Heimdall

Lexma90, you are making me hungry!

Suzbrownie

Lexma90, WOW! You have been incredibly helpful - I may wait to tell my daughter about the offering of Croque Madame until after she's tried some other fun stuff (grilled cheese is her favorite and that is sure to beat any she's had here - EVER) . I didn't realize the crepes were an affordable offer in cafes as well as at carts about town - that's helpful and all the specific bakery items you mention - my mouth is watering and I will have to clearly wake up earlier each morning to get a jog in before breakfast

Thanks ever so much!

Heimdall

Years ago, when I used to attend the Le Mans 24 hour race, one of my favorite snacks was crepes Grand Marnier, sold from a cart. Mmmm!!!

Suzbrownie

"Ewwwwww - delish!" Did it help your race? : )

Heimdall

I wasn't racing, but it sure helped pass the time. Only the most fanatical fans watch the entire 24 hours, so you find other things to do during the race. France, being France, there is lots to eat.

The other snack I remember in particular is the French version of a hot dog — a baguette cut into a length of about one foot, then rammed down onto a heated prong to make a hole. Hot mustard squirted in before the sausage is inserted. Sorry, now it's got me laughing!

parosblue

I am coming in late in the thread and you have moved on to foodie topics, but I have to respond to the remark that Parakia is gritty and grimy. I have been going to Paros for years and always prefer staying in Parakia. It is a busy port town with lots of activity. You have many lodging and restaurant choices and there are numerous things to do. Naoussa is the famous fishing village for picture taking yet more quiet and limited activities. It is nice to visit for a day at the beach, a hike, a stroll around town and/or dinner. One interesting note: During a stay on Paros for 5 weeks last summer, it was Naoussa that was the least attractive town of the two. The streets and harbor water were quite dirty and many shops and bars were closed. I think their dependence on tourism, which was on a downturn, was a factor.
Getting in late is not my favorite idea - especially if it is a new experience. I like arriving at the beautiful harbor of Parakia in the daylight, or any of the Greek islands for that matter. And if you are coming in late, all the more reason for staying in the more convenient location of Parakia. Well, that's my two cents.

travelerjan

Parikia = real. Naoussa = not so much.

Suzbrownie

Okay, so I should probably move on from food too and back to reservations! So here's the deal then, do you think staying in Athens for just a day and a half is enough or should we cut a day short on Paros to 4 instead of 5?
The other option is flip flopping things: In reading, my impression is that there is more to do and see on Naxos, so we thought go to Paros for five days, Naxos with hubby for 5 and then stay there for an additional week, just the kids and myself. I found a very inexpensive flat near the Plaka beach but was thinking that it might be fun to stay right in Naxos old town in a pension I found that is quite affordable and quaint near the castle. BUT perhaps I am also misinformed here, maybe there is just as much to do in Paros?! Can you speak to this?

Travelerjan,
I have been planning on writing you back for some time now. I loved your note about the kids being bored, etc. I couldn't agree more and they are actually quite grateful to be going to Europe and are looking forward to getting out of the American bubble culture of ours. Your description of what they will find time to do is literally what our middle son requested to do with the specific request to "climb on stuff" ruins to be exact - I told him the rules about that may be different than they were when he was little on our visit to Turkey - they were super lax in this regard back then- so just as long as he can climb on "stuff" will make him happy!

I have attempted to contact the Naxos places you recommended as well. Have any of you heard of Studios Glaros in Naxos? They have a Hotel Glaros but for a party our size we'd stay down the street about 2 mins apparently from the beach. I was also under the impression w/ teens we should stay right in Naxos town, but if it's really crowded then perhaps your words are wise here as well, Travelerjan. Is it safe to allow the kids to ride the bus into town by themselves? We haven't figured all the phone card/cell phones etc.

Thanks, once again.

travelerjan

Oh, so many questions! Ok, in order:

(1) ATHENS -- No, a day and half not enough. Make it 2.5. I gather you fly in July 1 (noonish??).. by the time you get to Hotel etc, it will be mid-afternoon. It's good to go up on Acropolis at 5 pm -- all the crowds have left, you can hang out as sun gets lower, great for photos... then have a nice meal in Plaka, enjoy the evening. Next day, go to the Ancient Agora at 9 am before it gets hot -- TONS of ruins for son to cllimb on, PLUS a neat reconstructed "Stoa of Attalos". By noon (it will be hot by then) walk to the A/C & terrific New Acropl Museum, the ideal follow-up to Acrop, (an GOOD & mod. price lunch in at their terrace restaurant). Right about 3 pm, it will be really hot, & a good idea to go back to hotel & flake-out for 2 hours... then u can see/do more stuff.. you do not say if you have booked a hotel in Athens yet -- keeping it really central is important so you can just walk back there. MUCH more to say re Athens but no room here; click my name for contact info.

