Overcoming Obstacles…A wonderful week in Paros, Greece

6-29-22, Les & I flew from Montpellier to Paris, & just as we were waiting to board our flight to Athens, we noticed that our third flight, to Paros Island, was due to leave before we would arrive. Without notifying us, Air France had delayed the boarding time just enough to make it impossible for us to make that flight! We crossed our fingers, & boarded the 3 hour flight to Athens.

Arriving in Athens, we encountered the worldwide nightmare of luggage retrieval with limited staff. We were not alone! Thousands of bags spread out all over the floor in front & around us, as well as thousands more behind the doors. The "lost & found" line was long & everybody had a story. Patience (we were there about 4 hours) & one very nice woman paid off when our big red bag arrived, but after another hour, we gave up, hoping somehow we could get the other, small but important gray bag soon. We spent the remaining 5 hours of the night at an airport café, before we boarded our NEW Paros flight at 6:00 am. We realize now, after experiencing several European flights & trains, that nobody should expect to complete 3 fights in one day.

We landed in Paros about 7:00 am, & our rental car was waiting for us. We drove to our lovely little hotel in Naousa, & slept for a few hours, had their excellent coffee, & left to explore the village & the port. Walking around, we found a super spot for lunch on the water, & made a few important purchases (like a toothbrush!). Our kids & grandkids were arriving the next day, so we decided we'd drive out to our VRBO rental house so we could easily access it with the 8 of them on Saturday. The coordinates supplied didn't work too well, & although we were close by, nothing on the VRBO website had showed us the entrance (understandable). Eventually we notified the owner, & headed back to Paros for a delightful dinner on the the Aegean Sea. See our album titled "Welcome to Paros!"

Our tribe arrived Saturday, 7-30-22, on time, with all their bags. (They are seasoned travelers & bring only carry-ons.). After lunch in Paros, we headed to our house for the week. It suited us perfectly, & came with every kind of kitchen gadget imaginable. Two wi-fi systems, one for inside & one for outside. The pool area was well designed with all kinds of small places to relax, & find shade at different parts of the day. There was an outdoor kitchen with a large table, as well as a barbecue. Every person or couple had a room with AC, & their own bathroom. See our album "Our Greek House on Paros" as well as "Anna's Greek Dinner" to get an idea of how comfortable, welcoming, & enjoyable this house proved to be.

Sunday was our "Back In Time" day. We left Paros on "the Alexander" to visit Delos, an ancient island famous as the birthplace of Apollo & Artemis, & a civilization going all the way back to 2500 BC. The 3 hours there gave us time enough to explore it all, but the sun's glare made the guide book illegible, & full understanding only came via a careful look at the book we bought. It took me awhile to coordinate the many pictures I took with the story behind them. I've always found that with a picture & the information, the memory sticks in your mind. If you are interested in what we saw, check out the album "Delos: Way Back in Time".

After our Delos stop, the Alexandria took us to post-card-pretty Mykonos for the afternoon. We had a delicious lunch next to the Aegean Sea, & split up for some wandering. Every now & then, we bumped into each other. My favorite part was finding an outdoor picture gallery, showing what life was like there in the '50s & '60s. I've read a series of books by Anne Zouroudri, featuring a detective patterned after the mythological messenger Hermes. He solves mysteries on various Greek islands, & the stories all seem to be set around the same time as the pictures I was seeing. I've included a few of those pictures on our Album titled "Marvelous Mykonos".

By Monday, 8-1-22, we were ready for an easy morning. The 2 Quads arrived, & there was time for the 2 big guys to take them out, then give rides to others. But the pool was calling and we had some fun experimenting with the juicers, & the blenders, & the other gadgets available to us. We had a nice dinner at home in the lovely outdoor kitchen area.

