Paros part 2.

On the way back from Antiparos Zacharias asked if I had any plans that night and I said I’m gonna go to Naoussa center to wander around probably.. He didn’t like that I was going alone and offered to go with the guys for couple of drinks. I rested for couple of hours and took a shower and then he picked me up again. 

First we drove to the old lighthouse to see the sunset. Then we walked in Naoussa and went for drinks in Agosta, very nice chilled place by the water! Naoussa was a lot busier than Paroikia at night and rumours said that Jon Bon Jovi was there also.. After drinks we left to drive around the island and up to the same church to admire the view where we had been at day time. He gave me a ride home around 1.15! What a day!

The next day I surprised myself and went for a breakfast again and to search for the nail polish which I eventually found from this nail salon place! Zacharias had a day off so he picked me up and we left to drive to Farangas beach in the south. Nice sandy beach with couple of restaurants and sunbeds! We didn’t have any shade and we talked in the ocean four like two hours and I’m so surprised I didn’t burn!

He had a pitch stop at his place cause he needed to pick up his credit card and I really liked his place on the mountain! I also got a nice idea to decorate a bathroom for example! After it was late lunch time at Ambelas in a restaurant called Christiana! Local place which had their own fishing boat to guarantee that everything was fresh! We ate crab salad, octopus, greek salad, saganaki and drank some ouzo! Perfect! Everything cost like 30€ and I didn’t get to pay anything. Once again.

Then it was shower time and after like 45 minutes he picked me up and we left to drive to the highest point of the island for sunset! Arrived just on time for the beautiful sunset and I even agreed on some photos! The place was 700 meters above the sea level. Then on the way down he showed their family cottage on the mountains! Then we drove to Piso Livani for drinks on the beach and then it was time to go home. I almost started crying hugging him goodbye! L

Hello Antiparos!

The next morning I left at the center of Paroikia to eat some breakfast. It was actually the first time on the whole trip that I ate proper breakfast (omelette and fresh orange). After that I had a mission to find a nail polish! The previous day I had searched all the supermarkets and other smaller shops and no where sold nail polish!

Zacharias had offered me the previous night to join him and his friends on a day trip to Antiparos island. He messaged me again in the morning saying that the offer was still valid. Thought about it for a while and then thought fuck it why not! I offered to take the bus to Pounda and meet him there but he wanted to pick me up! So we met at the windmill in the center and left for a ride around the island. First he wanted to take me to sightseeing at this church on the mountain which looks down to Paroikia. Nice view!

Then it was time to head to drive to Pounda and meet four of his friends.. It ended up being 5 guys and one guy’s girlfriend and me. In the beginning it was really awkward (for me, not for them) but after like 10 minutes it was okey and they took me to their group like I had known them for years! Zacharias paid the boat ride across and it took maybe 10-15 minutes to be in Antiparos. We had two cars and one guy was with his motorbike.

The friends never have a day off and now they had all managed to get a day off! Firs,t we headed towards this Cave on the hill. It costs 5€ to get in and of course Zacharias wanted to pay for it.. One of the guys offered to be our tour guide and we were laughing so much to his English and the way he did his tour.. The Cave was pretty impressive with over 400 stairs going into the mountain..

After seeing the Cave it was beach time at Ag. Georgios. It was so nice chatting and swimming with the guys there. I started to feel like I had known them for years! They had such a good sense of humour! Then we went at the center of Antiparos to catch a lunch at this weird place (Red Donkey) which no one didn’t like.. :D Guess if I paid anything in there or the boat ride back? 

I was so happy that I took the offer cause the next day I would have gone there all alone and wandered around with a bus! Now I got to see it in a totally different way and had a great time! The guys even showed me the holiday house of Tom Hanks. 

Hello Paros!

I woke up in Mykonos around 10 and went outside to the sun just to relax and be. About 11.20 we left for the harbor (since someone else needed to be there earlier) and 10-15 minutes later we were there. I was so disappointed that there were no restaurants or coffee places or anything there.. Just a tiny little kiosk.. My boat was supposed to leave 12.40 but it was late and left around 13.40..

