Although we’d spend each evening in or near Naousa, we’d field trip around the island each day to explore, hike, or swim.
Including driving up to the traditional Cyclades mountain village of Lefkes.
Which featured quite a few picturesque Greek churches.
Grabbing some lunch at Anemos Taverna above the eroded-rocky Kolympethres Beach:
White-washed Naousa in the distance:
A visit to the Monastery of St. Johns of Deti:
Which offered a pretty great, quintessentially Greek view from the roof:
And also a view to the very commercial Monastiri Beach. Typical density of many European (and especially Italian) beaches, but a little packed in for our taste.
Much more appealing to us was Ampelas Beach on the other side of the island:
Great swimming and lower key. . .
and with two amazing restaurants available for lunch.
Aspro Paros, with it’s spectacular zucchini salad (and calamari and smelt, natch):
And Blue Oyster right next door:
Everything amazingly fresh.
Including some zesty ceviche and Greek cheese:
We’d return to Ampelas Beach three times during our stay. Perfect experience each time.
Next up: the mercifully last post before we move beyond this trip and thence to the Baltics and a starkly different, winter climate.
The final post on the Turkey and Back to Greece trip (finally!). And just in the nick of time: we’re hitting the road (and the Adriatic Sea) tomorrow, and so won’t be posting any of the other backlogged trips for a while. These are all the long trips (versus week-long trips that we responsibly posted immediately after getting back from each), and include the following:
We’ll eventually post the detailed content on each of these trips here on WolfeStreetTravel.com; in the meantime, we’ll be posting pics in real time during two upcoming extended trips over the next 5 months @wolfestreettravel on Instagram, if you’re interested.
Back to our final post on Paros. . .
Although we chose not to stay in the largest town on the island (for reasons obvious here), we nonetheless headed to Parikia one day during our stay on Paros as a day trip.
Very cool, bustling burg. With equally cool, wooden-framed bikes to boot.
The absolute most intriguing site in town has to be the Frankish Castle.
Built by the Venetians in the 1200s on the site of the town’s ancient acropolis, the “castle” (actually the remains of a tower that was part of a castle wall) was constructed Jenga-style using the vestiges of classical temples from around the island.
Little remains of the original fortification, and nearby structures incorporate what remains into their own walls.
One of the three “Mavrogenus’ Fountains” found around town. ” Nicolaos Mavrogenus was one of the prodigal sons of Parikia, Paros Island main town in the Greek Cyclades. Missing his native Aegean and as Wallachia governor decided benefit his hometown providing a public drinking water supply [in 1777]: three beautiful marble fountains.” (From here.)
And another (we never came across the third):
Finally getting a gyro at a local place in Parikia’s port (the empty plate would soon be filled):
The Byzantine-era church complex of Panagia Ekatontapiliani (The Church with 100 Doors):
According to tradition, the church currently has 99 doors and a secret, 100th door will open when the church of Hagia Sofia in Constantinople become Orthodox Christian again.
The original church dates back to 326, during the reign of Roman Emperor Constantine, and purportedly was founded by his mother, Helene (whose sarcophagus we came across during the micronations road trip).
We think the church elders employed third graders to carve the church’s tombstones:
In the 6th century, Byzantine Emperor Justinian enhanced the church and added a dome.
Another view of the Frankish Castle as we head out of town.
The best hike we experienced on the island took us to the Korakas Cape Lighthouse at the northwest tip of the island.
Another field trip, this time a short ferry ride to the polar opposite of the island of Paros: Antiparos (it’s just a smaller island than Paros).
With a really picturesque main town:
Bye, Antiparos.
And bye, Paros, and Cappadocia, and Istanbul. Trip posts complete!
This, at long last, represents the final tranche of posts for our September 2022 Turkey and Greece trip: a week on the Greek island of Paros in the Cyclades archipelago.
