and 2007
Walking, hiking and trekking on Paros
BOATS PAROS
- Blue
Star Paros
- Blue
Star Naxos
- Flying
Cat 3 & 4
- Aiolos
Kenteris I & II
WALKS
(last update on the 25th of January 2008)
1. Léfkes - Agios Ioánnis Kaparós - Agios Geórgios - Aneratzá - Kamári - Alykí
2. Léfkes - Panagía Thapsanoón - Parikiá
4. Parikiá - Panagía Thapsanoón - Agios Minás - Maráthi - Náousa
5. Parikiá - Panagía Thapsanoón and back
WALKS by ERIC and NICOLE
Náousa - Mycenaean akrópolis - Agios Ioánnis - cape Kórakas and back
Together
with Náxos the island of Páros takes a very particular place among
the Cyclades. After Náxos and Andros, it is the biggest island of the
Cyclades, just
before Tínos: its surface area is 195 km² and also its population is
quite large, namely about 10.000 inhabitants. Páros is situated fairly
centrally and therefore many boat connections stop there. Long distance
connections to Santoríni, to Kos and Ródos, to Ikaría and Sámos or to
Amorgós often stop in Páros, but also the line Thessaloníki - Iráklio (Crete)
for example calls in at Páros. In addition, there are of course many
connections with Náxos, Mýkonos, Ios, etc. In this way, travelers often
have to change at the island of Páros, for example to go from Amorgós to
Folégandros or Sífnos.
Boats leaving from
the Piraeus arrive at the harbour of Parikiá after 5 to 6 hours. Parikiá
is a thriving city, especially thanks to the busy harbour. It also has a
very attractive old city centre, with amongst others the famous church of
the Panagía Ekantondapilianí or Katapolianí (with the 100 doors) and with the beautiful
Kástro. From the harbour there are frequent bus connections with Náousa,
with Léfkes via Maráthi, with Pródromos, Márpissa, Píso Livádi and
with Driós, Alikí, etc.
Náousa
is the second biggest town of Páros and it has one of the most beautiful
fishing harbours on the Cyclades. From Náousa you can get to the
beaches in the neighbourhood – possibly by taking a small boat.
Especially the beaches around Kolymbíthres are very pleasant.
Léfkes
is a really beautiful town, centrally located at about 15 km from Parikiá.
The houses are built in the shape of an amphitheatre around the church of
Agia Triáda.
Other places of
interest are the old marble mines of Maráthi (on the road to
Léfkes),
the butterfly valley of Petaloúdes and of course the marvellous
beaches: the beach of Kriós on the other side of the bay of Parikiá, the
beaches around Náousa with especially the beach of Kolymbíthes, the
many beaches between Píso Livádi and Driós with the popular Golden
Beach...
Because the
distances on Páros are much larger than for example on Sífnos, Folégandros or
Amorgós, Páros is not really an ideal hiking island. There
are also not a lot of actual old hiking trails. A fairly decent hiking map
exists in the Road-series (no. 112); on this map a number of old monopátia
are indicated, such as the well-known trail from Pródromos to Léfkes
(the Byzantine road), some beautiful paths in the centre/southern part of
the island (from Aneratzá via Agios Geórgios to the road Léfkes -
Glifá)
and a trail in the neighbourhood of the monastery of the Panagía Thapsanoón.
However, in almost all of these cases you first have to take the bus or a
taxi, or rent a car in order to get at the starting point of the hike.
This means that Paros cannot be compared to the hiking-paradises of Sífnos
and Amorgós!
The map of Páros in the usually very interesting Anávasi-series is fairly disappointing. It does not give a lot of details and it contains only very few hiking trails.
Panoramic view on the Katapolianí church in Parikiá
The church of Agios
Konstandínos on the Kástro in Parikiá
The beautiful "Byzantine
road" from Pródromos to Léfkes
Léfkes
The monastery of the Panagía Thapsanoón