At the port in Paros there were some of the hotel people there with the signs but not too many and no one actually came to me even though I probably looked like I didn’t have a place to stay. I asked couple of men but they all had rooms with way over 30€. One really cute and hot guy offered to help me with some hotel in the port that he knew. He actually walked me there and then went back to the port. I walked upstairs where this old lady greeted me and showed me the room but now all of a sudden she said it’s 35€ not 20€ like promised..

Downstairs was this rent a bike place where this other nice guy tried to call places and offer help. Didn’t have any luck and he promised I can sleep on the couch of the shop if I didn’t find anything else.. Great. I went back to the port and found an info and just when I was about to ask for a map and help this guy game to offer a place to stay to two other girls. He instantly offered 20€ room for me close by! Deal! We drove there with his scooter maybe 800 meters. Jimmy’s had dorm kind of rooms for 12€ and private ones for 20€ and 25€. I chose the 20€ simple room.

It was around 17 o’clock when I dropped my bag and left to find some taverna to eat my first meal that day.. Taverna Katerina was right next door and got some food! Then it was little beach time right in front of the restaurant and shower time later. I left to wander around in the center of Parikia and watched this Batala people’s drum performance at the center! Cool! Later on I found this nice little side street alley with a local restaurant. Perfect! A big bottle of beer was only 3€! Once again in there I confused people with talking greek and then after a while not talking it when I didn’t understand something. :D Parikia had nice little alleys with shops and boutiques.

I went for one beer at this bar where was a lot of them Batala people dancing and singing. One greek guy from the group came to talk to me and invited me to their pool party the next day at Santa Maria. After one drink I just walked home to Jimmy’s to sleep.

The next morning I woke up and decided in ten minutes that I’m gonna try to make it to the 10 o’clock bus towards Golden beach. Bus number 1 took around 45 minutes and cost 3€ one way. At the beach the driver just shouted Golden beach and had to jump out.. Umbrella and sunbeds cost me 10€ and I loved the long sandy beach! It was hot as fuck again so no way you could sunbathe at all..

Back to Paroikia I left with 15.00 bus and I noticed that all the buses were on time all the time! The next bus would have been only at 17.30 so it was a good decision to choose the earlier one. I bought the ticket from the bus and it was more expensive to buy it from there (3,5€). I quickly went to eat someting and then to shower.. I tried to decide what to wear for ages for the pool party.. :D I speed walked back to the bus station and hopped into 18.00 bus to Naoussa. I wanted to wander around in there before the last bus to Santa Maria at 19.50.. I was so sweaty and hungry so I just ended up eating gyros and having a beer. Close by the bus station there I found this nice coffee / bar with an Italian owner and he also owned a roller skating rink next to it. Had a coffee there with him while waiting for the bus.

On the last bus towards Santa Maria I was totally alone and started chatting with the bus driver Zacharias. He added me on Facebook and promised to give me a ride home with his car later on if I needed. I had asked from the info if there was anyway to get back from there and Dimitiris told me that I would have to hitch hike.. :D I easile found the Santa Maria Pool / Camping area with loud music coming from.. At first I felt such an outsider with my beer sitting alone but then I met the guy who invited me and he introduced me to some other people in there. The Batala people performed there several times and it was so cool! When the night went on they handed out water guns and THAT WAS SO COOL! I was piss wet through and eventually ended up going to pool also. :D I talked with some Albanian guys and they actually offered to take me home around 3 am! So happy that I went! 

Hello Mykonos!

The next morning I felt so tired even though I didn’t stay up too late, I still got up around 10 and called Margarita. I had paid the room the previous night (40€/ two nights and got my passport back.) Margarita’s husband picked me up from the bus station and we drove to Avanti for the pool. I took my short cut and went to eat at one point. We had agreed that we were gonna leave for the port at 15.25 but at 14.45 this girl comes to ask me if im ready to go. I literally just got up from the swimming pool.. “Yeah sure” clothes on and into the car.

The ferry left for Mykonos at 15.25 (I paid 24,50€ for the ticket with thw -50% discount) and arrived at 18.30. The time went really fast drinking frappe and writing my blog. In the port I was surprised since there weren’t many people with the signs at all! So different to Ios! I got so annoyed instantly with this rude lady which was trying to pull me to her place for 35€ in the middle of nowhere. This dickhead man was in a better location for 35€ also and offered 100€ for 3 nights.. Didn’t really have much options since most people were leaving already and there weren’t that many people there.. Had to take the man’s place.

