Cycladic marble, windsurfing world cups, and whitewashed fishing villages with soul
Paros has long been the sociable middle child of the Cyclades — not as famous as Santorini, not as party-mad as Mykonos, but possessed of a beauty and warmth that makes many travellers return year after year. The marble quarries of Mount Marpessa supplied the stone for the Venus de Milo and the Hermes of Praxiteles; the fishing village of Naoussa is among the prettiest harbours in the Aegean; and the Chrysi Akti (Golden Beach) hosts the Professional Windsurfing World Cup each August. The Byzantine Road, a 10km marble-paved path through the island's interior, is one of the great walks in Greec…
Paros marble — translucent, pure white, and with a particular luminosity — was the most prized in the ancient Mediterranean and was quarried on a massive scale from the 7th century BCE. The 'Parian Marble' inscription discovered in 1627 (now partly in the Ashmolean, Oxford) is one of the key documents of ancient Greek chronology. The early Christian Panagia Ekatontapyliani church in Parikia, dating from the 4th century CE and allegedly founded by Helen of Troy's mother, is one of the best-preserved early Byzantine churches in Greece.