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Published: August 30th 2023
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I haven't had a good connection the last few days, so I'll just post for a few days all together.
On Monday, I had an early morning (6:50am) flight from Athens to Paros. Elly offered me a lift to the airport, which was so kind. She said an hour in advance should be fine for a domestic flight. It ended up being just enough time! I didn't have a bag to check, but by the time I got a boarding pass, cleared security and got to the gate, the flight was starting to board.
Paul was waiting for me at the airport in Paros. We worked together on a dive liveaboard 26 years ago in Egypt, and the last time I had seen him was 25 years ago, when I went to visit him in Bahamas. He was traveling around working in diving, but has now settled in Greece (he's Greek), and bought a home in Paros.
He's still working in the dive industry. The shop is open May to Oct, and they work very long days, 6 days a week. I planned my arrival for his day off. We stopped by his house for awhile, and then he took me
for a tour around the island. There's a ring road that circles it, it takes about an hour to do the loop. The year round population is just 15,000, but the island fills with tourists and seasonal occupabts in the summer months.
We stopped to get a few groceries, and then went back to the house for naptime. After I had a rest, I walked down to a nesrby beach while Paul got caught up on a few things. Then we had dinner, and I finally got a good night rest!
I ended up sleeping until almost 10 the next day. Paul had left for work early, which I vaguely heard, but fell back asleep.
I got up, got dressed, had breakfast and decided to make my way to Pariokia. It's around an hour and a half walk, but there are a few beaches along the way, so I figured I'd take my time, and follow the coastline for as much of it as I could.
I took a break on a beach, sat and read my book, then continued onwards. Once I got to town, I had ice cream and water, and then took a look around. That's where
the ferries come in, so it's a bustling place (we had driven through the day before). I wandered a bit, and then sat at a cafe with a vegetarian pie.
At 5:30, I took a bus aeound to the other side of the island, to meet up with Paul when he was finishing work. By the time I got there, it was around 6:15, maybe a little later. Paul had a friend from highschool (who he hadn't seen since then!) Carey, who had come to the island with his wife Stephanie, so they met us at the dive shop too, along with a few of the divers and a couple people Paul works with.
Carey and Paul had gone to high school in Kenya, but Carey is Canadian. He and Stephanie live in Ottawa (and she is originally from Tillsonburg! that's very close to my hometown). We had a really nice visit over a couple of drinks, and made plans to meet up on Friday to go snorkeling. By the time we got home it was 8:30 or so.
Today I woke up earlier. I decided I'd walk to Pounta, which is about 30 min away. There's a little trail
along the ridge by the sea most of the way, so I could avoid the road. From there, I took the ferry to Antiparos. It's just a few minutes ride, and only costs 1.5 euro.
Where the ferry docks is a cute little town, very picturesque. I walked around a bit, then took a beach break. Today I went in up to my waist- still pretty chilly for my taste. I'm regretting packing mask/snorkel, I don't think I'll get much use out of it.
Now I've taken the ferry back to Pounta and have started my walk home. There's a nice little shady ledge by the water, so I've stopped to catch up on my blog while I have decent signal (it's bad at the house, and Paul's wifi has been having problems too).
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