The Off-Season

Yassas again, Winslow here for an exclusive look at a few islands in the Cyclades (pronounced “Kik-la-dehs”).

I only say exclusive because most people will visit the Greek islands in the summer and will have a completely different experience at that time of year, peak season. Like I mentioned in my last post, the islands are pretty much under construction in April and we had to use our imaginations to picture how they might function at full capacity.

For travellers in the off-season, accommodations are significantly cheaper, and you can move around pretty easily. It was the lack of tours/excursions and available group activities that bothered us most - less opportunity to make friends and less history. For the young one and the boyfriend, the cold water and unpredictable weather was also a bummer.

Paros

By the time we stepped off the ferry onto Paros, the young one had simmered down a bit with her attempts at reading the Greek words, which was a mutual relief for the boyfriend and I. The main town is obviously bright white, maze-like, easily explored in an hour. It is built near the port on the water like most of the main towns are. There is a wall that climbs up a hill where we sat once for the sunset. Paros suffers from a lack of local products - I think wine is the main product there. There also didn’t seem to be much archaeological significance, though there is an archaeological museum. Overall, despite the fresh whiteness of the buildings the island felt rather desolate.

We were immediately faced with deciding what in the world to do. Over what I understand was an amazing lunch of mixed Greek foods, it was decided that the thing to do would be to rent a quad.

With the quad we explored the winding roads around the hilly island (scary at first) revealing a landscape that was a preview for the next islands we would see. It was our first glimpse of the low ancient walls that snake through the hills, once used as farming boundaries as well as creating a terraced effect that would have aided in keeping animals and farming on even ground.

We also noticed the sheer amount of churches. Churches on steep ledges, churches next to homes, churches in the middle of nowhere, churches next to other churches, churches on their own island.

With our convenient little vehicle we visited two villages, both built around a port. Naoussa was stunning and has a little fortress built out in the water.

Then there was Piso Livadi where my companions stopped for a beachside frappé. It turned out to be the best cat café the young one has ever been to! Cats hang out everywhere in Greece and there seemed to be a few that favored this café. One immediately climbed into the young one’s lap and stayed there the whole time.

From this village we could gaze out over to Naxos, which was to be our next destination. In the summer we would be able to find a ferry or private boat tour right from there.

Our time on this island was cut a bit short because of the rain one evening and night. We spent time in our hostel bonding with the few other guests there. Me, I slept through most of our indoor time.

Naxos

More than twice the size of Paros, Naxos is more self-sufficient (is a very fertile island producing many local goods) and immediately seemed more lively. Every day we saw more and more of the island come to life! Like Paros, cobblestone alleyways wind through the labyrinth main town, the stones always outlined with white paint. Shops and restaurants are in disarray or look abandoned for now. In Naxos, however, a well-preserved castle area is a great lookout point, and contrasted dusty brown against the rest of the town (which is called Hora, like many main island towns in Greece).

View of the port from the castle area

You can easily distinguish what is ancient castle and what is modern

The castle area includes a couple towers that were closed for renovations as well as a church and museum.

Also remarkable of Naxos’s Hora is the imposing marble arch which sits on its own peninsula jetting out north of the city. Portara, it’s called, and was the doorway to a temple of Apollo built somewhere in the 500s BC. It could also have been made in the honor of the god of wine, Dionysus, the patron of Naxos.

It’s a great place to watch the sun set behind the silhouetted peaks of Paros

View of the town from Portara. Locals swim in either side of the causeway in the summer! The water is crystal clear!

Also significant on the island are the archaic marble quarries and subsequent "kouros". Naxos’s main export and building material is marble, and it’s been harvested for milleniums. A "kouros" is a giant unfinished statue carved out from a quarry. There are a few on the island that were clearly roughly processed (i.e. not completed) on site, and then not transported to be carved into final form because of damage or difficulty moving it.

Here is the one above the village of Apollonas said to be of a robed Dionysus:

We also saw the modern marble quarries, which you can see here if you look closely at the peaks of the two mountains.

In order to see all the sights without a guided tour it was in our best interest to rent a car. I was happy for the security of one after all that quadding before. Naxos is actually very mountainous, and the roads are even curvier and climb higher and steeper than in neighboring Paros. The views were absolutely breathtaking despite my nerves acting up with all the twisting and turning!

