Antiparos, Greece, Pink Skies of Paper Flowers and Blue Water Surround

July 7th

Another island today! Although we weren’t going super far or packing up and moving onto the next, I was still so excited to get back on the boat and explore a new part of this country. We are headed for Antiparos. The name Antiparos literally means "opposite Paros" in Greek. Antiparos lies just southwest of Paros, separated by a narrow strait only about 1.5 kilometers wide, about a 5 minute boat ride, but from our port a bit further north up the coast, it was 25 minutes for us.  

Not the most glamorous breakfast, I had leftovers from yesterday's honey and granola crepe. I didn’t have a microwave but didn’t want to eat it chilled, so the minute I woke up, I took it out of the fridge and set it outside in the sun, thinking that if I was getting baked in this sun, my crepe can too then. From walking in and out of the front door to take a glance at the sparkling blue, to picking what shirt matched best with my new skirt from Madrid, there was no rush in the morning. We woke up early enough to lather up in sunscreen and pack our bags, mine with water and cameras, mother’s with her cooling equipment and sun protection. 

We wanted to make sure we got spots on the ferry over to Antiparos and the cafe I wanted to try this morning was right next to the port, perfect. Gregory’s is a chain coffee place all over Greece, knowing the price was right and hopefully the coffee quality stood up to its name, I had my sights set to give it a try before leaving the country. And of course, it was an amazing cup of coffee and for a great price. The baristas doing this day in and day out have mastered the art. I was smiling and taking sips as I stared out at the port, mom next to me waiting anxiously for me to finish my drink so we could hop on the recently arrived boat. 

To the top of the boat I led mom, finding a good spot in the shade, next to the edge, and not two minutes my camera was out and up to my eye. Surrounded in the bay were hills with the scattered white homes throughout. And when we got moving, the splash of the white water along the side of the boat, contemplating whether I look out at the expansive ocean stretching without end, toward the island, water crashing into the cliffs. The boat rode closely along the shore of Paros, giving us a little boat tour around the island and a glance at the perfect blue water. This ferry was an attraction in and of itself, grateful to have taken the longer boat ride to spend more time on the water. 

My best comparison to pulling up to the port of Antiparos was when I was on a boat tour in Croatia, having arrived at the island of Vis. Funny enough, Momma Mia 2 was filmed on that Croatian Island because it resembled a Greek Island so much. It was a quaint town, no building taller than a couple floors, not overly crowded with people, and flowers everywhere. 

I wasn’t entirely sure what to do here besides wander and shop. Thankfully, my mom and I are content with that exact agenda. And to prove that very point, we did not make it to more than one shop before stopping, picking, and swiping a credit card. The first store had a beautiful array of hats, my mom had one she loved, but I didn’t have one with me on this trip as I had a vision of the sun hat I wanted but hadn’t found it while shopping in the US. Low and behold, it was here, in front of our eyes. And perfect. I needed the extra sun protection today as it was full sun and powerful with less shade than some of the other days we’ve had. 

We kept going along the main stretch, each store was well curated, hosting unique jewelry, ceramics, or clothing. And of course, evil eye branded everything. We hadn’t made it very far before the pink caught my eye and drew me to this side road. I asked mom if we could explore this way and she blindly followed before giving me an answer. Yes, of course. A beautiful restaurant, my dream restaurant actually. Bougainvillea, or paper flower, across the entirety of the patio, creating this ceiling of flowers, providing shade, beauty, and fragrance to the lucky visitors of this establishment. I wanted to eat here so bad, solely for the ambiance, but sadly it wasn’t open until dinner and I would have to suffice with the view here and now. This has made my day, the beauty of the flowers and this restaurant taking advantage of the glory it offers. I love it and wish I could take it with me and remake this very space. 

Mom needed a rest, so we found a local restaurant on the port, looping back to the start, thinking I could get a coffee to pay for our spot at the table. They didn’t have nut milks so I had to pivot and I ended up trying a greek coffee. While at the hotel, I saw the equipment used to make it, essentially its hot sand in which you take a metal cup, imagine a moscow mule glass, and circle it around in the sand. I didn’t try making it at the hotel because I didn’t understand the process so I opted for the machine to make my morning cup of joe, but here was where I learned both how it was prepared and how to drink it. I was in utter shock when it came out in an espresso sized cup. I was expecting something along the lines of a drip coffee, but this was a highly concentrated beverage. I’ve been seeing Grecians drinking it every meal, often over ice, whereas this was served hot.

