Monday 16/6 Top Deck day 2 – Athens to Paros

We woke up at 5am. We only got up maybe around 5:10, and were slow in getting ready to go. We finally made it down to breakfast with about 10 minutes to spare. Little did we know that by the time the group moved off it was another 15 on top of that, so we could have stayed and ate for longer. The breakfast wasn´t quite as good as our first anyway. No fruit.

We all walked over to Syntagma Square to get onto a coach that would take us to the port of Pirreus, a suburb of Athens. Our first stop in the island hopping part of this trip is the Cyclades island of Paros. Paros was supposedly a great beach and holiday town without being overly touristy or expensive.

When we arrived at the port we boarded one of the ferries. The interior was decked out pretty nicely, including well dressed (like nice hotel staff) attendants and escalators and the such. Well, it only lasted up to the reception. Steerage wasn´t quite like that. It wasn´t bad though. We didn't have set seats as they cost extra. We had a bunch of tables and chairs set out on the deck, in the shade thankfully.

Em and I sat with that group of girls that we had been hanging out with thus far. To keep ourselves busy we played some Uno. After a while of that I think we all got quite bored so everyone went to listening to their own music and reading their own books. I still have to try and find a copy of the first book in the fools trilogy here now that I finished Liveships. I couldn't find it in Israel in English ;( I picked up some fries from downstairs where there was a Goodies fast food joint inside the ferry!

We arrived at Paros and all disembarked. As you stepped off the boat it was already beautiful and photo worthy. We quickly rushed to take photos of the white houses spread up the green and brown hills in the distance, across the bay. I have one way to describe Paros, and that´s completely and utterly picturesque.

Our bags were loaded into vans and the group was led by Niki to the main square where she showed us where some important shops and amenities were. From there we walked by the water to hotel, passing shops, restaurants and a very cool little chapel.

The hotel, hotel name here, is absolutely beautiful. Very quaint. The rooms are pretty decent and there´s a talking parrot by the lobby (albeit, it speaks in Greek).

We went next door to a local taverna and got lunch. I had a plate of fried calamari. Very good. Being an island there´s a lot of fishing, and so the seafood is nice and fresh. We headed back to the supermarket to get some supplies then headed back to the hotel, to change for the beach.

The beach was nice, although the sand (being a volcanic island) wasn´t that great. It was mostly hard, dark sand with small rocks and things. Plus, it was very, very hot to walk on. We finally found some tour people when we walked a way along the bay. We lay in the sun for a bit and then swam. The water was pretty cold but quite refreshing when you stayed in for a while and got accustomed to it.

After we had enough we went back to the hotel. We used Ozy a bit, listened to music and wrote some blogs. We got ready and headed out for a proper tour of Parekia, the main town of Paros (the one we were staying in). The walk took us down the labyrinths of streets and pathways, between the white walls of the buildings, and along the painted stone paths that led the way. It truly is an amazing place, with a sense of magic similar to Venice. The atmosphere conveys a small microcosm; its beauty sectioned off from the rest of the world.

The white houses and painted paths are apparently because all the people of the Cyclades decided that they wanted their towns to look pure and white, so they repaint their buildings and streets about twice a month. Wow, that´s dedication, and good for the local painters!

The white walls are broken only by some doorways, windows, and beautiful growths of borgonvilia (Iḿ fairly sure I´ve spelt that wrong) and some other flowers. The contrast between the bold colours of the flowers against the white walls only enhances the effect and brings out the most amazing colours. Truly incredible.

We went into the 100 gates church. Nothing too spectacular. I mean, it is just a church. But, it was interesting because it was built over a temple of Dionysus. You can see some columns underneath glass flooring inside the building. It was quite nice to take some pictures in there but I wasn´t too ambitious, being a holy place for a group of people; that group not being me. I tried to show a little respect and didn't take photos of any of the religious stuffs, just the architecture.

We reached atop a street located a floor or so above the main street level, as the sun was setting. We stopped there for some amazing sunset photos. After we´d tired of the clicks of camera shutters we carried on, finishing up at a cake shop. We didn´t have money with us and we were about to get dinner too so we didn't buy anything.

We eventually made our way to a nice little local family restaurant which Niki wanted to eat at anyway. We all sort of tagged along, almost blindly following her wherever she was going.

The food was fantastic. Em and I had a mixed grill plate with some Mosouka, a meat ball, stuffed aubergine and stuffed capsicum. Very tasty. When we got our bill the waiter gave us each a free shot of some alcohol. I suppose it was meant to be Ouzo but to be honest it tasted just like some sort of home brew, ethanol-tasting spirit.

After dinner Em and I went back to the cake shop and bought some triangle shaped pastry cakes covered in honey and filled with cream. Yum!

Back at the hotel we grabbed the Bicardi we got in Athens and went over to the room of some of the tour people. We drank a bit and played cards for a short while before everyone seemed to call it a night.