The Turkey and Back to Greece trip, as originally planned, was to be our first post-retirement travel excursion. The second WolfeStreetTraveler would retire in mid-August 2022 (the first had retired the previous year), and then we’d immediately spend a full month on the road – leaving in late August and returning in late September. After a week in Turkey, we’d spend 3 weeks island hopping in the Cyclades:
Paros for 1 week
Milos for 4 days
Folegandros for 3 days
Naxos for 1 week
But a perpetually problematic NOAA weather forecasting supercomputing support contract in the otherwise optimally operating Science & Engineering business run by on of the WolfeStreetTravelers had other plans. The recalcitrant actions of the most uncooperative data center and the most incompetent supercomputing vendor to ever play a role in weather forecasting would require, it turns out, another 6 months to address. So that WolfeStreetTraveler postponed retirement, canceled the Milos / Folegandros / Naxos legs of the trip (for which both the ferry fares and the hotel / AirBnB reservations were refundable, which was a relief), enjoyed the remaining first legs of the trip, then returned to work to dig in for another half year to pound on pernicious program problems.
But that’s okay – a week in Paros was unbelievably great. And we’d get to the other Cyclades islands later (in fact, they were supposed to comprise the second half of a 6-week trip planned later this year, but earthquakes in the area scared us off, so we’re hitting Mallorca and Andalusia instead, which should be pretty great, too). We’ll get back to the remaining Cyclades soon enough.
In Paros, we based ourselves in the town of Naousa at the north end of the island. Although the main city and ferry port on the island, Parika, held some appeal, our research suggested that Naousa offered more of what we were looking for; and we could always day trip to Parika (which we did).
And Naousa was absolutely perfect for us:
Although definitely a tourist town, Naousa still operated as a working fishing port
where the catch of the day would appear on your table for lunch and dinner.
For the entire week, we’d begin each evening with sunset cocktails on the water, then wander into town to find dinner. The best of these, which we’d patronize three evenings during our stay, was called – fittingly enough – Come Back. So we did. Again and again.
And for obvious reasons.
Sunset in Naousa from the Come Back beach:
And thence, into Naousa for some seafood.
Pretty great weather – mostly – during out stay. We did have a day and a half of super windy weather that was part of the normal weather cycle in the Cyclades, but that also was strong enough that it curtailed some activities.
Fishing wasn’t one of them.
Our time on Paros also encompassed our anniversary, which was great.
Pretty good AirBnB digs.
Another evening, another round (or three) of cocktails at Come Back.
And another sunset. Pretty good routine.
A break from fish with some moussaka.
One of the most photographed spots in Naousa, based on our Instagram feed before the trip. Colorful, yes, but empty.
And then night falls:
Another sunset, and our second favorite cocktail spot.
Maybe they should name this place “Also Come Back Here.”
After three true road trips abroad all in the last 12 months (Languedoc/Provence/San Sebastian, Tuscany, and The Cotswolds/Wales), we pivoted to slightly more typical travel logistics over this past Labor Day and headed to a couple of locations in Turkey, and then back to Greece to explore another of the Cyclades islands there.
We flew into Istanbul, and spent 3 days there, then flew south to the town of Göreme, in Turkey’s Cappadocia region, and finally from there (through an overnight in Athens), to the Greek island of Paros.
After landing in Istanbul, we headed immediately to the venerable Hagia Sofia, built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian in the 6th century:
Hagia Sophia began as a grand church, replacing a previous model constructed in the 4th century. Then as a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in the 15th century, then a museum under Atatürk in the early 20th century, then BACK to a mosque in 2020 as Turkey has begun deviating from its secular modern roots to an increasingly Islamic society. With the latest change back to a mosque, we weren’t able to go to the second level to see the Viking runes graffiti left by members of the Varangian Guard sometime between the 10th and 11th centuries. Serious bummer, man. But on the bright side the place is freaking HUGE both inside and out, and the bolt-ons by different sultans over the centuries, including massive buttresses to prevent a repeat of collapses during earthquakes were clearly apparent.
Hagia Sofia interior:
Just across a plaza from Hagia Sofia lies the Blue Mosque, an Ottoman-era imperial mosque constructed between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I. Sporting five main domes and eight secondary domes, it’s the only mosque in Istanbul with six minarets.
