Naxos, Greece

Naxos is a mountainous island. The capital of the island, Hora, has a well-preserved Venetian castle and is full of beautiful whitewashed houses with small windows, surrounded by stone-paved narrow alleys.

The windmills on Naxos are not a trademark of the island like Mykonos but there are some nice ones. Their architecture is similar to the windmills found on the other islands of the Cyclades with a round shape, white colour, and a pointed roof.

Naxos has more than 98 kilometres of fine golden sandy beaches with superb crystal-clear turquoise waters.

Selling seashells by the seashore

We stayed at a family run studio apartment situated only a few minutes walk to the beach and the small city of Agios Prokopios. The apartment had a sea view and the hospitality was incredible – our hosts graciously brought us fresh eggs and vegetables for breakfast every day.

The most famous landmark of Greece's Naxos Island is the Portara, a massive 2,500-year-old marble doorway that leads nowhere.

The Portara is the entrance to an unfinished temple that faces directly toward Delos, Apollo's birthplace. For this reason most scholars believe it was dedicated to Apollo. Under Venetian and Turkish rule the temple was dismantled so its marble could be used to build a castle. The doorway, however, was so large and heavy it could not be used, so it remains standing alone among the ruins.

Naxos is a great island for families. Calm waters for young kids, and great restaurants. Highly recommended!

Run for the Cure

Mélanie and Léah ran 5K in the Run for the Cure this past Sunday. About the Run:

“The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure is Canada's largest single day, volunteer-led fundraising event dedicated to raising funds for breast cancer research, and education and awareness programs.

Each year, thousands of Canadians of all ages and from all walks of life unite to participate in the Run. Their reasons for participating vary, but they all have the same goal; to create a future without breast cancer.”

This past Sunday, the participation across the country raised over $33 million.

Mélanie’s grandmother, affectionately known as “Ninnie”, fought cancer with her positive spirit and passion for life. Mélanie and Léah proudly represented Ninnie in the Run.

Saanich Fair

The Saanich Fair is Western Canada’s oldest continuous agricultural fair. Since we moved to Victoria back in the summer of 2004, we have attended this annual event every year (besides last year when we were in Costa Rica).

Watching the sheep shearing

Léah is not too sure what to think of the sheep shearing

Learning how blue jeans are made

Playing in the hay

Pirate tattoos

The rides

 

Food from different countries

Cheese Blintz from the Jewish Community booth

Lángos from the Hungarian booth (the original “Beaver Tail”)

Onions the size of Gabriel’s head…

… and other absurdly large veggies

Some friendly sibling wrestling to end the day

Fortune Cookie

Sometimes the fortune cookie message is very accurate.

Oia, Santorini, Greece

“Oia remains one of the foremost tourist attractions of the Aegean Sea. The famous Oia sunset, considered by many as one of the most beautiful in the world, keeps tourists flocking down to the castle, waiting for the moment when the sun slips down on the calm sea of the caldera.”

Wikipedia

Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park

For the last 4 years, the families of the children in Léah’s Kindergarten class have coordinated an annual camping weekend. We were happy to have scheduled to be back on the island in time to attend this year. We spent 3 nights and 3 days at Rathtrevor Beach Provincial Park with 10 amazing families. It is a beautiful location and the weather was perfect (albeit a bit chilly at night for those returning from Central America).

The kids painting and sculpting at “Cindy’s Art Studio”.

The beautiful beach with never-ending sand and snowy peaks in the distance.

Giving Duke a little loving. (Duke is Dave’s guard dog for his perilous trips to the grocery store.)

Fun with balloons.

Celebrating George’s birthday and Missy achieving an important milestone for her PhD in Music.

Unpacking… yuck.

A video of the “bike gang”.

Thank you, Cindy for coordinating a great trip!