Tuesday, 8-2-22, the kids were ready for the first beach of the week, Santa Maria, at the northern point of tiny Paros. 4 people set off on the Quads. Since Henry needed a ride there, we dropped him off & enjoyed a brief look. It's a nice beach with soft sand, & a nice set of shaded beach loungers. We aren't really beach people, but this gave us a chance to see one, & then break away to visit the enchanting & interesting village of Lefkes, that was once the capital of Paros, & the center of life on the island. You can still walk the Byzantine Road in Lefkes, which made us dig into the history of the Byzantine Road, & how it relates to the Silk Road, & how that all fits into Roman & Ottoman history. Our album, "Beaches & Byzantines" will show you quite a contrast between the present & the past in island Greece. Later, Tuesday night's dinner was a real treat, as Anna, our housekeeper, shopped for, prepared, & cleaned up a delicious dinner of the Greek items we'd "ordered" (with her suggestions, of course! We LOVED Anna!

By Wednesday, 8-3-22, Les was able to pick up my lost bag at the Paros airport. What joy! Since we were all ready for another excursion, we headed to Parikia, on the other side of the island where the airport is located. After a quick lunch, we split up again, some to shop, & some to see Ekatontapyliani, the huge Orthodox Monastery & Church. Again, this visit complemented the books I'd been reading & their references to Greek churches in small towns. More than that, it perked my interest in how the Orthodox church is different from the Roman church, & how it impacted history. See the photos In our "Parikia & It's Glorious Church" album.

I just may add a quick blog story about the Roman Empire & the Byzantines. I find it fascinating.

After Parikia, we again dropped people at another beach, & Les & I headed to the "Butterfly Valley" for a delightful hour in a shaded & mystical space devoted to a species called "Petaloudes". One of nature's many miracles, these butterflies live only a year, & their cycle has stages: eggs hatch in September, go through 2 phases of the caterpillar stage in the winter, become larva in April, & emerge from their cocoons in early June. They sleep all day in the summer, & venture out only at night. The "valley" is almost vertical, with stone steps, arches, many different species of trees, & a few water features. The temperature, created by an underwater spring, is delightfully cool, & with green all around you, a very pleasant place to spend an hour listening to cicadoas sing. Our album for this is titled "the Butterfly Valley."

Our children, their spouses, & the 2 oldest grandsons had an incredible (& somewhat suprising!) adventure on a day trip to swim & snorkel off a boat in the Agean Sea on Thursday, 8-4-22. The album titled "A Day of Sunshine, Sea, & an Unpleasant Surprise" will tell you the story in a few pictures, as well as quotes from texts sent to us. Talk about a malfunciton in our summer of malfunctions.

At the same time they had that incredible & memorable experience, we took our 2 youngest grandkids to Parikia's port section, to walk around & check out where our Friday's ferry would dock to pick us up. We had early on decided that we needed to return to Athens by ferry on Friday, for a very early Saturday flight, to get home by Saturday afternoon. (We'd learned our lesson...No more 3 flights in one day!) After returning to the house, Molly & I had time to play a few games (she kept beating me!) & to try out the paints that were in my lost suitcase. See the album "Thursday & Friday in Parikia" for those pictures.

After yet another lovely seaside lunch, we said goodbye to our tribe at 1:15 on Friday, 8-5-22, before we boarded the ferry to Athens. We arrived in Athens on time at 5:00 pm, & after an hour's taxi drive checked into our Sofitel Hotel, a 2 min. walk to the airport. Both flights on Saturday were easy & on time, & by 2:00 pm we were at our gate in Villevieille. Nice to be home.

But we must report that we did have 2 more of the many malfunctions we've experienced all summer:

1. An alarming blinking light showed up on the dashboard, warning us that we needed to "ADD BLU". It took some time to discover we needed to use an additive (called AD BLU) to our diesel tank or the car would not start. Nobody warned us about that. & the car did not come with a manual. Thank goodness for cell phones.
2. Our gardienne (who came to water every 2 days due to the super high temps) left our gate locked, & we had to drive to get the key from her.

Things like that just happen. Overcoming Obstacles is a challenge, but with a little patience, & a mobile phone with internet, you can usually manage. All in all, this was a fabulous Greek experience with family in a beautiful country full of friendly helpful people, good views, super foood & an array of adventures. Life is good. We are so very lucky to be able to travel to such wonderful places, & to share them with family.

We have 20 days left here in Villevielle, & will undoubtedly encounter a few more obstacles before we leave for the US. We hope you are all enjoying your summer as it ends, & whatever obstacles come your way, can easily & quickly respond to them.

All the best,
Elise & Les