaving we used the loos.  There was a local woman cleaning them.  She was complaining in Greek about how we were all such dreadful pigs and did we really behave this way at home.  I'm guessing she assumed none of us could speak Greek and couldn't understand her, but Mary could.  In her defence, cleaning public toilets in Greece is an unpleasant job.  You can't flush toilet paper down the toilet here.  It clogs the pipes.  Instead, you put the used toilet paper in a bin beside the toilet.  Ick.

After leaving the site we headed back to Fira.  There is a museum here with a collection of items found at Akrotiri.  It is mainly household items.  Apparently there was an earthquate a little while before the eruption so people had warning that trouble was coming and had time to pack up and leave.  They haven't found any bodies at the site.

The best part of the museum was the display of various frescoes.  Several houses had elaborate frescoes.  They've been removed and put in the museum.  They've laid them out in the same layout they were in the actual buildings so you can get an idea of how they must have looked.  It was fabulous.

We then headed out to lunch at an Italian place as there is only so much tzatziki one person can eat.  The one we chose had mostly good reviews and scathing replies from the owner to the bad reviews, which are always fun to read.  I had spaghetti alla Norma which was Decent.  It would have been Good but it had tourist amounts of sauce, rather than the proper amount.  We washed this down we a glass of the local white wine.

They have a lot of vineyards here.  When I first saw them I thought the vines looked very sickly.  Here they don't grow them on trellises but let them grow along the ground.  This protects them from wind and the volcanic soil is protection against diseases.   I wish I'd taken a photo of them because they just don't look right.

After lunch we wandered around for a bit.  We passed an art gallery/shop where Mary had bought a bronze & glass fish the last time she was on Santorini.  The owner (and artist) heard her talking about it and invited us into the shop.  He very enthusiastically showed us all his pieces.  I ended up buying a solid bronze dolphin that reminded me of the frescoes at Akrotiri.  I blame Mary.

We rested back at the hotel for a bit before heading out again in the late afternoon.  Again we ambled around marvelling at the views.  They are incredible.  Santorini isn't like anywhere else.  As the sun began to set, we settled into a bar with views out over the bay to watch it go down.  We drank over-priced cocktails and ate a plate of meze.   This included tomato fritters (which are a speciality of the island), along with the usual suspects - dolmades, olives, tzatziki, cucumber & tomato, feta and fried calamari.  If you think of the price as rent for a table wth a fabulous view, it was quite reasonable.

After sunset we headed out for one last amble, having gelato (quince & pistacchio for me, pistacchio & cream for Mary) for dessert.  They were Decent.

Tomorrow we have a 6 hour ferry ride back to Athens.  Hopefully there will be nothing much to report on tomorrow.

Day 20 - Naxos to Santorini

Espresso Freddo: 1

Woke up this morning to discover it was raining!  This is not how the Greek islands are supposed to be when one is on holiday.  Apparently it was the first rainy day this autumn.  Fortunately it had stopped by the time we headed the port to catch the ferry to Santorini.  We got there 30 minutes early and then it was 20 minutes late.

While we were waiting we were "entertained" by a busker playing an oboe.  The only words to the song he knew were "Oh, oh, oh, Maria" and then a bar or two of the tune.  Some people gave him money but I suspect it was just in the hope he would stop playing and go away.

The ferry was a car ferry but only a few cars left when it arrive at Naxos.  Instead, in order to make up time, we were all herded up the car ramps and then they were raised and we set sail, while we were all still milling about trying to work out where to leave our suitcases.  Getting off at Santorini was equally hasty.

Santorini is mind-boggling.  This whole collection of islands was once one big round island before the volcano blew up and created this massive crater.  It is impossible to visualise how massive it must have been.  The sides of the caldera are just so high and steep and the sea in the centre so large.

 

We were met at the port by our driver and tour guide, Alex.  He was mid-way between Aris and Nikos.  He had good English, was knowledgeable and chatty but only talked when there was something to say.  

Today we had a half-day tour of the island before checking into our hotel.  Our first stop was Megalchori where we saw a cave house.  Apparently, in the past, many houses were built into the rock rather on the cliffside.  Partly because they were easier to construct but also because they keep cool in the hot summer months.  The one we went to was quite large, with two bedrooms, a kitchen, toilet, big living space and stabling for animals.

Next stop was one of the famous black beaches, so-called because the sand is actually pulverised volcanic rock.  Everything here is either grey (volcanic ash) or black (volcanic rock).  We had the beach largely to ourselves because of the weather.  In better weather, you could have had a brief swim but we took the obligatory photos and moved on.