(2) PAROS time -- I'd say cut PAROS time by a day to add to Athens. I know of an apt right on a good (pebbly) beach within sight of the port also, 2 rooms, kitchenette, balcony at @100€ night during Peak Season, at that price u can book a car too! A car enables you to get all over the island.

(3) NAXOS Hotels -- (A) NAXOS TOWN: I've stayed "up top" Hotel Panorama, also know Hotel Anixis there. The prob ... if you forget something, or you're walking back from beach or bus, all tired it's a looong uphill slog! And no cafes/snack places up there, must walk down even for a candybar (B) ST GEORGE BEACH: This map shows many hotels (click to enlarge) http://www.naxos-greece.net/site/gfx...hotels_map.jpg Studio Glaros has good apts, Fodorite Stanbr always stays there, no beach view it's around near #56. If I had your 4-some & wanted St. G, I would try Sun Beach Hotel #34 -- has 2 rm apts for 5, w. kitchenette, & balcony, only 1 TA review but very favorable.. i think it's just "under the radar." Yes, St. G beach will be crowded in July, but you 4 can take a bus to outer beaches. It's your call (C) OUTER BEACH/PLAKA etc -- If you want Plaka, of course they'll bus into town and of course it is safe. No problems with theft, violence whatever it is you worry about. Only problem would be if one of your kids can't wait to get out of your sight to get drunk. Greek kids don't do that, only tourists.

(4) THE PHONE THING -- I don't know what your current phone thing is. To adapt to Europe you have to have UNLOCKED & QUAD phones whatever that means. Then if someone calls u from the US, it costs you AND them, if you are on your US plan. A thing I did; bought the cheapest available Greek Phone (€35) on arrival, added a €10 chip for 2 hrs calling. You could just buy 2 of these... or adapt 1 of your US phones & buy one. They come with charger units. But to re-charge US phone, u would need a voltage adapter thingie. With 2 phones, you could always be in touch with whatever kid is out of sight.

(5) NAXOS-PAROS -- Both these islands have tons to do ... not only on the islands but also Day Excursions. Two companies run day-trips 3 x a week. Each does ONe to Santorini, one to Mykonos/Delos. Cost: about €55 per person. Plus of course, all the sights on either island plus water sports etc. Too much to detail here; contact me for more.

Whew! maybe you should have had 2 threads, one for Greece one for Paris.

Suzbrownie

Ya, no kidding! This is literally the first time I've ever participated in a forum and actually wasn't sure how this all worked - can't imagine how we ever traveled before?! : )
I will contact you via email - I bet you can't wait - Ha!

Thanks ever so much!

Nikki

About the phones, some of the information above might confuse you. You can check with your phone company to see whether your US cell phones are equipped for calls in Europe. If they are tri- or quad- band phones, they have the right frequencies for Europe. As I understand it, there are two frequencies that are used in the US, and two different ones that are used in Europe.

If you do not plan to make many calls, and your phone company has international roaming, you might be all right just using that. In that case, you do not need an unlocked phone. Ask your phone company what the charges will be for calls from Europe. If you do that, then you will be charged both for calls you make and calls you receive. This is what I do, since I use the phone mostly for very short calls and not many of them.

The unlocked phone is necessary if you intend to take out the chip provided by your phone company and put in one you buy elsewhere. If you do plan to do that, ask your phone company to unlock your phone. If you put in a local chip from France or Greece, you will not be charged for receiving calls, only for making them. However, your French chip might be reasonably priced only for calls within France, and a Greek chip might be reasonably priced only for calls within Greece.

To charge your US phone, check the charger to see that it is good for 100-240 volts. Most of them are. Then all you need is a plug adapter for Europe.

Phone cards are good for calling from phones at apartments or hotels or pay phones for very reasonable rates. They can be purchased when you get to Paris.

travelerjan

Nikki, thanks for the expansion on the phone thing. I was advising on phones with the idea that they would be used chiefly to have a way to contact the teens when, for instance, parents were at hotel and kids were on their own around town... either in France or Greek isles.

