MyGreeceTravelBlog.com
Photos & memories from our trips to Athens, the Peloponnese, mainland Greece & Greek Islands — plus profiles of places we would love to visit

  • 2012 Greek holiday report: Final day on Paros

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    Fishing boats docked near the Venetian fortress at Naoussa harbour

    A view of fishing boats docked near the Venetian fortress at Naoussa harbour just as sunshine begins breaking through thick morning stormclouds

     

    [This is the third and final instalment of my report on my May 2012 visit to Paros. The first part included photos from my arrival day on the island, while the second segment featured extensive photos and information about a day I spent exploring the town of Naoussa, where I was staying.]

     

    Thursday May 24 2012

     

    Sudden storms: Much to my chagrin, the weird weather pattern I had experienced on Mykonos — no more than two consecutive days of sunshine — continued on Paros. After two beautiful bright clear days, clouds had rolled in and completely filled the sky.

    I should not have been surprised to see the grey sky and dull light when I opened the curtains in my room. After all, stormclouds had moved in during the previous evening, and it looked like Paros was going to get a downpour at some point. But the stone floor of my terrace was dry, suggesting there had not been any overnight rain (I doubt I would have heard rain in any event; I had been so tired from all my walking on Wednesday that I slept like a log, and probably would have snored through a hurricane).

     

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  • Pic of the day: Visiting Knossos Palace

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    Tourists explore the ruins of Knossos Palace near Heraklion on Crete

    Tourists explore Knossos Palace near Heraklion on Crete

     

     

  • 2012 Greek holiday report: Exploring Naoussa

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    Naoussa windmill

    This old windmill in Naoussa might be a cute studio residence, but I didn’t notice any sign indicating if it’s available as rental accommodations

     

    [This is the second instalment of a multi-part report on my May 2012 visit to Naoussa village on Paros island. The first part of my report described my arrival at Paros and the first evening I spent in the town of Naoussa following an 8-day visit to Mykonos.]

     

    Wednesday May 23 2012

     

    First full day:  My room at Hotel Manos was so dark and quiet, I got a good night’s sleep and woke feeling refreshed and eager to get to know Naoussa better.

    I got a bit of a surprise when I went into the bathroom to shave — no hot water came out of the sink faucet, even after I let it run a considerable time. No chance for a smooth shave today! Fortunately, there was plenty of hot water — very hot water, in fact — in the shower. Then, before I went downstairs for breakfast, I booted up my laptop so I could check my email. Although the receptionist had assured me that there was wi-fi access throughout the hotel, I could not obtain a signal in my room. I did get a weak connection from the terrace, and managed to briefly get online, but  the signal repeatedly cut out and eventually I had no luck getting back on. I took the laptop with me when I went to breakfast, hoping I would have better luck in the main hotel building.

     

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  • Pic of the day: View from the Asklepieion

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    View from the Asklepieion toward Kos Town and the coast of Turkey

    The view from the Asklepieion ruins and monuments on Kos island takes in nearby Kos Town and extends to the mountainous coast of Turkey. Click on the photo to open a larger image so you can enjoy a better view!

     

  • 2012 holiday report: Hopping over to Paros

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    A late afternoon view of Piperi beach and Naoussa Bay on Paros

    I got this great late afternoon view of Naoussa bay and Piperi beach just by walking a very short distance down the road from Hotel Manos after my arrival on Paros

     

    [This is the latest segment of a report about my 2012 holiday in Greece. Previous reports described my 8-day vacation on Mykonos. You can access those reports by clicking here.]

     

    Tuesday, May 22 2012

     

    Second chance:  After eight fun days on Mykonos, I “hopped” over to Paros, the second island destination of my 2012 Greek holiday. Paros actually was supposed to be my third island, after visiting Ios for a few days, but Anna and some of the guests at Hotel Tagoo had persuaded me to drop Ios from my itinerary and spend more time on Mykonos instead. (I’d been having such a good time on Mykonos, they didn’t have any trouble twisting my arm. In fact, I would have stayed on Mykonos the entire time had it not been for the fact I already had bought a non-refundable flight from Paros to Athens.)

     

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    I travelled to Paros on the 14:55 Flyingcat 4, which was almost completely booked for the second year in a row. In 2011, we had waited until we arrived on Mykonos to buy tickets for our ferry trip to Ios (the next stop on the route, after Paros) and, to our chagrin, discovered that economy class was sold out with only two seats remaining in business class (which of course we booked on the spot). This time I made certain I booked my Paros ticket online well in advance. I was glad I did because, once again, economy was sold out and only a handful of seats remained in business class. The SeaJet2, which departed the Mykonos Old Port 10 minutes before us, was nearly full, too. The Flyingcat4 left Mykonos a few minutes behind schedule, but gave us a smooth ride to Paros and arrived at Parikia port nearly on time around 16:00.

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  • Pic of the day: Fira, the capital of Santorini

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    Fira, the capital of Santorini

    Fira, the capital of Santorini, basks in the glow of the evening sun shortly before sunset during one of our visits to the island

     

  • Santorini’s superlative scenery, on film

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    A screen capture of the title page for the Santorini Freedom film by Aegean Films

    A screen capture from Freedom, a fabulous 5-minute film by Vasili Pasioudis

     

    Simply breathtaking: It has been available for online viewing on Vimeo for the past two years, but today was the first time I saw Freedom, a superb film showing Santorini’s spectacular scenery, and I just have to pass along the link so others can see it, too.

    Produced by Aegean Films, the five-minute film by Vasili Pasioudis tries “to show that despite all the modern day craziness in this world, there are still corners of this globe one can run to, to forget about ‘things’.”

    Watching the film certainly made me forget about everything else for five minutes — and then made me wish we were going back to Santorini during our upcoming Greek holiday this month.

    Below, I have posted three more screen captures of scenes from Vasili’s film, just to tease you with a few examples of the simply breathtaking, gorgeous scenes you’ll see in the film. (Don’t forget to turn up your speakers … the film’s soundtrack features music by Darren Hayes & Daniel Jones of Savage Garden.)

     

     

    Santorini Freedom film view of early morning sunshine on the village of Oia

    Early morning sunshine on the incredibly picturesque village of Oia

     

     

    Santorini Freedom film view of Skaros Rock and Imerovigli village

    Skaros Rock and Imerovigli village

     

     

    One of Santorini's fabled sunsets is captured in spectacular glory on the Santorini Freedom film

    One of Santorini’s fabled sunsets, viewed from a clifftop café in Fira

     

     

  • Pic of the day: Terrace gardens in Glyfada

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    Plant and flower-filled terraces on a midrise residential building in Glyfada

    Long, wide terraces filled with flowers and plants provide garden-like outdoor living space for residents of this midrise apartment building in Glyfada