Greece, Naxos

(Lesley)  We have been in Naxos, Greece, all week and the weather was foul for most of it. Although it has cleared now. During our spell of bad weather we went out for a few walks, found the local grocery store, the bakery and we walked the main strip and the little alleys around town. We got to know the place and we took advantage of the poor weather to get a little school work done. We also discovered that at 8pm at least one TV channel has an English movie with Greek subtitles. We have watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, some American movie about US Presidential Security and The Bucket List.

We have lucked into a lovely place: Magic View. We were promised a 4 bed room and when we arrived our host offered us two rooms: a 3 bed and a 2 bed for the same price so we have spread out. This means we all get some space, but the reality is that we are so used to spending time together that we all hang out in one room most of the time (the room with the food!). It is convenient as we are sharing books and borrow each others clothes when we put on a load of laundry, which we can do right here at the hotel!

With respect to school work, Sam is working on his math Unit 6: Linear Equations and Graphing. The algebra in that chapter is fun. Mhari is back to spelling and writing. John is quizzing her right now. She is also doing a lot of the algebra stuff that Sam is working on simply because she enjoys it.

I am enjoying my books on Egypt. I tend to pick up a few books on whatever country we are in and try to read those. Last year, I picked out some from each country to read in preparation for the trip, but I didn't manage to read all the books I had chosen. Of course: who ever gets to read all the books they would like to read?

Now that the weather has improved we have been out more. We rented a car the other day and drove all around the island. It was beautiful. I think we drove 148 km. We left at 9:30 and returned the car at 8:00 pm. We did a little hike and saw some island must sees. We got to taste and buy some Kitron at an old distillery. And we saw lots of beaches. We hiked up to a cave on Mount Zeus and drank from a famous spring. Perhaps we will now all turn into Greek Gods and Goddesses.

On Good Friday, we joined the locals in the evening procession around town. I can't say we actually joined in the chanting or prayers because of our limited Greek, but we went along for the walk and followed the cross. It was quite a big procession especially when all the churches met up in town. For Easter Sunday (well, Sat late night) we went back to the same church and sat through part of the Greek service. There were boys (young and old) lighting firecrackers just outside throughout the service, but the reader/chanter had a mic, so he could still be heard giving the event outside the church some religious flavour. Many people, especially the younger generation, didn't remain in the church long, if they even entered. They hung around outside chatting and socializing and parading before the gathering crowd. At midnight, the bells went crazy and so did the firecrackers and fireworks. What an event! Everyone had candles and the light got passed around and everyone hugged and kissed and well... that was it. Everyone walked home with their candles still lit. Well, most people did; ours were put out by the wind on the walk home. The event was very social. We had chatted with an old man earlier on Saturday who was telling us about the service at the monastery up the hill. It is inhabited now but just one old nun, but for a true religious Easter service that is the place to go.

Soon, we leave Naxos. Onward we go. We have been on the road for just over 8 months. We have slept in over 80 beds since we left. Sam and I have slept in more because we left for India before John and Mhari; Sam is nearing 90 beds. I hope that fact doesn't earn him a bad reputation or start any disreputable gossip. One good point: We haven't had to deal with bed bugs; although we met an American in Petra who we saw again in Egypt who was covered in bites, poor guy.

Photos: Naxos town square; We just called it 'The Doorway; Rainy Day Activity; View from our window in Naxos.

Photos: Halki Orange Tree; Halki; Spring on Mount Zeus; Kids at Apollonos