After this we went to Pyrgos which is a very pretty village.  This is Alex's home town and he was a little disappointed in us for not being more impressed.  However, this is the fourth island we've visited and they are all full of pretty villages.  Here we climbed up to the castle at the top of the village to marvel at the views.  They are well worth marvelling over.

We then were driven to Oia, with a few more stops along the way to admire views and take more photos.  Oia is an amazing place, with buildings scattered down a steep slope and with others cut into the rock.  Alex let us putter around here for a bit over an hour.  

I'm not sure what you can actually do in Santorini other than admire views, do a little shopping or just lounge by a pool with a drink.  I guess there are worse ways to spend a holiday. 

There is an site near a town called Akrotiri which is the ruins of a bronze age settlement that was destroyed when the volcano blew up.  We are visiting it tomorrow.  It should be fabulous.  There are 2 and 3 storey buildings that have been uncovered.

The only problem is that it is about a 20 minute drive from where we are in Thira/Fira.  There are local buses but they don't run at convenient times.  We asked at a local tour/transfer company how much it would cost to drive us there.  They said it was very far and would take about an hour and cost 75 euro.  On the other hand Uber says it would take about 20-30 minutes and cost 40 euro.  There is a reason why Uber is popular.

I am writing this in the sitting room of my suite in our hotel, Aria Lito Mansion.  My suite has spacious bathroom, enormous bedroom and comfortable sitting room.  In addition to the door to my suite, there are doors from the sitting room to the pool area.  It is a shame the weather isn't better.  I brought a bathing suit with me but have never felt the need for it.  To properly enjoy this suite, I feel I should be able to spend time lounging by the pool, in my bathers, sipping a drink.

Perhaps tomorrow the weather will be better.  I can dream.

Day 19 - Naxos

Espresso Freddo: 0

Today we had a private tour of the island, which turned out to be much better than the one we had of Paros.  We had a driver and a tour guide.  The guide, Nikos, was all of 19 and had the energy of a golden retriever puppy.  I suspect he had ADHD as he rarely stopped talking and bounced from subject to subject.  On the plus side he knew a lot so his conversation/monologues were interesting and entertaining.  He was really rather sweet.

One thing we learnt from him is that the classic blue and white buildings on the islands isn't classic after all.  Whitewashing the buildings first started in the 1930s as a way of disinfecting them during a cholera outbreak.  It became law to paint all houses blue and white during the military junta rule in the 1960s.  Before then, they were just the colour of the natural stone.  All the better to blend into the local environment to make it harder to spot by raiders from the sea.

Our first stop on the tour was the temple of Demeter.  It had been converted into a church during the Byzantine era and since then had gradually fallen into ruin.  They've recently started restoring it and moved the chapel to one side, while rebuilding one corner of the temple so you could get an idea of what the whole thing must have looked like.   It was a clever way to preserve two separate historic buildings on the same site.

 

After this we went to a pottery workshop and were shown some traditional pottery dishes, including a clever one for siphoning out wine from a barrel.  I resisted the urge to buy one (when would I ever had use for it?) but did buy a small dish for serving olives and the like.  I hope I can get it home safely.

Our next stop was a citron distillery, where a very bored woman gave use 3 samples of citron liqueur.  These were disappointing as they are made by flavouring the base spirit with the leaves of the citron plant rather than the fruit.  I was expecting something a little like limoncello but it was more like a rather grassy gin.  We didn't find it difficult not to buy anything here.

We then went to the pretty village of Chalki for a restorative coffee.  Our stop here was longer than planned as we had to wait for Nikos to stop talking long enough to eat his cake before we could go on.  Also, ours was the last tour he was guiding for this season.  He is going home to Athens tomorrow.  At every stop, everyone knew him and they all wanted to say good-bye to him, especially the middle-aged women.  He was clearly their pet.

At the cafe in Chalki there weren't begging restaurant cats.  Instead there was a restaurant duck.

We also briefly stopped to look in a church here.  It had some sadly faded frescoes that must have been incredible when they were first painted.

Then it was on to the Vallindras Olive Oil Mill and Electric Utility Company. Markos Vallindras brought the first diesel generator to Naxos. He first used it to power his olive oil mill but later used it to provide electricity to house in the village. So his village had electric power 80 years before the rest of the island!

We got to taste a variety of olive oils and olives here and had a short tour describing how olive oil used to be made. Neither the oils nor the tour were as good as the one we had early but it still was a pleasant experience.

At this point it was 2pm, which is lunch time by Greek standards, so we headed t the village of Apiranthos for lunch.  Again, everyone knew Nikos here.  I had pork rosto which was a slice of pork slow cooked in herbs and a tomato-based sauce (traditional) and serve with spaghetti (not so traditional).  The meat was very tender and quite tasty so the meal was Decent.

