Days 3 & 4 – Chios: Brouladia Beach & Chora
I woke up at 9:30am, Stelios had been up since 7 and already went to A La Creme and got us frappes. I did my morning stretch and ab routine in the terrace using my new yoga mat, then got ready for the beach. Today’s plan was to drive to Broulidia beach, a stunning picturesque cove at the south end of the island. It reminds me of the calas on Ibiza and Mallorca. It was a 50 minute scenic drive through the island but felt shorter than that.
Broulidia is an unorganized beach which means there are no lounge chairs or food service, but there is a restaurant at the top of the hill. To get down to the beach the roads are quite windy but we arrived by 11am (early for local beach time) and got a front row parking spot. The beach is about a 5 minute walk down the steps to the cove and it was fairly empty when we arrived. We laid out our towels to claim a spot by the cliff that was partly shaded and dove into the water. The sea was crystal clear and incredibly refreshing. Stelios’s brother Mike had never been to this beach before and couldn’t get over how beautiful it was. Stelios and Leo were snorkeling for awhile, and after some time passed I looked up but didn’t see them. I had a feeling they swam around the cove towards the caves so I decided to swim out to sea and find them. My gut was right and they were snorkeling by the caves where the coral was which was very serene. Stelios gave me his mask for a bit so I could see some of the fish below. By the time we swam back to shore we were all hungry and ready for lunch.
We walked up the steps to the restaurant and grabbed a cliffside table overlooking the water and ordered a caraf of white wine and a soda for Leo. The restaurant was family run by a husband and wife, their son, and the grandma. While the kitchen looked small, the fresh seafood was delicious. For lunch Mike had the fried calamari, Stelios and I shared the Tsipoura and a pork souvlaki kebab, Leo ordered a club sandwich, and we had a Greek salad for the table to share. The Tsipoura was the “catch of the day” and it was incredibly fresh – it put the one we had in Chora to shame. When we asked for the check they brought out fresh watermelon as a complimentary dessert that Leo devoured.
After lunch I laid out and read my book but the sun was strong and our spot was no longer shaded. About every 10 minutes I dove back into the water to stay cool. By 3:30pm we had enough of the sun and decided to pack up and head home.
After a quick shower and nap in the AC we walked down to chora around 6pm to meet up with Stelios’s cousin Stavros for coffee. Mike was hungry but didn’t want cafe food so we grabbed a table at Bainakari for a quick bite. He ordered the steak which looked good, we ordered saganaki and calamari to snack on which was not so great but good enough to hold us over until dinner time. At 8pm we walked a few doors down to 44Cafe where we met up with Stavros for coffee. I ended up ordering a delicious espresso martini for only €9 , basically half price compared to the cocktails back home. Aside from cocktails, 44Cafe is one of my favorite spots in Chora. They have a large food and drink menu and it’s a really nice vibe both inside and outside with comfy lounge chairs and lounge house music. We ordered a bar pie to share and for dessert Mike picked out a semi sweet white wine called “Joker” which we all really enjoyed, while Leo munched on baked Mac and cheese. We hung out until around midnight before heading home and calling it a night.
Day 4
I slept in until 10am this morning, for some reason I was SO sleepy. Since we had a later start than normal we decided to go back to the local beach, Verikokos, since it was only a 5 minute drive away. I laid out, read my book at the beach, and Giorgios and Stefanos joined us around 2pm. The boys all played in the water and hung out for awhile while I tanned and relaxed. We stayed at the beach until around 4pm. Around 7 we walked to Chora for some shopping and dinner. I wanted to check out the Mastica shops for some natural skincare products and also bought a few soaps and mini Mastiha bottles for us to do a taste comparison later when we got back to the house.
After shopping we ventured deeper into town away from the water in search of a more authentic Greek restaurant. We stumbled upon Shozo Mezze, a restaurant that Stelios’s cousin tried to take us to last year but they were completely booked with reservations. This time we had the opposite experience and the place was mostly empty since it was only 8:30pm (prime dinner time is Greece is between 9 and 10pm). The menu at Shozo was only in Greek, which was a sign we were about to indulge in some delicious Greek fusion apps. It was a small plates restaurant, similar to tapas in Spain so we ordered the mushrooms, cured ham with fried egg, mutton, potato salad, fries, and a caraf of white wine. The mushrooms and cured ham dish were my favorite. Leo loved the ham so much that we ordered a second one to share. All of that food and the bill was only 35€ – what a steal for a delicious meal! By the time we left the restaurant it was full of locals only speaking Greek – an excellent find for next time. After dinner we walked back home and packed up some clothes into 1 of our suitcases. Tomorrow we were waking up early and leaving for Turkey for 3 days and 2 nights. Kalinihta!
