The world is annoying me

How to choose where to go in Greece

When Kiwi Squeeze and I decided to go on holiday to a Greek island a couple of months ago, we used a combination of web research, literature and good old verbal communication to help us decide where to go, this actually amounting to quite a lot of work.

Let’s see… First there was my insistence on finding somewhere to stay put with both beaches and nature walks near by, and his insistence on a bit of a night life plus the option of island hopping. Contradicting requirements you say? Hmmm, I managed to win that argument using the ancient all powerful feminine weapon of being very quiet for a whole evening, which I only use in extreme cases.
Step two: where is the perfect location to enjoy a quiet summer holiday with sea, sand, and nature walks?

Squeezie made a big effort to read the Lonely Planet book cover to cover, and singled out a handful of options. This put us in the right direction. We then asked around and spent a few additional hours on the web reading reviews written by Greek island enthusiasts, and finally we came to a mutual agreement:Naxos.

Before we go on with my recommendations etc. I just want to make it clear:Naxosis beautiful and we had the best possible holiday. We loved every minute. And as the web was an important part of being able to achieve this little miracle, I wish to share our acquired knowledge with fellow humans who might be planning a holiday right now. Enough with all this taking and taking, time to give something back.

Travelling to and from Naxos.

Tickets through Ryan Air from Gatwick to Athenscost us around £250 each (early June 2011 flights). There is one flight per day from Athensto Naxos, but unfortunately we left it until the week before our holiday, and by that time there were no seats left.
We decided to take the ferry instead – a fast daily service leavesPiraeus port at 07:30 am heading for the islands of Paros,Naxos and Santorini. It takes around five hours to get toNaxos.

When we arrived in Athens, we made our way to Piraeus. It’s about 1.5 hours commute, but unfortunately we made the mistake of asking the guy at the Information counter at the airport about which route to take, and received the wrong information (a recurring phenomenon in Athens). We managed to get lost on the overground, and eventually got to Piraeus3 hours later. Tired and annoyed. Oops.
Piraeus is filthy, ran down and by no means representative of the rest ofAthens, which is beautiful. My suitcase suffered a great deal by the state of the pavements and roads ofPiraeus, with broken slabs and big cracks everywhere. Street signage wasn’t great either, so we wondered around dragging suitcases in heavy traffic for half an hour before reaching the hotel.

Piraeus Dream Hotel is clean and reasonably priced at 70 EUR per night. Breakfast is another 5 EUR pp and is simple, so don’t expect to dine like kings. You make your own toast…
Not far from the hotel is a hub of criminal activity and hard drug addicts’ hangout. Not for the faint hearted, although you’re quite safe going in and out of the hotel during the day.

As tired as we were that first night inAthenswe went out for dinner in an area recommended by a Greek colleague of mine, called Castela and about ten minutes drive from the port (4 EUR taxi). It’s a beautiful piece of shore surrounded by inhabited hills looking out to sea. There’s a wealth of restaurants and bars here, but choice was simplified for us by our taxi driver who recommended a place on the water called Zorbass. The waiter was very nice and introduced us to exciting and expensive fresh sea dishes of the day, for example, lobster for 80 Euro etc. We ordered our first Ouzo of the trip and settled for a pasta dish and risotto dish, both being outside the restaurant’s seafood speciality and cheaper than most dishes on the menu, so we suspected the waiter was disappointed and would stop looking after us. We also ordered a recommended dish of fried calamari as a starter. The waiter did not stop looking after us, and in fact he even gave us a couple more plates of starters, which we didn’t quite know how to take. As it turns out, food and drink establishments inGreecetake pride in being good hosts and will spoil their customers if they can.

Early in the following morning we boarded the ferry. Five hours of wind, sun and sea helped kick start the holiday feeling for the first time after a tiring beginning. By this stage I started wondering about the milk inGreece, as it was the third cup of coffee I had had with what appeared to be pasteurised milk. Yuk. Yes, it’s the only milk they serve with coffee.

