Discovering Parikia, Parikia, Greece

For our week-long stay on the Cycladic island of Paros, we rented a gorgeous villa at the edge of Parikia, the island’s capital. Every evening, we went on a volta around the compact old center – you may be more familiar with the equivalent Italian term passeggiata – and probably walked every street and alleyway within its boundaries by the end of our stay. And one morning, I did my habitual early-hours walkabout with the camera.

As in any Cycladic settlement, white walls accentuated with colorful details and flowering plants offer regular attractive perspectives.

The fountain in the above picture is one of the three marble fountains built in 1777 by Nicolaos Mavrogenus, a scion of the wealthy local family who spent a bit of his wealth for the benefit of his countrymen, paving the main streets in Parikia and offering drinking-water sources to the public.

None of the fountains provides water nowadays. They have clearly not been maintained to remain operational, but not abandoned either, as there is a bilingual commemorative plaque at each. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).