We started today early, way too early - I'm talking before 5am and I had already been awake tossing and turning since 12am. I think my late afternoon siestas, albeit brief, plus jet lag are still interefering with a good night's rest.
We grabbed a very quick breakfast at the hotel - most of the items from yesterday werent available (due to the ugly earliness of our need, lol). I was surprised to see so many people taking the same bus as us to the port for our ferry.
We had a brief few minutes of anxiety when we still hadn't received our ferry tickets for one of our trips, but thankfully at the very last minute (actually a few minutes late) our air transat guide showed up, confirmed the bus and gave us our needed tickets. We stopped at a few other hotels to pick up other guests heading to th port. When we got there, it was quite busy, but we had no issue getting on or loading our luggage. We found our seats (after realizing there was assigned seating) and settled in for the journey. The ferry itself was really quite big, holding loads and loads of people. It was going to three different islands (Mykanos, Naxos, Santorini). We sat in a foursome with a small table between, more comfortable than those sitting in airplane fashion. The seats were comfortable and there was lots of room. There were two decks; the upper for the "club class", which I assume was first class. We sat with a woman who spoke Greek and a girl about my age named Shannon. She is from Oklahoma This was her 3rd time to Greece. We chatted a bit before retreating to our headphones. Jeff and I each took a gravol for motion sickness, just in case, and we felt fine. I had a nap. Jeff said he watched people fall all over the place trying to walk when the boat was quite rocky. He said it looked like Oktoberfest!! lol.
We stopped at Mykanos first. The transition from passengers off to new ones on was really efficient. An hour (about 11am or so) later we arrived to Naxos. When we got off the boat we had thought we were looking for an air transat person, however quickly realized that wasn't the case when we saw a man holding a typed piece of paper with "Litt" on it! That was funny and something Jeff nor I had experienced before. He took us to our hotel, Naxos Magic Village. It is about 10 minutes away from the port. It looks a little old but it sure has charm and the view from our room is spectacular - overlooking the ocean, beach, and town. It really is something to see. I'm guessing we have a premium room as not all have this view. It pays to come during the mid-season versus during the summer! We've barely seen anyone here.
We unpacked, got changed and called for a taxi to take us to town. We could have rented a car, 4 wheeler or mo-ped but after seeing how close the taxi drivers drive to one another, we decided against it. The parking itself would have been tough too without anyone really following any rules, lol.
We wandered through the town, eventually finding a castle area that housed a Catholic Church that is still used regularly, and a dilapetated tower. It wasnt really all that much to see. We then walked along the street near the water that had many restaurants and souvenir shops geared to tourists. We stopped for ice cream, which was delicious! Jeff had caramel and I had nutella.
We walked until we could see the temple of Apollo - which was started and never completed, and then cabbed it back to our hotel. The downside to being so far from town is the taxi fare as there aren't any restaurants, etc. near us. The hotel has a restaurant which is where we will have dinner.
We spent the afternoon at the pool; only one other person was there with us. It has been very quiet here. The sound of the ocean is our background noise, which is lovely. The sun was hot but the breeze cool so it was perfect for some R&R. We then headed back for a snack and to chill out berfore dinner. Our view is beautiful but chilly since the sun has moved. I had to put a sweater on!
We had dinner at the hotel restaurant as it would cost us 10€ each way to go to town. We each got a kebab, which was a huge ground meat patty (like a homemade hamburger patty but longer) on top of a pita and on the side was fries, tomato, onion and tzatziki. It was all very good, although we weren't sure how to eat it; did we pick it up like a wrap? Use knife and fork? It was messy but we ate it with our hands. It was a lot of food and we were full when done. Then the waitress brought us ice cream; I tried to say I'm so full and she replied with, "it's just ice cream", lol. We ate a few bites and then paid. It was much cheaper than going to town and we are satisfied, if not slightly uncomfortably full!
So far we've really enjoyed the pitas, gyros, tzatziki, yogurt, spanokopita and ice cream. I have yet to have mousakka and look forward to trying it when I can!
We're now in bed at 8:36pm - that's what happens when you're up ridiculously early. We were able to get wi-fi, which we didn't think they would have, so that was a really nice surprise - I get to write to you!
Jeff's found a fishing show (in Greek of course) to watch. Yes, despite our quaint room, we still have a flatscreen TV, lol. So far, we've been able to watch Mike and Molly as well as Two and a Half Men in English before bed. Huzzah!
Tomorrow we are heading to the beach for most of the day and looking forward to some ocean swimming.
Hope all is well on the other side of the pond!
With love,
Amanda and Jeff xo
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