Almost live review - Infinity 6/17 Greece & Turkey & post cruise stay on Paros

[PurpleTraveller]

Thank you for another thoroughly enjoyable review. I am doing a seven day Greek Islands cruise on Infinity in June 2024 followed by a ten day Italy and Croatia cruise from Rome on Constellation. I have been to all the Greek ports previously but it is lovely to see your wonderful photos. Thanks. 😊

 

[Miaminice]

2023 - Celebrity Infinity & Paros - Day 10 - Paros (Lefkes & Naoussa)

After the first night in the comfortable beds of our room we were curious about breakfast. It was delicious and we didn’t miss anything! Greek delights, fresh fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice AND the view. What more could we ask for?! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to the added sunbeds our terrace was so enticing that we spent some time there after breakfast - doing nothing 😁

Around noon we headed to Lefkes, a small hillside village described as a “quintessentially historic Cycladic village”. It was absolutely enchanting. The typical colors, small tavernas, the views, bougainvilleas you feel like stealing and even the omnipresent cats napping on the stairs - just gorgeous. What better time and place for an Ouzo and a Greek Yoghurt with walnuts and honey, don’t you agree?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nearby Naoussa down by the the coast was our next destination. Definitely another promising contender of the local charm contest. The small fishing harbor and its colorful boats lined by seafood tavernas seemed like an image from a coloring book. Pretty empty in the scorching heat, we could only imagine how lively it would be in the evening. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The heat and sun were what made us drive back to the hotel, where we made use of our loungers again and relaxed in the shade on our terrace.

Later in the evening we drove to Paros town once more to have dinner. The mixed platter for two would have been enough for four - which made getting up from the deep sofa of the beach bar, where we later had some drinks, even harder.

 

 

 

[peanut head]

What a wonderful cruise and post-cruise vacation.  Thank you for taking us along.  The pictures are stunning...as are the 2 of you.

[Susanb10567]

What a wonderful review…we were in Greece on the Edge last summer and your review reminded me how much I loved it there and want to go back…

[CunucuMom]

Thank you for sharing such a detailed travelog and your gorgeous photos.  I think I'll check Sherwin Williams to see if they carry "Greek Sky" or "Greek Blue" paint colors. 😂  Enjoy the rest of your amazing trip!

[Blazerboy]

Sounds like a great cruise, and glad to hear your thoughts on the condition of the ship.  We sailed on her for our first cruise with Celebrity, and many times since.  Will sail on her in January just prior to her next drydock.  All is good with another day at sea!

[GonzoWCS]

Thanks for posting, great read!

 

Cheers

[MustBCruzn]

Thank you so much for your great review and stunning pictures. I took many notes for our October cruise.

[Miaminice]

2023 - Celebrity Infinity & Paros - Day 11 - Paros

We started the day with another delicious breakfast marveling at the view from the breakfast area.
We had decided to make this a lazy day - and that’s what we did. We laid on our patio for most of the day and just enjoyed the view and the sun. And did a little planning for tomorrow.

 

 

In the late afternoon we drove to Parikia and stopped at the church with the unpronounceable name Panagia Ekatontapiliani, dating back to the year 326. Ekatontapiliani means the Church with the Hundred Doors. According to tradition, the church has 99 doors and a secret door will open when the church of Hagia Sofia in Constantinople becomes Orthodox again. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following our visit at the church we entered the death zone - the alleys with all the little shops. I call it that because Birgit wanted to buy a dress 😉

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After what felt like 100 shops later (and no dress but Sandals) we walked along the beach promenade all the way to it’s end. There was a cute little restaurant serving Asian/Thai food. At first we thought we couldn’t have Asian food while in Greece but liked the location and sat down. Boy are we glad we did. The food was delicious and fresh. The Thai pineapple fried rice was served in a freshly carved pineapple. Sooo good! And the view 😍

 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner we drove straight back to the hotel. We want to get up early tomorrow. We‘ll take the ferry to Naxos for a daytrip.

 

[CruiserMickey]

Thank you so much for a wonderful review. Your pictures are STUNNING! It is getting me excited for our cruise to Greece, Turkey and Malta in 2024.

[pasodancer]

What an amazing vacation - thank you so much for sharing.  We are on her next year and hope that our vacation is as fabulous as yours!

[MikeMary4449]

It's great seeing you both again after meeting you in Ibiza in September, 2018!  We have really enjoyed the Greek islands through your eyes and beautiful photos.  We will be returning to many of the same ports in October of this year on the Reflection and have taken lots of notes!  Our best to you both and we look forward to seeing you on a future cruise.

