Paros, not your average Greek family holiday!

Having not seen my family for some time and Greece being one of my moms favourite destinations - we headed to Greece in memory of her. Deciding not to try our luck with ferries we spent our first night in Piraeus (the port town to Athens) and boy am I glad we did that. "It's all Greek to me" has a whole new meaning to me... With a totally different alphabet and hello being the same word as "Jesus" in Afrikaans, finding our way around proved to be some what tricky.

Finally on board our ferry to the beautiful island of Paros- Dakin, Jorja and I got to play "whose the favourite aunt/uncle" with the latest addition to our family - 3 month old Kade (who was a champion traveller and the calmest baby I have ever met).

Things to do on Paros/ things I'll remember:

1. Catch up on a serious amount of jet lag/ sleep deprivation while lying on a hot beach with the crystal clear Mediterranean waters at your feet. Not to mention working on a tan after the cold months in Canada.

 Such fun playing with an underwater camera...

2. Hire a bike and cycle the island. I didn't actually do this - but smiled and waved at my brother from the air conditioned car.

Dax exercising while getting a tan... We just smiled and waved

The island is only 25km wide and I guess it was a super lazy mode of transport but the biggest people carrier the island had to offer was ours for 10 days so why not? Yes travelling with 7 people makes car rentals tricky - and with our fear of missing out (also commonly known as FOMO) we felt it was necessary to all be in the same car. Note to self - the island roads are narrow and the Greeks drive like hooligans - so a smaller car is a better choice.

Our hire car also had 160 000km on the clock (no jokes) and this was definitely not its first rodeo!!











3. Explore the village of Parikia. You know those picturesque photos of Greek islands - well I'm sure many came from the little ally ways and hidden shops of Parakia.

4. Go to Saloon D'or (in Parikia) where Constantine makes some of the most delicious cocktails I have ever had. It didn't hurt that he was also one of the hottest Greek men that I have ever seen - so go ask him to make you a "surprise" and you'll end up going back night after night like we did.

5. Santa Maria has a great beach (and a nude beach I am told) with typical palm leaf umbrellas and recliner chairs. Another chance to work on your tan...

6. Explore Naussaus. Preferably not when a storm hits as you'll get drenched! I got totally soaked while running in the rain and then had to buy a new outfit - I'm not complaining though - the shops are awesome.

Jorja spotting a typical Greek village background

7. Leave for your ferry on time. In true Parker style we left little time to spare and in true Jacky style - my sisters left bowl buying minutes before the ferry departed. So we had 6 people running with full luggage, Tristan dragging a bag and pushing a pram to make it onto the ferry on time. I am giggling just at the thought of watching Jorja sprint with her bag from miles away from the port as she just had to wait for a shop to open to get last minute presents!

En route to Antiparos for a day of exploring

This was an awesome family holiday... One which I will not quickly forget! A holiday where we celebrated mothers day in her favourite country, played card games in the sun, laughed, cried (mostly from laughing too much) and caught up on each others lives.

Sunset from our villa