April 29: Amorgos: Tholaria

The storm eased overnight. It hasn't completely passed - it's still windy and cool - but it's sunnier.

I woke up hungry around 4:30am. I drank a bottle of water and managed to get back to sleep, but I woke up at 7:30am and got to the hotel restaurant around 8:00am to partake of the brekkie buffet.

There is an event this weekend called the "Amorgos Trail Challenge" and Hotel Vigla is full of extremely fit trail runners. They arrived on the Blue Star at 2:00am this morning and they were already up and at the hotel restaurant slamming brekkie when I got there. They all piled into minivans at 9:30am to drive down to Aegiali to get a fishing boat to Nikouria Island, where there is a race from the beach to a checkpoint at the peak of the island, then back down to the beach. I don't know how long it is, but the race description says there is no path - you have to find your own way up the hill to the checkpoint! Crazy.

Kit arrived around 8:30am and joined me at my table. We chatted until 11:00am, when she had to leave to go pack up, check out, and transfer to the other hotel. I decided to explore Tholaria and set off up the steps - because Tholaria is all steps!

I believe this is the Church of Agion Anargiron:

In the picture below you can see donkey saddles. They are not riding saddles, per se. Instead, the locals lash loads to them. They may ride atop the load.

Below is a picture of the cafe where I bought a couple of beers my first night at the hotel:

On the way back to the hotel I stopped at Choreftís Cafe / Pantopoleío Restaurant and bought snacks and beverages. It had a much larger selection to choose from, but was still set up like a living room, with a couple of old men smoking and drinking coffee and watching TV, while an old woman peeled vegetables in a kitchen in the back. It was so dark that I couldn't see anything. The owners noticed me squinting and the old woman came out and flicked a light switch. Voila! There was a whole mini market in the back that had not been visible in the darkness. I covertly took a picture.

I wish I could have taken a picture of the front, where the men were sitting and the old woman was preparing vegetables, but it seemed rude to try to Instragram their semi-private space.

April 28: Amorgos

It stormed all night. Strangely, I always sleep heavily in a storm. There's something profoundly, primally comforting about being tucked up snug and warm in bed while a storm batters the doors and windows.

Unfortunately, the storm continued all day. It was too windy and cold to go out, so I had a "home day". I had a leisurely brekkie at the hotel restaurant, then went back to my room and worked for a bit. I also updated this blog and read some news online.

Around 2:30pm I went to the hotel restaurant for lunch. There was another solo female guest at an adjacent table. She heard me speaking English to the server, Poppy, so she asked where I was from. When I said I was from Vancouver Island she exclaimed "I went to the University of Victoria!" It turns out Kit studied at UVic from 1992 to 1996, which overlapped with when I was there. We decided to sit together over lunch and chat. I learned that Kit had studied music at UVic and was on Amorgos to attend a 10-day "Vocal Odyssey" retreat. She was only staying at the Hotel Vigla for one night before transferring to the Aegialis Hotel and Spa, where the retreat was being held. It's a much bigger hotel just down the hill from Tholaria (and apparently more expensive). Kit now lives in the UK, and works as a clinical counsellor, but is still interested in music and performing arts.

We chatted until 4:30pm. Kit left to go explore Tholaria, while I went back to my room to attend a work meeting from 5:30pm to 7:00pm. After that I got into my jam jams and got into bed and listened to the storm raging while watching a bit of TV. The Greek channels were mostly game shows, but eventually Greek "Survivor" came on. It's a completely different format to the original American show. There are no competitions. They have a proper camp to sleep in, with what looked like camp cots with blankets. There were a lot of shots of them talking to each other, as well as private interviews with producers. There were also weird music video montages to highlight major plot twists. Basically, it was just a bunch of young people hanging out in the jungle gossiping and looking tanned and sweaty.

April 27: Naxos to Amorgos

I got up early, packed, and had a sandwich with the remaining ham, cheese, and bread. I had planned to pack the two oranges I hadn't eaten and take them with me, but when I picked them up I discovered they had rotted. That's the weird thing about Greece - fruit and veg rot within a couple of days, but the bread, ham, cheese, and milk will last for two months or longer. I don't even want to know what kind of super preservatives are keeping them fresh for that long.

