Day in Paros

I woke with bright sunshine in my face (not a nice experience) about 9am, got dressed and went down to breakfast (leaving G there) – cream cheese, ham, tea and sweet cake. Lisa and Co were hiring mopeds and I formulated a plan for myself with John at the breakfast table. I got ready and headed to the bus station, passing the mopedders getting some last minute advice from John. I checked out the cemetery and was surprised to see bare bones exhibited in the windows of the sealed museum. I looked in a shop or two and John caught up with me – he was looking for some things to buy. He walked me up to the bus station and swapped me some change for my fiver. I got a schedule and realised I had to wait for half an hour for the next bus to Lefkes. So I looked in shops on the far side of the windmill and bought the first of my island bracelets.

I found the right bus, got on it, we took off and I bought a ticket from the conductor guy on the way (standard in Greece). The road climbed fairly quickly and was quite winding. I counted the stops and got off in front of a taverna in Lefkes. I walked down a street through some beautiful white-washed houses and up again to the brown church.

I covered my shoulders and went inside. It was lovely with an ornate Michelangelo-style painted ceiling and a winding iron staircase. I kept walking, basically around the perimeter of the village, ending up right at the top, intending to eat lunch at the taverna near the bus stop. It took longer than I thought to get back down, so I contented myself with some cream biscuits. I got back on the bus and got off again at Golden Beach. I had a salad at a taverna beside the beach that was playing good 80s music. I swam and sunbaked, lost track of time and so missed the bus to Naoussa. Instead I went straight back to Parikia, arriving at about 6pm.

I had a shower, got my strength back with the help of the excellent Ion chocolate, and repeated John’s walk from last night, taking photos this time. I looked in the shops but didn’t find anything to buy. I was back at the hotel at 7.45 to meet John’s expedition to see the sunset from a jazz bar called Pebbles. I had two drinks, then we had crepes for dinner that were good. Some went shopping after that and some (including me) went back to the hotel balcony for half an hour. We went to bed at around 11pm.