A night in Paros

 A lesson learnt. Don’t judge a town by what you have seen and the neighbourhood you are in. Explore. 

I was inspired by a post by a professional photographer on a Facebook group on Naxos and Paros. It was a spectacular sunset. Now you can say he got lucky with the cloud formation and so on. But he clearly knows his stuff. I went out, but probably a bit late. But what it got me doing was wandering a bit of the town I had not seen… looking for somewhere to eat…. I saw a sign saying ‘ old town’ or something like that. I expected narrow streets, like any Castro in Greece. 

The first thing I bumped into is called a Frankish castle. It was built in 1260 by the Venetian Duke of Naxos out of bits of buildings. It’s hard to imagine it now, but it was elliptical in shape with a rectangular tower. 

I must say I see a round tower and a rectangular keep, but I am no expert! Next on the history lesson was another bizarre building. This time a Temple to Athena. This building slipped into obscurity when the hill it was built on let go and slid into the sea. The bits were used in 1260AD to build a fortress and the foundations of the temple into the church. I must admit even with the clever drawing provided, I could not picture this!

Next something a bit easier to understand thankfully!  One of three water fountains, constructed in 1777 with Parian marble. Donated by the ruler of Walachia, Nikolaos Mavrogenes (1735-1790)


Finally my sunset photo. Must try harder tomorrow and get a better one,  good night from Paros.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

X nearly marks the spot

Image
I decided on my last long walk to go to Vathy, the place where over two years ago I broke my leg. I reckoned it was about fifteen kilometres, if I walked from Kamares. So I headed out along my usual route to Apollonia. Very often especially on this stretch of road when I see bikes and vehicles I often get a wave or a toot. I saw the guy who has the Indian style tuk tuk, who looks like a captain but he doesn’t have a boat I think. He seems crammed in the cab of the vehicle as he is quite tall. As it was early there were a few clouds kissing the mountains. I went to my favourite pie shop, told the owner where I was going in Greek, also that I was going home Tuesday. I had looked up that tomorrow I was having a day of rest, but the rest word did not work for her, sometimes there are local dialects that stymie google translate! I then walked back down the road and headed on the same road that I went on yesterday. Here is a bit of shameless advertising for the bakers. The bag contained thei...
Read more

Back on Sifnos

Image
I have not posted on this blog even though I have returned to both Sifnos and Serifos after my leg healed. But this time, the two year anniversary had me travel to Sifnos, and although the first two weeks did not go as planned, I think I more than made up for it on the third week. Here is a photo I took while having a coffee in Apollonia with my friends, when I was able to get out and about again. As walking is good for physical and mental health, I often go with my friends to the next town Apollonia and walk back. It’s easier than walking back from than to, as the road slowly goes uphill on the outward leg. But even sixty five year old legs soon get accustomed to the hills over here. The road is not so busy and you see so much more than when you are in a car. Nature is marching on after the heat of summer, and careful eyes can spot  it coming into bloom again. The main flowering season is in the Spring when the islands are covered in flowers, before they go to seed and summer sets...
Read more

The wind returns…

Image
Monday 20st - Tuesday 21st,  Hora Serifos So while cooking my first meal in the house, the estate agent called again and asked if I could meet the owner of the property at seven thirty. Surely so I said. I was cooking kedgeree, two eggs were hard boiled, half an onion fried. I had a tin of tuna and what I thought was rice. With no scales it was a bit of an estimation job on how much to cook. I had  also bought this small jar of what was called  curry sauce to add a bit of a kick to the meal. So while checking the rice, it did not have the right texture I thought. I then realised it was a type of pasta! Anyhow I mixed it all up, added a dollop of the curry sauce, it was different, but it was quite edible! Moral of the story, find the Greek words for things you want to buy to make sure you get the groceries you want! While waiting for the owner I spotted this beautifully painted utility box So I met the owner of the property, and the builder who did the work. I had seen pho...
Read more