Mike and Mary

[Miaminice]

On 6/30/2023 at 8:16 PM, MikeMary4449 said:

It's great seeing you both again after meeting you in Ibiza in September, 2018!  We have really enjoyed the Greek islands through your eyes and beautiful photos.  We will be returning to many of the same ports in October of this year on the Reflection and have taken lots of notes!  Our best to you both and we look forward to seeing you on a future cruise.

Mike and Mary

Hello to the two of you!

Yes, we remember that cruise well. We met in Michael’s Club - before Reflection had its refurbishment. It was a nice cruise as well!
I remember we had some weird problems with our suite, but didn’t really complain. Celebrity compensated us very generously without us even asking for it. 

Enjoy your cruise on Reflection!

 

Oliver & Birgit

[Miaminice]

2023 - Celebrity Infinity & Paros - Day 12 - Paros - Daytrip to Naxos

At 10 in the morning we took one of the sleek catamaran ferries over to Naxos. It’s interesting to witness how the ferries here work, just like trains or busses where we live they are the regular method of transport here. They arrive, cars, trucks and people hurry off and on and - probably the only difference - sail away on the minute.

 

From our comfortable seats on the ferry - any airline would be proud of them - we could see the marble arch of the Temple of Apollo from far away. The landmark of the island standing proud right next to the port of beautiful Naxos town, or Hora.

 

 

We walked to a nearby scooter rental through the typical alleys and rented a 200cc scooter, fit for the inclines on Naxos. After filling in the papers and paying €30 we were on our way exploring yet another Greek island. 

 

We rode up the Tragea valley to the mountainous village Halki and turned at a sign pointing to the Temple of Dimitra. Unfortunately it was closed. However, the path leading to the entrance lined with Oleanders was also very pretty.

 

 

 

 

When we reached Halki a bit later, we parked the scooter and walked down the small but picturesque little pedestrian street. The smell of the local pastry Galaktoboureko made us hungry again, but the sight of a barbecue next to an inviting taverna won us over. We had lunch in the shade of a tree. The Halki Special was delightful. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before returning to the scooter, we followed the path to the small Byzantine church. The path lead to olive groves filled with olive trees of a size, and probably age, I’ve never seen before.

 

 

 

 

The next village Filoti was only 2 km away. We looked at the beautiful church and then did what we skipped in Halki. We had a Galaktoboureko for dessert.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we drove up and over the pass on Mount Zeus to the north side of Naxos. Zas, or Mount Zeus is the highest mountain of the Cyclades. The ancient Greeks believed that this was the birthplace of Zeus. The road over the pass was curvy, pretty steep in parts and took me back to the days when I still rode a motorcycle back at home in the Black Forest. The views were breathtaking. On the way up as well as on the way down. 
 

 

 

An hour later we reached Apollonos and the short path leading to the 10 m long incompleted Kouros statue dating back to the 8th century. Archeologists haven't come to a conclusion regarding whether the statue depicts the god Apollo or the god Dionysus.

 

 

 

We continued by taking the coastal road back to Hora. Another hour spent zipping along the cliffs, taking hairpin curves in and out of little bays and being rewarded by not just the fun of riding the little motorcycle but by absolutely magnificent views. Since I was driving I couldn’t take many photos. But believe me, I could have stopped behind every turn. Even when there was no view, the road was pretty as it was lined with huge blooming Oleanders. The greatest danger was being smacked in the face by one of them behind a hairpin curve because they almost blocked half of the road in parts.

 

 

 

Back in Naxos town/Hora we returned the scooter and continued on foot. The Portara was our first go to. It rests on a small peninsula close to the port. I won’t do much explaining - the pictures tell the story.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After dipping our feet into the Aegean Sea we entered Hora”s streets again and had some homemade lemonades on a rooftop lounge.
 

 

Refreshed by the cool drinks we followed the narrow alleys up the hill to Naxos’ castle. We found pretty wine bars and beautiful restaurants everywhere.

 

 

 

 

Although it was the more touristy part of Hora, we decided to have dinner close to port so we could just get up and walk to the pier when it was time to catch the last ferry of the day.

 

 

 

 

At 9:20pm on the minute we sailed back to Paros on “Highspeed 4”, a beast of a ferry. I have always been fascinated by these streamlined catamaran ferries reaching speeds over 40 knots. Besides a huge cavern for cars there’s a huge passenger deck on top. With shops, snack bars and even a playland for kids. Economy seating was very comfortable already. And if you wanted to spend more, there was even business or VIP class.

