Day 5 – Greece: Lagada & Free Desserts 

I woke up at 8:30am after finally getting a decent nights sleep! We quickly got ready and drove to Chora to meet up with the Stelios’s other cousin Markello for coffee at a cafe called Plan B. I ordered a frappe with almond milk that may be the best frappe yet taste wise. We chatted and hung out for 2 hours then said our goodbyes. On the walk back to the car we popped into a bakery to grab Spanakopita – although it was tasty there was little to no feta cheese inside so it was not the savory bite I was hoping for. I hadn’t had anything to eat yet so I ate the whole slice anyway. Back at the house Stelios played some basketball with Leo & Angelou and I sat on the front balcony to tan and blog. The sun was STRONG today and even though I put sunblock on, my chest was red after 15 minutes. 

For lunch, we decided to venture out of Chora & drive to Lagada which is a cute smaller port town on the water. On the way there we stopped at Glaroi beach to recreate the picture of Stelios and Leo from when Leo was a baby, and from our last trip to Greece.

There was a much cooler breeze on this side of the island compared to Chora and the seaside tables restaurants reminded me of Paros a bit. Why did we wait so long to come to this side of the island? I decided on our next trip we need to venture out of Chora more. I get why we go there so often, because that’s where all of Stelis family and friends live but after walking the same port and main street every day it can feel a bit repetitive, so it was nice to have a change of scenery today. 

We ate lunch at a seafood taverna called Nostos, a recommendation we got from one of Stelis friends. I wanted to sit in the sun and the boys wanted the shade so we picked a table that was half and half. By the end of lunch I would be sweating and regretting my decision. We ordered a bottle of white wine which turned out to be the best wine I’ve had on the trip so far! To eat, we ordered a spread of seafood options to share: Bacalarios (fried cod), fried sardines (Leo’s request, but they are way too salty for my liking), beet salad, cheese balls, and grilled Mediterranean red fish. The red fish was delicious and came with a hollandaise type sauce. At the end of our meal they brought out 3 mini ice cream cones as a complimentary dessert, which was perfect considering how hot it was outside. We will definitely be coming back to this spot on our next trip. 

After lunch we drove by Karfas beach but there wasn’t much to see so we went back to the house to relax and Leo and Stelios played more basketball. Around 7pm we walked down to Chora to explore the inside of Chios castle. It’s interesting that some of the backyards of the houses open up to inside of the castle. If you follow the pathway there  is a courtyard with restaurants in the middle. We sat at Kaefnes, a small plates restaurant that had a handwritten menu in a notebook. We ordered 2 glasses of wine, dolmades, cheese balls, and saganaki. When we asked for the check they brought over complimentary orange cake. Today has been the day of free desserts and I am loving it. 

After our apertivo we walked from the castle to the waterfront of Chora in search of some Chios apparel but at 9pm it seemed like all of the stores were starting to close. We also walked past a SheIn store which I thought was so random 1) to be in Chios and 2) I didn’t think that SheIn had physical store locations? 

For the first time we saw an outside table at Sueno open up so we grabbed it, ordered drinks, the boys shared a pizza, and we watched the massive ferry boat pull into the port and turn around. The port is not that big and the ferry boat is massive, so it’s quite impressive watching them pull into the port and do a complete 180 turn without hitting anything. By 10pm we walked back home, racking up a new record of 17,700 steps for the day.