We spent just two days on the island of Paros, which is much less rocky than Mykonos and a lot more green. It’s also older, dustier (even with some rain), smaller and quieter. Except for the cooing doves. It felt like they were following us everywhere. Our room at the High Mill had the hardest beds I’ve ever slept on, and you could drive around the entire island easily in less than a day. So I suppose two days here was long enough. Although like every place we visited it had its own unique charm.
The first day we walked down into the town where places were just opening for the season. It was sad to see some businesses boarded up or abandoned, and the foundations for buildings that were never completed scattered around the island. We ate at a place called Del’s Kitchen (their first day open) where the owner gave us complimentary shots of Ouzo (an anise-flavoured aperitif) after our meal. The meal was great, the Ouzo was truly horrible. Just my opinion. I drank it down anyway, because – hey – free booze. That night we ordered take out to be delivered to our hotel room, and their half hour delivery time turned into at least a 90 minute wait. So they gave us a huge water bottle filled with white wine to make us feel better. We carted it all the way to Santorini before working up the courage to try it.
On our second day in Paros we rented a car and toured the island. I thought my slide show would be shorter for this part of our journey, but apparently I was very impressed with the Moraitis Family Winery and took a lot of pictures of important things like wine bottles. We also visited an ancient marble quarry. And by visited I mean we’re pretty sure we drove by it. It was on a rather awful road that we were directed to by a tiny sign. By now we were getting used to winding, hilly, bumpy, twisting potholed roads from hell, but this one went in a loop so we didn’t have to do any backtracking. Whatever we missed, it’s going to stay missed.
We stopped whenever something looked interesting enough to photograph, and found a beautiful little hill-top restaurant where we sat on a high open terrace for lunch. This really does sound like all we did was drive around and stop to eat. Which is basically true. And maybe the best way to spend your time in Paros. Because once again the ‘home cooked’ food was excellent. This family had a sweet little three or four-year old girl who timidly approached our table wanting to talk, but gave up on us when we couldn’t make ourselves understood except with lots of smiling. They also had a beautiful big shepherd dog that was happy to get some dog treats from Andy. We asked for directions when we were leaving, and the husband had to summon his wife Flora to help him explain things in English. And still none of us got it right.
I’m embarrassed to say we drove by the same place at least three times after that trying to figure out where the hell we were going. Maybe four. They kept pointing us in the right direction and we just kept getting turned around and coming back. The dog was always happy to see us. I think Flora and her husband may still be rolling their eyes.
One more sleep on the cement beds and then we’re off to Santorini.
Breathing Space 
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