Travelogue

Day 1 - Explore the town of Parikia

Alleyways of ParikiaAfter two nights on Mykonos, we boarded a 45-minute ferry to the island of Paros, a much more laid–back island than many of the others in the Cyclades. Tassos, our faithful guide, explained that it was “more authentic Greek,” as opposed to the international jet-setting feel of Mykonos, and that it was the place he would vacation to get away from the tourists.

During our 2-day visit, we would explore three very different villages: Parikia, our home base, considered one of the most attractive villages in the Cyclades; Lefkes, a mountain village; and Naoussa, a fishing village.

St. Nikolaos Holy Orthodox ChurchWe checked into our hotel, the Hotel Aegeon, which was charming and such a contrast to the over-the-top luxurious Mykonos Korali hotel. No private pool for us this time.

After a brief rest, we spent the afternoon and early evening with the group exploring the town. Parikia is the capital of Paros and considered to be one of the most beautiful villages in the Cyclades. I can certainly see why.

We spent a good part of the afternoon wandering through the lovely narrow stone alleyways of the town, admiring the colorful doors and beautifully colored flowers.

I knew we would be seeing blue-domed churches in Santorini, but I was delighted to discover our first, right along the waterfront. This lovely white church with three blue domes was called the St. Nikolaos Holy Orthodox Church. This is not the St. Nikolaos that brings presents on Christmas, but rather the guardian saint of sailors - very important to people living on a land totally surrounded by water. Sailors come to this church right on the harbor and leave tamatas or ex-votos (objects or paintings) in gratitude for a safe return from the sea.

Church of Panagia EkatontapilianNext, Tassos brought us to a very different kind of church than we had seen so far - the Church of Panagia Ekatontapilian, an historic Byzantine pilgrimage church founded in the 4th century by Constantine the Great’s mother Helene.

As the story goes, during Helene’s journey to the Holy Land to search for the Holy Cross, a storm brought her to Paros, where she made a promise to the Virgin Mary that she would build a church on the island if her quest was successful. According to church lore, she did in fact find the Holy Cross, so her son Constantine built this magnificent church and dedicated it to the Assumption of the Virgin.

Church bellsThe name Ekatontapiliani means the Church with the Hundred Doors. According to tradition, the church has 99 doors and a secret door will open when the church of Hagia Sofia in Constantinople becomes Orthodox again.

Helene would probably be quite surprised, and hopefully happy, to see what was going on in her church tonight. There were dozens of finely dressed people - the women stunning in their beautiful brightly colored fabrics, and heels that made my toes hurt just looking at them - gathered in front of the church for two separate celebrations of life - the welcoming of a new child (Baptism), and the joining of a young couple in marriage, which are two of the seven sacraments in the Greek Orthodox Church.

Tassos giving us a sunset lecture on the history of ParosOn our walk back to the hotel, we passed another one of Parikia's Orthodox Churches, this one much more modest than the last. It was that beautiful pure white that we had seen on Mykonos, and like many there, this one was topped with a number of bells.

The ringing of bells is one of the most essential elements of an Orthodox church. Church bells are rung to both summon the faithful to services, as well as to express the triumphal joy of the Christian Church.

Of course, since we were a group of “road scholars,” Tassos gave us a lecture on the history of Paros. At least this time we got to watch the sunset over the Aegean while he was doing so. Herb, however, did lament the lack of a glass of wine to toast the end of another day.

Tomorrow would be another busy day, with three field trips: a visit to the lovely mountain village of Lefkes, a cooking demonstration in a family-owned hotel/restaurant, and a visit to the fishing village of Naoussa on the northern coast.

We were going to need a vacation after this vacation.

Day 2 - Lefkes, Cooking Demo, Naoussa, and my first swim in the Aegean

Lefkes with Agia Triada in backgroundThe next morning after breakfast at the hotel, we boarded our bus, which would take us around the island for the day. Road Scholar runs their tours very smoothly. On each island, we would have a bus, and the same bus driver, assigned to us for our entire time on that island.

Our first stop was to Lefkes, a lovely mountain village nestled in the inland part of the Island’s mountainous region, surrounded by olive groves and verdant hills.

