Cucina italiano e Ελληνική αγόρια: Biking, Hiking, Adventuring, Beaching and Eating with Miriam (Days 1 and 2)

What an amazing week!

Monday

Picked up a road near Aliki in the morning. Everyone is so nice to us while we are picking up trash around town. One woman came by and gave us fruit, and another who owns a restaurant near an old windmill invited us in for water and snacks. We even got to go inside the windmill where they are having an art exhibit by a woman who takes marine litter and turns it into fabulous pieces of artwork! It's so great to see how appreciative the community is of the work we are putting in, and it's fun to interact with them :)

Miriam arrived in the afternoon and we spent the afternoon exploring Paroikia and sitting on the beach. We had a great Taverna dinner where I introduced Miriam into the wonders of meze and the Greek style of eating. We had tzatziki, spicy cheese dip, chick pea dip, Greek salad, stuffed grape leaves and baked eggplant with tomatoes...plus wine, of course! So delicious and wonderful to spend time and catch up with her! We realized we hadn't seen each other since David and Christina's wedding last May!

Tuesday
Antiparos!

To the South of the main island of Paros, is a smaller island that was at one point connected but is now only a ferry ride away. People actually swim to Antiparos from the southern tip of Paros; I really want to do this, but would want a boat tailing me just in case...

Harbor of Antiparos

We had planned on renting an ATV to ride down to the cave of Antiparos (its main attraction), but they were all rented out when we got there, so we decided to get bicycles and bike there instead. The bike ride wasn't too far (8 km each way) but it was very hot and tiring. It was mostly flat along the coast, but we decided to walk our bikes up the hill that led up to the mountain where the cave was. Instead of taking the final winding stretch, we ditched our bikes and hiked straight up the mountain. Champs.

Miriam conquering the mountain

View from the top

The cave itself was full of stalagmites and stalactites, as well as 411 stairs! At the mouth to the cave is a giant stalagmite that is believed to be the oldest in Europe.

Oldest stalagmite in Europe

Inside the cave

After climbing back up the stairs, biking back to the harbor and wandering the streets of the main town, we finally settled on an amazing lunch place. We were craving fish and had walked up and down the waterfront trying to find a Taverna that caught our eye. It was the colorful, empty restaurant behind the row of tourist-y places that was the best, though. We walked in to "Zorba the Greek" made sure they were open and asked to see the menu. The owner--a heavier, grungy man immediately said "all we have is fish," and we were sold. He showed us all the fish and seafood he had caught that morning and we got to pick out what we wanted. We ordered tzatziki, fried anchovies and mackerel. Wow.