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  • Summer of 23

    Day 75 - Athens, Greece

    September 22, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    Seeing we couldn’t find a supermarket last night, we thought we’d treat ourselves to breakfast out.
    We went off to Picky Bunch & Speciality Coffee, I know it’s summer but I’m a sucker for Porridge, so had to try their porridge. It was good, still doesn’t beat Seven Penny on the West Coast, NZ

    Our plan for the day was to see some of the ancient sites of Athens. We went to the Ancient Agora of Athens to buy our passes to visit the main 5 sites. The lady attendant was informing people that Saturday & Sunday were free days due to heritage days, so all sites were free. So we changed our plan to go see the sites tomorrow. Majority of sites you can see from the outside as well & there’s not many information boards inside.

    So we went past a couple from the outside as they are dotted all along the main areas, then headed to the main shopping street. We wanted to get some clothes for Egypt as some of my clothes have seen better days, also we found 50euro tax free shipping in Greece.
    I also got a haircut and finally went for the shaved look… aerodynamic on top… shame about the rest!

    We got some lunch from Smak Ζυμερία, which is pizza with the Greek twist to it! It was amazing!

    We got back to the accommodation to cool down then headed over to the Acropolis Museum, as we had been told by other travellers this was a not to be missed museum.

    Before reaching the museum, we found a local shop with an amazing dress for Katie that would keep her cool for Egypt but modestly covered encase that is needed. The shop keeper was friendly and her Labrador wasn’t moving from the cold stone floor in a hurry while we were in the small shop!

    Once at the museum, we started the museum off by going under the museum, this is the ruins site of Roman & early Byzantine Athens. They built the museum to be raised and made sure smart placement of the concrete footings, to not damage the ruins that are there. This building is sitting on bedrock that can survive a 10.0 magnitude earthquake! The digging started in 1997 for the ruins, they had excavated the footprint of the museum and found all the ruins to be able to start the museum build, then they covered it in sand to protect the ruins while building the museum. The museum was opened in 2009, but the ruins were not open for the public to walk through until 2019.

    After the ruins site we went into the museum, all the artefacts they found on the acropolis hill is now stored here (except for some marble statues the Pom’s won’t give back, as they think they had permission to take them!)
    The statues in question are the Caryatids of Erechtheum, which are one of six female figures who supported the roof of the south porch of the Erechtheion (next to the Parthenon up top) the female figures on the Erechtheion there today, are replicas due to the originals weathering away.

    We found the museum to be well laid out, we are not ones to love museums but we both agreed it was great to see. I’m just amazed at how much stays in tact especially from 600 BC!

    After the museum we made our way through the heat back to our Accomadation, I got a beer to enjoy once back at the apartment. (Mamos beer for those wondering!) Katie had the enjoyment of watching some 90 day fiancé on the iPad!

    We had dinner at a local tavern I found and just happened to be right behind Little Klook!
    Krasopoulio tou Kokkora is a little tradition Greek tavern serving a great Mousaka made with beef mince! Katie had the local sausage, we also had the house wine! Biggest thing I’ll miss is the 4-9euro 0.5l house wine in Europe! Unfortunately we were too full to try Little Klook, but I did tell the waiter trying to lure me in to there, that I’d be back tomorrow night!

    To let my new hair do down, we went to The Party Bar to have a Spritz & a Gin & Tonic to finish our night.    Read more

  • Summer of 23

    Day 74 - Paros to Athens, Greece

    September 21, 2023 in Greece ⋅ 🌙 25 °C

    Today is the last full day on the island. We had breakfast then had a quick chat to Chris & Barbs and packed our stuff. Our little Hybrid Fiat Panda fits all our luggage with ease in the boot!

    We drove to Naousa and had another look around the village, we figured we’d seen majority the village had to offer and seeing it is much more lively at night we headed to find some lunch at another village.
    We ended back at Back to Back in Piso Livadi, a few boa buns & some onion rings, the Greeks know how to feed people very well!

    Next bay over is Paralia Logaras beach, we found a good parking spot, it had a shower to clean ourselves off from the salty water, so we ended up having a swim and relax on the beach.

