Tag: Greek Food

Arrived in Syros, our first stop in Greece, after over 12 hours of flights, waits, ferries and buses and it was so worth it.

Now there is one thing I want to mention as I feel I would be remiss in not bringing this to your attention. Traveling for any amount of time on a ferry or bus in Europe in the middle of summer is NOT glamorous, like at all. Every travel day we leave our hotel freshly showered in clean clothes and our spirits filled with hope that today’s travel experience will be different. It NEVER is. Every travel leg, be it on a plane, a bus, or a ferry it ways ends the same way. Emma and I sweaty and stinking, reduced to puddles and wanting nothing more than a shower and fresh clothes. Some days the trip is short and the shower and bathroom are clean and fresh towels are waiting while other days you end up sitting naked on a stool in a 3×3 foot stall that smells like it hasn’t seen the end of a cleaning brush in decades just praying that your skin doesn’t accidentally brush up against the wall or shower curtain while you attempt to wash the dirt away.  Lucky for us, since arriving in Greece we’ve had nothing but clean bathrooms and functioning showers, which makes me fear for what awaits. We’ve been a little too lucky over the last few days. It has me worried.

I’m not sure if it was the combination of the airport bathroom incident, the middle of the night flight, 3am arrival at Athens airport, the 1 hour bus ride to Piraeus port (the man drove like a ‘goddamn animal’, seriously luggage and people were jostled about the bus like balls in a lottery machine), the seemingly innocent glass enclosure on the ferry to Spyros – just a giant easy bake oven for us to slow roast in – but by the time we got to the island my feet were swollen to twice their normal size.

I spent the first night lying on the bed with my legs above my head against the wall to drain the blood from my feet.  It was surprisingly comfortable. Who knew that sleeping in an L-shape could be so restful? I awoke the next morning to normal size feet – yay!

The next morning, Emma and I got right down to business, and by business I mean eating breakfast then finding wine and a spot on the beach conveniently located directly across the street from our hotel.

We spent the entire day lying on the sand and taking the occasional dip in the sea. The waters were crystal clear in the morning, however, by mid afternoon we noticed something was off. This idyllic setting was no longer. The first thing Emma pointed out was a dead frog floating in the water, upon closer inspection, we quickly realized that it was no dead frog. It was something much, much worse. To our horror, the thing floating toward us in the water was in fact a discarded tampon. As we quickly tried to create as much distance between us and the NOT A DEAD FROG, we then spotted more trash floating in the water – ice cream cone wrappers, a panty liner, plastic bottles, etc. It was as though someone threw a bag of trash into the water.  Our spot on the beach, which had been so beautiful earlier had almost instantaneously been transformed into a scene from some post-apocalyptic movie where the seas are filled with trash. Yuck!

(We were told later that afternoon that someone had cleaned things up.  Apparently, a passing boat had carelessly dumped their trash into the water…who does that?!  Anyway, there is a group of volunteers in Galissas who take care of the beach and do their best to keep it clean.  The mess was cleaned up rather quickly.)

Needless to say, we left the beach and retreated to our hotel across the street. While in Galissas we stayed at Maistrali Hotel, a small family run property. Our room cost us 90€ for 3 nights and it was a great value. Located directly across from the beach, small balcony at the back and breakfast buffet every morning for an additional 5€. The bathroom was good but the beds were really hard, as in one step above sleeping on a concrete slab. We were in room 1 which was right next to the reception desk. It was ok most of the time, however, the owner who often sat at reception behaved like a petulant child most days – shouting at guests and locals, annoyingly ringing the service bell whenever he wanted the staff to bring him something (most likely a drink because he appeared to be soused most of the time). He was also really flirty – offering to have me run away with him to the Maldives – What?!  He was so loud that one couple switched rooms in hopes that it would quieter, didn’t work. There really was no escape.

Galissas is a really quaint little town.  There really isn’t a lot to do there, but that was kind of the point. After the hustle and bustle of Prague, the change of pace was most welcome.

The town is mostly a tourist stop and appears to exist for that reason alone. The shops clearly cater to tourists selling all manner of souvenirs, postcards, beach towels and sunscreen. The restaurants all face the beach so you can take in the full magnificence of the sunsets on this island, and trust me, they are spectacular. The menus feature Greek food with some burgers and chicken nuggets thrown in for the less adventurous eaters.

While on Syros, we took a bus from Galissas to Megas Gialos a nearby beach town. Again, super small and quiet, but the beach was beautiful and CLEAN!  We had lunch and a beer (of course) while overlooking the beach. The bus ride was about 15 minutes and the fare was 1.90€ each way. Well worth it.