After lunch we ambled around the village and stopped at a shop selling local goods.  The husband has a forge in the basement where he makes knives.  The wife, among other things, makes a liqueur which she offers to all customers.  I would have bought a bottle but she doesn't make it in commercially.  Instead, I settled for some earrings made with Naxian marble and coral.  Nikos was given a knife and an invitation to come back in the off-season to learn how to make knives himself.

We then went for a drive to see the modern marble quarries - just from the road.  Then it was the last stop of the day which was to see two kouros in some ancient quarries.  These are tall (5 metres+) freestanding statues of young, male nudes which were apparently popular in ancient Greece.   Quarries would rough out the form of these statues before transporting them to their final location and finishing them there.  This was to avoid wasting time perfecting something that might get broken in transport.  The two we saw had broken when they were being moved and had just been left behind.  

One was quite close to the car park but the other was 600m away, uphill.  We went to both.  Nikos was impressed we could manage the walk.  Mary did it in sandals, which impressed me.

This was the end of the tour.  I think we were all exhausted, including our driver who had to manage a minivan on tight, winding roads.  So it was to back to the hotel with cheerful good-byes (our hefty tips helped).

For dinner we just went to a crepe place near the hotel.  Mary had pancakes but I had a "savory" crepe with ham, cheese and tomato.  It was Disappointing as the "crepe" was a good quarter of an inch thick (!) and vaguely sweet.  I suspect they use the same batter for the savory and sweet crepes and the pancakes.

Off to Santorini tomorrow.  The last of our island visits.

Day 18 - Paros to Naxos

Espresso freddo: 0

Nothing much to report about this morning.  We had a light breakfast, for the sake of our digestion, and then puttered around the hotel until it was time to check out.  Our hotel was really badly located as there wasn't time to go for a walk into town. 

After checking out, we were driven to the port.  We settled into a cafe and had a light lunch (again for our digestion's sake) before boarding the ferry to Naxos.  

We were met by a woman with a sign with our names but she wasn't our driver.  She seemed to be the tour guide for a coach, but there were no passengers or drivers.  She made multiple phone calls and after about 10 minutes a man with a van showed up.  He was also on the phone.  He loaded our suitcases into the van, waited for us to get in and then drove us to our hotel where he unloaded the suitcases.  He was on the phone the whole time and never spoke to us once.  Very odd.

I really like our hotel here in Chora.  It is central with everything in easy walking distance!  After checking in we went for a walk up to what is called Naxos Castle.  It isn't really a castle but a fortified section of the old town.  It looks impressive from afar but is less impressive when you are in it as you can't see the fortifications (see photo from the interwebs).

There was an archeology museum but it was shut for the day.  I wasn't really sorry as it probably would have been filled with random bits of marble from statues, temples and graveyards like all the other museums we've been to.  One armless and headless statue looks much like another after all.

What they really need to have is to have a museum which shows the history of the town/island.  Something like the first settlements were neolithic and were here.  In the bronze age they expanded to cover all this ground and this many people were believed to live here.  After the collapse of the Mycenean civilisation this happened.  Then this, then that, then the Venetians who built this and so on.

Next stop was the islet of Palatia (now connected with a causeway) where there is the Portara (or giant door).  This is the door to a temple of Apollo.  The rest has collapsed but the door is still there.  It is very impressive.  Even more impressive was there was an app you could download to your phone.  When you aimed your phone at different parts of the site, it would give you a 3D rendering of what the actual temple would have looked like.  It was huge.  The doorway was only about halfway up the facade.

The causeway to the islet has created a sheltered bay where you can go swimming.  We didn't bother, but other people did.  Instead, we just sat and dangled our feet in the water.  That was energetic enough for us.

Next we sat in a cafe and drank juices and watched the world go by, while passing severe judgement on their fashion choices.  A very pleasant afternoon.

We then ambled back to the hotel, stopping at one of the many clothing shops for a little light shopping.  I bought two very pretty dresses (only one of which is purple) that I can't imagine I'll ever wear.  On the plus side, I was pleasantly surprised to find they were made for people my height, unlike so many things in Australia.

For dinner we went to the extreme effort of going downstairs to eat in the hotel's restaurant as it is the top rated Italian restaurant in town.  I just had some foccacia and spaghetti with a cherry tomato & basil sauce, topped with a chunk of buffalo mozzarella.  It was all very Good.

Tomorrow we have a guided tour of the island.  Fingers crossed our guide is better than Aris.  It shouldn't be difficult.

