La Dolce Far Niente

I just had to share this photo, taken on the last day of our stay in Greece. It is an image that will live in inphamy and one that we may never see again:

Joey with a kitty!

Suffice it to say, Joey has never been too fond of felines, and so this little encounter just cracked me up! This little guy would not stop loving on him. He was not interested in me at all, but loved snuggling up to Joey all afternoon long. It was too cute...I think Joey even liked it a little :)



Joey has been actively trying to pursue la dolce far niente, or "the sweetness of doing nothing." He is an extremely active person at home; you will rarely see him lounging in front of the TV. He always has to be moving, accomplishing and producing. So his goal on this trip, especially in Greece, was to practice this art of relaxation and pleasure of doing nothing. I, on the other hand, have this practice down pretty well already, I know the sweetness of relaxation very well. In comparison with my partner in life, sometimes I feel like I practice it too much! But not to worry, we have left the land of relaxation and have returned to busy streets, pretty people with their slim cigarettes, butter croissants, countless cafes, marvelling history, et bien sur, l'amour. Donc, c'est Paris!
 
 

Long Story Short...without the cake. Joey's Take

Santorini, Greece is nice. The weather is great and the people are very hospitable. The sunset is beautiful here and living is relatively cheap. Joey's take: To hell with Sandals, come to the greek islands and ride around on scooters and play in the black sand beaches.

Joey

I decided to upgrade from the quad for the last leg of our trip.

The Williams Perplex a Nation

I love Greek & Lebanese food...I've eaten it all my life. In Baton Rouge, there is a multitude of Greek/Lebanese restaurants. One of my favorite things to get is grilled haloumi cheese as an appetizer, and this is available at pretty much every Greek restaurant in Baton Rouge. Many of you probably know what I'm talking about, and if you haven't tried it yet, stop what you're doing right now and head over to Arzi's or Albasha or Serop's or whichever one you prefer and order the "fried cheese!" It's amazing.

So naturally, I assumed that haloumi was a staple of all Greek cuisine, so I was looking forward to having it here during our stay. Oddly, it's not available in too many restaurants, but it just so happened that the first restaurant we ate at, did. But then after going to many restaurants, we realized it wasn't readily available. I looked for it fresh in different super markets, but didn't have much luck, until one night. We have a kitchen in our little villa, so we can stock up and even cook sometimes if we choose. So we bought a variety of things, including the haloumi. When the cashier saw the cheese, she immediately started chattering in very fast Greek to the other workers...obviously the only thing we recognized was the word "haloumi" over and over again. After we left, we wondered what she was saying, but didn't think too much of it. Maybe she thought it was at a low price for this time of year...

The next day or so later, Joey was grilling some on our stove. The wife and her daughter, Debbie, of the hotel came in for some quick cleaning, and the daughter (who speaks very good English) remarked that whatever we were cooking smelled very good, but she didn't know what it was. I told her it was haloumi. The wife, who doesn't speak much English, started chattering in much the same way that the cashier did, again, us only catching the word "haloumi." Debbie looked at us quizzickly and said, "Haloumi is from Cyprus, Greece." Almost like, "why do you know this cheese?" I shrugged and replied, "I have an uncle from Cyprus." And although this is true, this isn't really why I know about haloumi. 

It's because it's all over Baton Rouge. But I have a theory. The majority of Greeks who opened restaurants in Baton Rouge must be all mainly be from Cyprus! Which would make sense. My uncle met my parents and my family, and of course eventually married my aunt; but I believe they met him as a result of his working at a Greek restaurant while he was in school.

So since haloumi is a cheese of Cyprus and since every Greek restaurant in our area has it, I must conclude that much of the Greek population that lives in Baton Rouge is from Cyprus. Or, because it's so popular, perhaps the other owners decided to offer it as well.

But it still puzzles Santorinians why these two white people know about Cyprian cheese. Everytime we order it at the few restaurants that have it here, we hear shouts from the kitchen with "haloumi's" sprinkled in, and we just laugh. When the waiter brings it, he pronounces it cheese from Cyprus, and he usually asks us where we are from. I feel like we should say we're from Cyprus or something. We would if we could pull that off, but no speaka the Greek. 

