One Full Week on the Road/Sea, Day 7, Paros...

Greetings once again. This time from the island of Paros. I arrived here last evening around 7 p.m., local time. It was my first ever ferry ride. The seas were very rough, four to five feet. There were a few people that were overcome with motion sickness. Good thing I had my iPod. That is not a sound that is pleasant on my ears. On a pleasant note, I sat next to two older ladies from Britain and had the most wonderful conversation on everything ranging from Hurricane Katrina, rampant commercialism in both of our countries, going on holiday, and the island of Paros.

The island of Paros has been inhabited since the Maycaenan (sp??) In fact, almost all of the marble for the buildings and sculptures from the Ancient Greek period was quarried here on this island. The marble was so highly prized, that Napolean's tomb was made with Parian marble. The most famous statue of the ancient world, the Venus de Milo, was sculpted here in Paros.

The island is gorgeous. Were as Santorini was built on cliffs high above the sea, the village that I am staying in Parikia, is right on the sea. In fact, there is a sea walk less than 75 feet from my hotel. I walked along it to watch the sunset last night. Nice! Today, I went to village of Lefkes high up in the hills. It has an old Byzantine/Greek Orthodox church that dates from the 1200s. I wanted to get some pictures of the interior, but it was forbidden. Oh well, I have the images in my head.

This island is so much slower in pace, and bucolic in nature compared to Santorini. There is no rampant tourism, and the prices reflect that. The hotel room I am in is far nicer than Santorini, and it is about 60 percent of the cost of the room in Santorini. The meals I have eaten have eaten are much cheaper as well. I have feasted on seafood since I have been in Greece. My stomach will not know how to react when I return to the states. I have a bakery right across the street. I left the windows open last night, and was greeted with the best aromas this morning! Yum!

There are olive trees all over the island. Some of them are very tall, with trunk calipers of more than 20 inches. I have read that olive trees grow extremely slow, and if that is the case, some of these trees are over 200 years old.

Tonight is my last night on the islands. I leave for the concrete jungle of Athens tomorrow. I am so glad that I only have one day planned in Athens, and spent more time in the islands. Everyone that I have talked with on this trip, that has already visited Athens, says go to the Acropolis and the Antiquity Museum and get out. It is very dirty.

Until next time,

Scot

P.S. - The first three pictures are from Paros. The remaining pictures are from my last few hours on Santorini.