Alleyways of ParosThe town was built in the 17th century, as a protected enclave from the rampant piracy that plagued the Mediterranean during this time. At one point, it was even the capital of Paros. Its protected inland position also led it to become the farming epicenter of the island.

Now, it is a popular destination for those wanting to visit a more truly traditional Greek village, much quieter, peaceful, and real than many of the villages on the coast.

Once let loose, we did what we would come to love doing in every village we visited - stroll its lovely maze-like, stone alleyways, being surprised with something beautiful around every corner - colorful unique doorways, bright red bougainvillea flowers set against whitewashed buildings, and, of course, blue-domed churches.

Lovely bougainvillea flowersThere was one particular whitewashed building fronted by two bright bougainvillea trees, that Tassos told us was very popular with Instagram "influencers," who dressed up to pose in between the bougainvillea trees.

Besides the many small Orthodox Churches throughout the village, Lefkes is home to the second largest church on the island - Parikia’s Panagia Ekatontapilian, which we had visited yesterday being the largest.

Like the Parikia Church, the Agia Triada (Holy Trinity) is a 19th-century Greek/Byzantine basilica-style church, with two imposing marble bell towers dominating the structure. This church has a huge cultural importance to the people of Lekfes, and even Paros. The church is visible from pretty much everywhere in town.

Cooking with MariaIt was getting near lunchtime, but rather than take the easy way out and just dine out at one of the tavernas in town (anyone could do that), we got back in the bus and drove to the Anezina Restaurant, in the village of Drios in the southeastern part of Paros, where we would have a cooking demonstration and get to make our own lunch. And maybe even dance a little.

When we got to the Anezina Restaurant, we met Maria, our lively, funny cooking instructor for the day. She got us organized, and assigned us various vegetables, fruits, spices, meats, and cheeses to chop and dice for the next half hour.

I was put in charge of tomatoes, a very important part, along with olive oil and feta cheese, of Greek cuisine. I took my responsibilities seriously. Then, under the guidance of Maria, we somehow assembled and cooked our choppings into a delicious feast. It was very tasty and so so much fun.

Afterwards, to celebrate our successful feast, we did a traditional Greek folk dance, known as the kalamatianos, where we gathered in a circle, held hands, and kicked our feet (some of us somewhat randomly - not saying any names) as we went round and round, smiling and laughing the entire way. It was sort of like the Jewish hora.

NaoussaWell fed and happy, we got back on the bus and were transported to the very northern end of the island to the fishing village of Naoussa. Tassos was certainly fulfilling his promise of showing us how varied the villages of Paros were.

It too had its lovely narrow alleyways and sugarcube buildings fronted by brightly colored flowers, but the main attraction was the waterfront along the harbor, with its fishing boats bringing in their catch of the day and its many restaurants serving it.

Fresh caught octopusThere was even some freshly caught octopus, dangling from what looked like a clothesline.

It’s no longer a quaint, quiet fishing village though, as it has definitely been discovered by tourists and has become one of the more popular destinations on Paros, with swanky international cuisine, chic cocktail bars, and expensive designer clothing boutiques.

Catch of the dayWe watched the same thing happen to our favorite island, Martha Vineyard, in the states. There’s a lot more money selling art and clothing than tackle and bait.

Still, it was a lovely town to wander through.

It had been quite a busy day - two very different types of villages on two different sides of the island and a cooking demonstration in between.

Tonight was free time to spend on our own back in Parikia. I very much wanted to walk to one of the beaches along the waterfront and swim in the Aegean for the first time.

It was already getting near sunset, so rather than walk to one of the better known ones a mile or two away, we just went straight down from our hotel to the waterfront and settled ourselves on a beach overlooking a windmill set on a point, with the sun setting right behind it.

First time in the Aegean SeaThe problem was, I didn’t really think we were going to swim, so I had my bathing suit in my backpack rather than on my body.

Determined, however, I hid behind a tree and quickly, yet not too gracefully slipped into it. Herb declined to do the same and said he'd rather sip the beer he had packed in his backpack and spectate.

His loss. The water was quite shallow and the beach rocky, so I sort of had to crawl into water deep enough to technically “swim.” It was warm and delightful, and highly scenic.

The only problem now was having dinner in a wet bathing suit. Still worth it.