Day 17 - Paros

Espresso freddo: 0

Unfortunately Mary and I both woke up this morning feeling a little queasy - again!  Not as bad as last time, so we think it was just that we overdid it yesterday when our digestions are still delicate.  We had a light breakfast with a friend before braving the road into town.

On the way in Mary realised she'd left both of the two hats she'd packed back at the hotel.  It was a sunny day so we stopped at this little shop to buy another.  In addition to hats made from either cotton or hemp (of course), there were crystals (to align your chakas or qi or whatever) and lots of jewellery.  In addition to the hat, Mary also bought a pair of earrings, a chain and a pendant.  Inspired by all this I bought some earrings too (well - sort of - Mary paid for them).  At this shop earrings are sold individually, not in pairs, but we where boring and each of us bought two of the same sort of earring.

After this orgy of consumerism we went to the port to check out where we need to catch the ferry tomorrow.  We have to check out at 11am but our ferry isn't until 1pm so we scouted out a cafe one block away from the port which would be suitable for whiling away the time.  Here in Greece you can rent a table in a cafe for hours just by buying a single coffee.  Very civilised.

We then did some sightseeing.  First stop was the "Frankish castle". I have it in quotes as it is actually a fortified section of the old town, when this island was ruled by the Venetians (so why Frankish is my question).  There isn't much left but you can turn a corner and see something like this, which is just fabulous.

At the very top there is a church, of course, which was built over the ruins of a temple to Athena.  These three marble steps are the only obvious bits left.

Although I suspect this doorstop ornament a little further down the hill may have come from the temple (a temple?) too.

Next stop was the Ekatontapiliani Church which is actually a massive church complex.  The name means 100 gates or doors which is a bit odd as, while it is big, there aren't that many doors.  Wikipedia says the reason for the name is obscure.  It was actually a very impressive church.  Greek churches are often too ornate for my taste - too much bling - but this got most of its ornamentation from clever use of different coloured stone.  It is built over a temple to Aphrodite.  You are supposed to be able to see the ruins of the temple through a glass floor.  However, the glass panel was only about 1 metre square and very dirty so we had to take their word for it.

After this we went to the Archaeology Museum which was much better than the one in Mykonos.  Here they actually bothered to label things.  It only had items from Paros itself or from nearby islands that had temples run by Paros.  It was still stuffed to the rafters.  I suspect you can't dig a hole anywhere in Greece without finding ancient ruins.

We then felt well enough to have a little bit of lunch.  I had scrambled eggs and avocado on toast.  Nicely bland and not upsetting to my stomach.

The rest of the afternoon was spent ambling about or reading books in pleasant spots.  We had thought about taking a local bus to another town but didn't feel like risking car sickness.

Back at our hotel we went for a walk down to the shore.  There is not beach here but there was a road along the coastline for a short bit to a big marble monument which we think was in memory of people who died in a shipwreck.   A dirt path continued on past some house so we followed it.  At points along the way there were steps down to the sea.  We can only assume that it was where you could bring a boat at high tide. It was much too rocky and rough for anything else.  At the end of the path we came across this tiny little church.  It is obviously still in use but it isn't clear how to get to it, other than by the path we used.  It was clear that once there were paths down from the main road to the sea but each of the properties along the seafront have put up very definite walls to stop access.

Tomorrow we have a short ferry ride to Naxos.  Hopefully our digestions have settled down by then.  If not, we still have some good drugs.

Day 16 - Mykonos to Paros

Espresso Freddo: 0

We checked out of our hotel bright and early and got driven to the port.  Our notes had said to get there at least 45 minutes before departure so we had been a little nervous that our pick-up time was only 50 minutes before.  It turns out we needn't have stressed.  I think the early arrival time is only needed if you are in a car and you need to all get lined up to drive your cars onto the ferry.

There were about half a dozen places at the port where a ferry could dock.  Our driver had told us to check the screen to find out which one to wait at.  However, the screens were off.  And there was a sign below saying don't believe what they tell you as it is often wrong!  

We queued up with a large group of other people, assuming they knew where they were going.  It is possible they did but wherever it was they were going was not Paros.  We were queued at dock 3 and our ferry docked at dock 7.  As this was all of 1 minute walk away it wasn't a drama.  We boarded and I slept most of the way to Paros (good anti-sea sickness drugs!).

When we got to Paros there was no sign of our driver.  We'd docked a few minutes late and it was chaos at the docks.  He was having to do laps.  We eventually made contact and he drove us to our hotel.  Once again it has fabulous views but it is 10 minutes from the edge of the port town, Parikia, and 20 minutes from the centre.  Also the walk into town involves an unpleasant stretch along a main road with very limited footpaths/verges.  I'm all for supporting small, locally owned businesses but surely there is one a little closer in?

