- Greece 2022: Retrospective
- Day 86: Athens Flight to the UK
- Day 85: Sifnos to Athens (Koropi)
- Day 84: Sifnos Troulaki Monastery and Kamares
- Day 83: Sifnos Sightseeing
- Day 82: Mum and Dad Arrive on Sifnos
- Day 81: Piraeus to Sifnos
- Day 80: Athens Airport Meet Up by Metro and More Piraeus
- Day 79: Exploring Athens Part 2: Hadrian’s Library, Roman Agora & Ancient Agora
- Day 78: Exploring Athens Part 1: Acropolis, Parthenon, Museum and Temple of Zeus
- Day 77 Agistri to Piraeus
- Day 76 Agistri Part 2 – Megalochori and Dragonera
- Day 75: Agistri – Chalikiada, Megalochori, Dragonera, Livadakia and Aponisos
- Day 74: Aegina Temple of Apollo, Ferry to Agistri
- Day 73: Exploring Aegina – Aegina Town
- Day 72: Exploring Aegina – Nectarios, Aphaia, Agia Marina, Ancient Olive Grove, Marathonas and Perdkia
- Day 71: Crete to Aegina
- Days 67-70: Last Few Days in Stalis
- Day 66: Day Trip to Agios Nikolaos and Elounda
- Day 65: Gym in Malia, Sunbathe in Stalis
- Days 63 & 64: Malia and back to Stalis
- Days 59-62: More Malia
- Day 58: Malia, Gym and Jogging
- Day 57: Stalis to Malia
- Days 52-56: Stalis Life
- Day 51: First Day in Stalis
- Day 50: Ios to Crete
- Days 48 & 49: Last Two Days on Ios
- Day 47: Southern Ios – Tris Ekklisies, Magganari, Kalamos and Chora
- Days 45 & 46: Exploring Northern Ios
- Day 44: Ios Mylopotas Relaxation
- Day 43: Amorgos to Ios
- Days 42: Kos to Amorgos
- Days 37-41: Kos Town Downtime
- Day 36: Kos Paradise Beach, Kefalos and Zia
- Days 34-35: More Kos Town Relaxation
- Day 33: Kos Lido Water Park
- Days 31-32: Kos Town
- Day 30: Kos Paradise Beach
- Day 29: Kos Town Hotel Move
- Day 27-28: Astypalea to Kos and Kos Town First Day
- Day 24-26: An Unexpected Extension on Astypalea
- Day 23: Astypalea Part 2 – Vatses, Kaminakia, Marmari, Steno, Schinonta and Chrisi Ammos
- Day 22: Exploring Astypalea: Tzanakia, Agios Konstantinos, Livadi and Chora
- Reflections on Paros
- Day 21: Paros to Astypalea
- Day 20: My Last Day on Paros
- Day 19: Exploring Paros by Quad Bike (ATV)
- Day 18: Paros Revisiting Aliki
- Day 17: Parikia Again
- Day 16: Chilling out in Parikia
- Day 15: Antiparos Again
- Day 14: Paros Caroline’s Last Day
- Day 13: Antiparos e-bike Experience
- Day 12: Paros Golden Beach
- Day 11: Paros Krios, Marcello and Naoussa
- Day 10: Paros Aliki Beach
- Day 9: Paros Logaras and Punda Beaches
- Day 8: Visiting Antiparos
- Day 7: Travelling to Paros
- Day 6: Back to Kalamata
- Day 5: Elafonisos
- Day 4: Monemvasia
- Day 3: Climbing Mount Taygetus
- Day 2: Mystras
- Day 1: Manchester to Kalamata
- It’s Almost Time… Kalamata Here I Come!
- 2022: Another Greek Summer Beckons
Thursday 7th July 2022
The Limitations of Local Buses
I wanted to see some of the beaches around the northeastern coastline that weren’t accessible by local bus. This meant organising my own transportation, which admittedly was money I didn’t really want to spend, but, on the other hand, I didn’t know when – or even if – I would return to Paros, so it made sense to see everything that I wanted to during my time here.
