bullet point update

I know. I'm late.


It's been a little crazy the past few days and things have gone overlooked. Things such as showering, changing clothes and yes, blogging.



Below is a very brief account of our last day in Paros (warning: this is severely cheating but I am extremely tired...)

1. Awoke at Hotel Anna to another lovely breakfast on the balcony. Breakfast included groceries from the day before. Ha!
2. Spent time getting lost (and loving every second of it!) on Market Street of downtown Parikia, the capitol of Paros where we are staying. Stood and marveled at old church built with round stones. How'd they do that?!
3. Lunch of 2 euro gyros. Cheap and delicious!
4. Got back on the moped and, though we had earlier received correspondence from Far-Far shaming us into wearing our helmets, went sans-helmet to view the Paros beaches one last time 
5. Returned moped. Lugged baggage to port. Ate our first terrible meal waiting for our 1.30 am ferry to arrive.
6. Boarded ferry after waiting amongst sweaty fellow travelers (why do Europeans insist on foregoing deodorant?!) for 1 1/2 hours
7. Settled into ferry seats, hoping to catch some "sleep" on our 4 hour ride to Athens

The following is a list of things that may have happened. Who knows...

• Arousing suspicion from distrustful moped owner who was sure we stole 15 euros or a free day of scooter scooting

• Texting friends at home whilst drinking a cold beer. Text may have read: "It's 5 o'clock somewhere...cheers girlfriends!" (10 am state-side) Return text may have read: "War-torn cities?! Yea right!"

• Attempting to carry fully-loaded luggage on a small moped, perhaps with the possibility of rolling one behind us? 

• Sitting behind woman who thought it necessary to pack both a bird and a cat while ferry-ing. Brilliant.

• Losing one very important bracelet while in line amongst sitting, standing, leaning, whining tourists only to board the ship, drop off luggage, jump back off ship, ignoring security guards shouting at the transgression, searching on hands and knees for said bracelet, FINDING IT, and re-boarding ship as the car platform is cranked up and ship departs. Whew. 

  
  
  
  What a day. Bullet Point Update completed. 

biker babes

We have officially arrived in Paros, one of the smaller islands a bit closer to Athens. After spending the last 6 hours we had in Santorini frantically trying to call places to see if they had room openings and obsessively checking our airbnb account for requests we had sent in, we finally got a room literally as we were standing on the ferry's deck pulling out of the harbor. Whew. That was close.

So now that we are here it is all about figuring out what to do. I wanted to come to this island because the architect/city planner from my original research proposal did work reconstructing the Greek islands after WWII. However, since my proposal was altered (many times! argh!) by the school, it is less about him and his work these days, yet the trip destinations still remain. Oh well, guess we'll just have to make do on this beautiful island surrounded by water that redefines the word "blue". However will we entertain ourselves?

We had a breakfast of yogurt, peaches and honey on our little hotel balcony and set off in search of yet another moped. Honestly, it's the only way to see the island in style. However, on Santorini the roads were small but filled with mopeds. The island was small so scooter-ing was quick (unless of course you were driving without a headlight on a dark road with no name!). Here the roads traverse much greater distances and are not as frequently travelled by mopeds. Most tourist here pick a beach, bring their family, and stay for a few weeks in one place.

Oh no no no, brother! Not us!

We demand to see the island in all its glory in one-go-round!

On our moped!

We were given helmets with enough padding to sustain a plane crash and handed a map of the island. What do you know?! No road names. We put on our helmets (which I immediately took off again and strapped to the back of the bike-- how the heck are you supposed to wear these ridiculous padded monstrosities and sunglasses?! I opted for risking crashing but guaranteed headache avoidance.) We drove for about 45 minutes before reaching something that we thought we'd like to see on the map. Here you can always see the water, but the roads are a bit further up the mountain so you can't see the beaches in front of them. It is very easy to pass the town you wanted to visit without actually realizing you had already gone through it!