After an hour to settle in our driver, Aris, picked us up again for a private tour of the island.  He is a skillful driver but a tour guide he is not.  We told him we were interested in history and museums, expecting him to suggest an itinerary and tell us info about each site.  Instead, he looked blankly at us and asked us where we wanted to go.

Our first stop was the ancient marble quarries near the village of Marathi (Mary's suggestion).  Parian marble is famous and highly sought after as it was pure white.  There have been quarries here since the 3rd century BC.  It was interesting to amble around here although a lot of it was fenced off as it wasn't safe, even by Greek standards.  There was a sign saying they were hoping to raise funds to build a visitor centre and also make one famous quarry, that of the Nymph, accessible to the public.  Aris had never heard about this place so went for a wander too.

Next stop was the village of Kostos (Aris suggestion).  I'm not sure why (it turns out it's his home town).  It was a pretty little village, but just like many other pretty little Greek villages.  We only spent about 10 minutes here.  Nothing really to see, other than to be boggled by the number of churches.  There were these 2 side by side.  For a village with a population of perhaps a few hundred at its peak.

After this we went to a private museum that Aris insisted we visit.  It wasn't clear why.  He was on friendly terms with the owner and convinced her to stay open so we could visit.  It turns out it is devoted to the art of a famous Greek sculptor Nikos Perantinos.  He made many scupltures in the classical style (dull) and also many busts of famous Greek people (interesting because like-life).  Not a bad stop but only really interesting if you knew who all the famous people were.

Next stop was the town of Lefkes for lunch.  We ate at a restaurant recommended by Epos, Aris and our hotel called Klarinos.  We had a dish of chickpeas and some fried zucchini (Good), some capsicums stuffed with feta (Decent), some village sausage (which I thought was Decent but both Mary and the restaurant cats thought was Disappointing) and some tzatziki which definitely was Disappointing.  I don't think they'd even gone so far as to wave a clove of garlic over it.

After lunch we went for a walk around the town, which was pretty and was worth an amble.  Then it was back in the car and we headed to the largest town on the island, Naoussa.    We'd been promised some Venetian ruins by Epos. They are there, but you can't visit them.

We again wandered around town for a bit before it was back in the car to drive to Kalimpithres beach (Epos suggestion).  There are some amazing rock formations there and this has created some sheltered swimming pools.  Aris didn't know about this.   We googled later.

Next stop was Monastiri (Epos again).  There is an ancient theatre there but Aris didn't know when it was built or who by.  There is also a path out to a lighthouse from there.  I asked Aris how long it would take to get to the lighthouse.  He replied it depends on how fast you can walk.  We didn't attempt it.

Then we headed back to the hotel.  On the way we passed a sign to a Mycenean Acropolis so Aris drove us up a precipitous gravel track to see the ruins.  He didn't know when it was built or what happened to the people there.  

Finally he drove us back to the hotel, where we happily waved him goodbye.  In Aris defence he was good-natured and happy to take us anywhere we wanted to go.  He was a good driver.  He was just a lousy tour guide.  Argiris would have known a little bit about this history of all the places we visited.  We have two more private tours - one on Naxos and one on Santorini.  We can only hope they are better.

For dinner we braved the walk into town.  We got to an recommended restaurant but there was a queue out the door.  They must be famous on social media.  It was on one end of a long stretch of beach and the road was studded with restaurants so we kept walking.  We stopped at one for a drink and to watch the waves before heading to a place called Il Napoletano which served pizzas cooked in a wood-fired oven.  And pizza was basically all they served.  It was a tiny place.  A woman runs it with her daughter and brother helping with the front of house and her husband making the pizzas, which were Good.

When I got back to the hotel I popped next door to give Mary something and managed to lock myself out of my room.  The reception here isn't staffed around the clock, so we would have had to call someone to come out and let me in.  Instead, Mary came to my rescue as my big sister and climbed over the parapet between our balconies and got into my room that way.  Fortuntately I had my balcony doors open.  Unfortunately that was why my the door to my room blew shut.

All in all, an interesting day.

Day 15 - Still In Mykonos

Espresso Freddo: 1

Today was definitely more fun.  To start with both Mary and I were feeling well again.  We both were able to have a filling breakfast although the coffee was sadly Bad.

Afterwards we went into the centre of town to catch up with a cousin, Vanessa.  She was spending a few days in Mykonos on a girls' holiday with friends from city where she lives in Austria.  Something you can do when you live in Europe.  I'm so envious.