 

 

 

 

 

Back at our hotel we fell into our beds - very happy about another great, fun filled day.

 

Edited July 2, 2023 by Miaminice

[Acacia40]

On 6/28/2023 at 6:35 PM, Texed said:

Thanks for posting.  😊

Absolutely brilliant pictures and post I am on this cruise early September lots of ideas now can’t wait

[txtechmk]

LOVE all the photos.  It has been many years since we have been in Greece, but we will be back next year.  Thanks for posting.

[Miaminice]

Thank you for your nice comments!
In the meantime we are back home and stuck in our normal everyday life. But the reports of the next few days will follow soon...

[chemmo]

53 minutes ago, Miaminice said:

Thank you for your nice comments!
In the meantime we are back home and stuck in our normal everyday life. But the reports of the next few days will follow soon...

Keep the reports and photos coming!

[Miaminice]

2023 - Celebrity Infinity & Paros - Day 13 - Paros - Antiparos

Paros‘s little sister island Antiparos is only a short ferry ride away from Paros. So we thought we‘d just hop over and see what it’s like. The process was easy. In Pounda, close to Paros town, we rolled onto the ferry, paid  €10 and off we went. The most enjoyable ride across the turquoise blue sea didn’t even take 10 minutes and we rolled off the ferry again.

 

 

A 10 minute drive brought us to one of Antiparos’s main attractions – the cave. At the entrance of the cave, there is the white chapel of Agios Ioannis Spiliotis, built in the 18th century. It is only after you go down a few steps from the main entrance and enter the underworld through an opening which looks a little like the mouth of a skull (ok, this is my imagination running wild 😁) that you notice how humongous this cave is. 

 

 

 

Once inside you can hardly see the bottom of the cave 100 m down at the end of 440 steps, and you know why the people coming out of the cave were panting and sweating.

 

The cave has amazing stalactites and stalagmites in all its chambers. The oldest stalagmite in the cave is located at the entrance and is estimated to be around 45 million years old. This is also believed to be the oldest stalagmite in Europe.

The formations all over look amazing and play tricks with your eyes. After a while you see pipes of an organ, a sleeping dragon and I swear, there was a statue of Buddha. However, whatever you see makes you feel tiny like an ant in comparison to this huge artwork courtesy of Mother Nature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back up in the real world, we had to get used to the bright sunlight again at first before we could admire the brilliant view from up here. 

 

We had packed our swimwear and decided to visit one of Antiparos’s many beaches, the beach of Agios Georgios around 5 km away.  Embalmed with another layer of 50+ sunscreen we welcomed a refreshing dip in the Aegean. From the water we could see the ruins of an old monastery on a small island and tour boats crossing over carrying tourists.

 

 

 

Dried by the scorching sun in a few minutes we continued back to the ferry port, parked our car and walked along the quaint shopping street. Me waiting outside in the shade whenever Birgit entered a store, still in search of that ONE dress (still unsuccessful). All jokes aside, we both agreed that 99 % of all the shops on all of the Cycladic island we have seen so far are well kept, beautifully decorated and just overall pretty and tasteful.

 

 

 

An inviting taverna with apparently mostly Greek patrons was the spot for a late lunch. Filled eggplant rolls, Tzatziki, Sfakiani from Crete… soooo absolutely delicious. 

The ferry ride back went just as swift. We rolled on and a few minutes later we crossed over to Paros.

 

 

 

Back at the hotel we made use of our patio until late and then decided around 9pm that we had deserved a dinner after climbing all the steps in the cave.

We had passed some restaurants halfway to Paros a few times and decided to give one a try. It has tables on the beach. I am deliberately writing ON, not by or at the beach. Look at the photos and you’ll know why 😁

 

 

 

 

Edited July 4, 2023 by Miaminice

[mahdnc]

Oliver, this is one of the best photo reviews I have seen. It was a joy to read. 

 

David

[Miaminice]

2023 - Celebrity Infinity & Paros - Day 14 - Paros - THE END

On our last full day on Paros we had another late and relaxed delicious breakfast. However, the sad feeling of having to leave soon slowly crept up on us. We had really gotten used to the authentic smiles of the outstandingly friendly hotel staff. And of course the good food. And the sun, and the service and and and… 😁 Next week we won’t have the same view from our offices.

 

 

After doing a whole lot of nothing on our lovely terrace for the next few hours we started off on our last excursion and headed to the Butterfly Valley about 20 minutes away. 
 

