Early morning, we had breakfast at the hotel’s rooftop, the view wasn’t spectacular or anything. The sun was already getting hot so glad we had breakfast early. The hotel took breakfast during COVID seriously. Even though it was buffet style, one guest at a time and the staff had to scoop the food.

I would say the variety offered was pretty good consider it’s a small boutique hotel. Breads, cereal, different types of fruits, hot items like mushroom, grilled vegetable, sausage, beacon, and eggs.

The sausages were salty. I like the crispy croissants and the super sweet and soft melon.

After breakfast, I took a quick picture of the hotel pool; it has opening hours and we tend to miss that 🙁

We got ready and walked to Naoussa’s bus station, just right outside the old town, about a 12 minute walk for our daytrip to the lovely mountain village of Lefkes. There is a ticket counter at the bus station and you just need to tell where you want to go and the lady will sell you the right ticket; they charge by distance. One way to Lefkes is €1.80. There are only two nonstops from Naoussa to Lefkes per day at 9:45 AM and 11:45 AM, returning at 10:05 AM and 12:00 PM. You can check the latest bus schedule at: Paros K.T.E.L. | timetable (ktelparou.gr) To maximize our time, we took the 9:45 AM bus and returned at 12:00 PM; it was plenty of time to explore the small village.

Naoussa’s bus station is small as you can see below, that old looking bus was our bus to Lefkes where there were a total of 3 passengers including us 2. The other passenger was a lady who was a solo traveler. I guess not much people travel that route besides tourists so the bus was old and small. The bus to Parikia was much bigger and modern like the one on the right side of the photo.

It was a quick 15-20 minutes drive to Lefkes where we were dropped off on the road near a cafe. We asked the bus driver where to wait for the bus returning to Naoussa and he said the same place. The bus stop is also marked in Google Maps. The bus stop is at the other end of the village, if you follow the main road, you’ll get to where all the shops are at the village center. For us, we were looking for the bougainvillea corner house that is Instagram famous. Seriously, you can search for Bougainvillea Corner House in Google Maps and it is marked. It is very easy to locate from the bus stop as it’s straight down the road when you head toward the residential area. If you are coming from the village center, it might be harder to locate as Google Maps is not that accurate mapping out the cobblestone streets within the residential area. Here it is the famous bougainvillea corner house! The lighting during the late morning wasn’t great but we had no other choices due to the bus schedule timing.

We took a few cute pictures there 🙂

Then, we headed to the Church of Agia Triada; that’s the biggest structure in the village that you can’t miss. Right next to the church is this cute cafe which apparently is closed. The bougainvillea flowers are so pretty!

Church of Agia Triada:

The village as seen from the church.

Next, we walked around the village trying to explore every corner and turn. It is a small village but without any map, it can be a maze but eventually you’ll get back to the main street where all the shops and restaurants are. I was surprised that it wasn’t touristy at all and very quiet!

We came across this blue-domed church, not sure what the name is but it looks cute with all the white-washed houses next to it.

We continued to explore the village, it’s not commercialized at all, we hardly see any souvenir shops.

There are a few guest houses in the village but I would not stay here as it has limited choices of restaurants.

Cats in Greece know the perfect spots for taking a nap.

Another church and a small bell tower.

2 hours is the right amount of time to explore this cute little village. We headed back to the bus stop and the bus was late – at least 15 minutes late! We got back to Naoussa and walked out to the harbor for our lunch at Taverna Glafkos. This restaurant was fully booked at night so we tried our luck during lunch time and got a table. The view was great and at that timing of the day, the water was in shades of blue.

For appetizers, we ordered the fried calamari, it was crispy, fresh, and tasty!

We also ordered the steamed mussels, it was a much bigger portion than at Mitsi Seafood Restaurant last night. The mussels were fresh and cooked just right.

Luckily we got there at the right time, 10 minutes later, all tables were taken.

Jason ordered the seafood pasta, it wasn’t as delicious as Mitsi Seafood Restaurant but still good.

I gave the “Greek burger” another try, this time at least they included a salad to balance out the meat. The taste was better as it didn’t have this strong herb taste.

The lunch total was €52 and we tipped €3. We didn’t get a free dessert 🙁 I saw the table behind us got a Greek yogurt as dessert, I guess we didn’t get it because they need to clear our table for the next reservation! We used the toilet at the restaurant and then walked around the harbor for more photos as it was the ideal timing for the clear blue water.

There were quite a few people swimming there.

The restaurants on the main side of the harbor are less busy during lunch time.

We walked out to the Venetian Castle looking back at the harbor, it was beautiful.

The walkway to the Venetian Castle.

Inside the Venetian Castle, nothing much there…

The walkway is a good spot for photos!

Next to the harbor is the famous club called Linardo, it is Instagram famous for the bright pink bougainvillea flower and its matching door and window. However, the bougainvillea is fake LOL!

A lot of cute cafes in Naoussa. Jason said he has never seen a small town has this many cafes and restaurants!

We headed back to our hotel for some rest and for dinner, we were tired of seafood pasta lol so we decided to have the cheap and tasty gyros at Souvlakia Kargas (O Kargas). We came across this gyros place a few times when we explore the old town and it is always packed with people! They have some tables outside on the street but too many people walking around so we felt more comfortable to order to go and bring back to our room to enjoy with air conditioning. Each wrap with pita bread was only €2.80! We got a chicken, a pork, a burger wrap as well as sausage stick, they were so cheap so we want to try out different ones! The pork was disappointingly a little bit dry, the chicken was okay, and the burger was good; although not as great as the ones we had in Fira, Santorini back then. Overall, good food for the money 🙂