Chillin' in Paros

While Fads and Mark traipsed around Italy, John and I headed to Paros for a week of catching up on things. We went via Athens first where a long-awaited meeting happened. Through my scrapping, I have made a few good friends from various parts of the world and one of those wonderful ladies is Valia, from Athens. Once I knew I was going there we just had to meet! We were both so excited to actually meet in real life! Valia was every bit as wonderful in real life as she is online and we had a truly fantastic night. Woooohoooo!!!!

We'll meet again one day Valia!

We flew on to Paros and the flight was lovely. Nothing beats that stunning blue of the Mediterranean Sea.

Paros is one of the mid-sized islands in the Cyclades region of the Greek islands. We had basic but good accommodation which was great because we spent a lot of time in it just getting the next stages of our trip organised. We had the upstairs area where the two balconies are. The male model is demonstrating the correct pose to adopt on staircases!

Paros is not beautiful in the classical sense. Like most Greek islands it is barren, arid and rocky. Also like most Greek islands, it's beauty lies in the buildings and the water.

The architecture on Paros is very cubist.

The painted paving and brightly coloured balcony railings reminded me a lot of nearby Mykonos.

A few old windmills have been converted to accommodation.

The harbour was lovely. genuine fishing boats lined up around the beautiful church.

Ruins of an old Venetian fort made for a gorgeous backdrop.

Each morning, John rode his bike while I walked. Walking wasn't so good here. Everything was so bleak, although the water was lovely. We were based in the town of Naoussa and there wasn't a real lot to see nearby. John could go further on his bike though and he enjoyed it.

It was also really hot! They were having a bit of a heatwave so we had to get up before dawn to get our exercise done before it got too hot. We got to see some great sunrises though!

See that chimney in the distance in the above photo? That was a diesel-generated power station. It was ok during the day as other noises muffled the sound of its engine, but at night it kind of ruined things for us. We had a beautiful balcony to sit on but we never used it because the sound of the generator made it unpleasant. It is probably similar to the wind turbine noise we will face at home if the local wind project goes ahead with its much larger turbines so close to homes. We worked a lot on the wind issue while we were holed up there for the week and it was hard going. Maybe we should sell up and move to Greece! (Just joking, Mum.)

One thing about Greece in general though is that they don't spend a lot of time keeping the countryside clean. They abandon houses all the time, leaving them to decay, even when they're in spectacular locations like this one. However, the Global Financial Crisis would have played its part too.

They're not too fussy where they dump their rubbish either. This was just beside a road I was walking on.

I decided to put these photos in because I tend to only show the good side of places. I think its good to show a more balanced view.

On one of my walks I came across a sign pointing to a Mycenaean acropolis. I climbed to the top of the hill and found mounds of rocks. I'm really not sure what they were all about but it was cool anyway!

The view from the top was great.

Early morning was a great time to walk while John rode his bike.

It took us a few days to discover the great restaurants in the town. My goodness - the food was fabulous! We often ate in the narrow lane-ways. 

I found this heavily pregnant cat one day with one blue and one green eye. She was stunning!

Beside the main church was a cemetery. They put electric lanterns on the graves here. It gave such a beautiful atmosphere. Graveyards elsewhere can be foreboding, creepy or scary places but this one was so inviting and relaxing. Our kids take note - I want a lantern on my grave!!

In our whole week here we never ventured beyond the town we were staying in so, when we left for the next island, we allowed time to explore the main port town, Parikia. It was smaller than Naoussa but was interesting enough. There was a Frankish castle whose walls were built from ruins of previous temples.

They had cleverly renovated an old windmill and it made a lovely feature on the very busy waterfront.

So that was our week of catching up on things. We got a lot of the next - and last! - leg of our journey planned. Yes, we'll be home in early November! I also got some scrapping done with the new products that Valia had given me. We also rested up which was probably just as well because the next week turned out to be huge! Stay tuned for the next instalment.......

Heather and John