I checked out at 10:00am. She hadn't seen / received my email asking to check out a day early, but said it was okay and only charged me for seven nights. (Background: I had previously booked the Blue Star Naxos ferry, which was leaving Naxos that day at 11:55pm - yes, midnight - and arriving in Amorgos at 2:00am the next day. I had booked an extra night at the hotel so I had somewhere to hang out during the day and early evening while I waited to catch the ferry. When I discovered I could get a midday ferry connection, I didn't need the extra night.)

I caught a taxi to the port because I didn't think my legs could handle the walk. I was expecting to have to wait 30 minutes for the taxi to arrive, but he must've been parked around the corner because he arrived in under five minues. Thiis meant I got to the port at 10:30am, a full 1.5 hours before my ferry departed.

The port has a covered waiting area, but it's open to the weather. A storm was blowing in and it was fucking cold. I mean, yeah, 17C and windy, but fucking cold for Greece. I tucked in behind a pillar to get out of the direct wind and waited. Three ferries came and went. By the time my little ferry arrived, I was shivering. Only 15 people boarded, so we were off like a shot. I found my seat then decided to get a hot coffee to warm up. By the time I got to the cafe the boat was heaving up and down and lurching sideways in the heavy seas. I got my coffee but had a helluva time getting back to my seat without spilling it.

I'm pretty good on the water but after an hour I was starting to feel a bit seasick. So, I was glad to hear / feel the engines power down as we approached Katapola harbour. I got off the ferry and my driver was waiting. He bundled me into the van and drove me to the hotel in Tholaria, in the hills above Aegiali. 

I had forgotten how mountainous Amorgos is. The roads are barely big enough for two vehicles to pass, and there are wicked switchbacks as you climb over the mountains. Amorgos is a rocky island, with red rocks and sand from iron deposits. The only green is from hardy weather-beaten thorny shrubs and scrubby trees. There are usually goats everywhere - in the hills, on the road - but today there were only a few out and about. Most were probably hunkered down somewhere out of the wind. Still, the island is beautiful and I had a smile on my face the entire drive.

I checked in at the hotel and settled in. The hotel is situated at the entrance to the village of Tholaria, up in the hills. The views are amazing. However, the wind was crazy.

The room is amazingly clean and stylist. I think it was recently renovated because it has almost a Scandi vibe.

A really nice touch was the complimentary raki:

After settling in, I went to the hotel restaurant to catch a late lunch / early dinner. They explained that the restaurant wasn't fully open yet, because it was so early in the season - which seems to be the theme of this trip - but they had a few dishes prepared for guests. One of the first dishes she mentioned was goat stew. Ding ding ding! I knew from previous visits that Amorgos had fantastic goat dishes, so that's what I ordered.

After eating, I walked up into the village to try to find a market where I could buy beverages and snacks. I tried to go into a cafe which also served as a market but the half-door was locked. I was reaching inside to undo the lock - which made me feel a bit like a thief breaking in - when an old man came over to let me in. It was basically his living room and I had interruped him while was having a smoke and a drink and watching TV. I bought a couple of beers for later, but I felt weird and left without looking around much.

Back at the hotel I was still feeling chilled so I had a long, hot shower. I try not to waste water in Greece - or anywhere - but I really needed to warm up. It felt so good! After that I got into my jam jams and climbed into bed and checked out the TV offerings. There are five channels. Sadly, my Greek TV drama is not available on any of them.

I read a bit of "Mythos" by Stephen Fry to pass the evening. It's his modern, cheeky retelling of Greek myths / the origin stories of the Greek gods. It was amusing but a bit like reading Genesis in the bible - so and so begat so and so, and so and so begat so and so. There was an awful lot of sibling fucking, though. That made it more interesting.

April 26: Naxos

I had brekkie on the balcony, then logged on for a work meeting at 10:30am. The good thing about being in Greece is that I am in a much more favourable time zone for meeting with my colleague Aditi in India. Back in Victoria we have to meet at 7:30am (my time) and 8:00pm (her time). That's a time difference of +12.5 hours. Here in Greece the time difference is only +2.5 hours.

After meeting with Aditi, I did about three hours of work. I sent the files to Aditi to review, had a sandwich and an apple in my room, and then hit the pool.

I had the pool largely to myself. There is a mother and two teen daugthers from the Netherlands staying at the hotel. It's the girls' school break so they decided to come to Greece for an quick, cheap holiday. (And that's the kind of European lifestyle statement that fills my North American heart with jealousy.) Anyway, the oldest teen daughter did what teens go, and sat on a lounger staring at her phone. The youngest teen daughter was in and out of the pool, asking her mother to watch her diving in (right beside the "No Diving" sign), and generally being a sweet kid. I just did my laps on the other half of the pool.