So I'm still not sure why they get all in a tizzy when we order it, and I guess I'll never fully understand. But all this to say, Joey and I have managed to perplex a whole island's worth of Greeks. Debbie asked me to be sure and email her when we arrive safely in Paris....she told me to say in the email that we're the "haloumi people" so she'll be sure to know who we are.

I don't mind being remembered that way.

Breakfast I put together on our balcony. Grapes, chocolate croissant, and of course fresh haloumi on toast!

It's so Beachy!

We've spent quite some time at the beach while here, which probably comes to no surprise. I love going to the beach and getting in the water...Joey tolerates it, but the sun really wears him out. He's perfectly happy lounging under and umbrella all day in the shade. He's my little albino :) Although, as he reminds me, I am whiter than he. At least I'm trying :)


As I've said before, we're staying in Perissa, which has the largest stretch of beach, and it is black sand....well, technically it's black rock, but it's not at all uncomfortable. Actually I could see why people might prefer it over sand, because little rocks are easier to get off you than sand. I like to look at the smooth little rocks in the crystal clear water. There are red and white rocks mixed in with the black rock so it's pretty.

Here are more photos from one of our days at the beach in Perissa.


Joey in the Aegean Sea!



Me in the Aegean Sea!

Some puppies on the beach! There are dogs everywhere here. Makes us miss our Polly!

Have a wonderful day!



Santorini: A Good Place for Wine

We visited a winery today, Santo Wines. The owner of our hotel, Yorgos, recommeded it. Santorini has a flourishing wine business. Apparently, the ashy grey soil is extremely fertile, and doesn't need much water (obviously because it never rains here I'm told!) Yorgos has given us huge cucumbers from his garden, and says that all their vegetation is able to grow without water because the soil is so fertile and because they get moisture from the sea. As I said before in an earlier post, when we first arrived on the island, Yorgos gave us some of his wine that he makes himself...I think this is a common thing for the islanders to do (make homemade wine). It sort of jolted us at first because it is extrememly sweet, but we're used to it now. We've been stocking our fridge with bottles of Santorini wine all during our stay :) The grape growing season lasts only one month, in August. I'm not sure how that compares to the grape season of somewhere in Napa or in Italy...


Anyway, we took a tour of the factory and of course did a few tastings. The wines were very beautiful, we enjoyed it very much. A very famous wine of theirs is called Vinsanto, and it's a very sweet wine...it was delicious! The winery is set right on the sea, so you know what that means: more beautiful scenery plus wine! Bella!

Santo Wines

Ah, wine!

With my Vinsanto

Wasn't expecting to find wine vineyards in Greece, but there you have it!

Grecian Sunsets

Santorini is famous for its sunsets, and for good reason. They are gorgeous. And, I guess it's also because there's nothing blockading the view---you can see the entire sunset from start to finish from the island. We've watched three sunsets from two different points on the island. One place we've gone is the famous town of Oia (pronounced EE-ah), which is where you see the picturesque pictures from Greece---the white houses with blue accents and the churches with the blue domes stuck into the cliffs of the island. These images are what I think of when I think of Greece, and now I've gotten to see it in true form. I love Oia, it is my favorite place in Santorini. Isn't it beautiful?

Sunset in Oia

Oia after sunset

We also went to another high point on the other side of the island one evening, and the sunset was equally beautiful. It wasn't in the middle of a town, so there weren't as many people watching it. Very romantic!



Sunset at Akrotiri

Joey getting a candid shot of me watching the sunset

 We watched our final sunset tonight, as we leave our little home in Greece tomorrow. We went to a cafe that overlooks the Caldera.

View of the Caldera

Sunny Greece for Dreary London? Yes, please!

