The Greek Island of Paros

As you know from the Athens post, I was invited to visit friends who live on the Greek Island of Paros.  From Athens I caught a 25 minute flight on Olympic Airlines mid-sized turbo prop plane to the island of Paros.  From the air, Paros was larger than I expected, the center of the island had many large hills.  Al and Ardy picked me up and we took off down a narrow two lane paved road.  Our first stop was to look at the progress of the house they were building.  It was about ¾ complete and cute as pie!!  I could so live there.  I envisioned many Greek, tall, dark and handsome men coming to call on the new mysterious American woman who had just moved to the neighborhood.  I came back to reality and we went to the house they were renting in the meantime.  It was a small complex of white townhouse style squares with beautiful Mykonos Blue doors and shutters.  All the squares were creatively stacked so you did not realize they were townhouses, they each had a lot of privacy.   All the balconies had a trellis that was covered in beautiful bougainvillea bushes, each one full of blooms in so many colors: pink, deep purple, salmon and blood red.  The complex was located in a small beach community with a view of Naxos Island, a rock jetty, a few fishing boats of all sizes with bright color stripes and a local taverna; which in Greek means a small restaurant. 

The next morning we went to church.  I was excited to be able to experience a real Greek Orthodox Church service.  I wore my newly purchased perfect Travel Smith black dress only to realize that I looked just like all the grandmothers in church.  I am supposed to look elegantly simple, not like a grandmother!!  All through the service people came and went, some even arrived just minutes before it was over.  Everyone who enters crosses themselves, puts a coin in the box, takes a candle or 10, lights them and stands them in the sand of the alter.  The whole service is sung by the priest and the choir, it was beautiful but it was all Greek to me, literally, it was all in Greek.  There are small chairs set in rows but not enough for everyone so many people stand.  I was entertained by the YaYas (grandmothers) who try to give up their chairs to other YaYas who politely say no, but Yaya number one will not take no for an answer so there is a small tussle as to who will sit and who will not.  They would get pretty serious!  I also was surprised by the ringing cell phones.   No one but me seemed to pay attention to the cell phone violator.  I was able to attend two different services and both times food was served after; all homemade and delicious!  Plus, the best thing of all was they also served some local homemade liquor!  Sure wish I could get my church to do that.  It might draw a lot more attendance. 

Before I arrived, I had contacted Peter with the Aegean Diving College and arraigned to do some diving.  It took a few days to arrange something but finally we were able to schedule a dive.  I went to the dive shop and met up with Peter and another diver from Israel.  We loaded the boat and went to the channel between Naxos and Paros.  Located in about 80 feet of water is an old steamship that sank in 1981 and the smoke stack is still standing about a foot above the water.  We started by tying off to the stack.  The seas were calm for the area but rougher than I was used to.  At first I was under weighted and then I was over weighted and the buoyancy control vest had a small leak in the hose so I was exhausted before I got to the stack.   I descended into a clear blue world; it was like swimming in the most perfect Kashmir Sapphire with perfect clarity.  There was a lot of plant life on the hull; I saw many purple nudibranches, a huge starfish with thorns and many hairy fire worms.  The ship sat on a sandy bottom where we saw one lone ray.  The next day was much better!  The BC has been fixed and I had my weight correct.  We dove from the shore in a small cove, this coast has been inhabited for over 6000 years and the bottom was littered with pottery shards.  The dive master, a young American lady who is doing graduate studies here, says this pottery dates from the Roman (100 AD) and Hellenistic (300 BC) periods.  The pottery was made from a sandstone looking material laced with white chunks – it looked almost like the sandstone clay was not kneaded enough to break down all the white marble lumps.  This was a shallow dive, about 34 feet, and the surf had stirred up the sand so the visibility was not so great.  We dove over a combination of heavy sand, rocks and sea grass.  The last day of diving was the best!!  We dove on a rock pinnacle that rose to about 15 feet under the surface.  The surface current was strong but below we could hide from the current behind the pinnacle.  The first thing I saw was a huge bright lemon yellow snail with yellow and black striped tentacles that was completely out of his shell.  I also saw a lot of starfish that looked like brittle stars on steroids that moved really fast.  This dive also had massive amounts of pottery, some of it almost fully intact.  Most all of it was amphora style which is a Greek word meaning carried with two hands.  For our surface interval we motored into Aghi Anna, a small town on Naxos and had lunch at a tavern on the water.  The second dive was full of sponges and pottery.  Both dives had amazing visibility today; over 100 feet. 

Early in my stay Al gave me a scooter lesson so I could explore on my own.  I got on and drove around the complex and promptly crashed into a telephone pole.   There was a car behind me and they stopped to help me up, how embarrassing.  I drove up and down the road a few times but I was nervous about getting out on the main road.  Crashing your host’s scooter does not really leave a good impression.  Neither does accidently taking the scooter key with you diving and leaving your host stuck at home all day.  I felt like such an ass when I did that!!! 

I can’t say enough about the quaint small towns with narrow streets lined with different tavernas each with an outdoor patio eating area.  The patio is made from a rock style pavement with painted grout lines to make it look like large flat rock tiles.  I really enjoyed strolling along the narrow streets, shopping then stopping and having a snack or coffee at the tavern and then more shopping.  I never tried a true Greek coffee while I was there and I have no idea why!  I am kicking myself for that today.  Greek coffee is made with a huge spoonful of instant coffee put into a very small amount of boiling water and comes out dark and thick.  It is the first thing I will order next time!  Hopefully they serve it with those oversized packets of sugar.

I highly recommend a trip to the Greek Islands!!  You have to make a stop in Athens to see the great historic sights but I suggest you see Athens and get the heck out to the islands!!  The hustle and bustle of the city is the complete opposite of the calm you will feel in the islands; it’s day and night.  Al and Ardy were wonderful hosts and if it weren’t for their invitation I would not have been able to go and see Paros like a local.  I thank them so much for their hospitality!!  I am pretty sure I still owe them big time!!