Day 6 – Paros – Naxos

After 2 days, we finally saw movement inside our hotel this morning and were able to check out. However, I had to inform the girl of the price and she had to send one of her cleaners to the shop to get change because they had none – actually they had no money at all and were hoping we would pay the exact amount. Anna thought we were the only people in the hotel and she could be right, we hadn’t heard or seen anyone for days. Perfect for a quiet getaway.

Paros was an island that brought mixed emotions but we were sad to leave it. Waiting like pigs for the slaughter at the port, we got our next ferry to Naxos (Blue Star Ferries isn’t as good as Golden Star Ferries but they all have fantastic long mirrors and escalators).

Vivlos Apartments was our place of stay in Naxos and we were to meet Maria, our host, in a coffee shop by the dock. When she said to the left of the dock, she actually meant right on the dock and after checking various coffee shops we found her! Unfortunately, she had told us to order some drinks as she had just been mugged 5 mins ago and we would have to wait to get the keys back.

We still don’t know if she got mugged or not but all we know was that she got her keys back in the end. A bit of a Naxos diva, Maria talked half broken greek – half broken english and apparently knew everyone. Her car was getting fixed however so she escorted us to our apartment in her grandad’s car. A ‘banger’ was an understatement as it was so rusty you couldn’t actually tell what colour it used to be. The back door didn’t open either.

After checking out our new apartment, we needed to find out how to get into town. We had inadvertently booked an apartment in Vivlos, 7km outside of the Naxos capital and buses came every 4 hours. Thankfully, we were on the right side of those 4 hours and got a bus into the town, after hopping off at a coffee shop to get an actual paper ticket to keep the driver happy.

It was a day of celebration in Naxos for their patron saint. However, the town seemed reasonably quiet and I think the Paros Festival managed to steal many of the locals. With nowhere to stay and nowhere planned to go after Naxos, I had to put a stop to this ‘spontaneity’. We managed to find a comfortable bar with plugs, wifi, half-price cocktails, free popcorn and corn-snacks. This was where we set up camp for a few hours whilst we planned the rest of our adventures (Santorini is up next…). We also found out that spaghetti is a greek speciality!! Anna was right all along.

The bus timetables weren’t overly attractive to us as we have to get the 8.45 bus in the morning so we dared to enquire about renting a car or quad or moped or even bicycle at this stage. After various rental shop visits and displaying some reasonable haggling, €40 for a crappy moped for 36 hours didn’t cut it. No rental in Naxos this time.

Getting the 8.15pm bus back, we spent time doing all the admin work that blogs leave out – washing clothes, cooking dinner, planning finances, re-organising bags, trip planning (well maybe the last 3 is just Louis). I also got to pop the sweat bubbles that had formed on Louis’s skin and I plucked up the courage to pop my own bite on my leg, which had grown to nearly the size of my foot. How brave am I?