Back to Blog
Paros cyclades greece5/28/2023 ![]() Paros is nowhere near as popular as the Cyclades' big guns, Santorini and Mykonos, but it's starting to experience similar problems. The meltemi isn't the only thing to sweep through the Cyclades in August tourists also swarm to the islands during the peak summer season too. "Unfortunately, the fountain had to be turned off 50 years ago," she adds, "because tourists started showering in it."īy submitting your email you are agreeing to Nine Publishing's The next day they simply returned with louder metal ones. They soon became a popular social hub for local housewives and she tells the story of a man who lived above the fountain breaking their clay jugs to protest about the noise. Kalogianni stops by an ornate marble water fountain, one of three installed by a wealthy local businessman in the late 1700s to bring fresh water to the town. Leaving the church, we wind through the town's photogenic maze of narrow alleyways, past toothpaste-white houses with azure-blue shutters and doors. The Ekatontapiliani church in Parikia old town, Paros island, Cyclades, Greece. We're being shown around Parikia by Avgi Kalogianni, the editor of Paros' free local tourism magazine, on a tour that's been hastily arranged by our two Peregrine guides. Its name, Panagia Ekatontapiliani, translates as the "church of 100 doors", and a local legend asserts that the hidden 100th door will magically appear when Istanbul is returned to the Greeks. Allegedly it was, so her son, Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, built the spectacular 1700-year-old Byzantine pile that stands here today. When rough seas diverted her to Paros, she prayed at the small local church, promising to construct a larger one if her pilgrimage was successful. While our journey has been one of sunbathing, swimming and superlative cuisine, Helen's quest was a little more virtuous – she was on her way to Jerusalem to search for the Holy Cross. We've had to abandon our attempt to visit Mykonos, a scheduled stop on our nine-day Peregrine cruise around the Cyclades, and take refuge in Paros' capital, Parikia, instead. But the reason we're here on Paros, the third largest island in the Greek Cyclades, is the same one that forced Saint Helena here in the 4th century – the meltemi, an angry wind that roars through the region in August. It's not every day you get to follow in the footsteps of a saint. Taking a day trip to the neighbouring little island of Antiparos is highly recommended.Paros island, Cyclades, Greece. They are scale models of an amazing variety of things, including ships from warships to fishing boats, monasteries, castles, lighthouses and even the terrace of lions on Delos. This is a remarkable collection of work by a fisherman turned artist, who calls his work large miniatures. Paros is also home to the Aegean Center for the Fine Arts, which offers courses in writing, singing, photography, painting, and other arts and crafts.Ĭycladic Folklore Art Museum In the village of Aliki, near the airport, is the Cycladic Folklore Art Museum. It is a record of the history of Ancient Greece from the 16th century BC through to the year 264BC, carved on marble. It may sound like a daily newspaper and that’s not too far from the truth. ![]() ![]() Next to it is the Archaeological Museum, which naturally has more work in Parian marble on display, and a unique fragment from a manuscript known as the Parian Chronicle. The Byzantine Cathedral of the Panagia Ekatondapiliani is a splendid example of a building made from the fine local marble, and dates to the 10th century, when it replaced a church originally built on this spot in the 6th century. Top Archaeological Sites in the Peloponnese. ![]()
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |