Parikia is where all ferries dock, and the harbour waterfront — hotel facades, ticketing offices, ATMs — is not Paros at its best. Walk five minutes inland into the Kastro district and everything changes. The Venetian castle, built largely from blocks plundered from an ancient temple to Athena, rises above a warren of whitewashed lanes. In places you walk through arches formed by houses bridging the alley above your head.
The neighbourhood around the Ekatontapiliani church is the historic heart. Cafes and small restaurants cluster on the lanes around the church; the market street that runs from the waterfront to the old town mixes tourist shops with genuine hardware stores and bakeries. The best time to wander is early morning, before the ferry crowds arrive, or in the evening when the light goes golden and the day-trippers have left.