    We went back through Aliki village to grab a little souvenir for our time in Paros. We filled up the car & returned it at Paros Airport, this airport is tiny compared to some of the airports we’ve been to so was fun working out how they do things here.

    We flew out to Athens, before flying I had messaged the Accomadation in Athens with our arrival time, she soon told me there is massive strikes in Athens and that the metro wasn’t running and the bus may not be running either. The buses were running until 9pm, we got on what I presume to be one of the last ones for the evening.
    Once close to CBD Athens, the roads were blocked by traffic and the bus driver announced the last stop was blocked off and it’s easier to walk. We started walking to the accommodation and along the walk found traffic jams everywhere that what was actually blocking the CBD.
    Three riot squad busses blocking the road with riot squad heading down a side street, another lot getting gas masks on. We hustled out of there pretty fast and worked out a way so we were going the opposite way from the protesters and the riot squad.

    We made it to the Accomadation and then headed to grab some dinner. We stumbled upon a small plate eatery, Granada, the server was very friendly to us! We were amazed at 10pm how busy it was!

    After dinner we had a quick walk and found out how good and lively the area is that we are staying in! They even have a resturant named Klook, that is a Halloween themed resturant all year round, it specialises in desserts so you can bet money this is on the itinerary now!    Read more

  • Summer of 23
    1

    Day 73 - Captain Bens Lazy Day, Greece

    September 20, 2023 in Greece ⋅ 🌬 24 °C

    Today we have a boat tour booked with Captain Ben, we had a quick breakfast at the resort then drove down to the port to meet that boat that comes from Antiparos. Antiparos is the island closest to Paros and you can take a car ferry across and drive around in the island. As there are many cliffs and places that need a boat to access, we decided TikTok hadn’t lead us astray and Captain Ben’s boat tour was needed!

    We got on the boat and shown to the front of the boat where they have assigned spots for you.

    Seeing it’s been windy we were going to follow the windy day charter. First stop was the Blue Lagoon located near an island between Paros & AntiParos. This was our first swim spot and our first chance to jump from the top of the boat. Katie stayed on board while I jumped off from the top.

    Second stop was near the small caves on the Western side of AntiParos. This is where you can do some cliff jumping! Katie came in the water and filmed me jumping, of course I did my normal hesitation jitter before jumping off the cliff. After having a swim we went back on board and this is where they handed out the first glass of wine for the day.

    Third stop was at Livadi Beach, we had the option to either take the small boat to the beach or swim. We both swam to the beach.
    On the beach you could play games or lounge around. They gave us some wine, our first taste of Ouzo, (hell of spirit!) & some snacks like fresh Octopus they had drying out on the back of the boat!
    We swam back to the boat to lunch being ready and Captain Ben handing out beers or wine!

    Our next stop was the Sea Cave, Katie swam through the caves! This is also where Captain Ben started popping champagne from the boat while the crew handed out cups of Champagne to everyone in the water!

    Last and final stop for the day was at Faneromeni Bay, the crew set up the slide in matter of no time and slide down into the water! Even Katie went down the slide… had to get video evidence to prove Katie did it!

    As we sailed back to the port they put some dance music on and served wine & fruit.
    Once we were back on land, we wanted to get a coffee. We found a bakery near our resort. Now I swear I said two flat whites, what I got was an ice coffee made from the most horrendous instant coffee, as I never heard the machine!
    So we went back to where we got a coffee from the day before then back to the resort to relax.

    Tonight’s dinner was to be a Greek delight, a Yiro from a local butcher shop. We took our Yiro’s down to a spot overlooking Paroikia town, after dinner we went for a walk along the waterfront.

    We tried to go to Naousa to get a drink but this is where every man, his dog & the dog’s goat goes at night so parking was non existent unless you want to pay exuberant prices. So we went back to the resort to relax after a big day.    Read more

  • Summer of 23

    Day 72 - Paros, Greece

    September 19, 2023 in Greece ⋅ 🌬 24 °C

    Today we had breakfast at the resort before we headed off to see the centre of the island.

