On This Day, The Greek Island of Ios

Even though travel restrictions are easing I am not yet minded to risk it so I still have no new stories to post so I continue to go through my picture archives and see where I was on this day at any time in the last few travelling years.

On 27th August 2007 I was on the Greek Island of Ios in the Cyclades…

The walk to Valmas is interesting because of the derelict terraces and dry stone walls that separate the hillside into individual plots of land.  Ios is just one large inhospitable rock that has been baked in the sun for thousands of years but as recently as only fifty years ago people here were scraping away at the thin soil and the stones to try and make a living or to feed the family by growing fruit and vegetables.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Fresh Air

We had a simple white room with cornflower blue doors and windows and a balcony with a stunning view over a wild and restless sea on the exposed side of the village.  It was a perfect setting and we sat for a while and watched huge waves crashing in and breaking over black rocky outcrops in the sea as the waves clawed at the beach below our balcony.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Texture

The road out of the village runs past the business end of the harbour and there were some brightly painted boats that had just landed their overnight catch and were negotiating sales with local people and restaurant owners in a babble of animated activity.  It looked like a good nights work and the trading was brisk.

The fish looked interesting and on closer examination of the produce it soon becomes clear why we have to put up with stock shortages whilst the most of the rest of Europe have such an abundance of choice; we are just far too fussy about what we will eat and our preference for fish is restricted to two or three species that we have fished into crisis and near extinction whilst in Greece they will eat a much greater variety of sea food.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Abandoned

Serifos, Cyclades, Greek Islands

After visiting the redundant and abandoned windmills, now being converted into holiday accommodation, we followed the signs to the Kastro.  On the way we passed through pretty streets where the walls of the buildings squeezed in close to the narrow lanes but then opened out into the delightful main square of St. Athanasios about halfway to the top that was a complete contrast to the agoraphobic streets that led to it from all directions.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Selfie

Greek Taverna with a Mythos Beer:

I like Greece and I like Greek tavernas, they are almost always friendly inviting places and the food is inexpensive and good value and it rarely disappoints.

I like the carefree ambiance and the complete lack of formality, outside wooden tables and rattan chairs, check tablecloths, extensive menus and unhurried waiters. I like the cheap paper table covers so you can spill food and drink without worrying about disapproving looks or the laundry bill, I like the certain company of scrounging cats and I especially like those with live bouzouki players running through the familiar catalogue of traditional Greek music and always starting and finishing with the obligatory ‘Zorba’.

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Family

Greek Party Night – Family Night Out!

A couple of weeks away in Greece are just not complete without going to a traditional Greek food and entertainment night and this really must include participative Greek dancing.  A real enthusiast will prepare for such an evening by purchasing a CD of Greek music to practice beforehand but this is not strictly necessary and all you really need to be able to do is to recognise the opening chords of ‘Zorba’.

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Kos, Good to be back in Greece

“I would stroll about in the dazzling starlight, repeating to myself as if it were an incantation: “You are in another part of the world, in another latitude, you are in Greece, in Greece, do you understand?”… I had the strange feeling of being at home, of being in a spot so familiar…”                                                          Henry Miller

A four hour flight on a Ryanair plane is a very long time and I came to the conclusion that the airline has a business plan based on making the journey as unpleasant and uncomfortable as it possibly can.  I slept for a while but woke as the Boeing 737-800 was shaken by turbulence whilst flying over storms in the Balkans.  We flew through clouds like towering cathedrals before settling down again as we passed over the Greek city of Thessaloniki and across the coast at Halkidiki with its bony arthritic fingers clawing out into the sea as though trying to save itself.

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Pula, War Memorabilia and Public Toilets

After another adequate but not especially memorable breakfast where we encountered considerable difficulty in acquiring a proper cup of tea we set out for a last look at the city and we returned first of all to the market.

It was much, much busier today and I had to conclude that Saturday is obviously family shopping day.  Yesterday’s vacant stalls were all occupied and there was a buzz and vibrancy about the place so much so that it was difficult to find a vacant table to enjoy a refreshment break and after we found a place in the centre of a hectic street but we had a yearning for a more up-market piazza style setting so we abandoned the busy commercial centre and made our way back to the old town hall square instead.

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Island Hopping 2006, Fiftieth Birthday and the Boss Bar Santorini

On arrival first impressions were disappointing. It was noisy and busy and I couldn’t find our transport.  The place was full of pushy, impatient taxi drivers who all wanted to take us to the town.  It was clear to me already that we are now on an island with an airport and the ambiance was quite different.

One driver even nearly convinced me that he was our lift but he wanted 10 euros so I knew that it wasn’t right.  Sally and Charlotte climbed aboard a taxi van full of beefy Australians and were disappointed when I eventually found our arranged transport and they had to pick up their packs and get off again. I think the beefy Australians were disappointed too!  Now that we had our lift things were looking up.

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Island Hopping 2006, Ios

Routinely I woke early but the girls were still asleep so I dressed quietly and left the room and didn’t disturb them.  I planned to walk and find the old town but I managed to miss the footpath that was the direct course to the top of the hill and the route via the energy sapping hairpin bending road seemed, after only a short time a bit long and arduous, and it took me past a warehouse site with a big growling guard dog.

It was chained up but I decided not to push my luck and I returned to the hotel where I sat by the pool, had a conversation with the owner and did some reading.  The wind had dropped and the weather prospects were very promising.

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