We took a break at an area called Golden Beach that had beautiful waters, families on the beach and more wind surfers than I have ever seen in my life. They were all going top speed on the water-- literally it was frighting to watch because I was sure they were going to run straight into each other. They would start out near the beach, race to an island further out, turn around and race back in, turn around race back out, turn around race back in... Sounds repetitive but with the speeds they were reaching, I'm sure it was not tedious in the least!

We had lunch and when we were sure we were full enough to float, crept down the side of the rock and slid into the water. The water was amazing. Amazing doesn't cover it actually. Not sure what to say about it other than I knew I didn't want to get out.

lost again!

We finally pulled ourselves out of the splendor with the promise that we'd stop again further down the road. We had roughly sketched out our trip around the island and decided that there were a few towns in the middle that we would save until tomorrow. Today's ride was all about the beaches.

We rode and rode. Somewhere into the trip I took out my camera and took pictures from my back seat (mainly because Mom almost tipped the moped over every time we stopped and it was just easier-- and safer!-- to  have the camera readily available). At one point or another we stopped to see where we were and figured out that we had already passed through every town we had "saved" for tomorrow. Stupid no name roads. Weeeeeeell, guess we can check those off our list!

We passed by a few more beaches. Hopped off to get wet and then got back on. Mom finally succumbed to the inevitable headache and gave up on her helmet, resulting in two strapped behind me on the seat, leaving me with one cheek on the seat, one cheek on a helmet. Very comfortable.

We made it home with a thick new skin comprised of road dust and sweat and quickly headed to the shower to rinse off. Did some research of where to eat dinner (while eating Pringles in our hotel room) and decided to wander around the town a bit looking for one of the restaurants we found in our guide book. That turned out to be the best decision of the day. Delicious!

The place was an outdoor garden terrace but felt like an inside room because a 100+ year old grape vine not only sprouted from the flagstone patio but covered the entire place with grape leaves so thick that I'm sure you could sit out there even if it was raining. The food was just as sensational as the vine that sheltered it.

We started with beetroot salad that was lightly covered in a yogurt sauce, drizzled with orange juice and sprinkled with raisins and walnuts. Mom had the lightest fish ever cooked and my leek and orange risotto and herb crusted prawns were definitely Top 3 meal material. Of course I forgot the camera so records of these feast are a bit grainy thanks to the poor quality of the iphone 3G.... A piping hot chocolate mocha souffle (more like a bubbling lava cake!) completed the menu just in case we weren't yet ready to burst.

A walk along the harbor resettled our stomachs and then it was off to bed to sleep to catch as much shuteye as we could. Tomorrow's an all-night ferry ride starting at 1.30 am. Too bad we can't moped over to Athens...

a note from Mom...

Ok…several people have told me that I need to make an entry on the blog… maybe to prove that I really am here with Ash and that she isn't just Photoshopping me into all the pictures….  (the Ozburn's have a reputation for doing that, ie Uncle Freddie!) But anyway I thought that I would write one and I will see if ends up making the editing cut or not!

I am sitting here taking in the beauty the black sand beach and Aegean blue waters of Santorini, Greece and it occurred to me that only 10 days ago I was taking in the beauty of the white sand beach and clear Lake Michigan water on Bethany Beach, with the rest of my family, and getting settled into my normal summer routine. Boy!  How quickly things can take a turn in our lives. Who would have thunk?

First, I would like to put a disclaimer to all the silly things that Ashley has said about me!  All you mothers out there just remember as your read these blogs how your daughters refer to YOU in front of their friends and you will know where I am coming from! (granted I am a little "goofy" but I'm sure it's not as bad as she portrays in these blogs!) Needless to say I did have a bug fly into my ear and settle there!  Actually this is not the first time this has happened in my life—back when I was a kid I had another critter do the same...never came out… so maybe I am forming a colony in there! Could this be the cause of my memory lost? They are sucking it all out of me??!! (I think I just might go with this theory!)

