Day 5: Paros

We arrived in Parikia (the capital of Paros) about 45 minutes late. We were picked up at the port by the hotel. The dusty road to our hotel made us a bit uneasy. It's much less developed than Santorini (or Mykonos), but still very nice.











We arrived at the hotel and were shown to our room by the nice desk clerk lady, Lila. The Archipelagos Resort is a brand new hotel, only about a year old. It was designed in the typical cubist style architecture which is common in the Greek Islands. The hotel and our room were very beautiful, with views of the Agean Sea and the Paros countryside.



















After checking out our room we put our swimsuits on and took the 10 minute walk to the beach. We heard there was great taverna on the beach so we decided to check it out. Since it was already 3pm, we had a light lunch (we wanted to avoid eating dinner so late like we had almost every night). We had tzatziki (a mix of yogurt, garlic, cucumber and dill) with crusty bread, some French fries which Kathy was still craving, and a couple of beers. I thought the fries (which were freshly cut not frozen) were great, but to Kathy they left something to be desired.









We walked around the beach a bit, and then settled into a couple of lounge chairs. Similar to Santorini, the water was a bit chilly so Kathy didn’t want to go in. it didn’t stop me, though! By the way, most of the people vacationing in the islands were Greek. We ran into a few Americans here and there and a few Europeans (mostly Spaniards, French and Germans), but almost everyone we saw was Greek.













Back at the hotel, we decided to take a nap but overslept and woke up a bit too late to make our dinner reservation in Parikia. I also wasn’t feeling well (I caught Kathy’s cold) so we had dinner at the hotel restaurant. Although the appetizer was delicious, Kathy did not like her 7 herb pasta with cream sauce. The herbs were very overpowering. We got some rest as we had a big day ahead of us.

Day 4: Santorini

We got up early and had another great breakfast (this from someone who rarely eats breakfast). Kathy had Greek-style scrambled eggs (tomato and feta cheese) and I had ham and cheese on toast along with Greece’s most popular coffee drink, a Frappe (basically Nescafe instant coffee served with ice and condensed milk).





Kathy was feeling better so we embarked on our adventure to Fira and Akrotiri. We jumped on the bus and arrived in Fira around 11am. We began with a visit to the Museum of Prehistoric Thera (Thera is what the Greeks call Santorini). The museum features artifacts from the Minoan civilization that preceded the Greeks (around 3000-4000 years ago). We saw many interesting pieces. I joined the guided tour without paying and got caught by the guide when she asked a question and of course I had the answer!









Afterwards we walked around Fira for a few hours. It’s definitely a lovely town, but not nearly as beautiful as Oia. Kathy bought some sandals and we strolled through the narrow and crowded walkways.

















We had lunch at Naossa Tavern: a Greek salad, tomato Kefthethes (deep fried tomatoes stuffed herbs, cheese and onions) and fried phyllo dough stuffed with feta cheese. Decent but not great.



We then got on the bus for Akrotiri, another village in Santorini which is famous for its Minoan archeological site. Unfortunately it has been closed since 2005 (part of a roof collapsed and killed a British citizen). We walked along the shore and headed for Santorini’s famous Red Beach, named for its red volcanic rocks and cliffs facing the beach. It’s a bit tricky to get there. You hike up a fairly steep hill covered with loose gravel. It was totally worth it, though.







We spent about an hour or so swimming in the Agean Sea taking in the amazing views (and I’m not talking about the topless women). Kathy was a little reluctant to get in the water because it was a little bit chilly but I convinced her. We collected a few red rocks to take home with us.











My guidebook told me that Megalochori, Santorini’s main wine producing region, was about two miles away so I thought it would be fun to walk to one of the vineyards for a wine tasting. Wrong! Although the map said that there was only one main road to to Megolachori, this was not the case. We quickly got lost. Kathy was not amused (it was pretty hot and we ended up walking about 2 miles). At that point, I thought it was probably best to catch a bus instead and we ended up killing about 45 minutes waiting at some random bus stop in Akrotiri. It seemed like the middle of nowhere but it was totally safe. The bus finally arrived and we decided to skip the wine tasting and go back to the hotel. We were pretty tired from all the walking and the heat.









We took a final dip in the hotel pool and the jacuzzi in the room and then got ready for dinner. We ate at the Red Bicycle, another place recommended by our guidebook and popularized by Giada De Laurentis of the Food Network. It was our best meal yet in Greece. Kathy had a salad with figs to start and I had fig tart with cheese. For our main course we both had risotto—Kathy had mushroom and I had shrimp. They were both very, very good, but as it has been a recurring theme during the six years we’ve known each other, Kathy’s was better.