Naxos, Paros and Patras, Greece

We have arrived finally in Rome tonight in the monsoon rain after an 18 hour ferry from Patras, Greece to Bari, Italy, and then a four hour train to Rome. Was a long 24 hours of traveling but we made it! The ferry we took over to Italy was way nicer than some of the smaller ones we have travelled on thus far, and for a large part of the trip, we were pretty much the only passengers with the exception of some truck drivers (will try and add a video of the chaos that ensues trying to get these trucks on the various ferries - some very frustrated drivers). Again there are definitely bonuses of traveling in the slow season as we were able to stretch out across several chairs to sleep, which was nice, given the alternative of trying to sleep in a reclining chair as a cabin with a bed would have been an extra 150 euros each.

The greek islands were beautiful and warm but the amount of garbage on their beaches and in some public spaces was sad to see. Our time on the two other islands after Santorini (Naxos and Paros) was nice but maybe not as much going on for tourists. We had great hotels, the weather was a bit grey and almost everything seemed to be closed (again not sure if it was the season or economy) but we made up for it by visiting the archaeology museum in Paros and haphazardly coming across this amazing cafe on a religious holiday where all the locals partied and ate barbecued meat. We ended up getting involved when a really friendly guy cooking on a bbq outside the cafe saw us walking by a few times and invited us in for a shot of locally made ouzo. It ended up being one of the busiest places in town with a bunch of locals enjoying great Greek music, dancing, and eating copious amounts of meat. They were very kind to include us and gave us four plates of free meat, which poor Geoff had to eat all by himself (I think it was 6 sausages and some chicken wings - a lot!) as I'm a veg - and because we felt bad saying no - they kept just bringing it over once the plate was cleaned. Will add a pic with the sausages and feta salad. I have to say it was really fun to watch all the people and is something I wish we had more of at home; communal eating and dancing at locally owned establishments with locally grown food, just good vibes all around.

The two hotels we stayed at were also family run and had dogs and kids and grandparents running around, working or just hanging out, all very welcoming and personable.

After the islands we stayed a night in Patras, which was gearing up for the final week of their carnivale (lasts 6 weeks). The entire town, including stores and restaurants, were decorated in a kaleidoscope of colors and carnivale themed decorations (masks, jokers, etc). Everyone was out walking around, some were dressed up; balloons, masks and confetti were everywhere. Supposedly it is the biggest celebration in Greece for carnivale,which is nationally celebrated, and the City had gone all out with speakers playing music at intersections and big statues all over, it would have been fun to have arrived the following week to see the full celebration underway!

Anyways, Im very beat so that's it for now. Have included some photos and a skate clip or two of Geoff filmed by yours truly.

Hope all is well in Van.

Jess

Ferry Hair

Naxos, Greece - view from the hotel