    We drove over to Lefkes, a small village near the centre of the island.
    Upon arriving 2 lovely young ladies couldn’t work out the road rules and were to the right of the road trying to turn left with no indication but their hands. I hardly saw their hands so proceeded to turn with another car. When we got down to park they proceeded to flip us off… I saw that! Us laughing about it probably didn’t help but it was funny!
    We walked through the village looking through a couple of local shops making our way through to the Holy Trinity Lefkes Orthodox Church. The church is mainly made out of local marble inside which is a site to behold, unfortunately no photos allowed.

    We walked around the houses in the village, this is like the other villages built to the Cycladic style with the white wash and blue roofs. We do like when we see houses with some render showing the existing brick underneath, gives it some more character.
    We ended up finding a local jewellery shop, Katie had soon found a necklace she liked and brought it.
    On the way out of the village to the parked car, we met a lot of the local cats that seemed to be well looked after and somewhat fixed which was good to see.

    We drove to a village nearby Kostas which we spotted from the main road, not a lot happening in this village. We gathered more locals live here seeing not many tourists around.

    The ancient marble quarries were a couple minute drive away. I don’t know what I was expecting but the cave in the hill was shut due to falling rock & ruins of houses with marble rocks laying around. I was expecting more of an open cut sort of quarry.

    Lunch was on Katie’s next hit list, so we drove to Paralia Krios beach. We treated ourselves to a lunch at Aroda resturant on the water. This was the best octopus I’ve had since being in Greece! (Shows you get what you pay for sometimes!)

    After lunch we got changed and headed for the beach to cool off. This beach is very sheltered from the Northerly winds, though it was more European than we bargained for… there were a couple of sites we saw along the beach for free.

    We went to the resort, I had a swim from our room. The ocean is really shallow here and there’s a sand bar further out, from there it proceeds to get deeper. After laying on the sun beds we freshened up and headed to a local tavern nearby. This food was nothing to write home about but we really stuffed the wine order up here! There’s was 1litre house wine (should of ordered that and left some) or 0.5l bottle that was fairly cheap, we opted for that. Little did we know this wine had a very strong rosemary taste along with other green herbs… well we learnt the hard way!

    We called it a night after this to get some rest for tomorrow.    Read more

  • Summer of 23

    Day 71 - Paros, Greece

    September 18, 2023 in Greece ⋅ 🌬 23 °C

    Today we woke up in what seems to be Paradise after being in a tiny room on a boat!
    We had breakfast at the resort looking out to the pool, today is another very windy day and we had planned a trip on a boat but thankfully we changed this to later in the week.

    We left the resort and headed up the road to see Monastiri Beach, a sheltered bay that is a swimming spot that is good when a Northerly wind hits. Seeing the next two days are forecasted for wind we will be back here.

    We set off for our first village for the day, we started off at Promdromos, on the eastern side of Paros is a small quiet village. Prodromos is built in the traditional Cycladic style. The village boasts beautiful whitewashed houses and tiny chapels through out the village.

    After a few photos and a good walk around we moved literally down the road to Marmara, a smaller village that had 3 cats running around the main park. Marmara is an agriculture village that is built in the traditional Cycladic style. The village also has an old wind mill we went up and had a look at.

    The next village which is right next to Marmara is Marpissa. Marpissa is located on a hill with lots of chapels throughout the village, the town is also built in the traditional Cycladic style with the white washed buildings with the blue. We visited the pink house which is the only different coloured doors and windows compared to the rest.

    We drove down to the seaside village of Pisa Lovadi which is close to the other three villages. We walked along the waterfront, walking into a couple of shops then had lunch at Back to Back, this isn’t anything like a traditional Greek resturant - except the beer - we had tacos & Bao buns. We had a quick chat to Dad and Desma here too

    After a nice lunch and a chat to a waitress that really wants to move to NZ, we made our way to Aliki, the closest seaside village to Paros Airport. We walked along the waterfront, got to the end of where the boats are lined up and found some goats penned with a rather quiet beach. On the drive in I spotted a beach that looked sheltered so we went on the hunt for that, it was only a 7 minute drive and we found Παραλία Φάραγκα beach that has a beach club on 1/3 of the beach. This was sheltered from the wind though very busy considering this.

