Arrived in Paros

We have had a good week taking our time island hopping across to Paros.

After leaving the mainland we arrived in a beautiful bay in Kithnos.  Its formed from a sand spit joining an small outlying island so you could anchor either side of the sand spit in calm clear water.  When we arrived there were only one or two yachts in the bay but by morning there were close to a dozen, mainly Russian charter boats.  It must have been a flotilla holiday of some sort.  The good thing for us is that most of the charterers push on after a single night which leaves us in peace and quiet.  We hung out in the bay for a couple of days and amongst other things got the dingy scrubbed clean, did some school and went for a walk onshore in the hills.

The Kythnos Anchorage

There was a nearby town called Merikhas which we visited for a night.  Things are starting to shut down as its coming to the end of the season.  We are told that by the end of October all the touristy shops and bars etc will have shut down.  Still we managed to have a nice meal ashore in a friendly restaurant.  Still finding the food fantastic everywhere we go.

Next day we pushed on to the island of Serifos and again spent a couple of days at anchor in a secluded bay before heading into the town of Serifos.  There is a port town which is not that big but then on the hills behind the town there is the chora or the old town.  This is classic Greece - all white buildings strung up a barren rocky hillside with the occassional blue dome of a church standing out vividly.  It looks fantastic from the bay.

Serifos Chora

It was a couple of miles so we decided to walk up into the chora.  Even managed to persuade Calley to do it.  The town is pretty interesting as the buildings are all kind of squashed together and in between are these narrow, narrow alleys.  The buildings are all white with blue trim but even the streets have white highlights around the paving stones.  The view from the churches at the top of the town were spectacular.  The weirdest thing is that there are hardly any people about.  We went up around 5 or 6 O’clock in the evening because we knew during the day everyone would be taking their siesta.  But even in the evening it was deserted.  There was a real “Dusk till Dawn” feel about the place.  As a result we had a quick look around and then hurried back to the port.

The view from the chora

There was a Meltemi blowing up so we headed across to Paros to a sheltered bay off a town called Paroika on the east coast and got the anchor well dug in.  There is a small marina here but again we are a bit too big to get in.  The next couple of days we had northerly winds around 25 to 30kts gusting to 35kts and so did not get off the boat too much.  It was not too bad though and we did get to catch up on school.  We managed a couple of trips to town and it is a really interesting and picturesque place.  Must be mobbed when it is tourist season but now its very pleasant.  The town behind the waterfront is a maze of alleyways lined with boutiquey type shops and cafes.

The weather is changeable just now.  The strong meltemi from the north has blown itself out and today is calm but the winds are forecast to pick up from the south to similar strengths starting tonight.  The current anchorage is no good in the southerlies so we have decided to move to another bay in the north of Paros called Naousa.  There is a small marina here where we think we can get in.