Parga, Greece

In 1976, Lydia and I motorcycled and camped our way south from Florence and across central Italy, and took a ferry to Greece. After a few days on the island of Corfu, we ferried to the mainland and found this magnificent fishing village just south of Igoumenitsa. We found ourselves a domatia to stay in and spent a week on the otherwise-deserted semicircle of beach you see at the right of the picture. Off the bottom right corner is a little offshore island with a white chapel on it, and up the hill to the left of the picture is the village and, at the top, the ruins of a Venetian fortress.

We returned to Parga several times — until, finally, it was "discovered" by tourists, and the beach became crowded and prices went sky-high. As a fancy resort, it was a drag ... but as a sleepy little village well off the beaten track, it was paradise.

Return to Places.