|
Crossing from Paros to Antiparos feels a bit like crossing from Portsmouth or Southampton to the Isle of Wight: a very short journey, but a world of difference on arrival. The main activity in the harbour is the periodic arrival of the passenger ferry from Paroikia (half an hour’s journey) and of the car-ferry from Pounda (seven minutes’ crossing). On arriving, you find a thoroughly laid-back atmosphere. The boats bobbing picturesquely in the harbour seem singularly disinclined to set sail and the locals sitting at the harbour-front cafes seem content to do nothing but watch the other locals……doing nothing. There is a main street flanked by shops and tavernas leading to the charming old square in the village centre. Keep walking beyond the square for about another 15 minutes and you will have crossed the width of the island and reached a long west-facing sandy beach. If you turn right in the village centre and walk a similar distance, you reach some nice sandy beaches near the northern tip. If you head south from the village down the east coast you pass ever more attractive beaches until you reach the famous cave (stalactites included in the admission fee and well worth a visit). After that the road swings sharply right and takes you to a strange, but atmospheric, place where all the roads for a future coastal village have been laid, but nothing built except for a couple of tavernas (at least the Greeks get their priorities right) from whose terraces there is an idyllic view across a sheltered bay – surely destined to become a windsurfing paradise – to the uninhabited islet of Despotiko.
|
