Paros, Greece is Awsome!!!

This will be a long one… On Sunday I was planning to take Tones to Hillsong and was looking forward to our last full day in London. I noticed it was July 2 and thought the date sounded familiar, so I just thought I’d check the tickets for the Greece flights and thank goodness I did!! Instead of leaving Monday like I thought, we were supposed to leave Sunday instead! I’m soooooo glad I checked in the morning, it would’ve been a nightmare to miss both flights! So we had no time to go to Hillsong, we immediately started packing and I had to clear out my whole room since Gareth was getting a new flatmate later that day! I packed a suitcase to bring with me and left a bunch of stuff at Gareth’s. Once we were packed, we said bye to Gareth and went out for a lunch up the road at a tapas bar called Tapeo and headed for the tube to Liverpool Street Station to catch a train to Stansted. It was another scorcher, even hotter than the previous day! No air-conditioning anywhere till we got to the airport.

We landed in Athens at about midnight. We had about a 6 hour wait till our flight to Paros at 6:30am so we grabbed a seat at a cafe and watched an episode of 24 on my laptop and then tried to have a nap. Later, we moved to a different area and I went to sleep on the floor (below) while Tones stayed up and watched the luggage (what a gentleman). Finally it was time for our flight and it was on a very small plane and took about 25 mins.



We landed in Paros at the very small airport. We were both excited since Tony hasn’t been home in 2 years! Tony’s parents met us there (both very nice!) I had briefly met Tony’s mom about a year before while she was in Canada which was good. Tony’s dad seems really nice but there is a language barrier (he doesn’t speak much English and I don’t speak much Greek – hopefully that’ll change!) We drove to their house and on the way I finally got to see what Paros was like after hearing about it and looking it up on the net and on Google Earth. It was greener than I had imagined and it’s very hilly and bigger than I thought. It’s soooo beautiful! Crystal clear blue waters, white cube houses in the hills, blue and white domed churches.

Their house it really nice, on a mountain in a valley over looking the main city of Parikia. Tony has relatives living nearby too all within walking distance. We had some great food when we arrived (Tony’s dad grows their veggies in a garden, makes his own olive oil, and cooks his own chickens and uses their eggs). I’ll be eating very well! After getting set up and unpacked we went out to try Tony’s motorcycle (the main way he gets around here). He got the hang of it again and I tried it out too! Then of course he had to take me for a ride. Below: view from patio, kitchen, and living room



After the test ride, we put on our bathing suits and got back on the bike and headed to one of the beaches. On the way we met Tony’s yia yia (grandma). She’s so cute! She speaks no English, so I couldn’t say much but hopefully I can one day. The bike ride was soooo nice! I can definitely get used to getting around the island that way!

He took me to a nice little beach with only a few others around (this one wasn’t a touristy beach). We went swimming and suntanned for a couple hours. The water was refreshing, not to warm or too cold, perfect on a hot day! I have to get used to the salt water though, I’m so used to swimming in lakes.



We headed home and said hi to some of Tony’s uncles and aunts and had a short visit with his grandparents. Then we had dinner and went to bed.

M