We spent every evening either drinking beer or wine and toasting the sunsets. On our last night in Galissas we climbed to the peak of the large hill overlooking the bay. At the top of this hill is a tiny white church and one of the most amazing views of the town below and the sun as it sets behind a nearby island. If you happen to glance to the left of the hill you will notice a tiny beach located in a small cove. The water looked so inviting and we may have considered checking it out the next day were it not for the colony of nude campers who had overtaken that tiny beach.

As we made our way back down the hill toward our hotel we couldn’t help but marvel at how serene the town below was.

We boarded the ferry to Mykonos late morning and arrived at the port little more than an hour later. As we searched for our hotel transfer van, to no avail, I double checked our reservation confirmation email and discovered that we had arrived a day early!  No wonder they weren’t there to pick us up. As soon as we realized the droid, we set about finding accommodations for the night. Emma quickly found us a private room at the Paraga Beach Hostel next to Paradise Beach for only 15€ a night each!  Problem solved. If you ever arrive at one of he ports without lodging, do not fear.  There are always people there with offers of rooms to let – even in high season. Don’t be afraid to negotiate and you can get some pretty good deals, depending on where you are of course. Mykonos and Santorini shamelessly survive on tourism and there are very few deals to be found.

We arrived at Paraga Beach Hostel and it was awesome, well the pool and restaurant area was. The pool was surrounded by beach loungers and beautiful people.  The DJ added to the overall Cafe del mar feel of the place. We were walked by the pool and brought to our room and that is when the fantasy ended and the reality hit us. We would not be sleeping in a room, oh no, we were camping that night my friends. We were sleeping in a tent. No A/C, one light and a screen panel for a window. With military style cots for beds. No wifi either so no distraction from the environment whatsoever. We quickly changed into our bikinis and made our way to the restaurant/pool area and ordered the mixed grill plate for two – we were famished after all. The grill plate was the best idea we’d had all week it was piled high with chicken, sausage, meat balls, pork chops and fries and it was DELICIOUS!  After devouring the meat plate, we ordered a couple of beers and settled in poolside. Seriously, there is no better time to show off your bikini body than after you’ve eaten your weight in grilled sausages and french fries. Am I right?

After two beers worth of sun baking and quick dips in the pool we left the pool and walked over to Paradise Beach next door. The last time I was there was five years ago and a lot has changed. There are more bars and lounge chairs. Every bar is competing for your attention and your dollars. We settled in front of the Guapaloca bar to watch the Brazilian dancers. The host was entertaining and they were giving away free shots…so sure why not! We spent the rest of the day and most of the evening at Paradise Beach sipping beer, various cocktails and a bottle of rose. We ended up dancing the rest of the night away – the DJ was really good –  playing everything from rap to hip hop to dance.  We sang along and jumped around like idiots. It was awesome!

That night as we made our way back to our tent, we toyed with the idea of sleeping on one of the couches outside the club rather than return to the sweat lodge we were booked in. We went back to our ‘room’ turned on the useless fan and tried to sleep. It was almost impossible to do so. Our cots, despite being elevated about a foot still had us feeling like we were sleeping on the hard ground. How did they manage to do that?! Add to this the fact that the place was a party hostel and there was zero sleep to be had. At one point I swear I heard some guy bust out his ukulele to serenade a group of backpackers in the tent next to us.

After our sleepless night, we hopped aboard the free shuttle to the port to meet the shuttle to the hotel we were booked at for that night.  The owner of Maki’s Place greeted us at the shuttle and quickly whisked us away to the hotel which happened to be almost directly across the street from the port. His father, a bit of a curmudgeon, checked us in, all the while letting us know that we got a really good deal in the room (90€ it would normally be 150€) and that one night stays were pretty much the bane of his existence. Ok, we get it – we got a deal. Thanks for letting us know.  Once checked in, we made our way to our room and it was adorable!  The beds were hard as concrete – again. I began to wonder if concrete slabs as beds were a thing in Greece.

The beds may have been hard as rocks, but everything else was perfect. The pool was located just outside our room. It was clean and deep and beyond refreshing.  After checking in and exploring the hotel, we changed out of our stinking and sweaty clothes and hopped in the sea bus to the old port in Mykonos Town. The sea bus cost 2€ and offered great views of the island as we made our way there.

Once in Mykonos Town we stopped in a few shops bought some bathing suits we didn’t need, some Havaianas we didn’t need and some food and wine that we definitely did need!  We walked through the small winding streets popping in and out of shops and snapping pictures of streetscapes and cats along the way.

I really wanted Emma to see Mykonos from the top of the hill and convinced her to climb the stairs to one of the vantage points above the town. It was so worth it!  After having our fill of stairs and picture taking we headed back to our hotel for a swim, cocktails and dinner. Our last night on Mykonos was pretty unadventurous but it ended with dinner and wine on a deck overlooking the water so not bad at all.

