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!
