Paros

I arrived to Athens early in the morning and took a taxi to my hotel at Omonia Square. I'd done some research and knew that the area wasn't exactly posh, but when the taxi driver told me "Be careful at night, lots of immigrants...Albanians"...I kind of freaked out.

My friend M wasn't due to arrive until later in the evening, so I had the day to myself. Got to the hotel and wanted to check in, but the very aggressive man behind the counter said I couldn't check in for another couple of hours. I headed straight to the nearest internet cafe to put down my uncomfortable backpack and read Gulf News online (I know...sad!)

I'll skip the Athens part as I really didn't do much, but the hotel was AWFUL! A hole in the wall really...I couldn't wait till M got there and it was a huge relief to see her! We slept early that night, as we had to be up at 4 am to catch our 7 am ferry from Piraeus port to the island of Paros.

(Parikia's busy harbour)

I was a little nervous about being on so many boats as motion sickness can get to the best of us...but luckily, the 4-hour boat trip to Paros' capital Parikia went smoothly. As soon as we were off the boat, we were met with dozens of people holding up boards advertising their hotels. I know we should have shopped around more, but we went with the first guy who told us about a little hotel called Fransisco's, where we found a cute little room with a balcony for 50 euros a night.

(view from our hotel room in Parikia)

We settled in, made ourselves at home and headed straight to the beach for some much needed tanning. Parikia didn't strike me as particularly pretty, but it had a really nice, laid back attitude to it. Lots of international tourists, not many Greeks...The beach was also so-so, but at that point, we couldn't believe we were finally on our holiday.

As we braved the chilly waters and got a little shut eye on the sand, I think M and I started to feel right at home. Just then, we saw a group of guys and a girl we'd spotted on the ferry from Athens. We got around to chatting to them and exchanged phone numbers (don't even remind me about my upcoming roaming bill!)

M and I went out for dinner at a little taverna that night. Naturally, I had calamari and ouzo :) Except 2 consecutive nights of very little sleep and a glass of strong ouzo got to me very quickly, so I headed back to the hotel for some shut eye, while M went to walk around the market.

(Squid...the Greek way)

Turns out that M bumped into the guys from the beach that night, and told them we'd meet up with them for breakfast. The international bunch (as we ended up calling them) consisted of a German, a Lithuanian, two Cypriots and an Australian. After breakfast we headed off to Punda beach on their scooters. It wasn't really our idea of a gorgeous Greek island beach as it was more of a thumping music and drinks kinda beach, but it was fun nonetheless.

(Punda beach)

Later that night, we walked to Parikia's main square to look for a place to eat, and settled on a little cafe nestled in the market's sinewy streets. We headed back to the international bunch's hotel room after saying goodbye to the German who was leaving that night, chit chatted for a while and then went back to our hotel. It was so lovely to walk around everywhere, and at 5 am, in the dark and silence of that night, M looked at me and said: "Don't you feel like we live here and we're just walking back from a friend's place?"

Really, we felt right at home.

Next morning we met up with the international bunch for breakfast again before heading for Livadia beach, across from Parikia's main harbour. The place was quiet, with big white couches under palm trees and great music playing in the background. Not exactly authentic, but definitely idyllic. That night, we headed back to that same beach, where the area turns into a lounge/restaurant kinda place. Extremely romantic...but definitely enjoyable. We had the unavoidable discussion about politics which kinda killed the holiday buzz for a good hour, but all was not lost as we made our way back to the international bunch's hotel once again for some more drinks and cheesy French-music.

(Livadia Beach by night)

We said our goodbyes as they were headed off to Mykonos next...but not for long, as we were due to join them in Santorini a few days later.

M and I spent the next day in Paros' Naoussa village, a gorgeous little place. We walked for what seemed like lightyears to find a beach under the Greek islands' relentless sun. Seriously, the UAE sun has nothing on the sun there! We chilled on the beach and went for our first topless experience. Needless to say, liberating!

(Naoussa village)

Waiting for the bus to go back to Parikia that evening, M and I were badgered into feeling like two old farts by the hundreds of swarming 16-19 year olds hanging out in Naoussa. For the first time in my life, I really felt old, and really felt insecure in the presence of people who are probably 300 times more insecure than I am.

Back at our hotel in Parikia, I crashed from too much sun, too much walking, and feeling too old, while M went out and did some last minute shopping before we left for Santorini the next day.