    We ended back at Parikia where the ferries come into Paros. Katie wanted to have a look around the shops after walking quickly passed them yesterday. We found a lot of the shops, the assistant would follow you around telling you about stuff which really becomes a bit annoying, not all the shops but enough to get on your nerve. The last shop we visited is called Memories Jewellery, Zeta and her husband make all the jewellery that is in the store and all the stones have a meaning. We brought Katie a Rose Quartz bracelet and myself a Chrysocolla stone bracelet - upon reading the card what the Chrysocolla stone meant, Katie and I both laughed it’s me so had to get it - I’m definitely not one that believes in this stuff but funny the one I liked really should be me! Zeta talked to us about the jewellery, NZ and our honeymoon. She even made us a cute piece as a gift for our honeymoon!

    We got some ice cream on the way out of Parikia and headed back to the resort.

    Dinner we drove back to Promodromas to have dinner at a little tavern called Kallitechniko kafenio, Katie had the meatballs and I had the cuttlefish dish washed down with 1/2 litre of white wine and some very affectionate cats wanting pats.

    We covered the outter ring of the island today and find it a very cute little island.    Read more

  • Summer of 23

    Day 70 - Evia Island to Paros, Greece

    September 17, 2023 in Greece ⋅ 🌬 24 °C

    This morning is the last breakfast on our boat the M/S Isidoros II. We got our stuff ready and bid farewell to our boat as Thanos took us to the ferry literally 2 boats over from our own.

    This ferry will take us to the port under Marathon town, where a couple of taxis will take us to the airport of Athens where our tour ends.

    Thankfully Katie and I had decided to change our flight and book the 1pm flight as we got to the airport at 11am. The plane was a small ATR plane which felt all the turbulence!
    We landed in Paros and we collected the hired car I had booked from Sixt, they gave us a Fiat Hybrid Panda which is a brand new one.
    We drove into the Port town of Parikia, where the ferries came to for Paros. We grabbed some lunch at Hellas specifically having the Gyros on the menu - pretty much a souvlaki. We got to our Accomadation which looks out onto its own beach.

    We rested up then headed to the closest village near our hotel & the busiest, Naousa. We walked the laneways and had a wonder into a few shops, when the sun was setting we figured a drink wouldn’t be bad to set our sights on. We ended up at Methystra Bar which over looks the fishing port of Naousa & the Venetian castle ruins of Paros.

    Seeing a lot of tourists flock to this village the places I had searched for dinner either were full or had a line. So we found a nice resturant that offered some Greek dishes along the Main Street. After dinner I had eyed in the laneways a small shop making Loukomades which is donut balls made with honey inside, we got them drizzled with a bit of chocolate!

    We drove back to the Accomadation to have some much needed sleep.    Read more

  • Summer of 23

    Day 69 - Marmari, Greece

    September 16, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    This morning we had to be ready for the taxis at 9:30am, so breakfast on the boat and then a taxi ride up too Analipsis Christ Church to start our walk. Surprisingly Thanos didn’t mention anything about the church.

    We walked down towards the ocean but stayed on the road that was higher up on the hillside. From this road we could see the devastation from the 2012 fires and the Monastery rebuilt from the fires - this Monastery only has two nuns left, Thanos said it’s only a matter of time before it becomes Nun-less Monastery unfortunately.
    It was a perfect day to look our towards Makronisos Island, unfortunately this island has a terrible past from the political prison from the 1920’s to the 1970’s but worst from the time of 1967-73 as this was the time that with help from the Nixon Campaign threw out the voted in party and put 3 military personal from Junta army in control of the country. This was a dictatorship and lots of people lost their lives on this island from being imprisoned.

