Wander More Work Less

We thought we should at least start our lazy, relaxing day with a walk. We headed out behind the salt ponds to the housing area at the far end of Agios Prokopios Beach. It was mainly hotels and apartments, some quite flash-looking, plus a few half-built and abandoned apartment buildings. Obviously, some money had been wasted and lost on those. The area was good for a walk, as the roads aren’t used by many people. Very quiet. We eventually found our way down to the end of the beach and walked along the shoreline back. It was only 8:30 a.m. but already warm enough for our first swim of the day. Back at the apartment, I watched the Warriors lose their finals match and get knocked out of the comp. Not surprising against Penrith. At least they kept it close until about 15 minutes to go, then the score blew out a bit. A pre-lunch walk to the supermarket was the only other reason to leave the apartment, until I realised tomorrow was Sunday and the barber sh...

A call to Emma for her birthday first thing. Wow 25 years already! Great to see she and Braydon are enjoying their time in Queensland.  Our day is spent resting, reading, swimming, and doing not very much. We spent almost the entire day at the apartment, except for a short walk to the supermarket and two trips to the beach. For the first swim, I borrowed a scuba mask from our apartment hosts and tried it out at the beach. It was amazing to see how clear the water is—the visibility is brilliant. We went for another swim before dinner. As on other days, there were more people later in the afternoon, but it still wasn’t crowded. Not much else to report today. Maybe tomorrow will be the same!? Dinner was chicken with salad. Unfortunately, we’ve run out of our gyros spice mix. ☹️ We found an alternative, but it was nowhere near as good. One interesting thing to add is the use of marble here—it’s everywhere. It must be both plentiful and affordable. We even have a step leading out from o...

Today we had planned an excursion by public bus to visit a small village high in the hills. It’s in the middle of the island and is called Apiranthos. The bus departs at 8:15 am from near our apartment. First, we had to catch the local bus into Chora. Once there, we bought additional tickets for the 9:30 am bus to Apiranthos. We arrived early to line up, as we wanted to be sure of getting seats. The journey was interesting—very narrow roads climbing quite high into the hills. I’m glad we decided not to hire a car or scooter for this. The bus driver was listening to what we assumed were Greek tunes on the radio, although they sounded more Turkish to us. Alongside the road were some very old and gnarly olive trees. Perched on top of the remote mountain peaks were little white churches. I can’t imagine anyone visits those very often. It took about an hour to reach Apiranthos. The first significant sign we saw pointed to a church, so we followed it down the hillside...

A quiet and wonderful day today. Like so many days on this trip, we started with a walk—this time to the next closest village, Agia Anna, about 2 km away. Agia Anna is slightly more built-up than Agios Prokopios, but not by much. There are more apartments close together, sitting immediately behind the beachfront restaurants. In contrast, Prokopios mainly has restaurants and shops at the beach front, with apartments scattered around the town. There are very nice-looking places right across the road from the beach.at Agia Anna, but we’re still happy with where we chose to stay. At the end of Anna Beach, there is a headland with a little church perched on it—a beautiful spot. The rocks and sand at the headland reminded us a lot of Abel Tasman National Park, with gritty sandstone sand and interestingly shaped rocks. We continued past the headland, and the paved road turned into more of a dirt-and-sand track. It was rough in places...

A nice, slow start to the day with a plan to visit the main town, Chora, of Naxos. Chora means “capital” or “main town,” so many Greek islands have one. Buses run there every 30 minutes, so it didn’t matter too much when we decided to go. The temperature was forecast to be 25–27°C for most of the day. It was just before 11 a.m. when we headed off. Although buses are supposed to come every 30 minutes, we actually have no idea when during the half hour they’ll show up. I’m not sure anyone knows. 😂 I think we waited 15 to 20 minutes under a shady tree, which was fine. The bus stop is right by the supermarket, and we’ve now discovered a cross-country (and cross–building site) shortcut to get there. 😉 The bus was completely full, so it was standing room only for us. Fifteen minutes later we were at the main bus station at the port—an ideal place to start our walk to the headland. On the headland sits the unfinished Temple of Apollo, known as the Portara. Construction began around 500 BC b...

It’s our first morning in Agios Prokopios after arriving late yesterday. We’re here for 8 nights, so there’s no need to rush things. True to form, I was as quiet as a mouse so Sarah could enjoy a sleep-in. 😉 Once Sarah was up, we had breakfast on the terrace. It was already windy, but the terrace is well protected from both the prevailing wind and the morning sun. Unfortunately, I managed to break the stove while trying to boil water for coffee, so no coffee this morning. ☹️ It wasn’t entirely my fault—one element didn’t work, and the other had a dodgy dial that snapped off when I tried to turn it to high. At least I managed to grill a piece of toast to go with my muesli. After breakfast, we headed out to see the beach. It’s only a 5-minute walk past two inland salt ponds. The beach is very long, sandy, and the water is crystal clear. Beautiful—but windy. There are five or six clusters of beach chairs with umbrellas, but also plenty of open beach space. Very few people were out yet. I...

There was one more thing on my Santorini bucket list, but I wasn’t sure if my knee would let me tick it off: the walk down to the Old Port and back up again along the same path the donkeys use. I decided if I woke up early, I’d give it a go. And I did—I was up at 6:30am! The cool morning air made the descent pleasant, though I knew it wouldn’t last on the way back up. 😂 At that time of day, the streets were quiet. I only met one other person, a guy from Melbourne who had already gone down and was nearly back to the top. Otherwise, I had the path to myself until reaching the bottom. There was one cruise ship anchored offshore and another on its way in, but not much else happening down there. The climb back up was tough, and I thought I might be too early to see any donkeys. Bother! Just as I was thinking that, I heard bells—at first I wondered if they were only in my head from the exertion. Or maybe Santa? But sure enough, around the corner came the ...