whitehall

Thank you!!! We will never be able to see enough of Greece; the islands are too scattered, although thanks to a couple of cruises, we were able to visit multiple islands at one time. Not the same as spending time though, and one the many reasons why we gave up cruising.

Of course, I don't know where you have been. We just returned from our second trip to Switzerland, which we had never wanted to visit in winter (since we are warm weather fans). But it was great, even in January, perhaps, very unfortunately, partially thanks to climate change. Our trip to Greece, as indicated at the top of this report, did include Montenegro and Croatian coasts (was well as a day in Mostar, Bosnia). We were blown away, especially by Montenegro and will soon have a report of that wonderful, but brief visit.

whitehall

Our newlywed daughter and husband went off to the beach by boat to an area of Paros opposite Parikia for a little alone time. We took a hike and went to several beach areas between Parikia and there. Some free, some with facilities if you eat and drink there, and others with more posh facilities for a price. As usual, the streets of Paros were empty during the day. The evening brought the usual brilliant sunset. We had spotted a little out-of-the-way family operated restaurant with inviting porch dining, closer to our condo. Lines every evening. And, the wait was worth it, even though we ended up inside near the kitchen. Super friendly people and great food for our conclusion to our stay.

KarenWoo

We have been to quite a few European countries, including Croatia and Montenegro. Haven't been to Switzerland yet, and we also want to visit Budapest, Vienna, Ireland, and want to re-visit Italy (our last trip was in the 1970's). We are going to Scotland in June, and hope to visit Australia and New Zealand in 2024. Also want to visit Argentina, and maybe a few other countries in South America. Never enough time!

whitehall

Sounds like a great list. And, yes, you DO need to get back to Italy, which is always our favorite.

whitehall

When we planned this trip, we knew we would have to spend one night in Athens, as our daughter prepared to return home to work the following day. Too difficult to make good connections from Paros. They spent a night in Athens before joining us in Paros, and we had been to Athens twice before. travelerjan recommended we consider Rafina for one night, which is closer to the airport than Athens center. Many of the ferries from Athens actually leave from the small but busy port of Rafina. We found a condo there, which we booked for two nights, since we had one extra day before our own flight to Dubrovnik. We found a car rental for less than the cost of taxis to get there.

This was our second of seven passes through the busy, but beautiful, Athens airport during this trip. The drive from the airport to Rafina included some narrow rural roads, one that had frequent warning signs with cautions about falling off small bridges. We also saw several harvesting operations, but the crops, which we initially didn’t recognize, didn’t look terribly healthy. We stopped at one field that had some of these low bushy plants in dry, sandy soils and pulled up some leaves to reveal obscured but beautiful and healthy grapes. They didn’t look like the grape vines we are used to seeing.

Once in Rafina, we discovered a walkable, small town with some character and a number of busy, but friendly, restaurants. There was even our favorite Lidl grocer, where we could fresh squeeze some o.j. All in all, a good pit stop not far from the airport.

whitehall

We have started our report on Meteora. It can be found at Perfect Four Days in Meteora and Nafplio

Heimdall

Whitehall, thank you for your trip report and beautiful photos of Paros, Antiparos and Naxos.

whitehall

And, thank you for your continued contributions over the years to Fodors that have maximized the Greek travel experience for many of us, including me.