By Jain
Paros Greece Saturday April 30th
By Jain
We arrived in Paros after a 3 hour ferry ride from Santorini. The town is buzzing because it is Easter here. Lucky us we get two Easters this year. Greece celebrates its Easter according to the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar as we do in the Western world. Easter here is the biggest holiday of the year and overshadows Christmas by a long shot. It has nothing to do with easter bunnies, easter egg hunts, hollow chocolate rabbits or candy filled plastic eggs. Instead this religious holiday centers around lamb roasted on a spit, wine and family. Oh yeah and making the traditional treats like Easter cookies and Magiritual soup. For you lamb lovers that is soup made from lamb innards, egg, and lemon. Since I don't care for lamb that much I doubt if I would like the soup. (Saved by the bell).
So let's see Friday April 29th was Good Friday; today Saturday April 30th is called Easter Saturday; Sunday May 1st is Easter Sunday; Monday, May 2nd is Easter Monday referred to as Bright Monday (also known by our family and friends as our 38th wedding anniversary); and Tuesday May 3rd will be Labor Day and May Day. Come to Greece if you want a good time if you like holidays and of course like lamb.
We are staying at Joseph Apartments in Parikia, Paros. It has a kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bathroom. It is nice, clean and basic and for $40.00 a day can't be beat. It also has the standard Greek bed as hard as a rock. I am sure if you slept on the floor you could not feel a difference. It is pure torture. Over the years traveling so much I have encountered beds that were equally miserable. I usually find creative ways to make them bearable; padding them with extra blankets, pillows or towels, borrowing pool lounge cushions, flipping the mattress, or using a blow up rubber pool matress. Here was easy, I slept on the futon in the living room... problem solved.
This morning, Easter Saturday, our landlord delivered us traditional Easter homemade cookies, and two hard boiled eggs dyed red. She explained the tradition of rapping the end of your egg against a friend's egg to see which egg cracks first.The one whose egg cracks first loses and ensures the winner will have good luck for the next year. She also invited us to join the rest of the town in the main square at 12 midnight for candle lighting complete with fireworks, drums, singing and church bells.
Today we took a long walk around town trying to find where we attended the Nose, Flipper and Hat party at a local seaside tavern 30 years ago. We never found it but did find the pensione we stayed in and also the fountain where I hid a present for Jay on my compass scavenge hunt I planned for him back then. On our walk it was fun to see the locals preparing for upcoming festivities including preparing their lamb spit in their yard.
I like Paros. I don't especially like holidays; everything usually is closed. Here everything seems to be buzzing at least for today. Shops are open for business and almost all the restaurants are working like crazy preparing for their 5 course Easter meal complete with lamb,and that yummy lamb soup.
Opah!!!
By Jain
We arrived in Paros after a 3 hour ferry ride from Santorini. The town is buzzing because it is Easter here. Lucky us we get two Easters this year. Greece celebrates its Easter according to the Julian calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar as we do in the Western world. Easter here is the biggest holiday of the year and overshadows Christmas by a long shot. It has nothing to do with easter bunnies, easter egg hunts, hollow chocolate rabbits or candy filled plastic eggs. Instead this religious holiday centers around lamb roasted on a spit, wine and family. Oh yeah and making the traditional treats like Easter cookies and Magiritual soup. For you lamb lovers that is soup made from lamb innards, egg, and lemon. Since I don't care for lamb that much I doubt if I would like the soup. (Saved by the bell).
So let's see Friday April 29th was Good Friday; today Saturday April 30th is called Easter Saturday; Sunday May 1st is Easter Sunday; Monday, May 2nd is Easter Monday referred to as Bright Monday (also known by our family and friends as our 38th wedding anniversary); and Tuesday May 3rd will be Labor Day and May Day. Come to Greece if you want a good time if you like holidays and of course like lamb.
We are staying at Joseph Apartments in Parikia, Paros. It has a kitchen, living room, bedroom, and bathroom. It is nice, clean and basic and for $40.00 a day can't be beat. It also has the standard Greek bed as hard as a rock. I am sure if you slept on the floor you could not feel a difference. It is pure torture. Over the years traveling so much I have encountered beds that were equally miserable. I usually find creative ways to make them bearable; padding them with extra blankets, pillows or towels, borrowing pool lounge cushions, flipping the mattress, or using a blow up rubber pool matress. Here was easy, I slept on the futon in the living room... problem solved.
This morning, Easter Saturday, our landlord delivered us traditional Easter homemade cookies, and two hard boiled eggs dyed red. She explained the tradition of rapping the end of your egg against a friend's egg to see which egg cracks first.The one whose egg cracks first loses and ensures the winner will have good luck for the next year. She also invited us to join the rest of the town in the main square at 12 midnight for candle lighting complete with fireworks, drums, singing and church bells.
Today we took a long walk around town trying to find where we attended the Nose, Flipper and Hat party at a local seaside tavern 30 years ago. We never found it but did find the pensione we stayed in and also the fountain where I hid a present for Jay on my compass scavenge hunt I planned for him back then. On our walk it was fun to see the locals preparing for upcoming festivities including preparing their lamb spit in their yard.
I like Paros. I don't especially like holidays; everything usually is closed. Here everything seems to be buzzing at least for today. Shops are open for business and almost all the restaurants are working like crazy preparing for their 5 course Easter meal complete with lamb,and that yummy lamb soup.
Opah!!!
Sent from my Galaxy Tab® S2
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