“You haven’t been to Greece if you haven’t been to Mykonos.” – Tass
I spent a lovely afternoon with Tass, the caretaker of the guest house I was staying at in Mykonos. I moved to this cheaper guesthouse when Miles left me and I was staying on my own. It was just about 5 minutes outside of town up a big hill called Adriani’s Guest House. It was laid back and extremely well kept. I loved it immediately – plus it had wireless internet!
Tass and I immediately hit it off as he was from Boston – actually he was Greek but had lived in Boston for years. He was very helpful and kind of watched over me since I was on my own. He was 69 years old, and in great shape due to his ritual of swimming at the beach every day no matter how cold it was! One morning I got up to go running and it was particularly cold and windy. When I got back from my run he had made me tea and toast with jam. He invited me to have lunch with him later that afternoon before I left on the ferry. I had already been in the small town of Mykonos for 4 days – and had seen the whole town so I really had no other plans – so I joined hi. I brought my left over bottle of wine and joined him in his kitchen at the guesthouse for lunch. We had a wonderful time learning about each other drinking ouzo and eating gigantes and greek salad.
He told me his story on how he made it to America and jumped ship in New York. From there he went to work at a friend’s place who was in the import business. Eventually he made his way up to Boston, got married and started a family. Now he’s retired and has decided to spend 6 months a year helping out his niece in Mykonos by taking care of her guesthouse. He lives at the house and keeps it up. Perfect for such a social man! The other 6 months of the year – he travels. I can only hope to retire like that one day! He had a wonderful outlook on life – living it to the fullest and really enjoying himself living a healthy lifestyle.
Before he put me on the ferry – he made me some Greek coffee (my favorite!) and we said our goodbyes. He was a delight to talk to and share an afternoon with!
Sherry Ott is a refugee from corporate IT who is now a long term traveler, blogger, and photographer. She’s a co-founder of Briefcasetobackpack.com, a website offering career break travel inspiration and advice.
Additionally, she runs an around the world travel blog writing about her travel and expat adventures at Ottsworld.com.com.