You can see what I talked about before with the terracing of the hillside. It creates a cool effect!

Along for the ride was a new friend of ours! I don’t know exactly why he was interested in hanging out with such youngsters, but he inspired me to maintain a young soul. He comes from Massachusetts like the young one and the boyfriend and has a lot in common with them. He frequents the island for long periods at a time and was kind of our local guide for our time in Naxos! We are so glad to have met him!

Also on the road we stopped to take a look at Aiya Tower,

Apollonas village,

And the marble village, Apeiranthos.

As I mentioned, Naxos is very mountainous! The highest peak is Mount Zas. It’s called that because of a cave located on the way up that Zeus supposedly lived in when he was exiled from his birthplace in Crete. We took the trek to the cave which wound up a little stream and was sided with walls of marble. There was even a path for a little bit, also made of marble.

After spending the days exploring I spent the nights relaxing in our little studio room while the young one and the boyfriend went out for some night life. Everything runs a little later in Greece and I don’t think I could have managed to stay out and about until all hours of the night.

They told me all about the time they had at a traditional Greek restaurant where the band played traditional Greek music. That pretty much means a bouzouki is involved.

She told me that on this particular Friday night the place was filled with teenagers...but age doesn’t trump tradition! After a while all the teenagers got up to form a circle crowded on the dance floor and began their line dancing. The few older folks there joined in too and took it upon themselves to lead a few dances, showing the amateurs a thing or two about the dances they probably performed at their weddings and family gatherings. The young one told me how special she thought it was that Greeks dance the same way from generation to generation. She told me that if someone danced in such a way back home they would be laughed at, especially the ways the boys performed! They hold their arms out as if they are miming an airplane, move them up and down and move about the circle dipping low in a lunging motion. The lower anyone dipped, the louder the rest of them hollered. Also, the more complicated the footwork, the more proud the few were who could manage it. The line dancing is all about the footwork.

We stayed in Naxos for 4 full days and enjoyed every bit of it. The island has really everything you can ask for: some of the best beaches in Greece (Prokopios and Plaka), mountains to hike, great food, gorgeous views, archaeological significance, traditional villages nestled in the hillsides, and an entertaining main town. For me it has a great balance of adventure and relaxation, a quality I find most important in a destination.

Syros

There wasn’t exactly an appeal to go to Syros besides that it was the only island connecting Naxos and Mykonos (where we had to fly home from). We were pleasantly surprised at the welcome we received!

This island is not catered to tourists at all - the usual rental car places and Blue Star Ferry offices dot the main strip, but no summer promise of windsurfing and sailing excursions nor particular tourist attractions. We hardly heard any English. Consequently, I found that it is probably more likely to fall for the people there rather than the island itself.

The main attraction of Syros is its main town’s previous role as the most significant port town in Greece and current capital of the Cyclades. The town hall is massive, with a very attractive main square out front. Above all, the Saint Nicholas church is the most impressive. It is one of the largest churches we’ve seen in Greece and is very brightly painted. I’m used to visiting cathedrals and haven’t been into many churches, so it was a nice change of pace.

There's some cool street art too.

Our time on this island was defined by a wonderful cultural experience, the likes of which you will only experience in Greece. The young one recalled something similar happening to her on her last trip there.

The young one asked a man directions to a bakery nearby, and an hour or so later he spotted us walking through town on our way to the beach and offered to give us a lift. We got to a village on the water called Azolimnos where he was to meet a friend for a drink, and instead of swimming the young one accepted his invitation to join him.

At a restaurant walled with windows in view of the sea I watched carafe after carafe of local rosé wine delivered, along with plates of food to share. Soon enough we had moved to another spot to hear a different buddy play bouzouki, to which everyone but the young one and the boyfriend sang along.

As per custom, wine continued to flow steadily, and the young one never once got to finish her glass before it was replenished. There were continual shouts to the waiter for more plates of food. Many folks were flicking cigarettes into the ashtray set at every table - smoking is allowed inside in Greece, something I could never get used to! The older men were enjoying our company as much as we were savoring the cultural exchange, everyone joking and patting each other on the back.

"Every day happy day no problems," as our host would say.

As we were driven back to Ermoupoli, the main town, I believe the young one was brimming with contentment at how our day in Syros turned out. I have to say that we couldn’t have expected much more than that. Who knew that a short little hop over to that island would be so worth it!