This trip so far has been an adventure for sure but it has not so stressful that we are not able to enjoy each other and take in all of our beautiful surroundings.  It has been great and I have loved every place we have been! I feel like Ash has kept you all pretty informed of all our "happenings" and so I won't rehash them.  I just want to let Katie know that we are going on day 10 together and we have not killed each other yet so that is a good thing—only 14 more days to go! Ha!  Just want to say that I do miss the shores of Bethany Beach and all of my family and especially my wonderful hubby who is special beyond words. But I would not have passed up on this opportunity to spend with my wonderful daughter!  She is absolutely the best and a great travel partner to boot!

We just left Santorini and are headed for Paros, another island further north. We have once again boarded our Blue Star Ferry and are on our way!

Thanks for your prayers—keep them coming cause I'm sure we will have more fun adventures ahead…War Torn is yet to come!

Note to self:  Ashley can blog much better than me so don't do it again.  I am much better at doing annoying things to my daughter(s)

wine roads

Another horrible day in Greece. Perfectly sunny. Not a cloud to be seen. Mid 70s with a breeze throughout the day. Scooter. Other than the Back Street Boys being blared from most of the cafes on the boardwalk, it is perfection.

We woke up today and decided we hadn't had enough fun on the moped yet. We had passed by numerous local vineyards on our adventures last night and chose to visit them-- this time in the daylight! We hit the usual cafe for internet service (cappuccinos are expensive around here but the only way to get internet!), stuffed my camera in the moped seat, found our sophisticated helmets and off we went.

We didn't get too far before we pulled over at a couple ceramic studios. They were all fantastic, well at least the contemporary ones were... Why is it that some "artists" insist on replicating ancient stuff over and over again. Honestly, who are the people that buy this fake Greek pottery, painted black and red with prehistoric goddesses being fed grapes while lounging amongst Greek background patterns? Are they fooled into thinking that maybe, just maybe, they have found a primeval vase that doesn't cost a fortune? Or do they have friends that are stupid enough to believe them when they come home and tell them that the pot is genuine? Either way, lots of stupidity is involved. Argh.

The studios that we found were owned by interesting people to say the least-- you could definitely tell that they were true artists. Covered in volcanic dust used in the distinct techniques here, all had aprons and loose clothing on, some had wild beards and others had wild hair. All were very amiable and enjoyed talking about how their pieces were made. Their kilns were right in front of us-- fire roaring at temperatures over 1,000 celsius. We bought a few gifts, wished we were artists, and loaded them onto the moped.

Next was a stop at a winery. The grapes on Santorini are cut and bound in the spring so that they stay low to the ground even though they naturally would grow up the way grape vines do in the States. The winds are so strong around here and the soil so dry, that they need to keep them on the ground in order to protect the precious fruit from the elements. The plants line the roads around the island but look more like struggling shrubbery than grapes that produce excellent wine.

The tasting room was as I had hoped. Open, filled with light, and simple materials. Sigh, natural light and wine. Couldn't get better. We tasted 4 of their white wines but the gregarious server couldn't help but give us a free sample of the dessert wine they produce. I must say, in general, I don't enjoy things that are sweet. A small dish of ice cream after dinner, fine. But sugar in my coffee (shame on you Bradley)?! Fruity beer?! People that say things like "d'harlin'"?! Not for me. No thanks. No way.

Buuuuuut, I must admit that I didn't hate this wine. Even though it was created from solely white grapes, it was brown from being aged in the sun and stored in wood barrels for 3 years. There were no sugars added, the sweetness just came from being fermented for so long in such a way. If we had a way to get it home, I think we might have been seduced into buy a bottle.

We left the vineyard and scooted along up the road. (Being on this moped makes me miss the motorcycle. Every single part of it. I love that motorcycle. Love it.) The only way to know where we are going is by small guideposts along the side of the road. Whenever there is a vineyard there will be a small tag that says "Wine Roads" but that's it. No direction, no name of the vineyard. Just "Wine Roads". We pulled off on a "street" with an arrowed marker (yes! a arrow! no name, but hey, at this point we'd take anything!) that read "Traditional Settlings". Little did we know that we were pulling off a typical road into a sweet little cobble stoned drive that lead us around and into a picturesque little village. It had two amazing restaurants, a few little churches, and the typical white with blue door houses, all crammed onto a street that was about 200m long.