We first just sat in a cafe and had coffee and caught up on all the news.  Then we fled the town.  There were 3 large cruise ships in port and there was an endless stream of people coming ashore.  Two of the ships were relatively small, only 2,000 passengers, while the third had over 3,000.   And we though the centre of town was crowded yesterday!

Vanessa and her friends were staying a little out of town and so she had a hire car.  She was happy to drive us around as she had no fears about driving on the narrow, winding roads.  In fact, she even stopped in the middle of a roundabout so she could check the map on her phone to see which exit she should take.

First stop was the Armenistis lighthouse.  Here, purely by chance, we ran into Vanessa's friends who were also doing a driving tour of the island in their own hire car.  Mykonos is not very big.

Next stop was Ano Mera village in the middle of the island.  It is the second largest town on the island and being right in the middle of the island has a different feel.  It also had a number of tour groups off the cruise ships but was nowhere near as crowded as Mykonos Town itself.

The only things to see in this village are a monastery and the town square.  As Vanessa wasn't suitably dressed to visit a monastery we skipped that highlight.  She was in shorts (a woman, showing her legs, the horror!)  

We spent about 2 minutes ambling around the village square (it isn't very big) before settling in at the Pame Plateia restaurant for lunch.  This was a random choice but turned out to be an excellent one.  It is basically the Greek version of a tapas bar at is just serves mezze (small dishes) and drinks.  We had about 8 different dishes - all of which were Good - and beautifully presented.

After a leisurely lunch Vanessa drove us back to the hotel (so we didn't have to walk all the way uphill to it - yay!) before heading off to join her friends again.  It was lovely to catch up with her.

After a very undemanding siesta we eventually headed back into town for dinner.  Fortunately, most of the cruise peoplewere back onboard.  Unfortunately, it had started to rain.  Just lightly and it wasn't cold but still not what you want on holiday.

We first went to check out a restaurant Argiris had recommended.  I think an uncle of his owns it.  It serves traditional Greek food.  Unfortunately it also keeps traditional Greek hours and wasn't open for dinner yet.  They consider 8pm to be a suitable dinner time, although they will feed you at 7pm if you insist.

We didn't feel like waiting, especially given it was raining so we headed to Pasta Fresca Barkia instead.  This is an Italian restaurant where they make their own pasta.  It is housed in an old building with 3 floors of tables for customers and the kitchen in the basement.  You get between floors using a lethally narrow and steep spiral staircase.  

We were on the 1st floor.  This has quite a low ceiling and there were beams across the room that meant you had to duck to walk under them.  I could have probably managed to walk under it without stooping but my head would have brushed the top.  There were also tables on small platforms (why?) so their headroom was even lower.  You would need to be well under 5 feet tall to stand upright.  It was an occupational health and safety nightmare but very entertaining to watch the poor waitstaff rushing about.  Working there must be hell on their backs with all the ducking and crouching they have to do, never mind the stairs!

The food was very Good with a wide selection of dishes.  I was amused to see they had two versions of carbonara.  One with cream and bacon for the tourists and the proper one with guanciale, pecorino and eggs.  I didn't try their tiramisu as I was too full, which was shame.

Tomorrow we are off to Paros.  Hopefully it will be less crowded, although cruise ships dock there too.

Day 14 - Mykonos

Espresso freddo: 0

By the morning I was feeling semi-human but Mary was only feeling mildly human.  However, after a token breakfast, we headed into town to sightsee.  We are on holiday after all.

When we got to the waterfront we sat and rested for a bit, while watching some fishermen clean and gut their catch.  This was also closely watched by some very large gulls who would swoop down to grab the entrails.  Fascinating to watch but perhaps not the best idea for people with delicate stomachs.

After this we wandered over to the Little Venice area which all the guides say you should visit.  To be honest, I'm not sure why.  The town is your classic pretty Greek island village with whitewashed buildings and cobblestone streets.  The only difference I could see with the Little Venice area was that the streets managed to be even narrower.  Perhaps this was where Venetian merchants lived?

We then went to see the windmills.  Another "must see" sight apparently.  They're windmills, but missing their sails.  I can see why they were built.  Mykonos is very windy and this was the windiest part of the town.  I would have liked to know more about what they'd been used for.  Grain I suppose.  One seems to be a private house (what a great B&B that would be) but some of the others seemed rather derelict.

After all this culture we headed back to our hotel for a nap.  Lunch for me was a packet of oregano flavoured chips and a bottle of water.  I don't believe Mary had anything at all.  One of the hotel cats thought about visiting me but decided to nap on my windowsill instead.

