It's all Greek to me! 2: Milos, Syros and Athens

July-August 2018

Milos

Our ferry from Folegandros to Milos was a massive car ferry, so it was thankfully a lot smoother than the journey to Folegandros.

No, that's not our ferry. Just a nice little boat in MIios.

We arrived at the main town of Adamas around 1pm to a stifling heat - several degrees warmer than Santorini or Folgeandros. Walking with our backpacks in the heat made the 10 minute walk to our accommodation feel much longer, not helped by Google maps wrongly directing us.

But we got there! We're staying in an apartment room in a family apartment building. It's nice to have a toilet and shower and space after the cabin of Folegandros - but I wouldn't trade that cabin experience!

After checking in we wandered back for the port for a souvlaki (under 6 euros for both!) then started looking for boat tours. Milos is a fairly big island and large parts are only visible by boat - either because there are no roads or only 4x4 trails. And without an international drivers license we unfortunately can't hire a bike or car here. We managed to find one with Aquatta tours and will spend 10 - 6:30 tomorrow (Saturday) seeing the uninhabited and inaccessible western side of the island with 16 other people.

We bussed up the hill to the capital of the island, the town of Plaka. It's a very quiet, sleepy little town but very beautiful in parts with its white alleyways, colourful doors and windows and best of all its lack of tourists in those pretty areas.

Plaka

We also took a walk up to the Castro at the top for panoramic views of most of the island. But perhaps most impressively of all we had ice cream there - Rach had a scoop of delicious lemon gelato, but mine was outstanding, a frozen yoghurt orange flavour. It was possibly the best ice cream I've ever tasted - included all of the italian delicacies we've had!

We caught the bus back down, picked up some breakfast supplies (plums and yoghurt) and then set off for dinner at O! Hamos a 15 minute walk away.

The walk there from our accommodation was lovely, away from the bustle of the port and through quieter residential areas. One stretch of 50m street also had 8 cats strewn about relaxing and playing with each other, around the corner from an old windmill.

Dinner was outstanding and popular, at O! Hamos! - there was consistently a queue of people waiting to be seated. It was tzatziki and bread to start, along with a tangy white sheep's cheese. Then I had roast aubergine stuffed with lamb and mincemeat while Rach had roast lamb with roast potatoes. Exceptional! We also splashed out and had half a litre of red wine, which was a tasty weighty red served from a carafe into tiny shot glass sized cups. That sized cup really makes you savour your wine and makes it last longer.

O! Hamos!

And now here I am, Friday morning writing this while Rach calls home. This morning we did some initial planning of the Albania leg of the trip and will soon head out to Sarakiniko beach.

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It's now Sunday morning, our final day on Milos.

It's fair to say that Milos has grown on us a lot, as our initial impression was not stunning given we arrived in a noisy port town - we couldn't help but compare it with Folegandros when they're very different islands.

Yesterday we breakfasted then took the bus out to Sarakiniko. The beach is impressive: undulating white rock lines the shore and the small inlet so swimming there feels slightly surreal. It was a relaxing and chilled out experience spending a couple of hours there.

Sarakiniko

We got the bus back to Adamas and had lunch on the waterfront - a slice of spinach pie, feta pizza bread and cherry tomatoes - before catching the bus out to our next beach.

Paleohori beach is on the south coast, a pebbly beach ringed with volcanic red rocks so it looks quite dramatic too, in a different way to Sarakiniko. We snorkelled there on the right hand end of the beach. Apart from the fish I enjoyed seeing the small geothermal bubbles rising from the seafloor - in places you could even hear them bubbling away underwater. We also tried the left hand end of the beach but it was slightly more wild and had less visibility.

Paleohori

Another bus back (it may feel we spent a lot of time on buses but they're only 15 minute journeys each way) and we set out for dinner.

We decided to try a cheap nearby local taverna. It was very good quality and had huge portions. Rach had a Greek salad, I a dakos salad and we shared a fried feta. They were all good but the fried feta is what got us back the following night - a small dish of feta with peppers and onions fried or baked. All of that with a beer only cost 20 euros. Bargain!

After dinner we booked travel and accommodation for Albania over a beer.

Yesterday was our tour day, which was very cool. Our route first took us past the pretty fishing villages of Skinopi and Klima, with their bright and colourful houses right on the water.

Skinopi or Klima

Next we went to the eastern entrance to Adamas bay, to look at bear/rabbit/lion rock - different angles look like each of the different animals. Then it was to the western headland, around dramatic upthrusts of ancient volcanic rock and an old sulphur mine wharf. Then south to Sikia. This was essentially a sea cave whose roof had collapsed - we were taken by Zodiac into the rocky tunnel that emerged into the open air cave.