If using International Roaming I would sternly warn NONE of my US friends to call my cell, because often they do it not knowing you are abroad.

Question: when one is using "international roaming" on one's own US phone, and you make a call from one place in Naxos, to another place in Naxos a mile away -- are you charged as if you are calling from the USA to Greece??? What a rip-off!!

Re Phone cards: It's getting terribly difficult to even find a street card-phone in Greece lately, maybe not in Paris. And it wouldn't meet the need of a way to be in touch with the kids.

Nikki

Yes, when using international roaming on one's own US phone, you pay the same rate whether you are calling the US or within Greece. However, if you use your phone sparingly you may well find that it costs substantially less than buying new phones and/or sim cards to use within Europe. I usually spend less than twenty dollars on telephone use if I am abroad for two weeks, sometimes substantially less. And texting from phone to phone is less expensive, so I tend to do that instead of making regular calls to catch up with family members.

Instead of warning people not to call my cell phone while I am abroad, I just don't answer the phone when it is from someone who likely thinks I am home and is not likely to be calling because of an emergency.

The phone cards are not for use in specific card phones, but are calling cards with code numbers that you use from regular land line or pay phones. The original poster is renting an apartment in Paris and may well have access to a telephone in the apartment, as well as from hotels in Greece.

Heimdall

To expand on what has already been written, you need a GSM phone with 900/1800 bands for France and Greece. The US uses GSM 850/1900 bands, so as Nikki wrote, your phone must be a tri or quad band with 900 or 1800 in addition to the US frequencies. 3G phones in Europe use the 2100 band.

Text messages are considerably cheaper than international calls, so that's an inexpensive way to keep in touch. If you don't put a block on international calls, anyone calling you on your US cell, including spam calls, will be charged to your account at the international rate.

Vodafone Greece and Cosmote both sell SIM cards for €5, but you will have to purchase top-up air time in addition to that. So if you have an unlocked quad-band phone, all you have to do is take out your US SIM card (keeping it in a safe place — they are easy to lose), and replacing it with the Greek SIM. In Europe we pay only for outgoing calls.

travelerjan

Thanks both, for the added info. I am aware of the various calling cards -- the kind you use in hotel landline phones or from pay phone kiosks. That would be fine, for calling back to US to thank the person who's feeding your cats ... or for phoning ahead to the next hotel to tell them what ferry you'll be arriving on.

What the calling cards do not address, as i mentioned before, is this mother's concern about her teens going into town without her ... the cell-phone means the parent can contact the kid if it gets to be 11:45 and they're wondering where their children are. (Probably they will just be at the waffle house eating vast quantities of ice cream and flirting with young Swedes, but hey).

teacherCanada

Can they not use the FRS radios that resemble walkie talkies from the old days?

tC

Nikki

I believe I have read here that walkie talkies are illegal in Europe because of the requencies they operate on. I don't know about FRS radios though.

For communicating with each other in a European location, my family and I use our cell phones, mostly text messages. For calling the US, I use calling cards. This combination works out to less than the cost of new phones and sim cards, even less than just sim cards with minutes on European plans most of the time. Our US cell phone provider is T-Mobile. I can't speak to the costs using other providers.

Judy

We do exactly what Nikki does. Our children are adults and pay their own cell phones bills so are as motivated as we are to keep our communication to only necessary messages.

Suzbrownie

"wow" is all I can say. I am so clueless about all the jargon here - it's literally Greek to me : )
(Couldn't wait to say that) I know, I'm a dork. Anyway, my hubby will track with this a heck of a lot more than I w/ the international stuff and it will be really helpful for him as he will need to check in with his office now and again, so thanks for that piece. Travelerjan, you hit it on the head - yes, my main concern is communication with the kids, and of course they will only be getting drunk silly on waffles, but a parent needs to know these things; right? Texting will work perfectly, as that is their preferred communication here at home and it works beautifully! (if there's lots of type-o's, I'll translate that as slurring : ) Ha.

Thanks so much!

Heimdall

Hi Suzbrownie,

I know what you mean — all that jargon is very perplexing at first. It's a good idea for parents to get up to speed with technology jargon so they know what their teens and preteens are encountering. Most teens, and even preteens, now have their own cellphones and access to the Internet. Problems that didn't exist in our generations, e.g. cyberbullying and cyberstalking, occur today. Here is a Vodafone website designed for parents: http://parents.vodafone.com/. A page translating some of the jargon is: http://parents.vodafone.com/jargonbuster.