Exploring Paroikia, Paros Island

Tuesday morning, last day in Paros-dise. Our original ferry was set for 1:20pm, then moved to 10:45am, and then rebooked for 7:15pm. If there was a 3pm option, that would be the perfect time, but beggars can’t be choosers and we did enjoy this little port town a lot more than I expected. Just that the ferry/ship didn’t actually pull into the port until 8pm and it was a lot  of waiting around.

The main problem was having to return our rental car to Paroikia by noon. Otherwise, we could have stayed at our beautiful hotel and sat by the pool at least. But we go to Paroikia and dropped off the car. The rental place was very nice and let us leave our bags there for the day while we wandered the streets.  

It was a maze of streets, mostly pedestrian (or Vespa) only and somehow...it was mostly empty! We really did not encounter too many people at all which gave us a lot of time for picture taking. The streets were beautiful. All white houses with blue doors and shutters, pretty archways, and cobblestone streets.  

We had lunch at a place called “Hella” run by a Greek man and his Dutch wife. The food was pretty decent. I was craving a gyro because they are so darn good (and probably extremely unhealthy). Surprisingly hard to find though! I feel like this might be a tourist food. Something we associate with Greece because it is popular in america. Any native Greeks to confirm or deny this? 

 The place said they were known for their mezes (Greek tapas) so Adam ordered meatballs (actually quite popular in Greece), three fried cheeses (don’t remember which ones), and some pita bread with garlic on it. The fried/grilled cheeses are my favorite Greek food takeaway from this trip. I wish cheese was healthy. My gyro was super yummy as well and I also wish this was healthy. Why does bad food taste so good? :( 

We spent the day wandering and picture taking and waiting until the ferry arrived. It was windy and got a bit chilly in the afternoon. Although I enjoyed the town, I don’t like waiting around. Then the ferry was late and the waters were rough from the wind so that was NOT an enjoyable 4 hour ride :( we got into Athens port around midnight and had to take a cab to the hotel. This time, we were very cautious about giving the driver money!