Just as impressive, the boat was stopped near a sweeping arc of the cliffs where black rock seemed to be glued to the yellowing white rock of the cliffs. The black rock was lava from the massive eruption of Santorini (nearly 100km away) over 3000 years ago.

We headed further south to Kleftiko - probably the highlight of the trip. This was white cliffs of rock and tunnels surrounded by the bright blue water. Captain "ohmygod-ohmygod" took us on a zodiac through the area and into a couple of caves which were impressive. The area had been used by pirates in the past, and they had cut into the rock to make moorings.

Kleftiko

We headed back towards home at that point and had a final swim stop not far from Adamas on the other side of the harbour. We went up the hill to ring the bell of the little Saint Dimitrios church (captain's orders, we did nothing wrong!) then swam in the warm water while "Beast of Burden" played gently from the boat. That's a lovely memory we will always cherish.

It was a short motor in to the port from there. A Turkish couple who we'd only talked to a couple if times were kind enough to come over and offer us recommendations of things to do in Istanbul and write them out for us, even giving an email address if we were stuck. They reinforced our view that Turkey was one if the most hospitable and friend countries we'd ever visited.

Dinner was back at the taverna again, for the fried feta, little cheese pies and tzatziki. 

Our final half day in Milos was spent at Papafragas - another short bus ride from the centre. This was another impressive beach on the north coast, formed of a channel out to the sea surrounded by cliffs. It's quite a special place.

Papafragas

We then went over the hill a little to a quiet, rocky beach for an hour or so. It was so quiet despite being so close by that we stripped off to let our clothes dry and read our books. Incidentally I'm reading Snow by Orhan Pamuk at the moment, which is an interesting and enjoyable read in advance for our trip to Turkey.

Before our ferry to Syros, we had lunch at Mikros Apoplous a classy but cheap seafood place to the east of the port. Rach had tzatziki (of course) while I had vinegary octopus - my interest was piqued after several times seeing octopus drying in a box covered with mesh while outside in the sun. The octopus was nice enough, rich but with an odd texture, like very very fine chicken breast meat.

Milos was another great Cycladic island. It had a different charm to Folegandros that took us slightly longer to get into. But it is such a varied island and had much more to do - volcanic beach at Paleohori, white rock beach at Sarakiniko, long cave like beach at papafrakas, Kleftiko beach, the old town of Plaka... Milos truly feels like somewhere that should have a higher profile and was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Syros

Ermopoulis is one of the most beautiful ports I've ever seen. We came in after 10pm and were greeted with the sight of its two dramatic hills, crowned by gold-lit churches, and the sparkling lights of the town below them. The whole town was a golden vista under the night sky.

Ermopoulis by night

It was quite a sight as we came in from our 7 hour ferry from Milos. The journey was long and uneventful, spent on the upper deck reading and listening to music in the fresh Aegean air. The most eventful thing would have been seeing Serifos as we stopped over briefly. It was a stunning view of a village, perched on the top of a triangular hill, that spilled downwards towards the port.

Serifos

Back to Syros. We were thankfully picked up by our host and driven to our accommodation in Galissas on the other side of the island. Angelino Rooms was a very pretty building ringed with bougainvillea in the centre of the town. We nipped out quickly for a couple of beers (the usual Mythos and Fix Hellas) to enjoy on our balcony before heading off to sleep.

We started our first full day in Syros with an early morning swim at nearby Galissas beach. After a breakfast of yogurt and apples we headed to nearby Armeo beach, just over the hill from us. As we approached it had a very hippy feel to it - there several tents there right by the beach and several very brown naked people on the beach - you got the impression some of them probably lived at the beach.

We took a bus into Ermopoulis on the way to our next destination. We had an hour so walked a little around Ermopoulis, which is a very pretty town. We stumbled upon Prekas, a renowned food shop, so bought some coffee to try out my briki and some loukoumi  (Turkish delight) which was tasty. That night I tried out my briki with the new Greek coffee, with mixed to ok results. I guess practice makes perfect!

We then bussed south to Ampela beach. We had lunch at Ampela restaurant of tzatziki and marinated anchovies with a beer then headed to the beach a couple of metres away. We swam and snoozed a little at the beach, another nice little Syros beach with shallows and light coloured rocks on either side providing a nice contrast to the blue water. On the south coast that the water seems exceptionally blue, more so than anywhere else we've been apart from maybe Rhodes.

We caught the 7pm bus back to Galissas, and relaxed with beer and olives on our balcony. Dinner was around the corner, a Syros pork and fennel sausage, and a spicy cheese salad (soft cheese with a spicy aftertaste) which were both good.