We had a lovely 5 pm lunch, having decided that we'd eat the rest of our groceries as snacks later that night. The restaurant we visited advertised cooking classes which would have been amazing! I wish we had known about them earlier in our stay.

The food was amazing. Staggering. Delectable. Muscles in white wine and leeks, Santorini tomato fritters (they're famous for them on the island) and finished off with a crepe/pita drizzled with honey and walnuts. Sitting under the restaurant's vine covered terrace and enjoying food like this made me start to think that Yale might not be that evil...

Time to turn in the moped, which I swear I heard sigh a breath of relief as we unloaded ourselves--fattened from a lovely lunch, our pottery, our cameras, and our newly bought bottle of wine off its seat. We walked back to the apartment for showers and playing with Bethany architecture plans, hoping to bottle the inspiration we've seen here and keep it for when it's time to redo the place.

Tomorrow it's off to another island. So far we have no where to stay since our plans keep falling through, but hey, that sort of minutia hasn't seemed to have derailed us yet...

night riders

Oh, the beauty of this trip. We thought it couldn't get any better. After Rome and the beaches in Lindos, things couldn't possibly get more magnificent, right?! How wrong we were...

After a lazy morning of coffee at the beach cafe, blog posting and day planning, we decided to moped up to Oia, the town on north western side of Santorini that is famous for it's white houses delved into the cliffs. The trip was going to be about 15 miles and we were sure we could do it on our awesome ride. We were hot mamas, right?!

We put on our chic silver helmets that screamed "I'm a tourist! I don't belong! Beware of my driving skills!", stuffed them with toilet paper to make them stay on our heads, and began the journey. It went relatively smoothly, that is after I insisted that Mom stop pointing stuff out and turing around to talk to me and keep both hands on the wheel...good lord.

Needless to say we got completely lost since like Rhodes, this island refuses to name it's streets and hopes that you are a good enough guesser to go in the correct direction. We are not good guessers. Thankfully the round-about road we were on was beautiful and took us around the other side of the island, which we would have not otherwise seen.

We arrived at Oia and instantly were stunned at its views that reduced us to obsessive picture taking as if we would miss some vista, some white house with staggering terrace teetering off the cliff or mini stone path leading to a bright blue door. (Unfortunately, I wore a blue dress which made Mom want to put me in each shot since I matched the sky, doors, water, etc. and contrasted with the white plaster houses. Bad choice on my part.)

We had the consistently delicious Greek salad and hummus for lunch on a restaurant terrace, shaded by a canvas awning that literally hung over the water. The shops here are sensational (not touristy!) and within 15 minutes of arrival, Mom had purchased a lovely dress and we both possessed matching bracelets with the good luck symbol of Greece on their delicate chains. (We are, like, totally best-ies.)

After climbing the one pedestrian road that ran through the city we arrived at the ruins of the castle that had once stood on the climax of the cliff. We had read that this side of the island faced the famous Oia sunset and rushed to get dinner reservations at a nearby restaurant. (Definitely would be proven a good call later that evening after the tourist buses filled the small town.)

We spent time wandering through the jewelry and clothing shops and were more successful in resisting temptation than earlier that morning. We stopped for an iced frappe at cafe with yet another breathtaking terrace-- mainly an excuse to sit in the shade and watch the white sailboats pass on the shockingly blue water. Seriously, the pictures don't do it justice.

