Despite having had such a long and eventful journey, and missing a night’s sleep, we both woke up surprisingly early.

The weather was warm and sunny as you would expect. However recently they have had some torrential rain, at the same time as a sandstorm from the Sahara. Result? Red rain and a very big cleanup operation.

Usually one of the first things we do when we arrive here is a “big shop” but obviously that didn’t happen yesterday. So I walked up to the local bakery for something for breakfast. I got croissants and spanakopita (Spinach Pie)

I nearly always have this breakfast on my first day on any a Greek holiday. I suspect I like the idea of Spanakopita better than the real thing. I certainly like the word!

Denis then set to work fixing the Kindle problem. He has asked me to record that it is actually a Kindle Paperwhite NOT a Kindle Fire – he is anxious that anyone should think he is using old technology

First he asked Kalle if he could use her PC to download everything to his USB stick. While that was ongoing we did the big shop. On our return it had finished and he was just ready to initiate the factory reset when he decided to try one last thing : scan and repair

He set that going and lo and behold all the books reappeared! Problem solved! So he was pretty cheerful. I finished putting the shopping away. Unpacked. And was then ready to relax.

I feel as if we’re having a human version of a factory reset here in Naxos – a time to relax and clear the mind before returning to our daily lives and – in particular – selling the house.

So we spent some time round the pool snoozing and taking an occasional dip to cool off.

Late afternoon we walked to the port area where we planned to have dinner, stopping at a couple of bars on the way

and also picking up the June programme for the DOMUS festival

And the bus timetable

After dinner we made one final stop, at Paradise Bar on the beach, to say hello to Manolis who owns it, and to book sunbeds for the next day.

So we’ve touched base with most of our regular acquaintances here and walked around the town, the port and the beach areas. I’d say we have completed our ‘reset’ and are now properly on holiday and relaxing rather than still in everyday life.

Beach next then ….

Where to start? At the beginning I suppose.

Our journey started about 19.00 Saturday with a night out in Huddersfield. We had beer at the King’s Head

And curry at La Las

And then caught the last train to Manchester AirPort. We had a few hours to kill at the airport but managed to catch a bit of sleep before things got busy.

Once the desks opened we offloaded our hold luggage before heading through security. We were so early that our boarding passes didn’t work at the automated gates and we had to be let through manually.

It was also too early for any of the bars and restaurants so we just took a seat to wait.

Just after 3.00 am I missed a call from Jet2 to tell me that we had left a power pack in the luggage we checked in and they needed to speak to me about this ‘dangerous item’. They asked me to return their call.

Much easier said than done – all the numbers were either the wrong department or were never answered and nearly two and a half hours later I admitted defeat. We headed off to the departure gate to speak to the staff there instead. Eventually we got it sorted and started to board the flight only to find my boarding pass wouldn’t scan as it had been given a red flag because of the issue with the bag. That was also eventually sorted and I boarded the plane, virtually the last on board.

While all that and been going on, Denis has had his own problems to deal with – for some reason all of the books on his Kindle Fire had been removed. Not a good thing when you are just off for four weeks holiday. He tried all sorts to fix it but in the end decided that the only answer was a factory reset. That needed to wait until we were in Naxos though.

We were both a bit fraught by this point but settled into our seats, only to be told we were facing up to an hour delay before take off. Which meant we would almost certainly miss our connecting flight.

With the wonders of modern technology we booked a (much) later flight from Athens to Naxos while we were sat on the runway.

On arrival at Athens I had a quick chat with the Olympic Airlines customer service desk to see whether we had any options for an earlier flight but they were all full so we just had to wait for the later one.

Unfortunately by this point, and with all the shenanigans going on, my phone battery was nearly dead and there was a distinct shortage of charging points. And of course we had no power pack, that having been removed by Jet2 as the ‘dangerous item’ in our luggage. I forwarded my boarding pass to Denis to be on the safe side. And sent a final update by email to Nichos, who was meeting us off the plane.

Eventually we were on our way.

It’s a very short flight – 25 minutes – but we got some great views just before my phone battery finally died.