During the months of June to September, swarms of Jersey tiger moth butterflies settle on this small oasis. They choose this place to spend the last phase of their life. Small paths wind through nice gardens of wild plum trees, laurels and past an ancient byzantine watermill. All the plants had sleeping butterflies on them in the shady areas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two years ago we had planned a similar trip to Paros after a cruise on Apex. Unfortunately some islands, including Paros were eventually closed due to Covid and we had switched to Zakynthos. That time we had booked a different hotel on Paros - the Summer Senses Luxury Hotel. Nosy how that hotel was like, we decided to take a detour and take a look at it - for future reference so to speak.

 

We had to ring the bell at the gate of the hotel and told them that we’d like to look at their hotel. We were met by a friendly young man and were given a short introduction and a tour of the lobby and pool area. After a while, the reservations manager joined us and we were offered a welcome drink. They were all very kind and friendly.

 

 

 

 

 

The hotel was nice to say the least. However, after we left, we drove through the only small beachside village close by. It was tiny. Paros town was half an hour away through the mountains vs. the short 10 minute drive from the Paros Agnanti Resort where we were staying now.

 

The short distance to Paros from the Agnanti gave us the opportunity of just driving into town whenever we felt like it. We had made the right choice of picking a different hotel in the end 👍

So should you ever travel to Paros, the Summer Senses Luxury Resort is nice but a bit remote and the Paros Agnanti Hotel is a very good choice offering lots of close by possibilities.

Making the most of those possibilities, we had a light snack while driving back at a beachside restaurant.

 

 

When we reached our Paros Hotel Agnanti again, it was time to pack our bags and prepare ourselves for next day’s departure.

 

 

 

 

Later in the evening we drove to Paros and had dinner dinner in one of the many close by restaurants along the promenade by the sea. It was delicious again and unfortunately our “last supper” in Greece.

 

 

 

While I was writing this last part of our travelogue, we were waiting for our flight to Frankfurt at Athens Airport and by now we are already back to reality for a few days. All good things must come to an end. And boy, was this a good trip.
 

We sincerely hope that you liked tagging along and we are grateful for all your kind words in the comments along the way.

Hope to see you all again in October, when we’ll do another cruise in Japan on Millennium.

We love Japan and we are already excited. 
So bye for now from Greece and Efcharisto for joining us.

Edited July 5, 2023 by Miaminice

[amshowers]

Thank you for this in depth review of your trip!  My husband and I will be doing the same cruise next summer on Infinity and because of you we are going to add on a trip to Paros as well.

 

I’m excited to read about your cruise to Japan, because we have the same cruise booked for April 2025, and if you’re as thorough with that review, we will definitely get some great ideas for things to do.
 

Your kindness in sharing all of this information is invaluable and definitely reminds me why I spend time on CruiseCritic.

 
Thanks again!

[Miaminice]

56 minutes ago, amshowers said:

Thank you for this in depth review of your trip!  My husband and I will be doing the same cruise next summer on Infinity and because of you we are going to add on a trip to Paros as well.

 

I’m excited to read about your cruise to Japan, because we have the same cruise booked for April 2025, and if you’re as thorough with that review, we will definitely get some great ideas for things to do.
 

Your kindness in sharing all of this information is invaluable and definitely reminds me why I spend time on CruiseCritic.

 
Thanks again!

Thank you! Consider the Paros Agnanti for your trip. We really enjoyed our stay there!

 

I can offer you a teaser for Japan. Here are the travelogues of our two previous cruises:

 

Japan on Millennium 

https://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/Celebrity-Millennium-Japan/celebrity-millennium-japan.html

 

Japan on HAL Westerdam 

https://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/HAL-Westerdam-Japan-01/hal-westerdam-japan-01.html

 

 

[amshowers]

I’ve already told my husband we are staying at the Paros Agnanti!  It looked absolutely stunning.

 

Thank you for the links!  I’ve bookmarked your website for future reference.  I’ve been feeling overwhelmed about planning Japan and it’s nice to have as much information and ideas as I can.

[Miaminice]

On 7/5/2023 at 10:06 PM, amshowers said:

 

Thank you for the links!  I’ve bookmarked your website for future reference.  I’ve been feeling overwhelmed about planning Japan and it’s nice to have as much information and ideas as I can.

 
You are welcome! Yes, Japan can feel “foreign” and unfamiliar at first, but it’s also very rewarding. We really fell in love with the Japan and its people after our first visit and we are really looking forward to our next trip.