Day 5: May 10, 2008 - Paros

This morning, we arrived in Paros. We ported in a town called Parikia, which we read had a pleasant beach just about a kilometer from the dock. We thought that sounded perfect so we headed off the boat ready for that. As we strolled through the town, we saw a lot of nothingness. There was a nice marina which we tried to get some pictures of the town from and some cute cafes but that was about it. When we arrived at the beach, there were very few people there either so we figured there had to be something else to do on the island. We decided we'd go back to the ship and ask what to do.
We grabbed some lunch on the way back - gyros, surprise surprise. We passed a gift shop and decided to check out some postcards to see what the highlights of the island were. We saw a small map and noticed that there were several other towns dotted across the island. We also saw one postcard with the Golden Beach on it. Danny recognized this as the "windsurfing capital of the world" that he had read about so we stopped by a scooter rental place to see how much it would cost to rent a motorbike. We were expecting to pay about 30 euros and figured that would still be worth it because to get a taxi to the two towns we wanted to see would have been at least that much. We were pleasantly surprised when they told us it would only be 10 euros for a moped for the whole day or 15 euros for a four-wheeler. After our moped experience in Belize (Danny crashed us into a sign and sent people diving out of our way) we opted for the safer four-wheeler option.
We had to fill up with gas, but they told us that only five euros would be enough to last the whole day. The island's roads were only 65 km all the way around and the two sites we picked out were only about half that distance. We first headed toward Naoussa which from the postcards looked like a really cute harbor town. The trip was very scenic. We had lots of views of the turquoise water and the white houses and churches along the way. Our four-wheeler got good speed on the downhills but barely chugged on the up-hills going at a peek speed of about 25 km/hour.
On our way to Naoussa, we saw a sign to Kolimbithres, which was another rocky beach we had seen photos of and we decided to go check it out. By "rocky" beach, we don't mean there were rocks on the beach…the beach was literally cut into huge rock walls that looked like they were from another planet. The beach was very different from any beaches we had ever seen. There was no single large span of sand, but instead there were lots of little inlets cut into the rock formation. We took a couple pictures there and then continued on our way.
We decided to pass Naoussa and catch it on the way back because we wanted to catch some rays on the Golden Beach. When we got to Golden Beach it was also pretty dead. We were surprised since everyone told us it was the best beach on the island. We decided that the criteria for being the "best beach" was that it had soft sand rather than small rocks everywhere. There were probably a total of 10 people on the beach and only a couple windsurfers. It might have been because it was so early in the summer season, but we aren't sure. We asked about renting a windsurf board but it was more than we wanted to spend so we just watched the other people and napped in the sun. After an hour or so we headed to Naoussa.
As we approached the town, it also looked like there would not be much to do. Danny was hungry so we approached a small restaurant but two other Americans who were eating there told us it was not very good, so we got some gelato instead. We sat on a bench in the harbor and ate it while overlooking the water. We walked around the side of the marina and then we found the REAL harbor. It was really pretty, and just what the postcards had shown. The white buildings lined a hill in the background while fresh seafood restaurants we perched along the edge of the marina. There was also an old fort that we climbed to and took some scenic photos from there. We even climbed the old rock stairs to the top of the fort (we weren't sure whether we were allowed to) and got some really good pictures from there.
We got back on the four-wheeler and headed back to Parikia in hopes of catching the sunset there. On our way back we commented on how many churches we passed. I was wondering how they all could have congregations because there is literally one church for every three houses. They are all very small so we figured that every neighborhood just must have their own church - there must be A LOT of preachers!
When we got back to Parikia, it was pretty cloudy so there wasn't much of a sunset. We bought a bottle of wine and watched it over the harbor anyway. Then, we went to dinner determined to try something other than gyros. Danny ordered mousaka which was minced meat and potatoes and tasted kind of like pumpkin pie. He also got an appetizer of tarama sauce which tasted kind of sour and seafoody, but we really don't know what it was - it was good though. I had "spicy risotto" which was rice and Tabasco basically but it was good too. We finished the meal off with coffee and a nutella crepe which was delicious! We had intentions of going dancing back on the boat but after drinking another kilo of wine at dinner we decided it had been too much wine and not enough coffee for that and we went to sleep instead. Overall, it was a very good day being able to get out of the city and explore the towns and countryside of the island at our pace.
Tomorrow we arrive in Sifnos. We hope to go to the beach there and relax and get some fresh seafood for at least one of our meals!