Day 1 & 2 – Chios: Travel Day & Verikoko Beach
I landed in Chios at 3pm on Friday after a long travel day and not much sleep on the plane. I was to happy to be back in Greece & to see Stelios and Leo who had already been here for a week. They were both waving and waiting at the gate for me, we grabbed my bag and drove 10 minutes to the house. I hopped in the shower to refresh and also wake up. Greece is only 1 hour later than Spain and Portugal but for whatever reason I always suffer from jet lag my first few days when we come to Chios. Maybe it’s because the travel day involves a connecting flight and is a longer travel day overall compared to just a red eye flight to the next destination.
Anyway, I showered, got dressed and we walked 25 minutes to chora (the main town or downtown area on a Greek island) for some lunch. I was craving fresh seafood so we grabbed a table at To Tsoukido which has waterfront tables along the port. We ordered a Greek salad, calamari two ways (grilled and fried), Tsipoura, and Leo wanted grilled sardines. The fried calamari and tsipoura were my favorite. However I was so hungry that I forgot to take any photos of our meal. After we asked for the check, the restaurant gave us mini ice cream bars as a free dessert – yum!
We continued to walk around chora and popped into a rooftop cocktail bar with a gorgeous view of the mountains and port below. Leo ordered a soda and Stelios & I ordered two Mastihas on the rocks. They served it in a glass that looked like it could’ve been water. Ahhh that first sip of Mastiha in Greece was glorious. Now I am on vacation.
After hanging out on the roof we kept walking and popped into Cosmos sports store. I wanted to buy a yoga mat and some free weights to get some exercise in back at the house. This is our 3rd trip to Chios together so it’s time to start investing in some items for the long run. Leo found a classic Real Madrid jersey on the sale rack so he lucked out and we bought that also. There was a new Loukoumades spot on the water so we decided to stop in for a late night dessert before walking back home.
Back at the house we saw Stelios’s cousin Bobby, Thea Maria, and Tasso. We said hello, they asked how the journey to Greece was and I told them I was very tired from not sleeping on the plane and that we’d see them tomorrow. It was only 10pm but I was basically running on 2 or 3 hours of sleep and ready for bed. I showered and went to sleep and Stelios and Leo drove back to downtown and came home around midnight. Overall a low key but good first day on the island.
Day 2
Despite being exhausted, I had a horrible first night of sleep. Stelios and Leo were both sound asleep, but by 6am I decided to get out of bed and go for a morning stroll. I forgot my AirPods but the town of Chios was pleasantly quiet, just me and the roosters were awake along with a couple of motorcyclists that passed by. It was a peaceful 15 minute morning walk with nature to A La Crème, the local bakery owned by Virginias family (the wife of Stelios’s cousin Markello). I ordered 2 frappés (coffee) and 3 spanakopita so the boys would have breakfast when they woke up.
On the walk back I started to feel light headed – probably partly from exhaustion and dehydration (I forgot to bring a water bottle for the walk) but made it back. The boys were still asleep, so I took a couple bites of my spanakopita and then laid back down in bed with Stelios. I finally drifted off into a much needed deep sleep, Stelios later woke me up at 10am and asked if I wanted to go to the beach with them or sleep in. Apparently I replied “sleep in”. I have ZERO recollection of this and woke up at 11:30am with a text from Stelios that they went to the beach and to text him when I got up. I rolled out my yoga mat, got some morning stretches and a quick ab workout in and then called Stelios. The boys had reserved a set of front row beach chairs and then came back to get me. We drove 5 minutes to Verikoko beach – a beach bar that was part of the cafe that Erato (Stelios’s childhood friend’s sister) owns. There was a perfect breeze where I could lay out all day without getting hot. We ordered sandwiches and smoothies for lunch and relaxed. It was my first time at this beach and it has one of the better food options in my opinion, plus you can’t beat the prices — they don’t charge you for the beach chairs, and lunch for the three of us was only 35€. It’s also primarily locals, and not that crowded. By 3:30pm Stelios’s brother Mike joined us at the beach and the boys threw around the football in the ocean while I continued to lay and tan. We stayed at the beach until 5pm before heading back to the house to shower, and get ready for the evening.
At 7pm we walked to Giorgo’s house (Stelis best friend from Greece) for a BBQ dinner in their backyard with his wife Nia, their son Stefano, and baby girl Mariela. Leo played with Stefano while the adults hung out in the backyard chatting, drinking, and taking turns holding the baby. Nia said Mariela is normally not good with strangers but she LOVED Stelios (as it seems all babies do, no shocker there). Giorgio also has 1 dog and 4 baby kittens who are adorable, I could literally fit them in my pocket. We talked about the difference in pet culture – in America most cats are indoors and same with dogs, in Greece all of the pets live outside. At 9pm we feasted on a huge spread including pita, spanakopita, cheese balls, several meats, and Greek salad. For dessert the boys had ice cream while the adults sipped on wine and Mastiha. I can’t get over that Mastiha here is only 12€ here and back home it’s around 30€. I would be ordering it by the case if I lived here. We all hung out until midnight chatting and laughing. It was a wonderful evening with excellent company.
