It was about time for the usual summertime routine.. Greece here we come! This time would be different, as we invited our parents to join us to that beautiful country with its amazing cyclades islands. Vanessa’s parents, and my parents hadn’t been to Greece yet, and we felt like showing them what we’ve been fascinated about these last couple of years.
My parents have reached the age, where they keep on slowing down, and so we tried to make it a very convenient and easy trip for them. Traveling around with ferries can be quite convenient but also a hassle if you’re traveling on a high-summer peak. Therefor we opted for two places that we’ve already been to, and where we knew it would be pretty easy to walk around without any vehicles: Naxos & Paros.
Athens.
The usual ritual: taking off in Luxembourg, and landing in Athens. Meeting up with our taxi-friend Dimitris, who’d bring us to the city center. Athens was never the city we were raving about, it’s not that pretty, lots of traffic, there aren’t a hundred things to do in the center. However we keep on appreciating our times in Athens more and more each time we visit. It’s the food, the people, the fair prices, and the cool bars. The historic architecture is beautiful, but once you’ve seen it, it becomes a normal part of the neighborhood.
Our parents did enjoyed our first dinner, with a splendid view at the acropolis. Food was amazing, and we just had ordered too many dishes to share.
Naxos.
I won’t get too much into details, as we almost did exactly the same things like the previous year. Naxos is very cozy, due to its long pedestrian area. The strip is packed with restaurants and bars, and parallel to the main road you have an old town area behind the front buildings. Nothing really spectacular to take photos of. The main parts to film would be the Old Town, the sunset at the harbor and the Portara (the temple of Apollo). And from the Avaton Bar, you get a splendid view all over the Island. Naxos is a great island, for families, to walk through the tiny alleys, do some window shopping, enjoy the weather with great food and some bottles of wine. It’s not trendy or hip like Mykonos, even though Naxos attracts a lot of tourists, but also many greek tourists.
We had two fantastic dinners at the following restaurants:
520 Cocktail Bar Restaurant (with a view at the harbor)
Apostolis (beautifully hidden and decorated with hanging lanterns)
Food was excellent on both occasions.
The hotel where we stayed at was called “Saint George Hotel”. It was a lovely but basic hotel, with the usual greek touch: white walls, some greek decoration. We were offered a bottle of housemade wine on our arrival (it was pretty bad, but we liked the gesture of the owner). Free cookies as well. The best part was the location, as we had a direct view to the beach in front of our room. The ocean was only meters away. Definitely one of the coziest hotels we’ve ever stayed at in Greece, considering the location, and its view once you step out of the room.
Paros.
It would be our third time in Paros, and still it wouldn’t disappoint. The location and the food are hard to beat. This year we stayed again at the Riviere Residence, with its lovely hosts Mina & Emma. Their guest house has the perfect location, comes with an almost private swimming pool (we were the only ones using it), and the breakfast is the best!
Actually this time we wouldn’t discover something new. It was crazy warm, approximately 38°. We enjoyed the family time in the pool, had some naps, enjoyed the views at the harbor, did some shopping, and worshiped the Greek food, we were craving for.
Paros is becoming more crowded from year to year… it’s obvious that such a beautiful place attracts the crowds. Especially the younger generation. At night it gets crazy busy, but until 19:00 in the evening, it still remains pretty quiet and peaceful.
We managed to convince our family about the beauty and hospitality of Greece. For my parents it was something new, they sadly discovered it too late in their life, how to jump from country to country, from island to island without any hassle. Vanessa’s parents they do have the travel bug, and have been to quite a few countries, but nevertheless they enjoyed Greek as much as we did.
