It’s Still Hot

Here are a few observations on the heat lately. It’s ridiculously hot but I’d rather have it like this than rainy or cold so I can’t complain (too much!)

-Right now I’m at work and my back and butt are sticking to my chair
-I have a piece of cardboard on my desk to use as a fan
-I burn my butt every time I sit on my black motorbike seat
-riding the motorbike is like riding into a blowtorch flame
-you break into a sweat even when standing in the shade
-inside the house is about 35 degrees
-outside, it’s reached into the 40’s
-people have died in Athens because of the heat
-you can’t do anything to feel cool or refreshed besides swimming
- cold showers are a must (or at least lukewarm because I have no cold water)
-can’t sleep with anything on top, sheets are too hot
-I have to keep my hair up all the time because it’ll just stick to my neck (nice)

What else? I’ve been working from 8-2 and then about 6-9 so it’s been pretty busy. In-between the 2 shifts, Tones and I head to the beaches. Too bad I have to work double shifts while Tony is here. He leaves on Wed and I think next week my work will be back to normal hours

….oh I just found out I only have to work till 2 today and that’s it! My bosses are the best! More “Tony time” for me, lol!

M

Heat Wave

We are experiencing a heat wave right now and I’m soooo not used to it! Yesterday, Tony and I went to the island of Antiparos for the day and it was one of the hottest days so far; it was about 38-40 degrees and on the bike it seriously felt like being in front of a huge blow dryer! It was a fun trip though. We went to a huge cave on the island which was so cool! You go down these little steep stairs all through it and there are mineral formations and the odd graffiti from others who’ve visited it including a former King of Greece. Christmas Mass was held there in 1673. It’s a pretty well know cave and I can see why. It was refreshing too, a lot cooler than outside. After the cave we headed to a beach and later, had coffee at a cafe in the harbour then headed home.

Last week I worked my butt off and had to come into work in the evenings and for a while on Saturday. I hope this week won’t be as busy, we’ll see.

Oh and here are some pics of when we went to Hohlaka for a swim on Saturday. There is a small water cave there which is kinda cool. We also went “hunting” for “chinese hats” (I don’t know their real name!)

M

Summer is Definitely Here

I’ll try to make this quick because I’m so busy at work right now. This week is the deadline for an island business directory that our company makes every year, so I’m busy working on a ton of ads for it.

I haven’t seen Tony in almost 2 months since around Easter (well there was that one short visit on Samos for a few hours but that doesn’t count – too short). Well, last night, I was talking to Tony on the phone and told him I was going to bed soon and he said “What? You’re not picking me up in 2 hours?” It took a moment to register but yes, was on his way over!!! I didn’t think I’d see him till sometime in July! So I picked him up at around 1am last night.

Today, I worked till 2 then had a few hours off to go with Tones to Martzelo Beach and bake in the sun and swim. Now I’m back at work for who knows how long.

The weather has been amazing the last 2 weeks! Summer is definitely here (high 20’s/low 30’s). On the weekend, I lazed around the whole time at the beaches at Monastiraki Beach Club and Punda Beach Club; both fun places to people watch.

I’ve gotta go, too much to do! Oh and Tony is here for a record 17 days so I’ll be seeing lots of him even though work is really busy. This is the last time off he gets till he’s out but once this visit is over, he only has about a month left. Not bad at all!

M

Everyone's Wearing Helmets

Pretty recently, there have been new laws passed about helmet usage here. Now, if you get caught without a helmet, you get a fine of over 300euro and the second time it happens, you get your license suspended; yikes! This past week, I have never seen so many people wearing helmets as they are now; which is a good thing especially since it’s getting busier. I mainly wore my helmet to keep me warm in winter but now I wear it most of the time. I’m not looking forward to when it gets ridiculously hot out though and having to bring it to the beach and carry it around; annoying! Oh well, I’d rather do that, than get a hefty fine I guess.

M

Work and Beach

Paul left last week on Wednesday. He went to Santorini for two nights and loved it. He should be in London now. My parents are in San Remo right now and are heading to their England part of the trip soon. I’ve cleaned-up my place and it’s back to normal here again. It seemed like their visit just flew by! I’ll see them again in a few months though when I come home.

Lately it’s been very busy at work; I have a ton of jobs to do! I didn’t get a full weekend, I worked most of Sat. But yesterday was a great day full of relaxation, sun, and sea.

My boss Michalis invited me to come on his boat with his wife, daughter, and sister (visiting from Athens). I met them around noon at a port in town and we hopped on their little boat and headed to a beach called Krios. A new cafe was built their which just opened and they know the owner, so they wanted to see it. It was very nice! There were tables and chairs on the little concrete dock and it was covered in a straw roof.

We lazed around on the beach chairs and went swimming – soooo refreshing! We played some volleyball in the water and I got a nice tan! After a few hours of the beach, we had lunch at the cafe. It was really good food; it just took awhile because it was only the second day the kitchen was open.