Mid-afternoon we headed out again to the archeology museum.  It had lots of finds, mostly from the nearby island of Delos which had a major temple on it.  Sadly the most interesting part of the collection were all the photos of the various digs.

Mary was still not feeling at all well so headed back to the hotel.  I headed off to the maritime museum.  Sadly I got there at 10 minutes to 3pm and it closed at 3pm and didn't open again until 6pm.  Perhaps tomorrow.  I ended up just puttering around and sitting a watching the sea for a bit before heading back to the hotel too.

By early evening I was feeling mostly human and Mary was feeling reasonably human.  We started with a drink by the rooftop pool here at the hotel (just Virgin Mojitos) before heading back into town for dinner.  Our hotel is up a steep hill.  Heading into town is fine.  Coming back is no fun, especially as the road is narrow and lacks any sort of footpath.

We picked a restaurant at random for dinner, Calma.  It was one street back from the waterfront.  I had pasticcio which was Decent but Mary had a margherita pizza that was sadly Bad.  The place served a mix of Greek and Italian food.  I think the lesson is only order Italian dishes in an exclusively Italian restaurant.  On the plus side the waiter was very charming.

Hopefully tomorrow is more fun.

Day 13 - Meteora to Mykonos

Espresso Freddo: 1

I was woken early this morning by the familiar sound of a cat meowing "I'm bored.  Somebody pay attention to me."  Of course I got up and opened my door.  A chonky white cat, named Teddy apparently, decided to join me, purring madly.  He made himself right at home.  I approve of this hotel.

After breakfast we visited a monastery and a nunnery up on the rocks.  Along with eleventy thousand other people.  These places were originally built so the monks & nuns could get away from the world and get closer to God.  Now the world has come to them.

The monks in the monastery have taken vows of seclusion so we didn't see them.  They must hide in their cells while there are outsiders visiting.  It's rather sad as they don't get to use their own church very much.  On the other hand, they don't need to allow visitors and are making good money from us all.   The nuns aren't cloistered so we saw several fierce, little nuns (why are they always little?) dressed entirely in heavy black robes.  So hot!

We didn't stay long at either place as the crowds were so unpleasant.  We stopped at a seaside village for lunch.  We had fish - of course.  It tasted OK but so many bones!   I fed most of mine to the restaurant cat.

After lunch we drove into Athens where Mary and I were dropped at the airport. I was feeling distinctly queasy by this point.   Not sure if it was lunch or the windy roads we drove along.  I ended up vomiting into a handy bag as we were taxiing for take-off.  Such fun.  Mary got taken horribly sick in the night too.  We are blaming the lunch.

Our hotel here in Mykonos is a short walk outside of the main town of Chora.  It is a random collection of buildings scattered up a hillside.  There are a lot of paths connecting the various buildings that wind up and down and roundabout.  I almost got lost getting back to my room after dinner.  My room looks as if it was originally a storeroom or perhaps a stable.   The views are fabulous though.

Day 12 - Delphi and Meteora

Espresso Freddo: 1

As promised a view from my hotel balcony in daylight.  The sea of green is Greece's largest olive grove, with over 1,000 trees.

I think I like this hotel the best of all we've stayed in so far.  The coffee at breakfast was dreadful and the shower was interesting but it had the most character and the best views.  

After breakfast Mary and I went for a amble around modern Delphi as we were having a relatively late start to allow our poor driver to get plenty of rest after yesterday.  I bought a serpent ring that the shop owner swore was sterling silver. Given the absence of a hallmark and the low price have my doubts but I do like it.

We then were driven to the site of historic Delphi.  Many busloads of tourists had the same idea so the site was unpleasantly crowded but interesting all the same.  I only climbed as high as the theatre and temple of Apollo but Mary went all the way to the stadium at the top.

After an hour or so we left the site and headed to the museum where we were greeted not just by the museum cats but by several very unbothered dogs.

The museum was very interesting as they had moved most of the best pieces off the site to protect them from the elements.  My favourite was the sphinx.

After this we went back to modern Delphi for lunch.  This time it was a "light" lunch of many vegetable or cheese dishes - baked, fried or in salads.  Greek cuisine does a great variety of tasty fresh dishes.  It would have been a light meal if we'd had half the number of dishes.  We were given a free dessert of orange pie - aka orange semolina cake.  Some of us had 1 piece, others had none, so I had 2 pieces.

After lunch we were driven to Thermopylae.  When Mary was here last there was nothing but a statue on the flat below the hill were the battle is believed to have taken place.  Now there is a museum where we watched a 10 minute 3D video describing the battle.  There were also several interactive displays to play with.  They've done a great job of this site.  You could also walk up into the hills to see the actual battle site - or a least a plaque where it is believed to have been.  We passed on this, settling for taking photos of yet another statue of the Spartan king Leonidas.

