It already feels a world away, especially with the hailstones crashing at my window, but I wanted to show you these photos from Paros, mainly of the ridiculously picturesque Market Street by the Parikia port…

An absolute mecca for the shoppers among us with lots of little jewellery shops, boutiques and super cute cafes, a couple of hours was not enough to explore all the tempting twists and turns and then, of course, everything closed after lunch.

A real gem of a find was this cotton man’s shirt which I blogged about while out there (just 2.50 euros) and the brilliantly named Pirate Bar, a cafe/bar with live jazz and blues in the evening right in the centre of the old town – just the place to hang out!

Basically, I had to hold back on the shopping due to suitcase constraints but I would have loved to bring back a load of cotton towels and shirts…! I made do with two beaded necklaces, 15 euros each – ooh, the restraint!

The Skinny

Shop: All the little shops in the old town, just behind the port head for Market Street

Eat: One of the best meals with had was at chic beach restaurant Thalamassou in Aliki. One of my favourite dishes is the little fried fish, can’t remember the name, but they’re just piled up and you crunch the whole body, yummy!

Stay: Ok, I can’t really advise on this as we were staying at a beautiful villa with friends… Kinda #sorrynotsorry on that one!

The Pirate Bar! Closed but they sneaked us a coffee just as they were locking up!

Brave smile but sad goodbye mirror shot back at the villa – I hope we’ll be back someday!

All photos taken on the Olympus Pen E-P5