When we were about to leave, a huge sail boat came into the harbour, so we did a circle around it to see it up close and headed back. Below: one of my bosses (Michalis) with his sister on the left and wife Natasha on the right, me and their daughter checking out the sailboat.

I really want to see Tony. It’s been over a month and a half since he’s been here and it may be another month till he can come! :( Today, he has exactly 2 months left, though, not too bad! He’s still based on Samos and last week he was transferred to a different town to work in an Army restaurant. Everyone wants to work there because it’s slack and you get good food, your own room, and lots of time off. He likes it better than the base but it gets boring. It’ll be soooooo great when he’s done and finished with it!

Oh, one last little thing. I took a pic of my fridge because I thought it was kinda funny. Markos has given me a bunch of fresh produce from the garden and a ton of eggs! (there is also a bucket of potatoes not pictured). So I'm eating really healthy right now and notice that I have a bunch of energy too! I'm going to keep eating a ton of veggies, energy is good.

M

Mykonos Weekend

Our weekend trip to Mykonos seemed longer than just one night and it was fun! When we arrived at Paradise Beach Hotel, we checked in and were shown to our little wooden beach hut or shack. The area is like a big commune with huts, tents, rooms, camping space, cafes, bars, and a market. It was a perfect cheap place to stay for a night. Our hut was very small with two little beds and a night stand in-between. There was a communal bathroom with showers a short walk away.



As soon as we dropped our stuff off, we walked the 100m to the beach. Soooooo, nice! We spent the day just sun tanning, swimming, people watching, and we ordered frappes and gyros. Along the beach are a few cafes, bars, and a beach shop. Part of the beach seemed to be dedicated to naked people who happened to all be over 60, so we tried to not look in that direction! There were jet skis and things like that to rent but they were expensive; about €30 for 15 mins, no thanks!



Later in the day, we took a bus into Mykonos Town and looked around the market streets and stopped in a little cafe for a drink and some yummy crepes.



In the evening we wanted to go out and see what the night life was like so we had a nap, woke up at 1ish and walked 10mins to a nearby club right on a cliff overlooking the water. When we got there, it was pretty dead. We stayed till about 3:30am and there were more people but no one was dancing so we left. When I woke up, I could still hear the music pumping till about 8am! We talked to some others and apparently, it did get busy but the peak time was at about 6am, not exactly what we’re used to! We’ll know better for next time!

Oh also, at night when I was trying to sleep, I could hear the buzzing of mosquitoes around my head so I had to pull the sheet completely over my head. There was a space between the door and the floor so that's probably how they got in.

On Sunday, we had our free breakfast at one of the beachfront cafes and relaxed on the beach till we had to catch the bus back into town and to the port. We met a bunch of Canadians on the way back who were on the same ferry as us. Some were even from Naniamo and Vancouver (usually the Canadians I meet are from the east side of Canada).

And that was that! Short but sweet. Mykonos is definitely a nice island and a lot of fun. I’m back at work now and Paul just left for Santorini this morning. He’ll be back probably Wednesday sometime. I can hardly wait to go home today and CLEAN! It’s so messy in there! My place isn’t made for more than one person, it’s just too small and there isn’t much storage space. Also, Markos gave me a whole bag-full of veggies (tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini), a bucket of potatoes, and a ton of eggs all from the property so I’m going to make some good eats. I’ve eaten like a pig the past week because Paul buys chips and things that I don’t usually have around and we’ve gone out for crepes and souvlaki - no more, now I'll try to finish the bag of veggies before they go bad.

I guess that’s it for now. I haven’t heard from my parents about their trip; they won’t email till they get home. I think they are probably near San Remo?

M

Week with my Bro and Next Trip

This week flew by! Today (Sat), I’m at work because it’s crazy busy but Paul and I are leaving on the 12 noon ferry for Mykonos, so I’ll just work for a few hours then leave.

Paul has been hitting up the beaches all week and I'm not sure if he knows what sunscreen is because he’s ridiculously dark! After I’m finished work, we usually meet up and either go out for coffee, to another beach, watch a movie, and I took him to the Marathi Caves and we went all through them with one of Markos’ lanterns.



Next week, Paul plans to go to Santorini on Monday and maybe from there, he’ll go to Ios and then back. He’ll have to leave for Athens on Thurs to catch his flight to London.

Yesterday, I booked my next flight and it was a very spur of the moment decision. I was planning on going to Poland but decided on Barcelona, Spain instead! I didn’t want to go at first because it’ll be in Aug and really hot, but I’m sure it’ll be cooler than here and there are beaches nearby just in case. It was also one of the cheapest flights I could get for high season (€ 160.00) without going to cities I’ve already been to. I’ve also booked accommodation at a cool new hostel right in the Passeig de Gracia area. So, I’m looking forward to that (Aug 3 -7)!

