Sparkling Finish to Greece

One of my favorite Nathan & Nora photos; and yes, she is wearing
socks on the beach. There was quite a breeze this day.

We spent our last couple of days on Paros doing absolutely nothing. We had yet to spend any time at all on the beach just outside our hotel's front door. Clearly a horrible situation that had to be remedied. After having visited almost every beach on the island in our circuit exploration, we were happy to find our very own beach to be our favorite. The hotel directly across from the beach had set up lounge chairs with tables and thatch umbrellas, and we set up camp on one set. In Europe, renting a chair and umbrella for the day is very common. Back in Italy, 10-20 euro for the day is the going rate. Imagine our surprise when, after about three hours of beach time, a man from the hotel showed up and somewhat apologetically informed us that we needed to pay for our use. Three euro per chair. I cannot even get a Coca-Cola for three euro, so I call a chair and umbrella on a beautiful, Greek island for three euro a win.

Clear, gorgeous water

You may remember the photo from our beach lounging, one of the very view I blogged while in Greece:  Don't Make Me Leave
We spent the beach time alternating Nora care so that the other person could take a nap and/or read, fully relaxed. Because I had grown used to a daily walk through the village (in addition to our nightly walk), I took a couple of hours each day to wander around at lunchtime, stopping for gyros and dessert to take back to the beach. I don't know why, but I could (and did) walk down the same lanes, through the same shops, along the same port, every single day (twice a day), yet it always seemed new. Possibly because the pace was so unhurried. People were friendly and often wanted to stop and chat. Having the baby was a big draw and opened so many doors for conversation.

We celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary on our final night, picking a garden restaurant we'd passed a few times but not yet visited. Upon finding out we were there for our anniversary, the owner brought us glasses of champagne. And as day turned to night under bougainvillea vines and table top candles were lit, the lights went out in the restaurant. Utter silence reigned for just a moment, then out came the owner with a dessert topped with sparklers, lighting up the darkness in celebration. In my wildest of dreams I could not have imagined a more perfect ending to an ending - our last big vacation before returning to America.

Anniversary Night - 17 Years!

Turning 40

Now in my story of how we left our former hotel, I forgot to mention that the real final straw was our breakfast. Our previous trip to Greece, we'd stayed at a hotel with a nice breakfast, but the key was the most delicious yogurt we'd ever tasted in our lives. Drizzled with a little local honey, and let me tell you, the Greek yogurt we can get in our American grocery stores is nothing like the real thing. We'd dreamed of this breakfast for two years. So we did indeed spend a sleepless first night, then trundled down to the breakfast lounge at the time our hostess told us to arrive (8am) only to find no one about at all. Our hostess finally showed up at 8:30, took about 10 minutes to get breakfast set out, which included disgusting bread, deli meats (and not the nice ones), and really bad coffee. And keeping a baby who likes to eat happy for that extra 45 minutes was not fun. It was the straw.

Stelia Mare's breakfast was jackpot. Greek yogurt, honey, pastries, eggs cooked to order, granola, whole fruit, fruit salad, fancy desserts (like chocolate mousse filled cups), bacon, three different types of bread, local jams and cheeses, coffee, espresso, cappuccinos, hot tea, orange juice. Serious jackpot.  I think we might have spent an hour at breakfast every morning. And we may have scared Georgia with our weird and constant smiling. We were just so happy. The perfect place to turn 40, complete with dessert in the morning!

Monastiri Beach

We'd kept our car to visit another beach, this one reported to be the best on the island. We just spent a very relaxing day walking around the village in the morning, visiting Monastiri Beach in the afternoon, then a finish up of the day sitting by the hotel pool with fruity cocktails before yet another great dinner. The day was quiet, relaxing, and we just enjoyed being together as a family on this incredible island - one of the best birthdays ever.