Dinner (yup, eating again...) was beer battered fried olives (are you kidding?! brilliant!) and chicken souvlaki and yogurt sauce that literally fell apart when your fork touched it, it was so tender. The restaurant faced the sunset and we sat watching the sun sink into the water as it reflected pink and orange on the white buildings. The tourists (I love how even though we are also visitors on the island, they are surely the "Other" in our minds...) sat on the castle ruins, roofs of houses and the many steps all around us and applauded when the sun finally sunk into oblivion. I must say that, though the scene was beautiful, it did not hold a candle to Bethany sunsets. Not even close. We ordered baklava while the tourists (ugh, yucky tooourists) filed out en masse and found our moped just as the last light of evening disappeared.

In keeping with our vehicle experience on the trip, as we turned on the moped we discovered that it only had one pathetic working headlight-- all the rest were irrevocably dead. This one pitiful beam barely lit 2 feet in front of us so much so that I considered strapping our iphones to the front of the moped. (Side note: Anyone who owns a rental business it seems to me that it should be your responsibility to check the battery and the headlights before renting vehicles to unsuspecting clueless women. That just seems to be good practice to me, but who knows... I'm just a simple student.) There was nothing for us to do but continue on with our plan of driving home, hopefully this time staying on the "large" road.

We started out cautiously creeping along, attempting to stay in the wake of other mopeds with effective headlights. Unfortunately they were much more confident since they were actually able to see the lane ahead of them. We wished for cars to come toward us or drive behind us so that some light would be thrown in our path, at the same time dreaded their presence since we weren't sure that they could actually see us.

I haven't yet mentioned that the "highway" we were taking back to Perissa is a two lane road (that's actually a generous claim) that wound around the island's cliffs-- sharp turns followed by U-turns followed by turns only seen in Nascar races and road lines that were barely visible even if you had accurate lighting-- basically the worst terrain for scootering, night or day. I'm not sure if we were laughing in incredulous disbelief at the situation, crying from fear or if it was the dirt being blown in our eyes, but our faces were definitely streaked with tears the whole ride, tightly clinging to the moped as we putted along at 5 miles an hour.

I was leaning to the side, willing my eyes to find signs in the pitch black (Seriously Greece. What is up with your road names and signage?!) while Mom concentrated on staying on the road. Newspaper headlines of "Two Women Flattened by Bus" lodged themselves into our minds and refused to leave. (It is good that I had 2 glasses of wine during the sunset because I'm pretty sure I would have had a total meltdown had been as sober as our fearless driver.) We shivered our way home in the absolute murkiness of the night, not having had the foresight to bring sweaters for the windy ride home, and finally found our small town. Our inevitable death by darkness, poor navigation, bus or cliff miraculously evaded. We might have peed our skirts.

A meager apartment has never been so beautiful. A salt-water shower has never felt so good. Stiff mattress and dinky sheets have never been more appreciated. Sleep has never been more refreshing.

We lived! We have conquered your obstacles! Fearless and Mighty! Watch out Santorini! We. Are. Woman!

beach bum beauties

Today's up front WARNING: we rent a moped. 

Woke up at 7 am to the phone ringing. The phone in our little ship cabin was clanging and flashing it's pathetic little light to let us know that we would be arriving at the port in Santorini within 30 minutes. Groggy after a surprisingly good night's sleep on nautical bunk beds, we stumbled into shower (one at a time of course) and packed up our things. We loaded up and headed to the boat's outer deck to look at the island's northern side as we passed by to the southern dock. 

We saw the white houses on top of the monumental cliffs-- very dramatic with the sun rising behind, silhouetting them against the morning sky. The wind was blustering by, as we were on the "high speed ferry", so sorry-- no photos of us. They all came out terrible (had Hollywood potential with our hair blowing in the breeze, but alas, they turned out clumsy and humiliating. Yikes!).

We arrived at the port and were rapidly shuttled off. Seriously efficient. When they talk about naval organization and everything being in "ship shape" they aren't kidding around. We hailed a cab (they aren't on strike here, what a treat!) and began the trek up the steep and curvy mountain pass to our beach apartment on the south-east side of the island, the town of Perissa. We marveled at how timely our arrival was. Almost to the minute. Ah, those sailors....

