Next stop: Paros Island
Trip Start
Jul 25, 2007
1
2
5
Trip End
Aug 06, 2007
Paros,
Attica,
Greece
Saturday, July 28, 2007
It's time to say goodbye to Athens and start our odyssey through the Cyclades. Arriving at the port (Pireus) is very easy: we just have to take the metro and about 30 minutes we're in Pireus buying the boat tickets to Paros Island. There's no need to make a reservation previously, there are always tickets though you want to travel in high season. Tickets from Pireus to Paros cost €28 one way and it takes about 6 hours.
The ferry departures at 5:00 p.m so we can go for a walk meanwhile, unfortunately there's not much to see in Pireus and we find a nice park just in front of the dock and we lie down on the grass for a long time. At 3:00 p.m we eat something in a cute bar located at the same park and have fun watching a greek music TV channel.
Once already in the boat we have 6 hours ahead, it can be veeery boring... but, as good travelers, we have cards, sudoku, books and dominoes! no boredom's allowed!
Finally we arrive to Paros Island capital, Parikia, at 11:30 p.m and though it's very late a crowd of greeks are waiting for us at the dock offering acomodation. We had already booked a room in a hostel just for one night because a friend of us that was in Greece two years ago told us that Paros was not a beautiful place, so we had decided to stay just one day there and then move to another island... but, surprisingly, PAROS IS INCREDIBLE!! little tortuous streets, precious white houses with balconies full of lilacs, mallows and other flowers, small taverns, full of life but calm at the same time...
my friend and octopus!
Oh my god, I'm gonna cry! (yes, you can beat me!). We like the place so much that we ask the Hostel Festos owner if it's possible to stay another night there but he tells us that he have no vacated rooms for the next d ay, so tomorrow we'll have to move to another hostel.That night we have dinner (at 1:00 a.m!)in the terrace of a restaurant, a span from the sea and for the first time in a lot of time I feel great, calm, happy. Paros is a good therapy for me!
Aaand... I taste the first authentic greek yoghurt of my life! What can I say? not similar at all to that dirt that we can buy at the supermarket. Real greek yoghurt is thicker but very soft, and if you taste it with honey uhmmm...
Parikia has a great nightlife and the sea promenade is plenty of pub, cocktail bars and discos. We choose a cosy bar (chill out style) and stay there drinking wine and rum cocktails till 4:00 a.m. Paros, I already love you! haha
July 29
We have to leave Hostel Festos at 10:00 a.m and we start looking for some cheap hotel. We enter in two or three establishments but they're all too expensive for us and finally we find Hotel Georgy: big double room with toilet and a balcony with a table, two chairs and parasol for €40 per night, and the hotel has a perfect location next to the port.
We leave of baggage at the room and go for a walk to see Parikia by day haha it continues being veru beautiful and the beach is OK.
At 2:00 p.m we sit on the terrace of Hibiscus restaurant, the oldest estiatorio in Paros. Real or not? Nevermind, food is great (I recommend aubergine filled with vegetables - certainly Greece is a good place for veggies like me!)
We spend the afternoon in Naoussa, a small town even more rustic and authentic that Parikia. Naoussa is just in the opposite side of the Island but arriving there just takes 20 minutes by bus. Such a lovely place! Descending some rocks we find a pacific and cosy beach and we spend the evening sunbathing as lizards.
Soon the night comes and we go for a walk through the town, entering in small shops. Something curious: there are hundreds of cats in the streets! I hadn't seen so many cats together in muy whole life!
We have dinner at Oinoh, a cosy restaurant with the nicest staff we've met. I highly recommend it, really really good restaurant at reasonable price.
At 11:00 p.m we go back to Parikia and we buy some bacardi breezer at a kiosk and drink them relaxedly sitting in the balcony of our room. THIS IS LIFE!
