Our genial hosts

It was moving day today, that’s right, time to say goodbye to Santorini and make our way to Naxos. This meant that the packing that didn’t get done last night needed to be taken care of this morning, which meant that the rockstars that are our daughters needed to tidy their room which was quite a state. We were so organised though that we were ready to go ahead of time so were just waiting until our checkout time before setting off. We made a quick petrol stop for the hire car before heading for the port and we were there well ahead of time as well so just sat and had a drink while waiting for our ferry.
When the time came we got in the queue and the muscle memory from last year kicked in and Lily raced to the front and was first aboard, although it was all in vain as there were assigned seats. It did enable us to get to the front of the queue for donuts though, so it was not all a waste of time. The ferry trip itself was not much to write home about, so I won’t bother.
Soon enough we arrived in Naxos which immediately had a different feel than Santorini, rougher around the edges sums it up. We saw the sign saying ‘Simpson Paul’ and met up with the dude who was delivering our car. Once that was taken care of it was off to our villa which we were very excited about because it has a pool and we were keen for a refreshing swim. We got there mostly without too much trouble although a shouting match did break out at the point when Google maps was giving us some iffy directions at the same time as Lily was practicing her parenting skills on Ruby. We were at the villa soon enough though where we met Sophia and Panagiotis, our hosts. Before moving on I need to explain that all communication previously had been with ‘The team from Aegean Hideaways’ and so I had the impression it was some form of management company. They started showing us around, telling us we could help ourselves to tomatoes and cucumbers growing in the veggie patch or eggs from the chickens and generally being incredibly hospitable. It is often the way that people will rent out their houses in the summer and go and stay with family elsewhere, I am not sure when it dawned on me that this was not the case, I think that it was possibly around the time their children were nosying about as we were shown around. It turned out later on that I was possibly the last person to wake up to this fact. So we have the upstairs level and they are downstairs, but very definitely on the premises which means a little less privacy than we hoped for.
Lily was still not quite recovered from the shouting match in the car and she took this news very badly, saying it was a scam, checking out the Airbnb listing to see exactly what it said and generally to imply that she considered us to be failures as parents for falling for such an obvious swindle. She then proceeded to tell us she had resigned herself to not enjoying Naxos at all and that essentially it would be a cold day in hell before we would see her anywhere near the pool as it was creepy that they might be watching us. Jess and I and the twins weren’t too bothered by this and had a lovely dip to cool down, Ruby stayed with Lily to show solidarity and sisterhood.
After a bit we decided we needed to get some supplies so a little drive to the coast was in order where we found firstly a bakery and then a little supermarket and got what we needed. Then it was back to our villa, with poor Lily, who had almost recovered her usual joie de vivre, losing the plot completely when Jess skipped an Ed Sheeran song on the playlist. To be fair to Jess though, it was a crap song. There was a bit of time for us to do some work before dinner and then headed off to one of the two restaurants in the village.
It was an awesome setting, on the hillside with tables outside on actual grass and a view across the islands in the distance as the sun was slowly setting, changing from golden to orange to red before disappearing behind the horizon. We ordered some food, probably way too much, and chilled with our drinks while waiting. Then our food started arriving and it was clear that we had indeed overdone it but it was so bloody delicious we made a very determined effort to eat as much as we possibly could. While yakking away, on two separate occasions Allegra made me chuckle uncontrollably, I can’t remember exactly why, if you want that level of detail then you need to check out Ruby’s blog, but she is certainly a funny child. We couldn’t quite finish our Naxian potatoes or pita bread so Jess fashioned a doggy bag out of the paper plates we were served on so we could bring it home. We paid the bill, the cost was less than half that of the restaurant in Santorini, which further added to our appreciation. A walk home followed but with no room for beer and biscuits tonight. Then the cold day in hell arrived and the girls all went for a quick evening cool down in the pool. Things are looking up.Læs mere