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Our second day on Syros was split between beach and town. The morning and most of the day in fact was spent at Kini and Lotos beach. We had a tasty light lunch of smoked fish and tzatziki at Tzatzikia in Kini, which we found out meant "cicadas". Then we went over the small hill to the quiet and relaxing Lotos beach for a few hours. Kini felt a very busy family beach but Lotos was slightly quieter and it's more relaxed atmosphere was reflected in the fact there were topless women there - and Rach promptly joined in!

Lotos

After several hours there we took the bus into Ermopoulis. By this time it was around 5pm and the town had seemingly shut down for its "siesta" as many shops were closed and few people were on the streets. We walked around the Vaporia area to admire the large houses near the waterfront and the small winding streets up the hill. Ermopoulis is amazing in that it feels like a large Spanish or Italian city in some parts then you turn a corner and you're right on the Greek seaside.

We had dinner at a "cheap eats" place called Laoutari which was probably one of the best budget meals we've had. I had shrimp and mussels in a rice salad style dish, while Rach had roast pork and potatoes in a light pesto sauce. IT was an exceptional value meal - together with half a litre of wine and a glass of tspirous (a spirit) it all came to under 20 euros.

After dinner we wandered and enjoyed the view of the town from the waterfront.

The final Syros day started with an early swim at Galissas beach before we checked out and bussed to Ermopoulis. We left our bags at the port office and decided to challenge ourselves with a walk up to Ano Syros, the old medieval hilltop village that merged with neoclassical Ermopoulis in the 19th century. It was a tough walk in the heat to 200m above the shore, but rewarding one. Ano Syros has a completely different feel to it, with its twisting, climbing alleyways, quiet and views into ordinary people's lives. Its astounding to think how they even managed to build up there.

Ano Syros

Lunch was at Apanōchōrítissa where I had cheese and honey pies whule Rach had hummus and pita bread. Then it was a wobbly knees walk all the way down to Ermopoulis. Our final stop before the ferry was at Daidades, touted as the "best ice cream in the Cyclades" and it lived up to its name. My favourite was the Cuban chocolate from Rach and the black hawaian I had, which was coconut and cocoa in a black ice cream.

From there it was on to our ferry journey to Athens - a journey notable only by the sheer gargantuan size of the ferry.

Syros was another great island and a nice counterpoint to the others we visited. I loved the mix of great beaches with a bustling large town that it offered. I was also surprised at how much agriculture there was in the countryside near Ermopoulis, showing it was more of a working island than the others. It definitely felt a bit less tourist oriented and more "normal" than others and it seemed most tourists were Greek with a small smattering of Italian and French.  

Athens

Athens was only a 19 hour stopover but we managed to cram in a fair amount!

Arrival at Piraeus

After getting the train in from Piraeus and checking in our first stop was dinner at Kalamaki bar, a 20 minute walk away. But it was definitely worth the walk at 10pm. It was a speciality souvlaki bar and it showed. We had a skewer of pork and of lamb, pita breads, tzatziki, two sauces and some wine to share for around 20 euros. They were all great quality but the real gem was the kalamaki bar sauce - a mix of yoghurt and red peppers than we've committed to trying to recreate at home. Top quality.

The next day we decided to get up early to see the Acropolis, having heard of 2 hour waits later on in the day. Given our flight was at 7pm we needed to make the most of the day. We got to the Acropolis entrance before 8am and were inside 15 minutes later.

The acropolis is still so impressive despite much of it being in ruins. Seeing the two drama theatres were a nice way of easing into the site, particularly the impressive Dionysus theatre which would have been impressive in its heyday. Then we were up the rock, through the grand entrance and up to the top. The Parthenon is still such an imposing building despite being only half remaining and the Erectheion was another great sight, having studied both at school in classics it was special to see them in person. The Parthenon was in the process of restoration but we did wonder how far they would take restoration, and whether it was veering closer to recreation - several places you saw the new stones with old ruins "nestled" in them.

It was around 9:15 By this time and crawling with tourists - oddly, huge numbers of Americans - so we decided to take a walking tour at 10.

The tour was interesting and enjoyable but perhaps slightly too long in the heat and considering our early morning exercise getting to the Acropolis. The tour covered ancient Greece, Byzantine- and Ottoman-era Greece and modern Greece nicely with our guide Milos clearly a passionate guy. The most interesting parts were about the Turkish-Greek relationship: how Greece sees itself as the successor to the Eastern Roman empire, how "the City" in Greek without further definition always means Constantinople (Istanbul), and how until the 1920s Greece harboured ambitions to take back Istanbul as a Greek City, as it was pre-1453.

Ft. Giant Flying Cicada!

And that, was Greece.