The subterranean basilica cistern in the heart of Istanbul’s old town:
Built in the 530s by Justinian as a major municipal water supply for Constantinople, this multi-acre complex used to be filled up to 7 meters deep with fresh water supplied by the city’s aqueduct. Pillars and other materials from across the empire, including two Gorgon heads, were looted from pagan temples and repurposed to construct the enormous cistern. Abandoned and forgotten in the subsequent centuries. Rediscovered only in the 18th century, the place is architecturally, functionally, and atmospherically astounding. Plus, good to get underground and out of the heat!
Topkapi Palace, seat of power for the Ottoman Empire between the 15th and 18th centuries:
A little Turkish music our last night in Istanbul in an entirely different cistern across town, converted to a restaurant:
The absolute highlight of the trip was Cappadocia, in the middle of Turkey. We based ourselves in the town of Göreme and then drove all over the place to check out sights in the region’s lunar landscape of eroded volcanic tuff.
A dawn balloon ride on our first morning:
Really cool stuff all over the region, including two monastery cave complexes right down the road from Göreme. The first was a Byzantine monastic community in the Zelve valley, which thrived between the 9th to 13th centuries. The valley’s troglodyte houses were occupied until 1952, when villagers were relocated due to safety concerns.
We found the complex nearest to Göreme to be even more compelling, though. Founded in the 4th century on the instruction of Saint Basil of Caesarea, this complex of monasteries, nunneries, churches, and chapels existed for a thousand years.
The abundance of cave churches in the complex intrigued us the most:
Two distinct styles of decoration are immediately evident in the cave churches: “During the iconoclastic period (725–842) the decoration of the many sanctuaries in the region was held to a minimum, usually symbols such as the depiction of the Christian cross.”
After this period, new churches were dug into the rocks, and they were richly decorated with colourful frescoes.” Super cool to actually walk into a space and see untouched art from the 8th century just sitting there in the open.
The mountain castle of Uçhisar, dominating the skyline north of Göreme in Cappadocia.
Originally occupied by the Hittites, the structure was once home to 1000 people throughout its labyrinth of cave warrens and later served as cloisters during the Byzantine era.
Descending into the ancient multi-level underground city of Derinkuyu, which is large enough to have sheltered as many as 20,000 people together with their livestock and food stores. The city began in the 8th to 7th centuries BC, and continually expanded. Fully formed between 780–1180 AD, Derinkuyu was occupied for protection from Muslim Arabs during the Arab–Byzantine wars.
Capadoccia’s characteristic fairy chimneys:
A little balloon action from outside the basket this time at sunrise in town.
Even our pool was Capadoccia cool:
Last evening in Göreme:
From Cappadocia in Turkey, we headed to the island of Paros, in Greece’s Cyclades archipelago. We previously visited two nearby Cyclades islands – Santorini and Mykonos. We thoroughly enjoyed both, but wanted an island with a slower pace this time. Paros delivered.
Our base camp of Naousa in Paros – a really compelling combo of working fishing port and the island’s densest cluster of restaurants. As far was we could discern, every one of them had octopus on the menu.
The Monastery of St. John’s of Deti:
Paros’ main port town of Parikia:
At the top of the town, a 13th-century Frankish Crusader castle established as part of the short-lived Duchy of the Aegean Sea and built from materials taken from ancient sites that existed nearby, including the temple of goddess Athena, the protector of the ancient town of Paros:
At the outskirts of town lay the Ekatontapyliani church complex dating from the 6th century:
A short ferry ride delivered us to Paros’ Mini Me neighbor: the island of Antiparos:
Morning hike to the Akrotiri Korakas lighthouse at the northwestern tip of Paros:
We found ourselves hanging out on multiple days at the low-key Ampelas Beach on the east side of the island, across from Naxos:
After seven sunset cocktails and evenings in Naousa, we’ll definitely be back here.
WolfeStreetTravel 