Jeep, Villages, and a Dine & Dash
I woke up before everyone and slipped out to the beach. The rest of the crew was still asleep and it was perfectly calm. Good weather, quiet water. Exactly what I needed.
Around lunch we walked over to the car rental shop and picked up a little Suzuki Jeep. Manual transmission, squeaky, no power steering. The first few turns were rough but Chad got the hang of it. The plan for the day: three little villages, wander, get lost, grab a coffee or gelato somewhere.
First stop was Chalkio, about 30 minutes from the Airbnb. We had gelato and coffee. We later realized we were never charged for the gelato. Whoops. Strike one.
Five minutes down the road was Filoti. Beautiful little alleys you can genuinely get lost in. We stopped for a Margarita Pizza and a side of fried potatoes. Sounds American but it's actually a pretty standard side here, especially since the potatoes come directly from Naxos. When we finished, Chad and the kids used the bathroom and I went to wait outside so they could clear the table. They caught up with me, we piled back into the Jeep, and about 15 minutes into the drive to Apeiranthos I asked Chad if he had paid the bill. He looked at me. I looked at him. We dined and dashed. The kids were convinced we were all getting arrested.
Apeiranthos topped the other two, and that's saying a lot. The mountain views were incredible. The pictures honestly don't do any of it justice. Sofie and Lukas insisted on taking a photo together, which they called their possible last picture before getting split up by Greek authorities.
Someone we had met at the beach earlier had told us about a restaurant up in the mountains with spectacular sunset views and incredible food. We made reservations for 6:30. Lamb shank, braised pork loin, and gnocchi. The kids demolished their meat dishes and we split what was left. They're living their best life and they don't even know it. Chad also managed to squeeze in a couple hours of work meetings somewhere in the middle of all this. Part of the trade-off 😉
The sunset from up there was something else. Our beach straight ahead, Old Naxos Town just to the right, Paros across the water, and Mykonos off to the side. We sat and watched it go down.
On the drive back the GPS routed us back through Filoti. We stopped and paid the bill. They were super appreciative that we came back. The kids finally exhaled.
