Our 9th Greek island

Wednesday, 11 April

This morning, while I was still in bed, everybody in my class started school! Mom and dad decided to take us out of school for three days so I begin next week Monday. The only problem with missing school is that you have to catch up all the work :( Luckily my friend, Rebecca, is writing down all the work I miss.

I read in bed for a long time, until Ash came and asked me if I would like to feed Hurki with her. We put down the bread in a little pile, but he wouldn't eat it (mom thinks that somebody else fed him first) After standing there, hoping he would eat, we gave up. We decided that, unlike Hurki, we were hungry and so went inside and had breakfast. Dad had made fruit salad, which we ate with really thick Greek yogurt (Oma would love it!) I also had some toast.

The weather was much better: sunny with a cool breeze. We could hardly believe this was the same island as yesterday! Everyone was very glad because we wanted to go over to Anti-Paros (the island right next to Paros) and explore. We got into the car and drove down to the tiny port, where you catch a ferry across. We were taking the car on with us, so dad had to reverse it onto the boat. There was a very agitated director, who was telling us where to park. Once we had parked, Ash decided to stay in the car, but mom, dad and me went out onto the balcony on the side. It is only about 10 minutes across and I really enjoyed the ride. We reached the island and managed to drive off without any difficulty.

Ferry

Anti-Paros is a very pretty island. We drove down the road until we reached a secluded beach and there we stayed for about two hours. Ashlyn played in the puddles, Mom and Dad relaxed in between the sand dunes and I read. I also played with Ash a bit. We decided to eat some lunch because we were peckish. This morning dad had made chicken rolls. They contained the leftover chicken from my pie, rosa tomatoes, cucumber and tzatziki. They were so good! We stayed another 20 minutes after lunch because we were all really enjoying the beach.

Antiparos

Walking down to the beach

Me reading on the seat I constructed from sand

Ash playing in puddles

Chicken rolls

Then we drove up to the Cave of Antiparos. The guidebook says it is amazing, with breathtaking stalactites and stalagmites. When we got there it was closed! A sign said it was open until 3 o clock and we arrived at about 3:30. We were all so disappointed. There was only a tiny wall separating us from the cave so mom hopped over, just to go see what we were missing. She could only see a tiny part because you had to go down into the cave by stairs and they were also closed. Me and Ash also went over to have a look.

Closed :(

The rebel!

Steps down into the cave

We were all sad, but we did get an amazing view of the island. We even heard goat bells clanging as the goats climbed up a hill. We decided to drive to a little town, where we walked around and looked across to another island inhabited only by a shepherd and his goats! Then we drove back to the town where we had to catch the ferry. We bought an ice-cream and ate it overlooking the harbor.

Ash enjoying her huge chocolate ice-cream

We caught the ferry back and then relaxed at home. We had sundowners on the patio: Melba toast with tzatziki, feta and cucumber. I went and explored the property some more and then came back and bought myself a book on Mom's Kindle (for the flight back home)

We went out for dinner in Paroikia (the main town- where we arrived from Santorini) I ate lamb kleftiko, which is a lamb stew with potatoes and fried cheese. It was delicious. They brought us complimentary ice-cream, which none of us wanted because a) it was too cold and b) we were so full. I did try some though and it was actually very nice. We drove back home and I went to bed.

The unwanted ice-cream (which was really yummy!)