The first views of the islands were breathtaking, and as soon as we set eyes on the sea front ofNaxoswe knew we chose well. Beautiful.

Naxos

Our host from Villa Naxia was supposed to pick us up from the port, but thought we were arriving the following morning. He was mortified and paid for our taxi. We drove through a maze of narrow streets, white washed one-story houses on each side, all well cared for and blossoming with early summer potted flowers.
Following our host Nikos up the stairs to the second floor (we were upgraded to a room with a sea facing balcony), was exciting and as we entered our flat we felt at home at once. I loved the simple decor, big cream floor tiles, all white marble surfaces… Like the way you’d imagine things to have looked like in ancientGreece.

We unpacked quickly and went out to explore. It was around one o’clock on a Saturday afternoon and the whole town seemed deserted! Wonderful, we hit the island on the very first week of the summer season, and for the first couple of days we were almost completely the only tourists around.

That day was a bit of a write-off as far as my energy levels go. But I do remember eating good healthy food (great kebab place near the promenade), and sleeping well. Nikos was kind enough to warn us about mosquitoes so we stuck those tablets in the wall and the place was bug-free. The beds at Vila Naxia are no five star, but comfortable enough. There’s also a lovely cleaner that tidies up every day so it really is a very convenient self accommodation option.

Part Two: a quicker summary of the rest of the trip

Following your holiday whims on the island is easy. Breakfast made in our own kitchen and eaten out on the balcony is pure bliss. Followed by sun bathing on the beach with a book, swimming, walking to the next beach, eating a sandwich on the sand, sun bathing, swimming, walking to the next beach, swimming, taking the bus back to Vila Naxia, changing, going out for a stroll in the old town (beautiful), dinner in Mezze 2 (recommended), drink somewhere and home to bed, relaxed, with healthily growing tan lines.

One morning we rented a car for about 35 EUR, and drove to the mountains. Many small villages are scattered around: Halki boasts a great little cafe where we had the tastiest orange cake, in Filoti we ate spinach and feta filo pastries, and in Appolonos we had a swim in our underwear (what did we eat there? I don’t remember). Some villages bustle with local traders and women doing their domestic shopping, some are near deserted. In one such lonesome bay (Lionas) we got out of the car to admire the pebbled shore, and were waved at by a couple sat outside an empty restaurant looking down at the beach. We waved back, got into the car and drove off slightly freaked out. It’s stressful being the only tourist around.
The narrow, twirling roads which I found rather sickly, gave Kiwi Sqweeze a chance to prove his driving superpowers, and somehow we managed to get back with just enough petrol.

The island’s terrain with its rocks, plants and white washed small structures, is much closer to the type you’d find in the north ofIsraelthan inWest London, and it felt good to fill my lungs with those familiar smells of nature at every opportunity.

Squeezie gave me a book called The Magus by John Fowles – set in the 60′s in a Greek island very similar toNaxos, full of suspense, full of riddles. And so full ofGreece. My entire experience of this country will forever be entangled with the mysteries of that book.

Back in Athens we stayed at an area full of character and colour, called Xachia – this is where the students live and it’s packed with cafes and bars for world changing young scholars, apathetic rockers and angry activists. The whole of Xachia is covered in graffiti, and some fabulously good examples of it too. We walked to the Acropolis at night, hang out in Demonstration Square, breathed in the air of hotdogs and furious youth and even stumbled upon an open air cinema where we watched a late night screening of the British film IF, in English with subtitles, perfect. Athensis very cool.

On the way to the airport to board our flight back toLondon, the sky turned grey, clouds gathered and it rained heavily. But we had all of that wet stuff waiting for us at home so we weren’t sad to have just missed it!Greecewas sunny,Greecewas warm and tasty, hectic and relaxing, filthy and marble-clean. I’d love to go back some day.