Viewing: Naxos

Greece: a few last things

Whenever I come back from a trip, it takes me ages to unpack. For me, the magic of travel doesn’t end when the plane touches down, or when I step inside our home—it’s when all my things are packed away and my suitcase is empty. Reluctant to end the spell, I often leave my suitcase on the floor for days, picking things up and putting them away one at a time.

I feel that way about my photos from Greece. I take a ridiculous amount of photos when I travel, and only post a fraction of them on the blog. I was feeling a little sad about relegating all those images to my hard drive, so I thought I’d choose a last few details to share as a sort of farewell to Greece.

There isn’t really much of a story to tie them all together. But these are the little things that made me smile:

Waking up in, and coming home to, our lovely room at the Kavos Hotel in Naxos.

Naxos Hotel Kavos

Aromatics—dried lavender and garlic—hung over doors in Naxos’s old town.

[Read more...]

Naxos: Traditional charm at Taverna Lefteris

If you read up on the town of Apiranthos, most travel guides that mention this tiny village in the hills of Naxos will point you toward Taverna Lefteris for food and drink. While exploring the village, we decided to ask a few locals: “What really is the best place to eat around here?” Their answers all matched: Lefteris, indeed! So we couldn’t leave Apiranthos without dropping by this taverna off the teeny-tiny main square for a late lunch.

Apiranthos Taverna Lefteris6

Inside, we discovered the most appealing combination you could ever ask for in a traditional Greek taverna: zero tourists (except us, sorry!) and loads of traditional charm.

Apiranthos Taverna Lefteris1

[Read more...]

Away from it all in Apiranthos

Naxos was our Greek island of choice mainly for its beautiful beaches. But sea, sun and sand can be the same almost anywhere, and after a few days I started seeking visual confirmation that I was indeed in Greece. We decided to rent a car and drive inland, curious about the tiny villages in the hills and mountains of the island.

After living in flat-as-a-pancake Holland, I realized I’ve lost my ability to tell hills and mountains apart. Everything looks like a mountain to me now, and I get wildly excited about even the least bit of elevation.

So I loved the drive into the heart of Naxos, especially seeing the tiny Greek Orthodox churches perched on the most impossible of peaks. In some places, it’s as if someone built a church there just to prove that it could be done. There are three churches in this shot, can you see them?

Naxos mountain churches

Tucked into the hills (okay, I’m pretty sure these are hills) along the way were shining white villages, standing out against a landscape that managed to be both lush and dry at the same time.

Naxos hill village

We decided to stop at a tiny village called Apiranthos after reading that it’s considered by many to be one of the most picturesque villages on the island. That’s because many of its houses, walls and even streets are made of white marble.

[Read more...]

Exploring the port of Naxos

During our recent trip to Greece, we had a three-hour wait between our flight and ferry times. The idea of being forced to wait at the port with Tala really stressed me out. This is probably because the only vivid image of a port in my mind is the port of Manila… and believe me, it’s not somewhere you want to be stuck for three hours with a six month-old baby.

You can’t imagine how delighted and relieved I was to arrive in Naxos town (or Hora as it said on the Greek road signs) and discover this.

Naxos Greece

Sparkling aquamarine waters, crashing waves, beautiful white buildings… well, there are worse places to be stuck waiting for a ferry.

[Read more...]

The beautiful beaches of Naxos

After pregnancy and childbirth, I was exhausted, yearning for the sun, and wanted to treat myself to something special. So Marlon and I agreed that this year’s Big Trip would be to a place that had long been on both our travel wishlists: Greece.

Since we planned this trip when Tala was barely two months old, we made a lot of newbie parent mistakes (more on those later) and paid for them big time. We barely crawled to our hotel that first day, exhausted after nearly 12 long hours of travel (!!) with a baby.

The only thing that wasn’t a mistake? Choosing to go to Naxos.

Greece has so many stunning islands, that it can be overwhelming to choose one. As the travel planner of the household, I was stumped. We wanted an island that was baby-friendly, with beautiful beaches and great food. Elena of Olive Tomato came to our rescue by suggesting Naxos. Thank you Elena!

Naxos Agios Prokopios beach

The long golden stretch of Agios Prokopios was where Marlon, Tala and I spent most of our time in Naxos. Our hotel was closer to the quiet end of this beach, away from town with its restaurants and bars. Most of the people around us were Greek families, with teenagers taking selfies, babies playing in the sand, and mothers and grandmothers squealing over Tala. And that was just how I liked it.

[Read more...]

Six months!

Tala turned six months old yesterday. Half a year feels like a big deal!

Tala 6 Months

This picture doesn’t seem so different from her at four months, does it? Physically, she’s mostly the same except she’s longer now, and of course, has longer hair. I think most of the milk I produce goes directly to that hair.

Windblown

Windblown in Greece

I don’t know many six month-old babies whose growth milestones involve hair. This month, Tala wore her first ponytail…

My first ponytail

…and her first pigtails. Tying baby hair is harder than you think—I clapped and hopped around like a giddy schoolgirl after successfully managing the tiniest, most adorable pair of pigtails ever.

My first pigtails

At the rate her hair is growing, I’d better start learning how to braid!

[Read more...]

Going to Greece!

Most of Europe has already taken their annual summer holidays, but we are just about to embark on ours. This blog will be quiet for the next week or so, because we are going to Greece!

Oia at sunset

Oia at sunset, image by Karol M, via Flickr

Santorini, image by Mysystlav Chernov, via Wikimedia Commons

Beautiful Naxos, image by Web4camguy, via Flickr

Greece has always been one of the big items on my travel wishlist, and I can’t believe that in just a few days, it will finally get crossed off. Marlon and I booked this trip when Tala was barely two months old, and even before our departure, we’ve already discovered some big newbie parent mistakes that we made when we knew nothing about traveling with a baby!

Still, I’ve looked forward to this trip for months, and it comes at a much-needed time. We will split our holiday between the islands of Naxos and Santorini, just two hours apart by ferry. To make up for the blog silence while we’re away, I promise to share lots of Greek gorgeousness with you all upon our return. Of course, there’s always .

Till then, please help yourselves to the archives. See you soon!