As a result, I hired a quad bike (or ATV, if you prefer) so that I could do a bit of exploring under my own steam. I paid €50 at Loukis Rentals in Parikia for a small quad, which seemed pricey but I didn’t want to waste time shopping around. After topping up the fuel at the first petrol station I passed, I headed northeast towards Naousa.
Lageri Beach
There are several beaches to the northeast of Naousa: Dionisos, Lageri, Santa Maria and Xifara/Siparos being the most accessible. I decided to start with the furthest one, Lageri, and work my way back towards Naousa with a view to having lunch there later. I tried to park close to the beach following directions on Google Maps, but as usual, it tried to direct me down an inaccessible path that I think is now a private access road for some villas that have been built along the coastline.
I eventually found a place to park towards the north end of the beach, though it was a fairly long and bumpy ride down a dirt road to get there. Once I was parked, I walked onto the beach and all the way south to the sand dunes. It was totally deserted due to being early in the morning, so I took some photos and got my drone out for some aerial shots too:
Dionisos Beach
On my return walk north to where I’d parked the quad, I decided to continue around the bay and followed the path to Dionisos Beach. It’s a very small patch of sand that I doubt gets many visitors when there are other nicer beaches nearby.
Santa Maria
Following Google Maps once again, I got back on the quad bike and headed toward Santa Maria. The directions took me to a campsite, which seemed wrong, but when I stopped to inspect the map, it did seem to be the most direct route and nobody stopped me from riding through the site, so I parked up under a tree and continued to the beach on foot. Although the beach looked nice, it was quite busy so I decided not to hang around and left straight away.
Siparos/Xifara Beach
Heading back towards Naousa, I spotted a nice-looking beach just off the road. It was fairly quiet and both sea and sand looked inviting, so I stopped and went for a nice refreshing dip.
I’m not sure what the correct name of this beach is: Google shows it as both “Siparos” and “Xifara”, but presumably, the locals refer to it by one name, I’m just not sure which!
Lunch Stop in Naousa
It was just about time for lunch after I’d dried off from my swim at Siparos, so I rode into Naousa and parked up on the road just past the bus station, then walked down towards the harbour area looking for a good (but cheap) lunch spot. I found a snack place called Pita Frank and had a nice pork Gyros and beer.
Monastiri, Kolympethres and Lageri (Again)
When I’d finished eating, I set off on the quad bike, this time heading west from Naousa to see a couple more beaches, Monastiri and Kolympethres. Monastiri is a small beach dominated by a beach bar and seemed to be something of an upmarket destination for affluent sunbathers – at least that’s the vibe I got.
Not wanting to linger there, I headed back past Kolympethres which looks quieter but is quite a narrow strip of sand close to the road and therefore also not that appealing.
Instead, with a few hours of the afternoon left, I decided to ride back around to Lageri as it had been the nicest beach I’d seen so far. However, when I returned it was much busier and also seemed quite popular with nudists (mostly men, sadly!) so I kept my distance and only stayed long enough to justify the journey. I then headed back towards Parikia, stopping once at Siparos/Xifara again because it was on the way and I couldn’t resist another refreshing swim.
Gym and Dinner
I returned the quad bike just before 5 as I didn’t have any further use for it. I nearly talked myself out of going to the gym as I was quite tired from a day of exploring, but after resting up in my room for a bit, I had second thoughts and got down to the gym at about 6:30. The workout was pretty average: I did some leg weights and ab exercises, but not with as much intensity as I would usually. Still, better than not going at all!
After another shower, I decided to return to Aioli for dinner as the food is good and it’s a nice place to catch the sunset. For starter, I ordered cod ‘doughnuts’ which I correctly interpreted as battered bits of fish on a bed of garlicky mash. It was very tasty. By contrast, the mushroom tagliatelle I had for the main course was quite disappointing as it lacked sauce and didn’t have much flavour. Even adding lots of grated cheese and some salt couldn’t coax anything decent from it.
After watching the sunset as I finished my glass of wine, I paid the bill and strolled back to the hotel, very much ready for my bed.