    We kept walking around the edge of the Island as we came into view the famous Great Sand Bar Beach, ideally there is a bar there with the local kite surfing club! The Sand Bar is naturally made and doesn’t change a lot as the sea here isn’t tidal.

    Thanos left us here to make our way back leisurely walk back to the boat, first we walked down to Zastani Beach to see the volcanic rocks in the sea from the beach. It was very windy so opted for no swimming. We wandered back to the sand bar and grabbed a coffee from the bar.
    We wandered back and had lunch on the boat at 1:30pm.

    The weather was very windy and it had started to pick up and get worse earlier than expected. Thanos soon told us we were not heading back to the port at Karystos as there was no guarantee to get us back off the island by ferry from there. So he had made arrangements to take us back to port of Nea Styra for the night and we catch the ferry to Marathon Port which was guaranteed to run the next day.

    This was fine by us as when docked, Thanos lets you jump from the top of the boat and the water is crystal clear! No diving as I touched the bottom jumping in the previous day we were here! Also at the pier start of the pier across the road is Dodoni, the famous ice cream shop with 24 flavours each day! I had a swim then we went and got ice cream!

    For dinner Thanos organised us a spot at ΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ ΨΗΣΤΑΡΙΑ again! I had the chicken skewer as did Katie with courgette fries for starters. Again Thanos famously got extras from the Resturant for the table and way to much food was consumed.

    After dinner most turned in for the night but we went with a couple of Brits to a bar for drinks. Thanos was to join us once his wife and son had made it from the main land. Thanos finally found us and ushered us out of the bar we were at as he had found a roof top bar! We went to Flamingo Bar where we met his Australian Greek wife and had a couple of Spritz with them! We all called it a night shortly after 1am and Thanos was glad to be in a different port for a Saturday night to experience the night life here.    Read more

  • Summer of 23
    1

    Day 68 - Nea Styra, Greece

    September 15, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    This morning we woke up to our neighbours fishing and eating fish for breakfast! This would be a lone fisherman with 2 hungry cats keeping him company!

    Thanos organised a mini bus to take us up to the Acropolis of Styra.
    The castle was built on the wall of the ancient Acropolis of Styra, during the Frankish period, and its megalithic gate survives to this day. Along with the ruins of the castle there is a chapel, the chapel of the virgin, that was built in the 13th century. UNESCO have wanted to pull this down as it doesn’t have the same historic sentiment as the Acropolis, they came to an agreement to let it stay with no renovations or repairs to be made. When they made this decision, locals rushed up here and made concrete beams to support the roof! Thanos says UNESCO wasn’t happy but least now it will stand longer!

    We took the mini bus further down the hill to see the one of the Dragon Houses of Styra, they were built with massive stone blocks without mortar and large stone slabs for the roofs. The reason they are called dragon houses is due to the large stones would of been challenging to move so when found it was thought to be that dragons moved the stones to build the houses. The houses are still in discussion as to how old or who actually built them to this day though.

    We stopped in Styra for a quick drink and the mini bus left so we could walk back to the boat down in Nea Styra.
    Once back on the boat we had time for a quick swim, including jumping off the boat before lunch and us leaving the dock to go to our next village.

    Once at the next port Marmari, we found 5 kittens waiting for us to say hi with their Mum on the dock. I made good friends with them. Thanos even gave them some milk and food, he also told us they belong to one of the fishing boats owners.
    We went for a walk to the north of the port to see the Cycladic built houses of the white wash and blue painted roofs and trimmings. So Katie had a photo shoot here.

    Dinner was at a local tavern along the water with yet again, a lot of cats walking around waiting for some dropping from the table.
    After dinner we went to have a couple of drinks with some people from the boat while watching the All Blacks play on one of their phones.    Read more

  • Summer of 23

    Day 67 - Panagia Stira, Greece

    September 14, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Today was our first walk of the tour! Thanos had two taxis to ferry us to the village of Argyron, which is settled in the crater of a dormant volcano. Usually Thanos walks through the fields which is the actual crater but seeing the risks of snacks we took the road up.