Exploring Paros

One of my favorite Nora pics ever, on Secret Beach

Lefkes

Once again excited about our vacation, we quizzed Georgia on our options for the week. We knew we wanted to do at least one day trip on the ferry to some other islands, and we knew we wanted to rent a car for a day or two so we could explore the rest of the island. We decided to go ahead and rent the car immediately. So far, every local we'd met on Paros had told us that we "had to visit Lefkes," the one main village located "inland." Paros is only 10 miles wide and 21 miles in length, so inland is a loose term. Still, Lefkes was apparently a must see. We dutifully headed straight there. I think Lefkes must be a great little stop in high season. But two weeks before high season began, Lefkes was as dead a village as I've ever seen. Incredibly beautiful, but dead. We parked on the edge of town to walk into the pedestrian village, and in the hour and a half we spent in the village, we saw less than ten people, and two of them were the couple who ran the one open business in town. Thankfully, that village was a cafe. It was Africa hot in Lefkes without the cooling, sea breeze, so a stop for some cold beverages was a much needed break.

Lunch stop in Piso Livardi

We then headed around the perimeter of the island to check out all the beaches. We stopped at some for a look see, but our destination was a beach not really on our map. A couple we'd met at breakfast had told us about Secret Beach, which they proclaimed was the best secret on the island. Our plan was to take a look at the various beaches, maybe visit a monastery, have lunch in a fishing village on the south coast, then spend the afternoon lounging on Secret Beach. The plan went just as planned - nice when that happens - and 2pm found the three of us napping on the "secret" beach. Late afternoon was pool time at Stelia Mare before what was becoming our routine walk through Naoussa before dinner. We passed the same shopkeepers most nights, and we enjoyed being able to smile in familiarity or even stop for a brief chat.

Traveling in southern Europe with a baby generally means being
creative about diaper changes. Nathan found an icky surprise in
this less than ideal changing spot.

Lunch offerings in Piso Livardi

Cafe in Lefkes

Exploring Naoussa

After settling in at Stelia Mare, we headed out to explore the village. We were nervous. Before confirming our room with Stelia Mare, we'd quizzed Georgia on environment for the walk to town. Now was the test. Had we been misled again? Although I have to say that we experienced the nicest, friendliest culture in all of Europe in Greece. Even in crowded Athens. Almost every person we met went out of their way to be helpful and friendly. Time and time again we encountered gracious, friendly, gregarious, relaxed people. And our short walk into Naoussa confirmed that the village lived up to our hotel - all fabulous. We were there in mid-May, which we heard time and time again was the absolute ideal time. Complete accident on our part as we didn't even take tourist season into account - we just planned a trip over our anniversary and my birthday. The businesses and restaurants were open for the most part, yet the crowds were manageable. Naoussa is a small village, but there were enough tourists to keep it vibrant and interesting while not being so crowded that we couldn't get tables at restaurants or casually stroll the tiny lanes (with our stroller). Quite literally, every business owner we met in Naoussa, from our hotel manager to restaurant owners to shop owners, told us that we were there at the best time and that the village is not fun from June through August. While they expressed gratitude for the business during those times, they were still dreading it. Vacation saved!

We ate at this restaurant twice - Best.Grape.Leaves.Ever.
Those smiles are not just for the camera - we are really that happy!

Naoussa was just stunning. The Old Town is pedestrian only, and unlike some of the other islands (like Mykonos), business deliveries are limited to the night hours. Not once did we have to dodge a car or moped - what a relief for us coming from Naples! All whitewashed/blue trimmed buildings, stone lanes, bougainvillea, cats...everything off of the Greece postcard was part of our daily life for one, brief week. The restaurants were truly wonderful, and remember how I said that Naoussa is popular with the French tourists? Well guess what that means...shops filled with unique, beautiful things. All of this marvelousness leads down to a short walkway along the harbor, complete with the picturesque fishing boats and men working their nets. We spent our days either exploring the island or sitting on the beach and our late afternoons walking the lanes of Naoussa, shopping or just enjoying the evening, then settling in at a restaurant for a delicious dinner before retiring to Stelia Mare, where we'd put La Bimba to bed before sitting on our balcony and enjoying the restocked decanter of raki. Yep, Happy Place.

Nathan captioned this one: "White Wonderland of Naoussa"

Vacation Ruined?