We then were driven to our final hotel for this part of the tour in the town of Kalambaka below the monasteries of Meteora.  The rock formations here are amazing.  The mind boggles at who thought it was a bright idea to build monasteries on the top of these outcrops.

After a rest and a wash at our hotel, we piled back into the van to drive up into the hills above the town to watch the sunset, along with several hundred other people.  

The view was worth it.

Our driver, Anastasis, is amazing.  We stopped about 4 times and he always managed to find a place to park our minivan, even parallel parking into the tiniest of places.

Finally we headed back into town for one final dinner as a group.  We had lamb chops, as they are the speciality of the region.  They were very tasty, Good even, but they were an interesting shape.  Instead of even cuts it looked like they'd let a butcher loose with a pair of cleavers and he just hacked madly at the carcase.

Tomorrow is our last day on the mainland.  It's been a great tour.  We've not spent very long anywhere but have been given a taste of so many interesting things to see in Greece.  A very successful tour.

Day 11 - Olympia to Delphi

Espresso Freddo: 0

Today was mostly a travelling day as we left the Peloponnese to travel to Delphi.  We mainly made a number of brief stops along the way, rather than visiting any major sites.  For a wonder, today's itinerary matched what was on the website!

First stop was a slow drive through the Foloi Forest which is essentially a national forest of oak trees.  Apparently this region, and the Balkans in general, were once covered by oak forests.  The current landscape of olive trees as far as the eye can see, is essentially man-made.  There are roughly 4 olive trees for every Greek citizen.  Olive trees give New Zealand's sheep a run for their money.

We started the drive through the forest slowly but some sheep were being pastured there.  Their sheep dogs took offence to us and tried to bite our tyres off so we had to pick up the pace.

Next stop was to view Pausanias' grape vine.  This is supposedly 2,000 or 3,000 years old depending on which source you read.  It is also supposedly 150m long.  It is considered so important some poor sod from the fire brigade sits parked in a fire truck next to it every day, just in case.  I wonder if this duty is a privilege or a punishment.

Next stop was the village of Divri for lunch.  The speciality of the region is trout so we had the usual entrees (Good) followed by a smoked trout each.  If you liked trout I think you would rate them as Good too.  For dessert we were given orange pie and spoon sweets - both Good too.

After lunch we visited a memorial at the village of Kalavryta.  During WW2 the Nazi murdered all the men and boys in this village in reprisal for actions by the partisans.  The youngest was only 13.  Out of 800 men and boys only 13 survived.  The Nazis meant to kill all the women and younger children too.  They'd locked them in the church and set fire to it.  However, one soldier couldn't stomach this and opened a back door so they could escape.  There was a very moving memorial above the village on the site where the murders took place.  In spite of this history, some people in the village voted for the neo-Nazi party in the last election.  I cannot understand people sometimes.

The next stop was the Vouraikos Gorge.  There is a hiking trail along this gorge and also a cog railway.  It is popular to hike the trail from the village of Zachlorou to the end of the gorge (about 5-7 hours) and then ride the cog railway back.  We were supposed to ride it too but it broke down in April and hasn't been fixed yet so we just drove along to the end and took photos.

Our final stop was the Monastery of Mega Spileon which is the oldest monastery in Greece and the 2nd oldest in the world.  The actual buildings are modern as it has been destroyed, for one reason or another, many times.  A rather grumpy priest let us in and grudgingly opened the museum for us.  Mary and I claimed to be Greek-Australians so we didn't have to pay an entrance fee but Rina & David did.

We then were driven to Delphi.  This took the best part of 3 hours, so we didn't arrive until 7:30pm.  Our hotel is in a great location and our rooms have views out over the valley below, all the way out to sea.  I'll take a photo tomorrow in daylight.

For dinner we went to the nearby Taverna Vahkos.  We were asked if we had a reservation.  When we said "No" we were shown to one of the best tables in the house!  It was on the balcony with great views.  Somebody must have just left.  We had eggplant salad (Absolutely Delicious), dolmades (Good), green beans in tomato sauce (Good) and "village" sausage (Good).  We splashed out a bought name brand wine by the glass (also Good).  It was expensive at 8 euro a glass, when the house red could be had for only 3!  The service was excellent too, we were warned we had originally ordered too much food and advised on what would be sensible to drop.  Then the waitress automatically selected the No Tip option when Mary went to pay, which was awkward as we wanted to give her a tip.  

Tomorrow we actually get to visit Delphi but I don't think I'll ask the oracle for advice.