Now that my family and friends all have power again and most of the damage is being dealt with, I have a clear head and want to update on my adventures. As you know, my travel girls came to visit Crete, and I played tour guide. After a few days of island hopping, I was able to clock out and play tourist. We wanted to avoid the expense and crowds of Santorini and Mykonos. I had heard Paros and Naxos were 2 islands we should check out; they are about 30 mins apart, so we decided to do both. We booked a hotel on Paros for 4 nights and decided to see Naxos as a day trip. This was my first time taking the Greek ferries since my honeymoon, aside from the overnight ferry we took when we moved here. We used the website Ferryscanner.com to book our tickets. It’s a great website that works with all of the ferry lines so you can see all of your options in one place.

The ferry was an adventure in itself. We splurged on the VIP seats, which I recommend if you can afford it. We also ditched the girls’ big bags at my apartment so we could easily board the ferry without dragging heavy rolling bags with us. If you plan on island hopping, I recommend finding a place to leave large bags; nannybag.com is a website where you can find you a place to secure your suitcases to free you up to travel lighter.

We arrived on Paros and found our hotel to be lovely. It was a bit outside the main port area but we wanted larger rooms so everyone could have their own space and SunsetViewHotelParos was perfect. We had a hot tub on our porch and the views did not disappoint!

We settled into our rooms and relaxed as we had a long day planned for tomorrow, our first full day on Paros. We had booked a full boat day with Michael Zeppos; his company is highly rated on Trip Advisor, and for good reason. We had a great day – the water was blue, the sun was strong, and the food was amazing.

I might have overindulged on the boat, the next day I needed to rest and detox a bit. While I didn’t get sunburned (this Florida girl brought her Coolibar shirt – happy mom?) I did drink a bit too much wine. The combo of the Greek sun and the captain’s homemade wine made did me in…but oh well, YOLO. A great day was had by all and after some rest and plenty of water, I was ready for more adventures.

More to come on Paros and Naxos in my next blog entry. Also – exciting update – we found a dog babysitter we like! Jeff and I have officially taken a vacation away from our furry children! Now we have the freedom to get away more and have already booked her for Christmas, NYE (when our next visitors come to Crete) and January (when we go to Amsterdam for a few days).