August 15 is the biggest day of the year on Paros and most other Greek islands. It is the combination of the religious national holiday and the height of high season for tourism.

The season is always a slow build-up with each week after 1 May being busier than the week before. Starting today it will be a steep slide into the quietness of autumn and winter with just a brief respite in early September as the older crowd takes advantage of lower season rates.

What strikes us as so weird is that the best weather of the year is in September with a bonus of warm water for swimming. October is usually quite good as well. Yet there are so few people around to enjoy it. Many seasonal businesses start closing in September; most are shut by late October --leaving the island to us that know best.

The busyness of the last couple weeks seem strange as well. Where usually most houses are shut up now there are beach towels drying on every balcony. Last Sunday every shade tree at our beach was occupied when I went down in mid-afternoon, that was a first. Before I could cut a corners on the roads and not worry; now there are cars everywhere, except quite time, of course.

Which brings up something I noticed last night at the climax of the pinnacle day: the August 15 fireworks. They were spectacular! Well worth the trip into down and hassling the crowds. What I noticed was that the crowd appeared to be nearly all Greek. You had to search to see a foreigner and this in a big tourist town on a popular tourist island.

So there is plenty of opportunity to have a real Greek odyssey on Paros. Read more on our full service Paros web site: http://www.ParosParadise.com