Carl and Anna, the older couple from Denmark, had moved into Cindy and Sandy's room - with its shaded poolside balcony - the day before. I chatted a bit with them. Anna worked a variety of jobs before retiring, including grave digger and lunch lady. Carl was in the army, serving for over 30 years. His most interesting - or dangerous - posting was as a Nato obsrever in Kosovo after the war ended in 1999.

I went back to Scirocco for dinner. I ordered the pita and tzatziki to start and the octopus stifado (stew) with pasta for my main. The pita and tzatziki were fucking amazing. The stifado was a bit of a disappointment. It was mosty onion. Also, they didn't warm the plate and the stew went cold very quickly. Oh, well. It was worth trying, anyway.

The wind had come up that afternoon so I was chilled. I went back to the hotel and got straight into my jam jams and into bed. From bed, I caught Diana up with the latest from the Greek TV drama:

"Well. Morose Middle Aged Man seems to have business problems."

"He may also have a troubled teenage son, because Cool Greek Fonzi - who has been talking to Troubled Pimply Teen - is now in MMAM's office 'talking straight' with him. You know that he's talking straight with him because he took his sunglasses off."

"Cool Greek Fonzi just stormed out! And now he's talking to the police!"

"Guy With Pony Tail is trying to hook up with Single Mom With Kid. Or Divorced / Widowed Mom With Kid."

"Oooooh, GWPT is now conferring with MMAM's boss / business partner."

"For some reason, Couple With Marital Problems just walked in on GWPT and MMAM's boss / business partner. I can't keep up!"

April 25: Naxos

I did a bit of trip administration in the morning - emailing the hotel on Amorgos to arrange for someone to pick me up at the port on Thursday, asking about restaurants and car rentals, etc. After that I did some work, had a sandwich and an apple in my room, and then hit the pool. I had the pool to myself for most of the morning and afternoon.

I went to Scirocco on my own for dinner. Vangelis was there and greeted me with a big smile. I had the beef scallopini with mushrooms and orzo.

Back at the hotel I enjoyed a quiet beer on my balcony before putting on my jam jams, climbing into bed, and catching up on the Greek TV drama I'd been idly watching every evening. It's always fun to watch TV dramas (or soap operas) in another country. You really don't need to speak the language to follow the plot. I sent the following plot updates to Diana via Messenger:

"I think Guy With Pony Tail is cheating on his wife."

"Couple With Marital Problems are hanging out with Loud Sexy Woman Who Has Lots of Fun and are looking pained."

"Aging Restaurateur With Tight Jeans is now counselling Morose Middle Aged Man. Not sure what's up yet."

"Older Newleyweds - they got married two days ago - are engaging in role play on their honeymoon."

"Wut?! Now Guy With Pony Tail is arguing with Couple with Marital Problems! Oooh, maybe GWPT is dating or married to Loud Sexy Woman Who Has Lots of Fun? I will have to tune in tomorrow to learn more."

April 24: Naxos

This morning I walked/hobbled to the port. The rest day helped and I only had to sit down twice on the walk to the port. But, it was still hard going.

I had two reasons for going to the port: to inquire about an alternate (aka better) ferry connection to Amorgos on Thursday, and to replenish my supply of Euros. I had done some Googling the day before about ferry routes and schedules, and where to buy tickets, so I knew I had to go to ZAS Travel. Unfortunately, their office was located at the furthest end of the port. I had to have a sit down for a minute when I got there. Thankfully, the staff were busy chatting and having their morning smoke, so they didn't bother me. Sometimes it's nice to be ignored.

My Googling had been correct. The two options were the Express Skopelitis, departing at 2:00pm and arriving at 5:55pm (for EUR 11), and Seajet 2, departing at 12:00pm and arriving at 1:15pm (for EUR 57). After a brief ponder, I opted for the more expensive - but faster - Seajet catamaran. I asked about where I should catch the Seajet and the travel agent's answer was a bit vague ("Over there. Check the gate.") so I decided to have breakfast and then hang out at the pier to see where the ferry docked and what the offloading / loading procedure was like.

Brekkie was "The English". They didn't ask me how I wanted my eggs prepared, so I got fried eggs with runny yolks. I hate fried eggs with runny yolks. Oh, well. My bad. Everything else was lovely.

