CATHEDRAL IN LEFKES

Thursday, November 15^th, 2007 Good weather today as we toured Paros sites….

Last night was a light show as God provided massive sheets of lightening followed by loud claps of thunder for most of the evening. The cats were snuggled up close to the windows and the power kept going on and off. By 8 pm I decided to shower before we lost power permanently as the water heater is electric. We found lots of little tea candles and some citron candles in the cabinets along with some flashlights.

Just as Jim was getting into the shower we lost all of the power downstairs, but the power was okay in the upstairs. Probably a short somewhere in the walls as the downstairs has two walls into the side of the hill. Piled all the blankets we could find on the beds and tucked ourselves in for the night.

Have I mentioned the electrical systems in Greece? Every business and home has an electrical panel built inside the building with switches and breakers for everything. The upstairs air conditioner/heater is totally separate from the downstairs. We do the power switches for the stove and hot water heaters as needed. Most of the others stay on full time. We saw this system for the first time in the brand new home, “Rooms for Rent”, that we stayed in several weeks ago on our way to Corfu. Today in the restaurant in Lefkes, we saw them using the same system, except because it is an old building the wires were visible on the wall instead of being buried inside the wall. These probably exist all over Europe but I’ve never noticed them before.

By this morning we had power back but decided not to run the television and downstairs heater at the same time as they are on the same breaker and give us the most problems. The sun was out and it’s a beautiful day outside. We went for a walk up the hill behind the house in shirtsleeves it was so warm. We saw high on the hill above us the Monastery of St. George that we’d driven towards on a dirt road while looking for the water well on Tuesday. It is a huge building but I don’t think I want to make that climb again in our little car; a four wheel drive would be perfect for getting there.

Drove into Drios to the grocery store for some things and then down to the beach in town. We turned at the sign for The Lake Restaurant and headed down a stone canyon to the beach. They have built a narrow road of stone with high walls of stone on either side. Near the beach we spotted a parking lot and walked from there. There are several hotels and many restaurants along the water. Packed with tourist during the summer; today we are the only people there. Everything is closed and even the few fishing boats at the end of the promenade looked sad at their moorings. There were lots of Kodak moments but lacking a certain amount of flavor in their emptiness.

Back on the highway we headed towards Marpissa where we were told that there was a pharmacy where I could purchase some cough drops. No medicinal supplies are sold in the grocery store. Not only found cough drops but also a jar of Vicks Vapor Rub. I’m still fighting the chest rumblings especially at night so this should help.

In Marpissa we easily found the road to St. George’s Monastery and only one kilometer later we were at the well. We filled all of our empty bottles before heading back to the main road. We then headed north to visit the village of Lefkes again; we’re going to hike to the church today.

It was a beautiful walk down the winding steps to the base of the village and the twin towered church with the unusual steeples. Located inland, Lefkes was the capital of Paros during the Ottoman rule when the pirates ruled the seas and forced the abandonment of the traditional center at Parikia, I’ve also discovered that it is sometimes spelled Paroikia. Lefkes is shaped like an amphitheater in the hills with the shimmering Parian Marble Agias Trias Cathedral as the stage at the bottom of the canyon. Unfortunately, the church is now closed for repairs and we were unable to see the frescos and mosaics inside of the church. A charming village with pristine alleyways and buildings that lined our route back to the top; along the way up we stopped at a small bar for cokes and the hard to find but necessary W.C.

Outside of Lefkes we stopped to view the five windmills on one hill; all in various stages of deterioration. Nearby we found olive trees that are hundreds of years old. We haven’t seen groves being harvested; only the occasional person out picking their own olives. We have seen a few nets on the ground but mostly they are holding a basket to put the olives into.

Turned around and headed out of the mountains to the northern coastal route for a return visit to Naousa and the wireless Internet. It’s like a magnet, drawing us back as often as possible. While I was online searching for emails and updated information; Jim found a shop for ferry boat information. We’ve discovered that there is a boat that leaves at 11:55 am for Naxos and returns the same day about 6 pm. Naxos is so close to us that we see the villages across the Aegean Sea on clear days and the lights at night. We won’t be taking the car with us as that would be an extra fifty euro each way. But, there’s a lot to do in the main port town per the guidebooks and it will be a nice change of pace. We also located the Roman Catholic Church in Naousa but this Sunday the priest is saying the mass on Sunday evening in Parikia instead of here, so we need to find the church there before catching the ferry to Naxos tomorrow morning.

Before leaving Naousa we turned down the rutted road that we’d found yesterday during the rain to view the “Tower of Hellenistic Period”; it was too muddy yesterday but today we bounced down the road with only a few problems. Yep…I was right…another pile of rocks about two feet high…but a Kodak moment for Jim.

We’ve had our dinner; Jim cooked and now I need to do the dishes. We’ll read our books and enjoy the electricity this evening.