Paros - Tuesday Sept. 16

How many ways can you define water that is so clear that when the waves break you can hardly see it until it foams? I can stand in water up to my neck and see my feet and the only reason I have difficulty is because of the diffraction of light caused by the moving water. You can see the sand puff up as you move around. The Med is saltier than the Atlantic Ocean. We I swim underwater, my natural buoyancy bounces me up to the surface.

We hung out on the beach for about 5 hours yesterday. It was warm and breezy and nice. I expected the water to be warm, kind of like the end of summer at the Jersey shore bath water warm. This is not the case. The water is comfortable and you do not feel the need to get out of the water, but you do not just plunge head long into the water also.

We ate lunch at a tavern that is right along the beach. The food was excellent and the setting spectacular! Generally, Pam and I are finding the food here on Paros better than in Athens.

For dinner we headed out to Paroikia which is the main town for Paros and where the Ferries come in. All along the waterfront are restaurants and shops. Paroikia is nice, but we both thought that Naoussa is a prettier town. We had a very nice dinner in town. I had a dish of Meatballs seasoned with Cumin and Garlic (Yummy) and a tomato sauce and rice. I love white rice, I know I should eat brown rice, it is higher in fiber and has fewer simple carbs, but I love white rice!

So this morning, I went for a run (which I have to do beacause I eat white rice), the first run since just before we left. I followed the main road to a smaller road with less traffic. This wound through small farms and such and ended at a small Greek Orthodox Church. The church stood in a rock that lead out to the bay where you could climb out onto the rocks. It was a gorgeous view from out there. After running back to the hotel, I took off my sneakers and shirt and rinsed off in the outdoor shower and jumped into the pool to cool off. This is my new favorite thing. I really like this!

A word on Greek Churches. There are small Greek Orthodox churches everywhere. When I say small, I mean tiny. They are usually one room and can hold 10 or fifteen people comfortably. Even in Athens there were a lot of tiny churches. You do see larger churches also, but these small chapels are very interesting.