γειά σας! Which means "Hello!" in Greek. It's phonetically translated as "yah-sas." Our time in Greece has been lovely to say the least. We are staying in the Cyclades Islands, specifically on Santorini, which both sets of our parents have told us in case we didn't know, is one big active volcano. It’s a beautiful island in the shape of a backward “C,” and yes, it is a volcano, but we’ll take our chances. Let me first tell you about where we are staying on the island.


We arrived here last Tuesday night via plane, and to our great surprise, the owner of our villa was there waiting for us at the airport! Yorgos (George) is his name, and he owns the villa with his wife and daughter. On the drive to the hotel, he proceded to tell us all about the island, it was like a free tour! We were already amazed at the customer service we were getting. Then when we arrived at Aretousa Villas in Perissa, Santorini. Yorgos and his wife sat down with us and served us some of their homemade wine. We knew we had found a gem. They are an adorable family. The wife, Ariti, is very sweet, but she doesn't speak very much English. We find some way to communicate, with me speaking English and her speaking Greek back to me. My impulse is to speak French so she can better understand me, but just because that is the only other language I speak doesn't mean she speaks it! We've tried to pick up some Greek, but we're finding it pretty difficult. So many syllables compared to English! We had to practice for a few days just to learn to say thank you, which is a four-syllable word compared to our two syllables. We’re up to about three words. I feel a tad guilty waltzing into a country in which I have no knowledge of the language. None except English speakers have this luxury it seems. But how I wish I knew all the languages!


As Santorini is very much a beach destination for Europeans, there is a wide variety of representation of countries here. I like to just sit in a cafe and eavesdrop on the people, even though I don't know what they're saying oftentimes. I just like to see people of different cultures and how they interact with one another. Husbands and wives, children and parents, a group of friends...I suppose it's all the same really, but I find it very interesting.

But back to Aretousa Villas...it is a beautiful place, and we’re so blessed to be here. The prices here are incredible, which is part of the reason we chose to stay for so long....I’m sure it’s because it’s the off season, but the weather has been perfect everyday---sunny with a nice ocean breeze blowing through our hair. Yorgos told us that it hasn’t rained since January! We are staying in the town of Perissa, which lucky for us, has the island’s largest stretch of beach. We’re just steps away. If we ever come back to Greece, we would absolutely stay here again.

The people are incredibly hospitable here, and the outdoor restaurants and cafes are numerous. The food has been delicious...I think we have eaten too much baklava! We in particular enjoy this man named Elias who runs one of the local restaurants. He's very animated and likes to ask us about America. He told us he hopes to visit, but this year he is going to Australia for a wedding. He's heard that they have "big butts" and so he is afraid...


We just stared at him after this comment. I was thinking, "if you think they have big butts in Australia, wait til you get to the States!" But then he made a flying motion with his arms and we realized he meant "big birds." Haha. I can't fault him though, I don't speak a lick of Greek, and he communicates in English very well. It was just kinda funny :)




Having Lunch Beachside

The scenery here is everything I thought it would be---gorgeous. The beaches here are mainly black sand beaches; and there is also the Red Beach, which is indeed red, and we've read it's the only one in the world, and also the White Beach, as they call it. The water is crystal clear. But the most beautiful is the view of the Aegean Sea from the highest points of the island. I just can't stop taking pictures! And I feel like none of them do the island justice.

The Red Beach





It's Red!

Oh, and this is how you get around the island:

Yes, you can circumnavigate the island in about 2 hours on a 4wheeler! Pretty freakin’ awesome. I have to stop and remind myself that I am driving around looking at these incredible views...in Greece!

Much more to come, we've been here almost 9 days, so there is much to report. In short, we're loving it! Looks like we got our beach vacation afterall! As many of you know, we took a tropical vacation in early July of this year to Antigua...three days later we raced home, didn't make it all the way and spent 2 days in an Atlanta hospital...poor Joey was inflicted with severe salmonella. He was sick for nearly two months afterward. It was terrible to say the least. But luckily on this trip, we're not in a third world country (as Joey likes to say), and God willing, we will continue to stay healthy!

Lots of love,