The next morning we checked out of our room and the curmudgeon who’d checked us in the day before had transformed into a funny and personable guy, I guess the people checking in that day had paid full price and were staying for multiple nights. Good for him, I ain’t mad at him. 🙂

We arrived in Paros by ferry 2 days ago, hot, sweaty, stinky puddles – formerly human, now feral – and in desperate need of a shower and clean clothes. So our usual state, basically. The Stella Hotel where we are staying is the best place we’ve stayed at so far and at 89€ for 2 nights, it’s a bloody steal!  We have a balcony overlooking the sea, a bathroom with a full on stand up shower and ACTUAL MATTRESSES ON THE BEDS. They have springs and everything!

Our first day in Paros we explored the town a little, had lunch on the water – we ordered a mixed plate of appetizers and it was perfect. Various Greek dips and octopus salad with beer, of course. After lunch we stopped by the supermarket to pick up some food stuff like meats, cheeses, tomatoes, grapes and some canned stuffed grape leaves, just in case we were peckish later. Oh and we also bought a 1.5L bottle of wine for bargain price of €2.30. C’mon you know you were wondering! 🙂

When we got back to the hotel we napped for a bit then snacked on the stuff we bought earlier as we watched the sun set from our terrace. After polishing off half the salami and tomatoes, along with the entire bottle of wine (to be fair this was over a period of several hours) we showered, dressed and then hit the town. It may be a small place, but they have a great bar scene.

We stopped at Entropy, it was rated as the #1 attraction on the island, according to TripAdvisor.

It was pretty easy to find, thanks to my phone GPS.  We walked in and there were all of 7 people in the bar, including the owners and the bartender. The first thing i noticed was the haze of cigarette smoke that filled the air. There were two young guys playing beer pong while the other patrons watched and cheered them on. We checked out the cocktail menu, and ordered a drink. Emma had the Wrong Island Ice Tea and I had the Tangerine Dream. They were both ok. We had high expectations for this place, given its high rating on TripAdvisor and I have to say we were disappointed. The owners were friendly and we chatted with them while we finished our drinks, but had zero desire to stick around – my eyes were watering and I felt like every breath was a direct drag off of someone’s ciggy, so we left as soon as we were done our drinks.

We walked around the neighbourhood and discovered this really cool, tiny bar on one of the rooftops over looking the waterfront. The place was packed with people of all ages and the music was pretty good, a very relaxed vibe. We ordered proscecco and settled in at one of the tiny tables to people watch for a bit.

After our proscecco, we walked along the water back to our hotel.

Of note, there are a lot of great shops in Paros and they’re open until quite late, around midnight.  You can find pretty much anything you’re looking for and at a reasonable price.

The next morning, we were up early to grab breakfast, shop and then hop the ferry to Antiparos where we would visit the caves and relax at Soros Beach.

The winds were high that day my friends and the sea angry. The ferry ride felt like a roller coaster ride. The ferry chugged along the water as large waves crashed up against it in all directions, tossing us from side to side. There were several occasions during the ride where the passengers screamed – in delight or fear – probably about 50/50.  One poor girl came and sat outside at the back of the ferry next to us, seasick.

Now the ferry ride normally takes about 10-15 minutes, but it took over 30 minutes that morning. 30 minutes of nausea inducing waves, bobs and rolls. We were very happy to have survived the crossing without puking over the side of the boat.

As soon as we arrived at the port we hopped the bus to the caves and Soros beach (6€ return fare).

The Cave of Antiparos was our first stop.

I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting much, but they were pretty amazing. The descent (411 steps) into the bottom of the caves was easy and the view was awesome.  The caves are comprised of 3 chambers with a total depth of 100m. The entire cave visit took about an hour and I snapped a ton of pictures.

Next we were off to Soros beach.  The beach itself is not very large and the place was packed. The beach loungers are available to rent for the day for 30€, so fuck that! We’re laying on the sand! We opted to find a spot on the beach next to a tree – I mean, under a shrub – which offered a nice beach view and some shade. Sounds ideal right? Well, in theory yes, but the ‘free’ shelter was very crowded and though we did manage finding a spot, the view wasn’t so great. Yes, I was in the shade next to the beach but every time I looked up all I could see was some guy’s ‘plumber’s butt’. Manscaping hasn’t really caught on in Greece.

Despite the view challenges, we did enjoy the beach day. The water was crystal clear and so refreshing. I was sad to leave, but I knew there were many more beach days ahead of us.

The ferry back across was much smoother than our trip over earlier in the day.

Later that night, we had dinner on the water – like literally on the water – the waves were lapping against the table legs while we enjoyed grilled fish and chicken. It was a clear night and the lights of the island dotted the surrounding hillsides while the silhouettes of the boats in the harbour bobbed in the water in front of our table.  It was a perfect final night in Paros.