When arriving to the hotel Vougli View it definitely was a hotel with a view! Damn! I was pissed of after paying 70€ ALONE for two nights so I walked to the nearest supermarket to buy beers and yogurt to live with. Went to watch the sunset from the hotel outdoor “balcony” and it was so nice. The man Nikos came to talk to me and he ended up being ok after all.

After I showered I left to walk into Chora and I had to ask help couple of times. I knew it was just down from the hill but still felt lost. I instantly noticed how busy it was everywhere! Wandered around different alleys there looking around shops and coffee places. Went to eat in the Old Port where the average for a greek salad was from 8-9.50€ (In Athens around 5.5€). A wine glass was a 6€ when in Athens or Poros it is 2,5€. When walking to the Chora I was thinking that how on earth am I gonna find back with the alleys all looking exactly the same and of course while I was eating the electricity went.. Great. People wandering with the help of their phones and I just wandered around hoping to find something familiar that I would recognize. It took me 40 minutes to find back but I did it! I wasn’t scared just a but amused with the situation. The streets and alley’s were so full of people so there were nothing to worry about.

I went to my room which was like a sauna and of course with no power, no air con. +30 degrees still at the night! I couldn’t stay in the room so I went outside to watch the stars for ages. Pretty soon I decided that I’m only gonna spend one full day in there. It was way too crowded, too full of tourists and barely any greeks. People working in places were Albanians and just coming to Mykonos for the season. I didn’t really see or hear any greek stuff just lots of gay couples.

Notices:

• The roof tops of the churches were red! Everywhere else they are always blue
•  Lots of Italians, Spanish and French people
• Gay couples paradise
• Greek Ibiza
• The prices were ridiculous.
• Frappe 4€ (normally it was 2,5 or even 1,5€ in other places)
•  Beers (500ml) could be from 5-7€ (cheapest in a restaurant in other islands probably 2,5-3€..)
• 1 litre of water was 2,5€ in someplaces!! Normally 1€!
• Even within Mykonos the price range was quite huge!

The next morning I woke up at 9.30 so sweaty! I left to walk to find a bus stop.. Well that sounded so much easier than done. I couldn’t find any bus stops and I wandered totally lost to different directions for ages and it was around 40 degrees. I found some Italian place in the middle of nowhere and went there for a toast and to ask help. They just told me to go stand somewhere and then just stop the bus. The went every half an hour and of course I waited there at least 35 minutes..

Eventually, Paradise Beach I was coming. Very very build place with modern bars, sunbeds and every food from sushi to pizza to health juices. Really nice, packed and expensive place. I had to pay 13€ for the sunbeds and umbrella (even tho this nice old man tried to give me his receipt when he was leaving). Water was 2,5€, cocktails were around 14€ up. I didn’t even consider eating there. There were loads of gay couples and girls with their tops of and some wanna be Kardashians posing and drinking champagne in the sea.

I left back with four o’clock bus straight to Old Port, Little Venice and the windmills. Went to this coffee place in Little Venice called Veranda and paid 4€ for a tiny glass of frappe. The view was nice tho. I wandered in the streets and tried to find ticket office and of course I didn’t find one. In the morning while searching for the bus stop I had seen one place so I decided to walk there.. It took me 40 minutes in that +43 degrees to walk there! When I arrived in the office I was so wet from sweat that it was unbelievable! At the office, there was this nice girl Iro working and helped me with the ticket. I bought a ticket to Paros for the next day leaving at 12.40 and arriving at 14.20. The real price was 8€ and I got for 4€. (Slow boat)

At the hotel, I instantly hopped into shower with bikinis on, grabbed my computer and went out in the shadow to work a bit and answer emails. Then it was a nap time and around 8 o’clock I left for the center again. I walked straight to the windmills from where I wanted to catch the sunset. Also couple of other people thought had the same idea.. ;) Sat on the rocks and admired the view to the ocean! Beautiful once again!

I went to eat souvlaki (for once in a actual restaurant) and drank a 5€ beer. Almost straight after that left to walk home, packed my stuff and hang outside for a while and waited for the morning and new island!