The new apartment (booked on airbnb) is sparse but sleeps 6 people, has a large kitchen (whose appliances unfortunately easily catch fire and coffee machine tastes like metal), a sizable bathroom and AC. Very suitable for a 3-day stay. We unloaded our luggage and went out in search of groceries with the intention of saving money on breakfasts and evening snacks, attempting to soothe my bleeding budget. 

We had instructions to a mini mart (basically the equivalent of a gas station "quickie mart"), but of course had turned in the wrong direction. Never fear, we saved the trip by passing by one of the many moped rental shops. We need a moped! Surely transportation along the island was necessary! We signed liability documents, Mom answering each question the exact opposite way the woman inquiring about her moped experience wanted. Oh confused mother... how entertaining (and frustrating!) you are. I translated the woman's questions in to those understandable to Mom and, even though we eventually ended up with the correct answers, I'm pretty sure the owner was convinced that we were 100% lying to her. She let us have the vehicle anyway. Hmm, questionable judgement. 

We hopped on the moped, found the larger grocery store (the Super Coop) and loaded up on peaches, yogurt, granola, bread, water (the water that comes from the sink and the shower in the apartment is straight from the ocean and filled with salt), vino, cheese and olives. Getting everything home was quite the trip: stuffing some items in the cavity under the seat, but mostly being balanced on either side by me as I teetered like a human scale on the back of the moped while Mom cautiously avoided the numerous potholes and sand traps. As proven numerous times on this trip, Katie seems to have taken any allotment of grace that I was due, leaving me lacking. It was interesting to say the least...

Unpacked groceries. Donned bathing suits, grabbed books and set out for the beach. The coastline is bordered by restaurants that sit on one side of the street and who claim the beach directly in front of their establishment with lounge chairs and tropical umbrellas. The deal is the chairs and shade are free, have full service and are open to anyone as long as you order drinks throughout the day. We selected an umbrella and ran across the course black sand (the color of this sand, stained black from the island's volcano, causes it to heat up to a searing temperature, sending visitors bolting and hilariously hopping across its blistering surface. Very good tool for people watching). 

We read and relaxed for the rest of the day, stopping only to moped home for wine and cheese, a shower and change of clothes, then the short drive back to the "boardwalk" for dinner in the perfect night climate. 

Hard day. Thankfully no moped incidents. (Not today anyway...) 

...Glad my research is coming along so well. Sheesh.

free pet

Silverware clinking every so often against breakfast dishes and every few words of cheerful morning conversation-- this is the way we woke up on Saturday morning. Wrapped up in our big 4 poster bed, blankets on top to keep us from being too cold (imagine that! cold!), we got out of bed to look down below at the amazing breakfast spread that Jon, owner of Zacosta, the villa where we were staying, had laid out for his 6 guests. 

So, when I said we scored the other day, that was an understatement. Cereals, yogurts, croissants, muffins, fruit and honey lined the table. He brought out an over-flowing cup of fresh squeezed orange juice for each of us. Coffee and espresso (my two favorite buddies) were also in attendance. As if all this wasn't enough, he brought out cold cuts, cheese, jams and three different type of pastry things, one with spinach, one with cheese and one with the goodness of the world wrapped up and then baked over and covered with pure happiness. What a delightfully indulgent morning!

breakfast spread

Our original plan had been to only stay in Rhodes for one day before heading over to the surrounding islands. After our first hotel debacle, we knew we'd be spending at least two-- one to see the southern part of the island on which we were unexpectedly dropped, and another to go back up north and visit Rhodes Town. This is now our third day, another unforeseen surprise. Since the only boat off the island is an overnight ship and does not leave the dock until midnight, we now have secured ourselves another day. In keeping with our lazy morning, we decided to find the beaches bordering the city and "chill". 

rhodes beach

Jon graciously let us keep our luggage and computers at his place as well as offered to take us to the ship later that night. (Maybe we should rename Jon as "Doctor Love". Either that or "Doctor We Love You!") We stuffed some remaining breakfast items in our purses (you know, we might get hungry in 45 minutes or so...) and walked through the winding streets, over the large moat now filled with shockingly green grass, and out of the large stone walls surrounding the Old City. 

