Amy and Steven's Endless Summer.: Athens and The Island of Paros, Greece.

Written 18^th August 2012

The morning we had to catch the plane to Greece we woke up at 4.25am and caught a taxi (30 Euro) to the airport. We were pretty tired as it was really hot that night and we only got a few hours sleep in the end. We left from terminal 1 this time which was a much nicer terminal (possibly because some things were open). The plane ride to Zurich was fine and I just read my book. We didn't have to wait long in Zurich before our flight to Athens. The flight to Athens was also fine and after some more reading we arrived to a hot hot Greek day. It was sweltering and my feet were so slippery in my jandals because they were sweating like crazy! We caught the train okay and arrived in the centre of Athens without a hitch. We then had to find our way to the hostel which proved more confusing that we initially thought but luckily we had had the foresight to load the destination on maps on the iPad so just used that to find our way which made it easy enough (apart from me slipping and sliding everywhere in my jandals with my heavy pack on).

Our hostel was quite nice

but it was so SO hot and we were tired from the early start and also we were both feeling a bit sick (I had caught Steve's cold). We got a quick bite to eat near the hostel (this is the view from our balcony)

then went back to bed and slept for several hours which we woke from sweaty as. We decided to head out for dinner so ate below our window at a place where we had roast chicken (Greek style). Which was yummy but nowhere near as good as Leanne's. After that we went for a night time stroll

around the bottom of the Acropolis.

We couldn't go in because it was too late but it was still nice to see it. After a cold shower I went to sleep with not even a sheet. We didn't sleep well knowing we had to get up early again and not sure if the guy on the desk had understood about the wake-up call (we ave never had one before).

The next morning was another early start – 5.10am. We walked to the train station in the half dark morning light, wandering down empty streets trying to find our way. The thing about Greece is that it has the Greek alphabet so it is difficult to read the sighs if they are not written with the latin alphabet too. Luckily most things we need to read are written in English too (or at least with the latin alphabet) which makes things a little easier. So we made it to the train station, bought tickets (the machine worked for Steve but not for me) then hopped on the already full train for the port. We sat on our packs for the ride. I was feeling a lot sicker and very tired.

When we arrived at the port it was light. We picked up the tickets we had booked online from the ticket place and hopped on board the giant ferry. We were lucky and managed to score a bench/couch type seat near a window. We were both so tired we slept nearly the entire way (which was about 5 hours!) I would wake up occasionally and dreamily glimpse charming little islands, boats, shining sea, out the salty window and then fall back into slumber. It was lucky that I happened to wake when we came into the port on the island of Paros because Steve didn't wake up and I had to wake him so we could get off. It would have been easy to miss your stop! So we got off,

(that is our ferry)

and followed the directions from Hostel World to Pension Rena. - Turn left at the port, walk 300 metres, turn right at the ruins of the old cemetery, and you will see it up that road a little way on your right. We all that and found it no sweat! We couldn't go in yet though as it was only 11.30 and the other people hadn't checked out yet. So we went for a little walk, ate a spot of lunch and then headed back. Rena showed us to out lovely room which has a view of the sea, aircon, and a fridge.

This is the view.

Then we fell back asleep for a few more hours! We managed to wake up in time to go out for some tea so we headed down to a place called Cactus which had 1 Euro small beers at happy hour.

This is the view from the bar.

Steve got a beer

and I had a freshly made watermelon juice

and then we both got a delicious dinner. I had chicken and Steve had sward fish.

Both were scrumptious.

This is the restaurant when we left. (We were sitting on the from left of the photo.)

It is so pretty here!

After tea we headed off to another bar where we sat in couches by the sea and ate ice cream (and Steve drank beer).

WE LOVE PYROS! It is lovely and relaxed the so nice and warm but most of the time we have been here there has been a nice breese too.

Yesterday morning we had a big sleep in which helped us to recover a bit from our early mornings and colds. We mucked around for quite a bit, had a yummy breakfast of muesli with Greek yoghurt and milk,

then went to try and hire a scooter. But they were all taken. So we went to try and catch a bust to Lefkes so we could do a walk but we missed it by 5 minutes. So we went to catch a boat to an island but we missed that too. So Rena suggested we go to a town called Naoussa which was near by on the bus. We made it on that bus and arrived at Naoussa after about 15 minutes.

We wandered around a bit

then had a Cesar salad there (which was average) then we wandered around a bit more.

Next we had a swim and the water was so SO warm it was like swimming in a bath. Bliss.

After that Steve really needed to use a toilet so we wandered around looking for one.

I took some photos.

When we finally found one it was a squatter with no loo paper so we decided to get a beer. We stopped at the nearest available restaurant – a nice one next to the water and ended up staying there for a yummy dinner too.

We had fried aubergine first

followed by Greek salad for me

and squid for Steve.

Yum, it was sooo good!

There was a snobby cat there but he had the most beautiful light aqua eyes.

After tea we decided to head home so we wandered around a bit more,

I bought a pretty hangy thing,

then walked back to the bus stop and got the bus back.

Then we got a yummy greek frozen yogurt (where you choose what topping you want to put on top) and Steve had a beer

and I had a honey due melon juice.

Yum!

After that we went for an evening stroll around Parikia (where we are staying).

This morning we mucked around for ages.

Then had Greek Salad for lunch.

Eventually we caught the bus to Lefkes where we walked up and admired the view from the top of the hill.

Nearly all the buildings a white with blue windows and doors. The paths are stones and all the stucco is painted white. Everything is very pretty. The landscape is pretty dry at the moment but it is still lovely. Everything is pretty old, including the plumbing. You can not flush your toilet paper down the loo!

It is a bit odd at first but you get used to it. You have to put it in a little bin next to the toilet.

Anyhow, Rena had told us there was on old track that you could walk from Lefkes to Prodromos so we thought we would do that after looking at the white marble church at Lefkes. We eventually found our way to the church after wandering through the village.

This is the gate to the church.

The church is made of white marble which was mined on this island a long long long time ago.

We had no idea were to start walking from

but after visiting the church we saw a hand drawn map (on the side of that building with the umbrella) which said bus stop in one direction and Byzantine trail in the other. We guessed maybe this was what we were looking for and followed the signs for it.

We consulted our maps to check we were on the right track (no help),

and continued following the signs.

We started walking but had no idea if it was the right track.

It was a VERY old road.

We discovered it was the right way when after about 40 minutes we crested a hill and saw a village down below us.

We walked along the old stone road until we reached the village of Prodromos and we were ready to catch the bus home to Parikia.

We found the bus stop after some confusion trying to follow hand drawn maps again.

On the bus we talked to some nice Auzzies – it was good to talk to some people with a similar accent to us and who were doing a similar kind of trip. They were really friendly. Now we are back in our room chilling.

Our room is the one on the right at the top.