From Wonderful Paros

What a pretty island in the Cyclades, all blue and white. Since this post is coming through the Ipod I can't show pictures just yet although I am taking many.

Paros is a four hour ferry trip from the port of Piraeus. Thanks to my lovely neighbour Sophia we had our tickets in hand last night and a fairly decent hotel booked.

We have already started exploring on foot and tomorrow we are renting a car to see more sights. There are not many tourists at this time of the year so it's lots o fun.

Tonight we will find a taverna right on the beach and eat calamari and drink lots of wine.

Thinking of all my friends...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Island Hopping

Last week we spent a few days on the island of Mykonos. The weather couldn't have been better and my sweeties son thoroughly enjoyed himself. The eye candy on that island is amazing for a young man and I don't mean the old buildings. He discovered Paradise Beach and from then on it was party time for him.

After a bit of a disaster finding a room the first night, we lucked out with this little gem on day two. I won't even tell you about the first room, other than to say it was disgusting. Having just come from a 6 hour ferry trip and feeling the beginning of a migraine Steve rented the first room he found just to get me to a bed. There is a lesson there for me, always trust the Lonely Planet. The very first listing for budget hotels was the Hotel Philippi in Hora. It is described as a "charming place with wonderful garden ambiance that smacks of more exotic locations" and I wish we'd found it the first night because it was true. Even though the rooms were on the small side, they were clean and bright and for 65 Euros a night fairly decent. The owners were super charming and went out of their way to make our stay pleasant. I loved sitting outside at night watching the stars and listening to soft Greek music in the background. Altogether a charming spot and I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again.





On Saturday my friend from Germany arrives for one week and we plan on leaving Tuesday for Paros another island of which I've read good reviews. Not so much a party island as Mykonos, a little more quiet for older people. Since we will be traveling alone without the benefit of Steve to help us with the language it should be a blast. I will make sure I have my Lonely Planet with me to help find a hotel.

We will have to be a bit low key though, Germans are not liked much here in Greece at the moment. I've now been told by three (fairly intelligent I thought) people that we Germans are cannibals. Amazing how many people fall for internet hoaxes, kind of sucks...

Today we are heading off to the Peloponnese and the seaside town of Pylos for a couple of days before my friend arrives. Should be fun...

Life's A Beach

Life's been busy here in sunny Athens, there just seems to be one beach nicer than the next. We discovered a new one on Saturday with the help of Sofia of course. She seems to know all the good places to go. We packed up fairly early and headed out. Sofia is very well prepared and brought along a half tent contraption, a beach umbrella and various other necessary items.



This is what it looked like when we first arrived.




And this was about an hour later. It was wall to wall people with not an inch to spare.



There was a fabulous restaurant on site where we had numerous meals, beer and coffee throughout the day. We had intended to spend the night there but because there was a wedding on site there was not one room available for us. The Calamari were amazing.



In spite of that we had a great time and truthfully I didn't mind coming back home to sleep in my own bed. I have stayed in these smaller hotels here and didn't much like the beds offered anyway. They are generally quite small and I have gotten used to this wonderful king sized bed of ours.

Yours truly having an amazing day. In the back ground they were setting up for the wedding reception. We stayed long enough to watch the bride and groom arrive by boat after the church ceremony. Unfortunately it was too dark to get a decent photo. The beach was lined up with pink flares just as the boat arrived. It was truly a spectacular sight.



On Sunday night we were expecting son number one from California to arrive. He didn't, at least not when he was expected. Has anyone ever seen the move Before Sunrise? It's a cute little romantic comedy about a young man who meets a girl on a train and spend twenty four hours with her missing his plane home. That was my first thought when I heard that this wayward son of my husbands missed his connection in Frankfurt. The reality was though that he simply fell asleep waiting for his connection. Fortunately Lufthansa found him another flight the same night and he arrive rather sheepishly five hours later.

All is well now and we are certain he will enjoy his two weeks here getting reacquainted with his cousins.