The new part of Rhodes Town is a mixture of modern furniture stores, big name clothing stores and sketchy stores selling random items. We found the beach with minimal trouble but don't get too impressed-- we are on an island. We pretty much just had to pick a direction and would have found water eventually. The water here is unbelievable. Three different color blues come together to form a band running along the shore. We plopped down on lounge chairs under an umbrella, one of many that spread up and down the beach, paid the Man 8 euros for the privilege, and read our books next to the crashing water, fully loving this gift of an unplanned day. 

When we had finished our books/had enough of the scantily clad bodies around us (note: Americans may be fat, but at least they know when to NOT wear at two piece. Here, not so much...) we navigated our way back into the Old City. It was around 3 o'clock so we figured we should eat something. We sat down at a restaurant Jon had recommended, took turns washing the beach off of us as best we could in their small restroom (good ole sink bathing!) and ordered some grilled veggies and Tatziki. Suddenly Mom, in a spasm-like fashion, starts shaking her head. Really really shaking it. Confused look on her face. Finger in her ear. What is going on?!

-- I think a bug just flew in my ear. I hear him moving in there.

Awesome. 

No amount of prying seemed to be able to dislodge the invader who was clearly content with staying warm and comfortable right where he was. (It was great watching her stick a cloth napkin in her ear to see if it could get down farther than her finger, though. Especially when the waiter glanced over and was unsure if it was a signal to bring more water.)

Mom, our new ear pet, and I paid for lunch and wandered around more in the ancient fortified city. We spent the rest of the day just wandering, well, wandering and watching Mom suddenly convulse as if she abruptly got violently cold, shouting at her unwelcome guest to just leave! 

Seriously? How does this stuff happen?

We found some delectable gyros for dinner and topped the meal off with crepes slathered with nutella. As the sun set, we dawdled back to Zacosta to collect our things and tell Jon goodbye. We must have sat out there with him in the courtyard for at least an hour. We saw pictures of how he turned his place into the magnificent villa from ruins, literally ancient Old City Greek ruins. He had some crazy stories of the joys of dealing with the Greek construction permitting police and Armenian stone workers. He should have been an architect. Oh yea, and did I mention that he personally ran the Olympic torch for the country at the opening ceremony in the Athens Olympics? Yea. He's that cool. Goodbye "Doctor We Love You". 

lobby on ship

Jon dropped us at the port and we loaded on to the Blue Star Ferry for our over-night ride to Santorini. We had no idea what to expect from an over-night ferry but let's just say, with its hardwood floors, four restaurants, movie theaters and cabin showers that are bigger than the one we had in Rome, we were pretty comfortable. Even Mom's ear pet seemed to calm down for the night.

Farewell Rhodes. It was an inadvertent visit but lovely just the same.

big score

Finally we hit the jackpot! I'm not going to say that we deserved it, buuuuut....

To entertain ourselves on our dubious Ryanair flight to Rhodes, we happened to look in one of those in-flight magazines that are always so thrilling with their life-changing articles spotlighting where Julia Roberts shopped while in Madrid. Flipping through we found a small section on Rhodes in which there was a feature on a charming little place to stay in the heart of Old Town. After our catastrophe of hotels in southern Rhodes, we decided to go for it and yes! they did have an opening. The only room left cost 250 euros (not a chance!) but since the owner wanted to fill the room he knocked the price down to half. Still a splurge but at least I won't have to sacrifice food later this semester.