My post-brekkie "recce" of the port proved valuable. A few minutes after the scheduled departure time, two ferries arrived at the same time, both operated by Seajet. There was a larger ferry and a small catamaran. The offloading / loading procedure was the same as I remembered from past trips - the ferry tied up, the ramp was immediately thrown down, people offloaded / loaded in under 5 minutes, and as the last person stepped onto the deck they had already cast off and started raising the ramp. There was absolutely no fucking around.

Satisfied that I knew what to expect, I went to the bank to get Euros and then walked back to the hotel. I spent the rest of the day swimming in the pool. I must have spent three hours swimming back and forth.

I met Cindy and Sandy for dinner at 7:00pm. We went back to Scirocco. I had soutsoukakia (cumin-spiced meatballs) with rice. Cindy and Sandy had pita and tzatziki, and shared the lemonato (lamb stew with lemon) with roasted veggies for their main. Unortunately, I didn't take any photos.

Back at the hotel we said our goodbyes. They were catching a 9:30am ferry to Paros the next morning.

April 23: Naxos

I woke up to the sound of church bells. I tried to capture a video of the bells, but the audio may be quite faint:

I went out onto my balcony and enjoyed one of the cans of iced coffee I purchased the day before. Here I am looking sleepy with bed head:

As I was enjoying my iced coffee there was a loud crash nearby, followed by a woman yelling in Greek. There were more crashes, some door slamming, more yelling, and sobbing. Obviously someone was having a rough start to the day.

After I finished my iced coffee I got dressed and decided to walk up to Chocolat Cafe Creperie for breakfast. I ordred scrambled eggs, sausage, toast, orange juice, and coffee. I was feeling much more civilized after that.

I decided that my legs and back needed a rest day, so I did a wee grocery shop on the way back to the hotel to restock my sandwich supplies and beverages, and spent the rest of the day in the pool. Cindy and Sandy were there, too, and we had good chats throughout the day.

Toward the late afternoon we were all feeling hungry. They asked me to join them for dinner and I got a better description of the restaurant they had recommended, Scirocco. It turns out it wasn't in the port - it was just one block past the Chocolate Cafe Creperie! I knew I could walk that far, so we agreed to meet up at 4:00pm and go for dinner.

The staff at the restaurant greeted us warmly. They obviously recognized Cindy and Sandy, since they had eaten there the last few nights. That's the thing about Greek restaurants - if you go back repeatedly, they recognize you and you get treated like family. Cindy and Sandy shared pita, tzatziki, dolmades, and eggplant imam ("little shoe"). I ordered fried zucchini balls with yoghurt dip and lemonades (lamb stew with lemon) and rice. The food was delicious!

Lemonades and rice (front):

Eggplant imam ("little shoe"):

One of the servers, Vangelis, sat down with a glass of iced coffee and started chatting. It turns out he lived on Naxos in 1979 when Sandy first visited. He pulled up some pictures from that time that he had on his phone and he and Sandy started reminiscing about what Naxos was like back then.

After Vangelis left, one of the owners (I presume) came over with another server, a young man called Giorgios. The owner explained that it was Giorgios's name day (after Saint George) and we all needed to give him a kiss. Maybe it was his name day, maybe it wasn't, but I was more than happy to kiss a handsome young Greek man! So, I gave him the double-peck. That's the most action I've had in years.

April 22: Naxos

I had breakfast in my room (yoghurt and a ham sandwich) and then had a quick shower. The shower is tiny - barely 2' x 2' - so I had to leave the door open to provide for the full range of movement required to actually clean myself. Greek baths are often a contortionist's dream.

After my morning ablutions, I walked - well, more like hobbled - to the port. I wasn't sure how far I would be able to go, but I was hoping to see a bit of the Old Market Street. I managed to walk a portion of the street. Unfortunately, most of the shops were still closed for the season.

I exited the Old Market Street and decided to have lunch at one of the restaurants at the port. I was looking for Meze Meze, a restaurant that I visited on two previous trips to Naxos, when I noticed Cindy and Sandy in Pikantiko Grill House. I stopped to say hello, and less than five minutes later Joe showed up. He had just helped Corinna carry her luggage to the port.

At Meze Meze, I ordered Naxian fried potatoes and grilled squid. It was alright. A couple of pieces of the squid were overcooked and chewy, and I found it oversalted, but it hit the spot and it was more food than I could eat by myself.

The walk back to the hotel was better than I expected. My legs felt looser and my back wasn't as stiff. I spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the pool and chatting with Cindy and Sandy.