Paul and I will stay the night in Mykonos tonight right near Paradise Beach in wooden beach huts, so it should be interesting!

M

Weekend with the Fam

My fam arrived Friday afternoon and I thought they had missed the ferry because all these people were piling off and no family in sight. They kept trailing off for about 5-10 mins before I finally saw them (the ferry was completely packed). It was so weird to see them! Linda was with me to pick them up and she drove them to our place and I followed on my bike.

Over the weekend and Monday we did many things! Unfortunately, for 2 of the 4 days, it was pretty cloudy and there were a few showers but the other days were hot and sunny and I think all 3 of them got very dark in a short time.

The first day was a little rainy so we rented a small car and just drove around the island, stopping at points of interest like Lefkes, Naoussa, Piso Livadi, and my workplace. In Lefkes, the rain stopped so we went for a nice walk around the village. Next was Naoussa where we stoped and I had them all try a Greek frappe (you have to if you’re over here!). It was relaxing just sitting and chatting on the patio of the cafe over looking the harbour. The sun came out at that time too which was great. For dinner we stopped at the little town of Piso Livadi on the south side of the island. We ate at a little restaurant with a table right on the water. The portions were huge and the food was delicious!!! We had Greek salads, souvlakis, veal, fried eggplant, and red wine.

After all that we also had time to drive up a pointed hill that has a great view over a lot of the island and a church at the top. There were a few sharp hairpin turns but with the little car, they were doable. We took a bunch of pics and explored. In the evening, we walked around the market streets of Paroikia and soon they were getting tired from jetlag, so we headed home.

On Sat, we had some pastries and Nescafe for breakie in the AM. We traded the car in for 2 scooters instead since the weather was hot and sunny now. We split up for a bit because I had to go into work and they took off for a ride on the scooters. In a few hours they popped by my work and we all decided to meet at Haniotis for lunch (a great place for burgers) because I still had a few things to finish up.

We had lunch and headed home to change for the beach. Mom ended up staying home and relaxing while I took Paul and dad to Kolimbithres Beach. I wanted to take them to the most striking beach and this one is pretty cool with interesting rock formations along the beach and in the water. The water was very nice and wasn’t hard to get into at all; it was noticeably warmer than a few weeks ago when I first tried it out.

In the evening, Tony’s parent’s invited us all up for dinner. It’s always a little nerve racking when your parents and boyfriend’s parents meet and hangout for the first time but everyone got along well! Markos and Linda made great food as usual and we all tried a few Greek drinks including my “foot wine” that I helped make in Sept, Metaxa, and ouzo. We ate roasted chicken, stuffed tomatoes and peppers, Greek salad, baby potatoes, homemade tzatziki, pita, homemade cream cheese, and dessert. We were all stuffed by the time we headed to bed at around midnight.

On Sunday, we went on a one-day cruise to Delos and Mykonos which I had booked earlier in the week. It was a hot sunny day and the ferry ride over was so relaxing. Once we arrived at Delos we wandered around for 3 hours. Delos is uninhabited and is full of ruins that are thousands of years old. There are paths you can take around the old cities and a little museum too. In the center of the island is a small mountain that you can climb up and get a great view of the whole island and surrounding islands. Dad, Paul, and I headed up it in the boiling sun while mom stayed below.

Next was Mykonos (right next to Delos). What a cool island! It’s known as the “party island” and I could definitely see why. It was full of people and most of them seemed to be under 30. It was a fun place to people watch.

We just stayed in Mykonos Town and wandered around the pretty market streets and had lunch near the water. It’s definitely pricier then the other islands, I guess because it’s so touristy. Paul really liked it (hot girls everywhere, lol).

On the way back we pretty much fell asleep on the ferry. We walked so much and it was soooooooo hot and sunny all day. Back at home we had a relaxing night and watched a movie.

Monday was a bit of a let down. We were planning on going to the beach for a swim but it ended up being cloudy and there was rain on and off for most of the day. We all went to Hotel Nikolas to use the internet on my comp for a bit and had coffee. Afterwards, I took them to the main church on the island, called the Church of 100 Doors and we looked around while it poured. Once the rain stopped a little we headed to Zorba’s near the port for some souvlakis (my favorite place to get those, sooo good!).

In the afternoon, Paul and dad took off for a long ride and I stayed home with mom to watch a movie, drink tea and just relax. We both hate going out in bad weather.

In the evening, mom and dad packed and we all went upstairs to have dinner with Markos and Linda again. They made moussaka this time and it was soooo good! My stomach hurt after because it was soo full of food. We hung out up there until it was time for mom and dad to catch their midnight ferry to Athens. We all said our good-byes and headed home to sleep.

They flew out yesterday from Athens to Venice and will continue around Italy and up to England. My bro is still here and will leave around June 7. We are going to go to Mykonos again next weekend and stay the night, so that should be fun!

M