Paros may not be the first island to pop up on any do-not-miss-list in Greece, but it turned out to be a quite beautiful place nevertheless. Almost 3 times as big as Santorini, it still seems small enough to get around easily with the ever-present scooter. While it’s got quite some hills, there are no huge cliffs like in Santorini, but an abundance of beautiful beaches instead.
Santorini still seemed in full tourist high season, where as Paros was beginning to slow down already. We learned that our hotel would only be open for another 3 weeks, and then close until next spring. It made us wonder what all these people working in tourism do after October – a question to which our friendly driver, Michael, didn’t really have an answer to either. It certainly seems as if all these people go back to the mainland in off-season to look for a job. Tough life.
Paros has much more of a local feeling to it than Santorini. It’s less flashy, but still very beautiful. We went on discovery tour both with bikes and a scooter, and actually drove the latter around the entire island one day. One of the most breathtaking views we found was from top of mount Kefalos, not far from Marpissa. The old venetian castle has been replaced by the monastery of Saint Anthony, which, while mostly unused, provides a beautiful view of the entire coastline with dozends of small bays and beaches (see the header image of this post).
We spend 3 days in Paros, and enjoyed every minute. Our hotel was small but beautiful, the staff very friendly, the pool highly relaxing and it featured a great view. Really good food, perfect weather – and the only cops we ever saw were unarmed. If that’s not a sign of peacefulness, I don’t know what is.
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