Kolymbithres

Kolymbithres is on the northern side of Paros, across the bay from Naoussa, and its form is the record: granite outcrops weathered into rounded, hollowed shapes divide the shoreline into a series of small coves, each holding a few people.

The rock is what makes it. Paros is a granite and marble island, and the formations here have been eroded by wind and sea into curves and basins that look sculpted; the name means basins. The effect is that a single bay behaves like a dozen separate beaches, and a crowd that would overwhelm one strand disperses into pockets.

Paros is also the marble island. The quarries at Marathi produced Parian marble, translucent and fine-grained, used for the Venus de Milo, the Hermes of Praxiteles and much of the best Greek sculpture; the tunnels are still there and can be looked into. That is the island's claim, and it has nothing to do with beaches. Paros sits at the centre of the Cyclades and was the group's ferry hub long before it was a destination.

The water is shallow, calm and clear, sheltered from the meltemi by the bay's aspect, which makes this one of the more reliable Cycladic beaches in August when the north wind closes others. Sunbeds and a couple of tavernas occupy part of it; the pockets further round are free. Naoussa across the bay is the fishing village the island's evening happens in, and Santa Maria on the north-east coast has the wind and the schools.

One bay behaving like a dozen, because granite weathered into basins divides it into pockets that each hold a few people. Sheltered from the meltemi when half the Cyclades is closed by it. The marble quarries at Marathi inland are what Paros is actually famous for and take an hour.