On the final day of my trip each year, I sit in a spectacular cove at the foot of a plunging ravine, one flanked by windswept olive trees that look like they belong in a Dr Seuss storybook. The island burns on like a piece of Murano glass. Its low coastline looks almost porous - so pocked with natural pools and cavernous cliffs that it resembles a slice of Swiss cheese.īut the rest of my time is spent on Paros, and whenever I return I notice, as if for the first time, how in the rosy satin dusk everything is electrified by the white candescence of the sinking Mediterranean sun I watch the town's domed churches, Frankish castles and Venetian palaces gild in the late-afternoon light. Toward the end of my stay, I always make a day-trip to the Caribbean-blue waters around Pano Koufonisi - a small island just off Naxos that's so undeveloped it may have been what Paros looked like when Capote and Beaton visited. Many have bamboo-thatched umbrellas, little chapels and sleepy tavernas where roasting spits of souvlaki slowly pirouette. They come in endless varieties: on the northern tip of the Greek island there's Kolymbithres, famous for bizarre rock formations rubbed so smooth by the sand that they're almost lunar or the windsurfing haven at Chrissi Akti on the south-eastern side, where kiteboarders' colourful sails fly across the sky in arching swoops. Each is a bather's paradise I have now been to about 30 beaches on Paros alone. There were hardly any smart shops, boisterous restaurants or nightclubs - and yet there seemed to be no end of whitewashed hillside towns and hidden swimming caves to discover and explore. Here were islets that surrendered themselves much more slowly. All three were islands whose charms, I found, revealed themselves rather quickly - and perhaps a bit too generously.īut in 2008, I made my first trip to the lesser-known central Cyclades, including Paros, Antiparos, Naxos and Pano Koufonisi. The first time I visited the 220-island-strong Cyclades - the most frequented and most famous of the Greek archipelago's seven island groups - I traced the tourist's trilogy of Mykonos, Delos and Santorini, spending a few nights among the crowded bars and beaches of Mykonos a day walking around the sacred ruins of Delos and another few lounging by the infinity pool that overlooks the caldera and the dizzying jumble of cliffs on Santorini. They shouldn't try too hard, but they should have enough to keep you from growing bored. My islands need to have all the right proportions. Since birth I have been an islomaniac, but I am a picky one. Paros, Iraklia, Ios, Sikinos and Folegandros line up in the horizon, along the endless blue, closing this unusual for an Aegean island experience.The restaurant at Beach House, Antiparos Danai Issaris Before leaving, don’t miss the exquisite panoramic view from the parking area. It must be the oldest in Europe, dating back to 45 millions years ago.Įxiting the dump and cool cave out to the burning Cycladic landscape blinded by the blare, is in itself a unique experience, although the shaded entrance helps to adjust. John of the Cave) and an impressive stalagmite 8 metres tall guarding the entrance of the cave. For those still reluctant to descend, there’s a nicely laid out court with the little chapel of Ai Giannis Spiliotis (St. Now the visitor can enjoy the magical shapes of stalactites and stalagmites inside the cave. ![]() Today, of course, things are different: a wide road and frequent transport together with ample parking space enable traveling to and from Hora, and the 100-metre descent to the cave can be made by means of well-built concrete steps with steel railings for security. ![]() In older times it was a whole adventure to reach the place: you had to take a boat up to a nearby bay, go uphill to the cave on foot or on a donkey under the hot sun and you had to descend tied up by a rope and holding a torch in your hand. Known since antiquity, the Cave is located in the southeastern part of the island on the hill of Ai Giannis, about 8 kilometres from Hora. A taste of this mixture can be sampled at the Cave of Antiparos. ![]() Worlds of silence and darkness, mysterious and imposing, caves have a special charm: a strange mixture of fear, excitement, mystery and an urge for exploration, together with a sense of a world far and away, still inexplicably familiar and protective. The Cave of Antiparos If you’re looking for a cool break in the heat of the summer sun wandering around the beaches, the renowned Cave of Antiparos is the ideal choice.
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