Parikia Old Town

Paros can be driven around in half a day but is filled with little beaches for stops. In addition to a few tiny, scattered villages, the two main options for lodging are the main town of Parikia, where the ferry from Athens comes in, and the tinier, fishing village of Naoussa. Pre-trip, I spent hours upon hours trying to figure out which town and which hotel. Finally, with the ferry in mind, I booked us into a hotel in Parikia. Few of the Parikia hotels had a pool, so we settled on one that had good reviews but was a short walk into town, which reviewers said was not a problem. Our hotel host picked us up from the airport, and while she was nice enough, we didn't get the best feeling. Then we seemed to drive down a really busy road out of town to get to the hotel. Upon check in, the hotel public spaces were beautiful - stone walls, pool with a waterfall, view over the water, comfy lounge. Then we got to our room, and oh my goodness, it was so horrible. Out of date, cramped, the crib provided by request was about 50 years old with slats wide enough for Nora to get her head stuck, broken shower, the list just went on and on. After I had some teary moments and a long nap, we tried to salvage the day with a walk around town for the afternoon before dinner out.

Church in Parikia

Our hotel turned out to be an incredibly ugly walk to the beach, which was also pretty blah. The town itself was lovely to walk around, so things were kind of, sort of (not really) looking up...until dinnertime. Restaurants on offer were ugly, touristy, and nothing special...and we had seven nights on this island! We picked what seemed to be the best of the bunch, paid a huge amount for really bad food, even worse wine (I asked for the rose, got red, asked for the rose again and got my original red watered down with some white), and contemplated how we could turn this vacation around. Then things went from bad to worse. The walk back to the hotel in the dark was on what seemed like the island expressway - no sidewalk, no shoulder of the road to walk on, no streetlights. It was terrifying. We miraculously made it back without getting hit, and after a sleepless night in the room, Nathan told me to pack my bags because we were leaving. Except we didn't know where to go since we'd not seen any other appealing hotels in Parikia. The vacation was headed for disaster.

We eventually decided to first get a taxi and have the driver take us to the other village, Naoussa, so we could see if there was anything better over there. I spent the 15 minute drive to Naoussa quizzing our driver about various hotels we found on the TripAdvisor app I was frantically searching, and the driver took us to one of the options we discussed with him that he thought we'd like best (after he found out why we were unhappy in Parikia). As an aside, our taxi driver was such a gem. Nathan was so disgusted with our hotel and so set that my 40th birthday and our anniversary be a great memory, that he told the driver to take us to the nicest hotel in Naoussa. Period. (Note: I forgot to mention in the previous post that in addition to this trip happening over my 40th birthday, we would also be celebrating 17 years of marriage!). Our driver was great at taking the three hotels we suggested (via Trip Advisor recommendations) and selecting the one he thought we'd like best.

Our room is the top left - I wish I were there right now.

First stop, Stelia Mare Hotel, also now known as Heaven on Earth. You know how you carry around a Happy Place in your head, so when you are feeling rushed or overwhelmed or anxious, you can just take a minute and think of this place to relax. Stelia Mare is it. My Happy Place. It was gorgeous - whitewashed walls like all of Naoussa, red trim, gorgeous and fun artwork, and hands down the best staff of any hotel we've ever visited. Two clerks switched off the day and evening shifts, and they were very hands on involved in checking in with us, arranging anything we needed, even to the point that if we were at the pool deck located one level above the lobby, they would bring up the hotel's cordless phone and stay by the pool...just in case we needed anything - drinks, snacks, fresh towels, random questions, anything. Plus, the beach was just yards away out the front door, complete with clear water, comfy lounge chairs, and thatch umbrellas.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We must have looked so pitiful to Georgia, the day clerk. She showed us a few rooms in a variety of price ranges, but because we were visiting in the weeks just before full season, the hotel was mostly empty. After consulting the manager, she offered us the nicest room in the hotel for a wonderful rate. I just about died when I saw it. Coming from our total pit of a hotel in Parikia, I seriously wanted to kiss that gorgeous, tile floor and hug the beautiful painting sitting above the sofa, then drink an entire bottle of wine on the large, covered terrace that looked out over the pool below and the sea beyond. I never wanted to leave. Except we had to go back to the Pit to pick up our luggage. But that made our return to Stelia Mare all the sweeter, like coming home...except in my home, no one ever sets out a plate of cookies and decanter of raki. Or stands around awaiting to fulfill my every wish.

