Hurry up and wait

Tom overlooking the main port on Koufonisia.

It's day three of our island adventure here on Koufonisia - one of four small islands making up the Greek Cyclades. After nearly twenty hours spent in transit following a tumultuous morning of running, haggling, and waiting around, we were more than relieved to set foot on terra firma.

The place is, in a word, idyllic. There isn't really any other way to describe it. The weather is great, if a touch too warm. The people are friendly. And the scenery is straight out of a Conde Nast travel spread. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop; I half expect the set director to stroll onto the beach and instruct us to head over to stage 3 to shoot the rest of the dinner montage.

Being here has been good for our spirits, especially when you consider where we came from. Like Rome, nearly everything in Athens seems to be in disrepair. The city itself stretches for miles in every direction. With a population pushing 4 million, it gives sprawl a whole new meaning. By contrast, the island has just under four hundred permanent residents making it substantially less dense and, consequently, less commercialized. Thanks to the ferry strikes we've been blessed with an extra two days here, after which we'll head to Santorini. And the truth is I'm already missing it.

One of our many seafood dinners. This one was a particularly large one.