Nightlife

As on all the islands, what's hot this year is often gone next year. You'll sense what the hot places are (they're the ones that are absolutely packed with customers and amplifiers). I'm not giving phones for these places because phones simply are not answered. Here are a few durable favorites. Just behind the windmill in Parikia is a local landmark, Port Cafe, a basic kafenion lit by bare incandescent bulbs and filled day and night with tourists waiting for a ferry, bus, taxi, or fellow traveler. The cafe serves coffee, pastry, and drinks; it's a good place for casual conversation.

Pebbles Bar often has classical music and good jazz; as does the Pirate Bar, a few doors from Hotel Dina in the agora. Both are very congenial places, as popular with Greeks as with foreign visitors. Alexandros, in a restored windmill by the harbor, is awfully attractive and a perfect spot to enjoy being on an island, by the harbor, watching the passing scene.

In Naoussa, check out Agosta or Café del Mar by the harbor or for an after-dinner drink. You'll find the serious discos on the outskirts of town and by the bus station (Vareladikos, by the bus station, often goes all night.)

Music-Dance Naoussa (tel. 22840/52-284) often performs Greek dances; the group wears costumes and is quite good. Look for posters around the island advertising upcoming performances. There seems to be little traditional Greek entertainment on Paros, but if you're interested, ask about performances by the local community dance group in Naoussa, or inquire at Nissiotissa Tours in Naoussa (tel. 22840/51-480).

Beware the Bomba -- Several places on the strip in Parikia offer very cheap drinks or "buy one, get one free." What you'll get, most likely, is locally brewed alcohol that the locals call bomba. This speak-easy brew is made privately and often illegally. It's a quick way to get drunk -- and to feel awful after you get sober.