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Hello my dreamers,
I hope you are doing well! It’s been a long time, sorry for the long wait! 🥺
This time, I’m back with you for a travel story in Greece! On the occasion of our 10th anniversary with my boyfriend (youhou!), I absolutely wanted us to celebrate it in Greece and more particularly on the romantic island of Santorini 😍, including its surroundings. So we went there at the end of April 2019 for 9 days.
Going to the island of Santorini is good, it’s beautiful, it’s something to do but it’s expensive and there are a lot of tourists, while there are plenty of other beautiful islands to visit around. So I looked for a nice island not too far away from Santorini, where we could stay a few days to see other things, be in a quieter area and spend less money. It was a bit by chance that I chose the discreet island of Paros and I am delighted to have made this choice! In this first part of the story, I will therefore tell you about the island of Paros and in particular its villages of Naoussa, Kostos and Lefkes.
“the ferry did not leave at the indicated time”
First of all, for our round trip Santorini-Paros by ferry (a journey takes about 2 hours), we booked our tickets on aferry.com with the company Seajets for a total of 98€ for 2 people. The important thing to know is that each time we bought tickets online, the schedule was ultimately different when we picked them up at the agency. Moreover, the ferry did not leave at the indicated time finally, but often late. So do not wait until the last moment to collect your tickets, do it as soon as you can to quickly know the last scheduled departure time.
“their grilled feta and gyros!!”
To accommodate us, we rented a room on Airbnb in Parikia which cost us 104€ for 3 nights. It was in a great location, a few minutes walk from the port, near a quad rental shop, downtown, and the beach. We have eaten very well and for cheap several times at Souvlaki Pepe (ahhh their grilled feta and their gyros!!). We also really liked the Ephesus restaurant which is quiet, on the grass right by the sea (since then, it became a pizzeria).
“quad: with only 5€ of fuel, we were able to use it as many times as we wanted for about 3 days”
To visit the island well in 3 days, renting a quad was necessary. The quad allowed us to move everywhere, even on paths that were difficult to cross or that would not have been accessible by car. It also allowed us to easily park everywhere thanks to its small size. We had a safe that unfortunately did not lock so we were afraid to leave our helmets inside without security. But luckily we had no problems! Another advantage of the quad is that it consumes little because, with only 5€ of fuel, we were able to use it as many times as we wanted for about 3 days. The disadvantages are that when you ride it for a long time, you can obviously get cold (personally I got cold because there was a lot of wind), it’s less comfortable, slower, more tiring and noisier than a car. Despite these negative aspects, I recommend it because it was perfect for the use we needed.
The village of Naoussa
I think the village of Naoussa is the most visited. It’s very lively and very cute. There is a port, lots of restaurants, lots of pretty colorful streets where you can have a drink. We spent a very pleasant day there and we also ate very well.
When I go to a restaurant, I don’t usually have pasta (except with truffles :p), unless all the other dishes don’t particularly inspire me, because they are a safe bet. And there, with my boyfriend, we shared a seafood pasta dish that I LOVED!!! In this restaurant called Axinos, I ate my best pasta dish, the spicy seafood linguine! The sauce was to die for!
The villages of Kostos and Lefkes
We liked the village of Kostos less than that of Naoussa because it is certainly a pretty village but there is not much to see. We saw only houses there and we met very few people. Then, our experience at the village of Lefkes was even worse because we had a bad idea to go there in the evening :/ so there were few people outside and a lot of streets were not lit. That’s why I don’t have any pictures to show you, unfortunately. We had a quick stroll there and then we left but I’m sure that during the day, it must be nice and even more attractive than the village of Kostos.
To conclude, my boyfriend and I really liked the island of Paros because it is not very touristy, even on the beach there was no one! The city center is cute, there is a lot of nature, pretty places, pretty villages to see, especially Naoussa. When we were there, it was so peaceful and pleasant! And you, have you ever been to Paros? What do you think about it? 🙂
Stay tuned, in the next part, I’ll take you to the island of Naxos!
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What do you think ?