Our family loves road trips. Having our own car gives us ultimate flexibility but at the same, some semblance of predictability. With a car, we can go wherever we want whenever we want. We can throw our stuff on the car without having to worry about what to do with it. We can eat at a restaurant if we please, eat take-away food on the car if we are strapped for time or stop by a grocery store and get some sandwich ingredients to prepare own lunch if that is what we feel like. We can make bathroom stops whenever we want. The kids can get comfortable in their designated seats and know that for the duration of the trip, that is their spot.
We road tripped through South Africa and everybody loved it. We have been looking forward to having a similar experience in Greece. We picked up our rental in Athens and planned to drive it to Nafplio and take it on the ferry to Crete before returning it back in Athens at the end of the trip. The van was almost exactly the same configuration as we had in South Africa. It was an 8-seater van which meant that the boys claimed the very back row, the middle row was the girls’ domain and Leo and I took the front row.
We picked up the car in the morning and set off to Nafplio in the Peloponnese region. The peninsula is almost completely surrounded except for a thin isthmus that connects the Peloponnese to the rest of the mainland. Before we got on the road, we had to make one more stop at the River West Mall to return the jackets that we had bought several days ago to replace the ones that had mysteriously disappeared and then reappeared. We also couldn’t resist having one last meal at Apola. To save time, the boys went to return the jackets and the girls went to order lunch for takeaway. We ordered almost the exact same meal that we had the first time at Apola, a few souvlaki plates and a few gyros, all served with heaping piles of delicious fries. We got the food to go because we were planning to eat it on the car to save time.
Everybody was happy to be on the road. The first thing the kids did was turn on their favorite podcast, “Greeking Out”. We enjoyed our souvlaki and fries while listening to the story of the Trojan War. Once we got out of Athens, the views of the countryside were like something out of a painting. The green hills formed a backdrop to the neat rows of olive trees and the occasional cluster of cyprus trees that erupted from the land wherever they pleased. The blue sky was endless and filled with billowy clouds. We felt as free as birds.
The drive to Nafplio was only two hours which felt almost too short. We arrived at our Airbnb which was about 15 minutes outside of town, situated on a hillside with a handful of other houses nearby. There were orange orchards surrounding the little neighborhood. The Airbnb was a country home with a wraparound porch. In the front yard, RY found a dandelion puff on the lawn. He and AY tried to teach EY how to make a wish and blow the seeds apart, but met only with limited success.
We walked up the steps to the front door and opened the door to find a welcoming, cozy home that somebody loved. We have stayed in enough Airbnbs to know immediately when we walk in whether the host is a professional management company that rents homes for their business or an individual who takes pride in sharing their home and hometown with visitors. This was obviously the latter. The Christmas Tree and Christmas decorations were a dead giveaway. AY and EY immediately loved the place when they saw the festive decorations throughout the house. There were little fuzzy rugs placed all over the living room and on the couch to make it extra warm and cozy. The host even left a table full of local specialties for us, including a bottle of local wine, fresh local oranges, orange cake and a variety of packaged snacks. It is often these small touches that make us feel really welcome.
The home had four bedrooms, all of which were well-appointed and cozy. The two bathrooms came well stocked with hand soap and hand towels at the sink and shampoo and body wash in the shower. It was the girls turn to choose the bedroom first so they picked the room with two beds decorated with silk flowers and sashes on the headboard. There was a crib in the girls’ bedroom and EY asked if she could sleep in it. She was a little too tall for the crib, but she insisted she would be comfortable. The boys got the room with one large bed, similar to the room that Leo and I slept in.
There was nothing fancy about the home, but we really loved staying here. The coziness and utility allowed us to feel comfortable and at ease. The kids had enough space to spread out and do their learning, playing and creating. Everybody pitched in to cook a few meals in the kitchen. It had been a long time since we had our homemade pasta and meat sauce. It tasted even better than we remembered.
Our year-long trip around the world is turning out to be just as much about internal exploration as it is about external exploration. We are learning as much about ourselves and about life, as we are exploring different countries, cultures and people.
