Island Life

Day 5: Monday, June 17^th

What we did: After continuing our pattern of sleeping in, we enjoyed breakfast on our patio and took in the view.  

We then greased up every inch of Landry fair skin and headed to the beaches.  We first tried a local beach where Cora took a nap in the Ergo as we quickly realized a ‘walk on the beach’ wasn’t going to work as well on the rocky beach we’d chosen.

Once Cora woke up, we ventured out, or at least Cora and I did as Jacob played the role of baby and said it was too cold. I’m not normally one to swim in the ocean, but this was not like any ocean I’m used to.  (Probably because it’s a sea :) not an ocean) There were no waves and just translucent waters stretching out as far as you could see, so I did some swimming.  We then drove north and caught sight of an amazing beach with several layers of aqua and turquoise. 

 We walked down and each took turns swimming and I even got a short nap stretched out on a rock.  Then we came home for lunch and naps and then visited Lindos Town in the early evening, followed by dinner overlooking the water.

It was a tiny car!

What was most memorable: Swimming in the Aegean Sea!  

This was also the first night I got that homesick feeling I remember from childhood camps. It’s interesting how it hits at night and is nearly gone in the daytime.  I wasn’t missing home, just missing Jack.  If I let myself wallow in the feeling then I start to feel panicky because he’s just so far away and I can’t easily check on him. We don’t have Internet so we’re reliant on cafes with Wi-Fi and then have to factor in the time difference and try to catch him at home. 

Even though I know he’d love this part of the trip (the beach, the island, our place), I know we made the right decision not to bring him.  This is a win-win for all – he gets to have some well-deserved solo child time, he gets to spend special time with his grandparents and vice versa, we get to downgrade to just one child, thus allowing us to reconnect in a way that’s hard to do in our “real lives” managing jobs, house, and two children.  We also are getting to spend special time with Cora.  I was telling Jacob how knowing we want more children, this might be one of the few times Cora gets to be the “only” child.

So as we get to know Cora even better, here was a favorite memory of the night:

Cora, a little tired and a little done with being at the restaurant, starts to notice that she is sitting under a large tree that comes down a foot above her head.  She sees it so we point and say, “big tree Cora.”  Well, she starts in with her new favorite word “Whoa-wow!” with big eyes and a round mouth and starts pointing one hand and then looking up and pointing both hands.  She gets the attention of our table neighbors and shows him and then shows both the waiter and the owner who come by.  She has had us laughing a lot on this trip with all of her expressions :)

Day 6: Tuesday, June 18^th

What we did: After another sunny breakfast on the patio, we followed the recommendation of our new friend Irene (or rather Cora’s new friend Irene from dinner the night before) to drive to the eastern side of the island to see the castle in Monolithia. Cora napped on the drive over, so we had a peaceful ride. 

The castle gave some pretty impressive views, perched on the tip of a cliff, overlooking the sea. 

We then drove down to Fourni Beach. This was a 15 minute drive down the mountain on a narrow road filled with hairpin turns and steep drop offs.  Every time we’d near a corner, I’d just pray there wasn’t a car coming the other way because it was impossible to see until the last minute and not really enough room for both cars to make the turn.  The beach was worth the anxiety inducing drive and we all had another swim.  Since we knew Jack would have loved the rocky beach, we spent time gathering the prettiest collection of rocks to bring home to him.  

It was like we were alone :)

Nope, there were definitely 3 of us :)

Naps for all and then another evening in Lindos Town.  There happened to be a rock concert in the town square so we picked a restaurant nearby. This led to a Jacob Landry: maître de show down when our bill had higher prices than what the menu had shown. The maître de said “oh that was our old menu.”  Jacob, a man mindful of his money, had been pushed to the limit by cover charges, charges for unrequested bread, and restaurants unwilling to give free tap water, so he stood his ground and we didn’t pay the higher rates.  A bit stressful, but the evening ended well with chocolate cheesecake on the square as our little techno baby danced away to the rock concert :)

What was most memorable: We stopped at a fruit stand on the way home from Monolithia to buy figs.  We only had 50 euro bills so I showed the girl at the stand and she nodded as if she had change.  She then realized she did not, so I went to put the figs back but she shook her head and said “Present.”  I was really touched by this act of kindness and so wished I had something to offer back.  But at that point all we had was smushed granola bars, wet towels, and baby books in the car, so I just smiled and accepted the kindness and have been on the lookout for how to pass it on.