Marble Madness on Paros
Apr 27th, 2007 by Ian
Paros is the main ferry hub in the Cyclades and I chose it as my final island hopping stop, since it has a daily, overnight boat that would return me to Athens.
The island itself is one of the largest of the Cyclades island group and in order to better explore it and see the sights I rented a car: 20 euro and my platinum mastercard for free CDW and I was off like lightning … okay maybe a little slower:
No bees to choke on and no dirt roads to tempt me this time! I started with a nice drive up to Naoussa. On the way I spotted a sign for a hellenistic period tower and I thought I might as well check it out. I’d like to say it was amazing and well worth the single lane dirt road detour - damn I did get sucked into the temptations on the dirt road afterall - but I’ll let you judge for yourself.
After checking out the amazing tower, I continued on. Naoussa is quite a nice place to stop even in low season. Many restaurants were open but I just checked out the whitewashed villages, the narrow alleys and a little rock fort and seawall near the port.
The main reason I rented the car was to check out the ancient Parian marble quarry. Parian marble was used in the creation of
- the Parian Chronicle (263 BC)
- the Winged Victory of Samothrace (220 BC)
- Venus De Milo (130 BC)
- Napoleon’s tomb (1840) according to LP Greece, though I couldn’t verify based on wikipedia.
Marble comes from the Greek word for shiny stone. Unlike what some would have you believe, marble is not made from marbles. It is a metamorphic rock which prior to being subjected to pressure and temperature extremes was limestone.
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed of the shells of ancient microscopic marine animals. As an aside, did you know that the Chunnel goes up and down throughout its journey from England to France because it was dug though the softest layer of rock which was chalk? The things one learns on Frontiers of Construction … Chalk is actually a soft form of limestone - crazy eh?
The ancient Parian marble quarry - once you find it - is actually pretty interesting. There are some old stone buildings and towers around the site as well as a horizontal shaft cut into the mountain from which the marble was quaried. Apparently you can explore the mine if you have a flashlight. I was solo and had no flashlight so I didn’t explore. One of the mines is supposed to have a relief dedicated to Pan - my book didn’t mention this and I only saw one tunnel and I didn’t see a relief.
After a few hours exploring the site I headed back around the island and made a stop in Aliki. Aliki is a nice little village and I stopped for some water and after seeing a nice looking plate of Calamari I decided to have some food as well.
Back in town I went to see the Church of 99 Doors/Windows. According to legend when the 100th door/window is found - not sure how it was lost - Istanbul (oops, Constantinople - or the Polis) will have been returned to the Greeks.