This delightful tray was restocked each and every day. Happy Place.

Greece

Temple of Athena, on the Acopolis

 After five months of not posting anything, the time has come to finish up In Search of Gelato. I gave myself a tentative deadline of finishing up by Labor Day. Then by Thanksgiving. Then by New Year's. I'm hard fast on this new deadline because my goal is use one of the Blog to Book companies to print out this entire blog, giving us a nice, coffee table memory of our time in Italy. And for some reason, the tiny remnants of OCD I have left somewhere in this befuddled, tired brain of mine are screaming out that it is just not right to have posts written in a completely different year. So I have roughly 12 days to cover our final months.

Nora Visits the Parthenon

The posts I've been writing in my head recently are all about our last, big vacation before leaving Italy. I blogged a tiny bit on the go, but it was to Greece. Just a quick reminder intro:  Room With A View - blog post about our first day in Greece, an afternoon in Athens

Night View from our hotel room - it was so vibrant and such a great mix
of the masses of people in modern with the ancient world staring down.

Oh what a view that was! We could have spent another day in Athens visiting the museums, but it was hot and crowded...and it was Island Time! We headed back to the airport after our brief afternoon in Athens and got on a little puddle jumper to the island of Paros. Why Paros? Who in America has even heard of Paros? Not us. Figuring out where to go for our final trip was incredibly hard. The pressure of planning epic trips for every single holiday, both big ones and small weekend ones, had worn me down. Add to that the stresses of being a new Mommy, and I just could not even think of where to go. But considering this trip would take place over my 40th Birthday, I wanted it to be fabulous, darling. With wonderful memories of our 2011 trip to Crete, we eventually agreed on a Greek island. But which island? My long criteria list included family friendly, quick access from Athens, easy access to a beach, quaint town large enough to keep our interest for a week, architecture in the traditional white washed buildings from postcards, hotel with a pool, and access to ferries for day trips to other islands. I'd been to Santorini on a day trip from Crete, and while it was gorgeous and beautiful and amazing, the two most gorgeous towns are on the top of a dormant volcano rim with access to the water via a crowded cable car or a donkey. That is not a typo. After reading about every island option, Paros won out. Virtually unknown on the American travel circuit, it is quite popular with the Brits and French as well as being the island the Greeks visit when they go on vacation. Sold.

Paros airport - the tiniest "real" airport we've ever visited;
In Costa Rica once, we took a flight out of a one street town where the
airport airstrip was located a motorboat ride away. The airport airstrip
did have a building, but it was clearly unused. And our boat driver normally
stays until the plane arrives, but he had to get back to the hotel. Then our plane
didn't arrive. No phone, no boat, no way to alert anyone anywhere that we were
abandoned at the airport airstrip. Finally, from across the wide river, a staff member
from a fancy resort that we could not even see noticed us and brought a boat over to
tell us that the plane was fogged in back in San Jose. Since we had a connecting flight
in San Jose to get down to the south of the country, we were concerned. The staff member
said he'd keep an eye on us and come back if they found out the plane wasn't coming at
all. The plane finally arrived at the airport airstrip, took us to San Jose, and there, we
found out that although we'd missed our connecting flight down south, the airline
had arranged for another, unscheduled plane to take us and one other man.
Another plane! Not "Too bad, here are your options for tomorrow," but instead,
"Your personal plane will be here in one hour."
The Paros airport is indeed an actual airport, complete with two clerks who double
as Ground Control crew, and possibly Air Traffic Controller.

Don't Make Me Leave

Our time in Paros is over, sadly. I am leaving with my fingernail scratches on the doorframe and look forward to sharing more about this beautiful island soon.