Greek coffee

One sip, you know the rules. Anddd… my exact words “Oh that is terrible” hahaha of course it had the strength of Hercules and was I getting a grit like sand? That is exactly what I got because the way a Greek coffee is prepared, I would soon learn when asking the waiter how do you drink the coffee, that it is made by putting in the grounds and water on top, and heating the water until boiling and there’s your coffee. No filtering of the grounds, that is done in the way you drink it, by leaving it in the bottom of the cup and only drinking the surface. It didn’t take more than a couple sips that I was starting to get some heavy amounts of grounds coming in with the coffee, and that was where I ended my drink. Can I say that I enjoyed it? Absolutely not. But, to say I tried Greek coffee for only 2 euro, and I can say I’ve never had a cup of coffee like that one and I’ve had many cups in my lifetime.

Just like that we were back on our way exploring the town. We made it a bit farther down the main shopping street, we would peak in almost every store, but upon glance at the price tag, I had a good idea whether or not it was a realistic store for me to be shopping in. Oh how I wish I came to Greece with loads of money in my pocket. The shopping here and in Paros is absolutely amazing. The jewelry stores are beyond this world incredible, the damage I would do with deep pockets. But, there is more to life than stuff, or at least that’s what I tell myself as I take my 5 euro rings home with me, and content that is the memorabilia I have from the island. 

We stopped for lunch at a juice bar that had a few vegan options. I got a premade chickpea salad while mom enjoyed a latte. I was tempted to pair it with a smoothie or another treat they had, but ended up with just the salad. We were nearing the end of this shopping street and after we reached the end, I was at a loss of what we could do before the ferry back. At the end of the street was a Castle, I had us pointed to check that out. Of course, there were more paper flower trees that we sat under, took photos, and gawked over. My mom was just as obsessed with their beauty as I was. 

We finally got to the castle.. It was pretty much a pile of stones haha. I think this is where it used to be, and you could see the structure of it, but it has since deteriorated. It was cool though that there were homes surrounding it, so you could walk in a little circle around this castle, taking about 2 minutes, and then back out. And that was our grand tour of the city! As simple as that sounds, I still had a fantastic time here. The endless flowers contrasted so perfectly against the white buildings, it was like walking in a dream all day. A bit farther off the main stretch meant there were less tourists and my mom and I could take in the beauty as if we the first to uncover the beautiful island in the first place.

We walked back toward the port and grabbed drinks next to the water. The water sparkled and boats rocked ever so slightly. A few walkers, some atvs driving by, otherwise a peaceful sit with a remarkable view. The perfect finish to our time on Antiparos. 

The ferry left at 3pm and in no time we were back in Paros with so much left in our day. Having seen so much this morning, we lounged around the hotel, meandering our way down to the patio seats. I journaled, mom read, it was great to have time to both explore and relax. Now was our time to relax.

We started getting hungry around 5:30pm, and headed back to our room to get ready for dinner. I wanted to be at the seaside for dinner and catch the sunset, although our hunger was not timely when the sun was setting. We went to a greek restaurant and I tried the stuffed peppers and tomatoes. It was so delicious and so much food! I loved stuffed peppers and was excited about that, but I never had a stuffed tomato and was curious how it would hold up. It still had a bit of an acidic taste, but I was impressed how good it was and well it went together with the pepper. 

We had so much time to kill before sunset at 9:30pm, that one of the stores we walked into was a bakery. Out of curiosity, I asked one of the staff if there were any vegan desserts and she pointed me to the sugar baklava. I could not believe there was a vegan treat and I bought two to try. One was walnut and the other pistachio and it was essentially a bar form of sugared nuts. It wasn’t overly sweet and resembled the taste of baklava without the flakey phyllo sheets. 

The air was cooling as we shopped around more. Mom headed back to our hotel to drop off some of our purchases and that was our first time going our separate ways for a moment. I took the 30 minutes alone to wander unexplored streets and find a sunset spot. It felt like I was solo traveling again, as walking around and watching the sunset was an every day occurrence for me. Mom found me at my sunset spot, sitting on some rocks by the water, fingers sticky from the baklava and mind at peace hearing the waves rock and crash right in front of me. A good sunset never gets old, and my appreciation for it will never fade. 

That was our day and night, not too much new in our daily routine, just some new streets, new shops, and new corners filled with flowers to obsess over. Another lovely day in Greece it was.