    Once up the road you had a lovely view of the village and villages further on. We walked away from this view and 2 minutes later we had an amazing view of the Fjord & the Islands in the area. We continued our walk down the hill to the village below, we came across a couple of turtles along the side of the road along with a lot of Marble in the hills. We arrived in Agios Dimitrios, a small village that Thanos took us to get a drink and relax. Of course beer was the logical choice while Katie pied for a lemon Fanta.

    After our break we walked further on to have a swim at Golden Sand beach just south of Agios Dimitrios. We had a half n hour swim & found it was walkable until a 100 metres out where there was a sheer drop of the floor created by the Glacier years ago.

    Once we walked back to the boat, we had lunch served on the boat while we set sail to Nea Styra.

    Once at Nea Styra, Thanos explained about the Swans on the beach further south and at the start of the pier the famous ice cream shop, Dodoni, is there. Dodoni is all over Greece but they are known for using local ingredients and always have 24 flavours each day!
    But before seeing swans or ice cream this is Thanos’s favourite spot to swim from the boat! So we jumped from the top of the boat or climbed down the ladder… Of course I jumped from the boat! After the swim in the crystal clear water we went and got ice cream.

    This village is the place to see the sunset over the mountains of Marathon, Thanos led us to dinner to watch the sunset from the pier. In true Thanos fashion he led us to believe they were smaller portions than what they were… the Courgette fries was a small serve in his eyes! We had the locally caught fish as the Resturant owns their own boat and catches it themselves!

    The sunset was lovely and the sangria & house wine was a perfect pairing to the sunset!    Read more

  • Summer of 23

    Day 66 - Sail to Panagia Stira, Greece

    September 13, 2023 in Greece ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Today is the day Thanos is determined that the weather is ok to let us sail, so we had breakfast in the hotel, Katie and I got a few supplies from the supermarket and brought our bags down to board the boat.

    We set sail and was introduced to M/S Isidoros II, which is a traditional Woden Caique. We had a 4 hour sail if all went well, though they had plans to stop the boat and let us have a swim off the boat!
    We stopped just off Pontikonisi island, all the islands around this part of Evia are privately owned (Bill Gates now owns part of one) but you are allowed to Moore your boat, swim & use the beach. Just have to make sure your boat is out of the view of there batches.

    We sailed onto our first port of call Panagia Stira via the Fjord of Almyropotamos. As we sailed in and docked, we looked over and saw a cat in another fishing boat looking for any left over fish he might get!

    Thanos explained the importance this bay was to the Nazis during WWII, they had a lot of their submarines stationed here thanks to the deep Fjord. A village nearby wanted to revolt against the Nazis and walked a boat down from their village, rowed with their hands to the submarines attaching explosives to them. They blew up 35 submarines, a lot of Nazis and themselves. The explosion could be heard in Athens. The Nazis retaliated and surrounded the village they came from once they worked out who was responsible, and burnt the village down and the people in the village - roughly 1100 people. This was meant to stop revolts against the Nazis but there were 83 more incidents like this throughout WWII against the Nazis.
    This area is also home to 26 discoveries of full dinosaur skeletons and they were all different types of dinosaurs. Which is amazing that the different types were able to live on one island together. These are now housed in Germany mainly from the Nazis stealing the skeletons.

    Thanos let us go for a wander as he had to find the priest so we could see the church later. Katie and I walked along the water, then walked back to a cafe to get a coffee & beer.

    Thanos took us at 7pm to see Holy Church of the Dormition of the Virgin, this has a painting that was out from under the floor by an unknown person when the muslims were taking over Greece, this essentially saved the painting but was weathered from being under the floor for all that time. The painting is of Mary’s death and is insured for quite a large sum of money now! We saw the original and a copy of the painting done of what it originally would have looked like.

    Out side of the church we looked at two olive trees that are 2500 years old.

    After learning about the olive trees and fines relating cutting any olive trees down in Greece, we walked further out the back to see turtles in the local creek. Thanos had some bread and fed the turtles.

    Then he took us to get fed at a local tavern. We tried the local moussaka while a lot of cats walked under our table hoping for any droppings!    Read more

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