It had been my husband’s long-cherished wish to return to this Greek string of islands which he had visited as a student and backpacker many years ago. Well, we found that the small white cubic houses with the blue doors and shutters and the many small white chapels with their blue round roofs have not changed at all over the years and neither has the breathtaking view of the steep crater wall. Of course nowadays there are a lot more hotels, restaurants, souvenir shops and tourists just like in other touristic hotspots. But what really stroke us was how crowded the island already was at the beginning of April – there is no longer such a thing as low season – and that Santorini has turned Chinese…the vast majority of the people we saw in the tiny alleys were Chinese, Chinese selfie-photographers everywhere and lots of Chinese wedding couples on their honeymoon. Even three hours before sunset it was difficult to find a nice place with a good view at the old Oia fortress. And it proved extremely difficult to find authentic Greek food particularly in the North of the island. We were really happy to find it was quite different on Paros where the season had just started and people were busy whitening their houses and the landlords of the Tavernas were setting up the familiar little tables and the traditional Kafeneion chairs all around the pretty harbor of Naousa. The island was blooming and we enjoyed some sunny quiet Greek holidays with our wonderful and sweet hostess Litsa who surprised us every morning with new and delicious breakfast goodies and made our stay so special.
April 2019