We had a lovely breakfast with "Doctor Love" before hopping onto the ONE bus the island has and going to the "last stop", which seems to be the only stop since it is all anyone mentions. Thankfully after a hot and cramped ride we arrived in the New Town and the owner of the villa, Jon, picked us up. Luggage in tow, we drove around the castle that encompasses the medieval city and its bustling streets. The place we stayed is in the heart of Old Town and without our trusty guide there is no way we would have found it. Twisting roads (actually, more like paths) paved in the tiny stones led us to a wooden gate that opened onto a beautiful courtyard complete with table, umbrella, cushioned lounge chairs and a stone fireplace.

Our room (discounted beyond belief) was the suite of the villa and featured a 4 post bed, couch, large bathroom, desk, espresso machine (that alone was enough to make me fall in love!) and wifi. The room was covered in courtesy items: soaps, water bottles, Greek candies, bath robes and slippers (though I don't think those were to take...) and maps galore. Needless to say our bags a at least a kilo heavier after we stuffed all our goodies into our already bulging luggage. Seriously, what are we? 12-year-olds on Christmas morning? Sheesh.

Old Town was hustling with tourists photographing the castle, day-trippers wandering through the paved streets into art stores, jewelry shops and restaurants, each shaded with umbrellas or ancient trees and decorated with wooden chairs fit for the tropics on which lay decadent cushions that awaited an exhausted traveler. It was very inviting. Jon gave us a phenominal place to grab lunch and once again we were enchanted by the freshness of something as simple as tomatoes, brilliant feta and cucumbers that literally dripped their juice.

 This was the first place we ordered dessert (surprising since we are both obsessed with baklava) but it was completely unnecessary. Not because we were full from our salad and grilled eggplant, nor because the ceramic wine vessel that never seemed to quite empty, but because they brought a lemon smoothie out as a finisher along with the bill, which of course, was tucked away in a small wooden box painted with gold swirls.

We left the shade under our large tree and wandered through the streets, abandoning our unnamed map entirely. The stone walls of the city's perimeter stood tall and supported Greek flags flapping in the wind. The castle had been built by the Knights (the Knights of what was never really clarified), taken over by the Turks, the Italians, the British and finally given back to the Greeks. The churches went from Catholic to Muslim to Catholic throughout history.

We found a great jewelry store that made anything one could imagine from local coral in which we spent so much time deciding what to buy for gifts that the store girls thought they might need to pay us hourly. We browsed through other shops that had original glass, ceramic plates and natural stone pieces. The main road (who knows the name-- as per Rhodes only a few were actually named on the map) ended at the harbor where several yachts were docked waiting to take people to the surrounding islands. It was tremendously helpful of them to advertise the cost of the ride directly on the side of the ship.

Very informative.

We were sweating (shocker!) by early evening and decided to retreat back to our room for showers and leisurely time since, obviously walking around, completely enjoying ourselves was too strenuous a task. We dressed and ventured out to find dinner, which took some convincing because it was so lovely in our room that moving sounded like an excessively arduous undertaking, but we hadn't eaten in about 2 hours-- an unthinkable interval that must be remedied immediately.

Dinner was at a place boasting of "top chefs from around the world" and held up to its grand declaration.  We started with bread stuffed with feta and spinach dipped in spicy cheese or olive tapenade. Next was the most tender octopus that ever was cooked followed by grilled squid stuffed with the national cheese--feta-- a few other herbs and drizzled with olive oil that was more golden than any I've ever seen. This could have been the best dish we've had so far, which is saying a lot. Tender doesn't even come close to what this meat was. Sinful is a better word.

mom and octopus 

Dessert was ordered but, again, it was thoroughly gratuitous since they brought out not one but two complimentary treats: a mousse made from nougat and cherries cooked and fried like a doughnut only to be rolled in cinnamon sugar. I mean, beach doughnuts are good but they don't even compare... these Greeks don't mess around. Cherry dessert wine was brought gratis by the waiter but we couldn't even think of sipping it since we had just eaten Heaven and could imagine nothing more magnificent.

Back to our own Greek hamlet to sit outside in the perfect temperature, watching the sky and the candles flicker in the light breeze.

Warning: we might not come back home.

Zacosta Villa's entry court