We go to Paros - but don't know why

  Paros, Greece
Thursday, October 4, 2007

The following day we boarded a ferry bound for the island of Paros. It was latish by the time we rolled in there so the tour agent, a norseman named Michael who was clearly way over his head, greeted us and advised there was nothing he could do for us but here was a letter telling what wonders there were to see on Paros. We moved on up to our clean but Spartan (har!) hotel. There was nothing doing there, including restaurant service, so we made

From the balcony, Parikia

our way back to the harbour area of Parikia looking for a meal. We wound up at a restaurant that featured pizza as well as traditional Greek food. Those who had the former declared it to be the best pizza they had ever eaten.
 
In the morning we boarded a bus headed for the fishing village of Naoussa on the north coast of the island. We

Naoussa

were told that it was a good place for celebrity watching but they seemed not to be around that day. The village was very pretty and it was fun to see the merrily painted fishing boats. Fisherpersons mended nets on the dock. Not being able to stand the excitement we hopped back on a bus and headed for the inland and somewhat mountainous village of Lefkis.
 
Malcolm said that Lefkis reminded him of Brigadoon and it might well have been abandoned for all the activity we saw there. Other than a forlorn group of German tourists we saw nary a soul and nary a place of refreshment. After over an hour of this we came upon a couple from Chicago who pointed us to what appeared to be the only

Lefkis

restaurant in town. Turns out it was owned by their son-in-law. We enjoyed a good meal there but, since it had taken us so long to find it, had missed our bus back to Parikia. In consequence we had nothing to do but sit by the curbside for two and a half hours waiting for the next bus. Every fifteen minutes or so,

Waiting for the bus, Lefkis

as we sat there, a lone soul would sputter past on an old motor scooter. We came to regard these moments as high drama.
 
Back in Parikia we kicked around the SHOPPING area where we met on two occasions restaurateurs who knew the Toronto area very well, both of them having managed or worked in Greek restaurants there. We ended our night out in Parikia with a look through the Church of One Hundred Doors, which claims to be the oldest functioning church in Greece.  You could buy icons there.
 
The following day, being Friday, October 5th, we were deposited at the ferry terminal for the ride to Mykonos, where we were to board our ship for a three-night cruise. We had no idea whether or not we were at the right ferry gate so I began to nose around to make sure. I was alarmed to find a small notice posted at the harbour master's booth to the effect that our ferry had suffered mechanical difficulty and would not be making an appearance that day.
 
Further "inquiry" suggested it would be a good idea to go to the Parikia ferry office and find out what was going on. Several of us did this and we were issued new tickets, that had already been printed up, for a later ferry. We went back to the ferry gate to discover that norseman Michael had deigned to make an appearance. His normal state of angst was exacerbated by our initiative and he insisted that we return at once to the ticket office and get our original tickets back. By pulling out and waving his cell phone several times he sought to assure us that he was in complete control and had on his side the latest technology and our ferry was indeed on its way. I pointed out that, when we visited the ticket office, our new tickets had already been prepared with our names and new seat reservations on them. It seemed as though both the harbour master and the ticket office had information that was not available to him via his wonder-phone. Michael took a several steps forward, a couple back and looked like he was going to start playing the banjo. He jittered off down the pier and perhaps leapt into the sea because we never saw him again.
 
 
 
Eventually a ferry did arrive and it was in fact headed for the island of Mykonos so we got aboard. On reaching the island we were taken to a hotel some distance away from the harbour, apparently so that we could stretch our legs by walking down there and back, which we did. Not much to report about Mykonos

Horbour at Mykonos

Town - same old same old. One interesting side bar: we were having a bite to eat at a café when a group of passing tourists noticed the Canadian flag pin on my hat. They were from Toronto and stopped to say hello. Turns out one of the women had her purse stolen too, at the Parliament building in Athens. I asked her if she had taken to wearing jockey shorts.
 
Eventually we were picked up at the hotel and delivered to the other side of the harbour where we stood around for two hours while passengers from our ship, the Orient Queen, were debarked by tender. Once they were all on dry land it was our turn to be ferried over to the ship. We were quickly and efficiently given photo I.D. and escorted to our cabins by our chambermaid. Dinner aboard, a walkabout ship orientation during which we heard the most appalling noise coming from the entertainment lounge, and so to bed.
 
On the morning of Saturday, October 6, we awoke to find ourselves alongside the pier on the island of Rhodes.