The Travelling Buncebury's

  a ferry backing up to the dockside in Paros It was only about a 45 mins ferry ride from Naxos to Paros and we stepped off onto the quay at Parikia in the middle of the seafront parade of shops and restaurants. After a leisurely coffee we checked just where our accommodation was and discovered that it was only about 300 level yards away and 50 yards from the middle of the main shopping area. It was very refreshing not to have every other person ask if we wanted a taxi. There was a striking difference between our modern apartment on Naxos and our traditional Greek cottage here with a small kitchen/dining room, a bedroom and a bathroom. We liked both. Our cottage was one of a group forming the hotel with quite a large courtyard garden containing various citrus fruits growing in it, many with oranges hanging from them. This was where we had every breakfast while we were here, real Greek yogurt, fruit, honey, bread and coffee. I have to say that the Greek yogurt here is fa...

  Eleftheria with her hand loom in Moni Before we got here, my geographical knowledge about the place was sparse, well, non-existent really but I can now tell you that at 430 Sq km, Naxos is a little bigger than the isle of Wight, while Paros, the next island we plan to visit, is about half the size of the IOW. The one really fascinating shop we found consisted of a dark couple of rooms absolutely stuffed full of a variety of goods, mostly food based, from loose olives, dried herbs and spices to baskets and gourds. On the back of one door was a selection of bull’s pizzles, not a very popular item in British shops these days. It was the type of place in which we were tempted to buy far more than we sensibly should but this time we resisted. This particular shop had a sort of mascot of an old man (probably younger than me in fact) who sat in a chair and chatted to the owners, a man and his son who ran the place, or to customers. What we have found in all our travels that the s...

  Having an island hopping adventure around various Greek Islands has been on our visit list for some years but had always been relegated by trips to more far-flung destinations. This visit to Naxos and Paros was to be a taster trip. - a classic view to begin with A Greek Orthodox chapel on Naxos and a good piece of flowery bank However, if you happen to believe in that sort of thing, the signs were looking quite dismal for this trip to just two of the Greek Islands followed by some time in Rome and Tuscany. Just after we’d booked, earthquake and volcanic activity broke out like a rash on and around Santorini, an island not far to the south of our destination. Then the Pope fell seriously ill and we thought we’d arrive in a Rome full of Conclave fever. After Rome we were going off to a variety of places including Assisi, where we now learned that the first saint born in this century (known as God’s influencer) was being canonised on 27 April, the day before we arrive. ...