I took a few photos with my iPad as we came into land

Of course Nichos was waiting for us and before we knew it we were in our room. Denis wasted no time heading out to Soulatso to renew some acquaintances and I joined him a bit later.

By this time we had been on the go for 24 hours although it felt much longer. We ate at Meltemi where we ate the first time we ever came to Naxos.

Then it was off home and to bed. We were soon asleep….

We first went to Naxos in 2013 (I think). We found it by accident. I was studying for a Classical Studies MA with the Open University and decided it was time to visit some of the classical sites on mainland Greece. I suggested to Denis that we finish the trip with a week on a Greek island and left it to him to pick which one. Allegedly he in effect stuck a pin in a map and came up with Naxos although I’m fairly sure that there being a classical music recording label also called Naxos had something to do with it.

Anyway after doing Athens , Epidaurus and Delphi we spent a week on Naxos. And loved it. The following year we went again, this time with Anna

In the next few years we did some island hopping to expand our horizons and get to know other islands. We did the Dodecanese, including Kos (notably for Paul and Louise’s wedding) and Rhodes (for a bridge congress)

And some of the other Cycladic islands…..

But in the end we always returned to Naxos.

And since we are both retired we now typically spend most (if not all) of June there.

And so we are on our way. There are no direct flights to Naxos from the UK but you can get a flight from Athens. Or you can go by ferry from Athens, or Mykonos, or Santorini- all of which you can fly to from the UK. We’ve tried them all. This year we are flying to Athens and then to Naxos which is by far the quickest way to get there- but not as much fun as a ferry. The flight to Naxos is short – 40 minutes at most- and the airport at Naxos is little more than a shed.

But once you’ve landed you can be by the pool in our little complex in 15 minutes.

Next update from Naxos then ….. probably from about where Denis is in the photo above.

Today we needed to check out of the airbnb so our first task was to have breakfast and pack our bags. The youngsters had been out until the early hours of the morning so took a bit of encouragement to get up and out.

We were attending the victory parade before heading home. The plan was to park up near to Queens Drive near the end of the M62. Thus we could have an easy get away. In the end we parked at Broad Green railway station. Which fulfilled our criteria although it took a while to get out of it later.

We had a lot of time to spend and the weather was not looking great so we spent a couple of hours in a nearby Wetherspoons “The Navigator”.

The crowd outside got bigger and bigger. Eventually we heard that the bus had set off, carrying our heroes, and about an hour later it arrived with us. Here was my view….

I was glad to have done it but one victory parade is enough for me. I will watch on the tv next year

And so ended our celebration weekend. We had one final group photo.

And then went our separate ways.

By the time we got home the parade was coming to an end, when news started to come through of an awful car collision at the parade. Our group had all got home safely thank goodness, but others may not have been so lucky. A sad end to what had otherwise been a marvellous weekend full of friendship and happiness.

We woke up early and excited. We’d spent the evening eating our Chinese takeaway and watching highlights of that famous match in Istanbul. Today is the 20th anniversary of that match. It was in the days before camera phones and facebook so we have no photos of ourselves there. This’ll have to do.

For breakfast we recreated the infamous “Breakfast of Champions “ first eaten in Madrid in 2019. There it was churros and chocolate sauce and champagne. Here we’ve had to make do with chocolate croissants and champagne instead.

Late morning we went to The Sandon.

The music was disappointing – didn’t strike the right note for me at all and didn’t get the crowd involved. The weather was variously cloudy and sunny but with a fairly constant breeze so I found myself quite cold. All in all it fell a bit below my expectations. Luckily Anna and I went to the match but things didn’t get better for those who stayed at the pub as the big screens didn’t work properly.

The match itself wasn’t much to write home about but of course we were Champions whatever the result. And at the end we at last got our hands on the trophy.

There was much merriment inside Anfield and a good time was had by all.

Afterwards we all gathered together for a couple of drinks and then went our separate ways. The older ones of us returned to finish off last night’s takeaway and the younger ones went back out into the city centre.

Tonight is our last night. Tomorrow we are planning on watching the victory parade and then heading straight home.