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Thursday, August 23

paros: the windy island

First stop on our agenda was to get from the Athens airport, to the port where a ferry would take us to Paros, our first island, and part of the Cyclades Islands. Honestly, we really weren't sure what to expect, we knew it was going to be a quiet island with sandy beaches, we read there was rocks that turned into mud that people would put on themselves and let dry because it was supposed to make your skin soft and have "healing powers." Other than that we had no idea what we were in for.

We arrived in a flurry of people and vespa's, atv's, cars, taxis and were shuffled around until we found a taxi and asked to be taken to our hotel. It was about 5 or 6pm Greek time. (+10 hours to pacific time)  Our hotel was beautiful and situated a little further back from the port town, but up a little hill with a nice view and a little 5 minute walk down a path to the beach. It was charming and beautiful and exactly what we needed after a long journey there.
 

After getting to know the area the next day we decided it was best to rent an ATV for the day {i'm not so fond of the motorized two wheels} this way we could explore the island and do exactly what we wanted and at our own pace. One of our first stops of course was to see what the beach with the mud was all about. It turns out it's actually the rock that turns into a clay when you mix it with the ocean water and put on yourself. It was a lot of fun putting the clay on and letting it dry and then jumping into the ocean and having it wash off. I am pretty positive that I go to Target and buy a clay mask for myself that seemed identical to the clay found on the rocks. 



We spent some time going through the town, looking in all the little shops and stocked up on some things for the rest of our time - a couple towels, snorkels, paddle boards, etc. The town was great, it had a lot of restaurants right there on the water and Brett tried an authentic Greek dish - Moussaka. It was very interesting and you'll have to ask him about it since I did not have any!


Anyway, we got up one morning and went up to this other little port town on the northern coast called Naousa. It was a real fishing port with all the fisherman getting their catch out and hanging it out. That day we went, their "fish of the day" was...  octopus! Then there was this little castle ruins out to the side of the port, so of course that needed to be explored. I had never seen a castle like that before right on the water where all the waves were breaking right there. It's amazing to think that it is still standing all these years later with all the water thrashing against it everyday. Then we drove around a little more to explore other beaches before heading to our hotel to return the ATV. 



Paros was the perfect island to get us started for our trip and I am so glad we ended up there first. It was pretty small and a little quiet and the staff at our hotel were friendly. But like I said before, every island is completely different and nothing could have prepared us for what was next... Mykonos. 


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