A cold, blustery day in Paros

Tuesday, 10 April

The guest-blogger is at it again. The invitation came because I suspect some blogger fatigue may be setting in with Nics. That, and the fact that today was the coldest, windiest, nastiest day of our entire trip and memorable mainly for that fact.

Monday night the rain and wind started in earnest, although by this morning it had cleared again somewhat. We are really relaxed after a couple of weeks on the Greek Isles, so we seem to be waking up later and later. I thought I'd spoil everyone with some tea in bed, and then Nicole and I played a game of backgammon. Being on the last stretch of holiday, we are now in "finish off the groceries mode", so we finished off mushrooms, bacon and eggs. The weather suited an English breakfast -Mmmmmm!

We pottered around a bit more and only got going after midday. The plan was to head into the mountains and see Lefkes, which the DK Guidebook describes as a "charming little mountain hamlet." We've really enjoyed driving around the island with its lovely scenery on all sides. The vegetation is interesting--low scrub which is almost fynbos like, with a lot of colour in it from the spring flowers. Today the mountains were dark and brooding with the sun occasionally lighting up the foreground. Pretty!

In medieval times Lefkes was the capital of the island, but we discovered that on a rainy day in the low season, it is rather dead. The houses, on narrow, winding roads, are really cute, but we hardly saw a soul, and the restaurants with incredible views onto the valleys below were all closed. Lucky for us we had taken to heart another one of our mottos for the holiday - YOU NEVER KNOW - and had come prepared. After a short walk through the town, we ate some pre-packed snacks in our car in the Lefkes parking lot.

Lefkes' pretty streets

View from a closed restaurant balcony

We drove past the ancient marble quarries (last used for Napoleon's tomb) and reached the capital, Parikia (or Paroikia, depending on which map you refer to). By now the weather had turned outright nasty. Not only was it rainy and windy, it was also cold. Bundled up in our raincoats, we walked along the seaboard and watched a bit of the regatta that was happening in the bay, feeling particularly sorry for the sailors. We even saw one boat being pulled back to shore after capsizing, and it sounds like it's quite a serious competition between the islands, so these guys aren't amateurs.

We couldn't face the elements any longer and darted in to a little restaurant in the hopes of finding a cappuccino to warm us up. But, no such luck. Our options were the cold coffees that the Greeks love so much or their Greek/Turkish coffee that has the consistency of mud. Even tea was a problem -they only had vanilla flavored.

Thawing out

Anyway, at least we thawed out again on a plate of French fries and a spinach pie before heading out into the cold again. Even a lot of Parikia's shops were closed (we couldn't decide if this was due to the weather/low season or the fact that it was siesta time). So no last minute souvenir shopping for us. We did, however, find the very beautiful Byzantine church called "The church of a Hundred doors." It is the oldest church in Greece in continuous use, and the legend goes that when they find the 100th door/window, Constantinople (Istanbul) will return to the Greeks.

Church of a Hundred Doors

Back at our apartment, various family members piled up under blankets, made coffee, read, played backgammon or had hot baths. Kostas popped in to offer his sincere apologies about the weather (which he claims is worse than they normally have in mid winter) and to have a long chat about our thoughts on Greece and the state of the Greek economy. The caretaker also popped in with heaters, which are roaring away as I write.

Roy made soup and pasta for dinner, and we played a new card game, called Bango (amazing what you do when there's no TV). All in all, it's been a rather cozy day...but we are hoping the weather improves, so we can get the kids on to the beach one more time before we hit the SA winter.

Note Roy's very Greek looking salad