Mykonos

The buildings are a little whiter, the water a little bluer, the hotels more luxurious. It’s a bit touristier and a bit more expensive. But it’s also less Greek.

Every island has its own culture and its own prides, that’s for sure, and Mykonos definitely has its own play on Greek culture. We never heard any robetiko music and never went into a store that didn’t sell souvenirs. English was everywhere and locals hard to come by. If we did meet Greeks they were serving our food or renting us another quad.

Mykonos was not quite, as the young one puts it, "our scene". The lifestyle there is beach by day, party by night. Not much else to it. We all know that the young one craves some meaning in a day, and while some people are content lounging on the beach for hours on hours, she needs more stimulation. Plus, being the off-season, even the beach parties at our campground were pretty low-key.

We stayed in a little cabin on Paradise Beach, known universally as the party beach.

Our home for 3 nights!

When we first arrived here a receptionist showed us to our cabin, answered our questions, and told us that live music would be played at the beach bar/club at 4 PM.

Except, as we soon realized, what she had said was " loud music ".

It also wasn’t good music, and the same playlist every day. The setup out there was certainly cool though; it was like a resort hangout with a pizza window, kebab place, dance floor, lounge areas, and plenty of beach chairs. At night the lights were playful and vibrant. Our favorite activity there was people watching. There seemed to be approximately 2 types of people there: those who were perpetually « selfying » in a group or alone, and those who weren’t. The young one mentioned how bizarre it is to see so many « travellers » all dolled up and showing off their impersonal experiences with the party-goers around them. Hopping up and down at a party that could be anywhere.

The dance floor

Our beach and beach club

Our second favorite activity was waving hello to both Naxos and Paros from our beach chairs, a pair of purple and hazy sections of land. Like a trail we had left.

I could tell that being in Mykonos made the young one feel as though she was missing something as a traveller. I’m not saying she was unhappy at all, or that it wasn’t expected (the island has its reputation), but just emphasizing the general atmosphere of the island. Mykonos served as more of a break from travelling actually. Besides shopping, eating, and admiring the windmills in the main town and discovering the island’s many world-renowned beaches, there isn’t anything else to do. The inland is dry and barren and not too pretty, archaeology is almost non-existent, as are traditional villages, and the terrain is not variable or interesting enough to hike. Walking along the southern coast though, from beach to beach, is very possible.

What my companions did to make the experience feel more like that of a traveller was try to spend as little money as possible. With no kitchen, they ate either gyros in town, or snacked on what can be left out of the fridge for a while from the supermarket.

The wall at the entrance to Flora market. Even the supermarket we went to was touristy.

Instead of getting drinks at the beach they mixed their own with ice from the bar. The young one says that even if she was rich, it would be no fun to live like all the people around her, getting drinks and meals at the snap of a finger. She takes pride in her creativity and problem-solving skills. She likes to create challenges for herself, says it enhances an experience.

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If ever in Mykonos, say hello to one of the 3 Petros the Pelicans roaming around. I didn't get too close but the young one did.

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After all that, here’s the young one’s comprehensive list on tips for enjoying the Greek Islands in the off-season (and in general):

• Rent a vehicle of some sort - we recommend a quad. The average cost is 20€ for 24 hours and no one asks you for insurance or anything.

• Eat as much food as you can

• Book luxury accommodation for extremely low prices (we didn’t do this because we still wanted to pay as little as possible)

• Go to Mykonos, Santorini, or Crete. These are the big 3 that are most lively all year long, along with mainland destinations.

• The weather will be unpredictable, so don’t worry about feeling down because of clouds, rain or wind. Don’t feel bad about sulking about it and enjoy the sun even more once it shows up.

• Ask locals questions. They are always so helpful and thrilled to point you in the right direction. You might even make an unexpected friend.

• Fly in and out of different places so you don’t have to backtrack. Trying to make your way from one place to the other is like connecting the dots as you go and is fun in itself!

• Don’t plan your ferries in advance. You might want to spend more time on one island than you intended, or find out about one you’ve never heard of before in the middle of your trip.

• Cherish the lack of crowds and embrace the feeling of being a traveller rather than a tourist!

• Just go swimming

Until next time,

Winslow