More islands that end in 'os'

Hi everyone,

We checked out four more Greek Islands before heading to the mainland for moussaka and protests:

Mykonos



I have always wanted to go to Mykonos because the chorus of one of my favourite songs by the Fleet Foxes goes like this:

“And you can go to Mykonos,
With a vision of a gentle coast
And a sun to maybe dissipate
Shadows of the mess you’ve made”

This does not even come close to an accurate description of Mykonos. It is more like this:

“And you can go to Mykonos
Where you’ll drink until you’re comatose
And spend all your money in one day
Oh what a mess you’ll make”

We weren’t enamoured with Mykonos because there wasn’t much to see or do there other than drink yourself poor at 6 euro a beer and buy t-shirts that say ‘Mykonos’.



Delos



According to Ancient Greek mythology Delos was the birthplace of the twin gods Apollo and Artemis, and for this reason it was incredibly sacred. Rulers and powerful citizens from all over the Greek Empire built lavish temples on Delos to honour the twins, which was really just an excuse show off their wealth and the masonry skills of their craftsmen. Nowadays the island is uninhabited so we took a day trip to check it out and were hugely impressed by the craftsmanship of the Ancient Greeks and also by how many lizards could live in one place.


After a packed, rainy boat ride... the captain squeezed us onto the docks of Delos

Lizards are my new squirrels... and just as hard to photograph.




Santorini



We arrived in Santorini intending to spend 2 nights and ended up staying for a week – we just couldn’t resist the surreal beauty, varied volcanic beaches, steaming volcano with gale force winds, antiquated villages in white sitting atop sheer volcanic cliffs, decorated donkeys, vineyards galore with delectable white wine, cactus juice, stunning views in whichever direction we happened to turn our heads and sunsets that looked like they were drawn by Monet.

It is one of those rare places that has something to please everyone.



Some of the local produce.. we didn't waste any time getting to work sampling it all. Even found some locally made cactus juice (no, not the fun stuff) which set us back a cool 10 euro a glass! Mental note... always check price before buying stuff, even drinks

We sampled some of the local wines too, after finding a beautiful old vinyard in an old traditional Santorini town. The vinyard had two styles of producing wine, one being your modern technique: fresh grapes fermented in stainless steel temperature controlled vats, and then aged in the barrels on the top row. The second was the age old Santorini way of first sun-drying the grapes for a week or so, then squashing them with their feet in the chamber at the back of the second picture. The juice would drip through into the front chamber where the sediments were filtered by a basket... awesome. It is then fermented and left to age in the 100 year old barrels on the bottom row. Because of the drying process they have to use four times the number of grapes, as a result the flavour was strong and sweet, and even has a slight raisin-y-ness to it. As you can see, I have become quite the pro wine taster.

Even the donkeys in Santorini are beautiful.

Less beaches that we expected.  But this one... fittingly called Red Beach, was a treat.

Milos



By the time that we reached little Milos the tourist season was drawing to an end and aside from being lovely it was quiet... too quiet. There were signs of life everywhere – cars parked in front of houses, washing on washing lines, open windows and so on, but we hardly ever saw anyone. It was completely idyllic but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the children of the grapes were lurking just around the corner (they’re the Greek equivalent of the children of the corn).


So we just explored the landscapes...


...found ship-wrecks, and grew elephant legs.

Islands that end in 'os'

Picking amongst the Greek Islands is incredibly difficult! There are just so many of them, each with their own charms, and a barrage of internet opinions on which are best and which are best avoided. We decided to mix it up in the hope of getting a taste of all of the different reasons why we daydream about the Greek Islands when we are doing housework.


Kos

Beautiful Kos has all of the elements one could reasonably desire of a Greek Island – white buildings with blue edging, warm hearted and hospitable locals, white beaches that stretch for miles into the distance, some interesting ruins, a nightlife and some historical interest as the lifelong home of Hippocrates, the father of western medicine. It also has approximately 1 tourist per square metre. Still, who are we to complain about tourists?


Beaches, and MEAT



Patmos

Patmos was probably the loveliest island that we visited, although it is better known for its significance to Christians as supposedly God spoke to John the Apostle through a fissure in a cave there. It must have been an incredibly traumatic experience for poor John as he wrote the Book of Revelations in that same cave based on God’s words.

The cave was ethereal and the architecture, art work and Christian relics at the nearby St John’s monastery were gorgeous. Also there were quaint little towns with windy cobbled streets where you could happily get lost for hours and beautiful quiet beaches, some of which even had sand (surprisingly this important element is absent from most Turkish and Greek beaches).


Picking a hotel from the 20 people lining the wharf can be a hit or miss exercise... this time it was a score!


Heading up to the monastery, unfortunately the photography was very restricted so you will just have to imagine what St John's cave looks like...




Syros

Syros is the administrative centre of the Cyclades and for this reason is one of the most populated Greek Islands but it’s not a popular tourist destination (unless a tourist manages to get arrested anywhere in the Cyclades in which case they get an all expenses paid trip...). We stopped for a day, of our own free will, to see what island life is like for bureaucratic Greeks. It was definitely quiet, but the buildings and alleyways were quite beautiful, being traditional in style with artistic graffiti and colourful plant life popping out of every nook. And the food was spectacularrr!

Kapadokya... ROCKS!!!

We eventually dragged ourselves away from the spellbinding Mediterranean so that we could experience Turkey’s most famous attraction of all – the unusual rock formations, valleys and cave cities of Kapadokya (aka Cappadocia).

We walked in caves:

Crouched and slithered in caves:


Climbed up and down to caves:


Raised the roof in caves:


We even slept in a cave, continuing a centuries old way of life:


The fairy chimneys were spectacular and reminded us of a certain male appendage:

(“fairy chimneys” is an excellent marketing spin)


Best of all were the sweeping valleys, which combined all of the elements mentioned above within a setting that was part desert, part moon, part forest and part miscellaneous:

 We didn't just hang out in caves and valleys... we were greeted with all these balloons on arrival in Goreme at about 6am.

On our way to the Goreme Open Air Museum... which (see below) turned out to be pretty lame and a total tourist trap.

We also spent some time in bars watching the All Blacks open their world cup campaign against Tonga at 10am. Good excuse to start drinking early...

The Blue Cruise

I’m not going to say too much about the Mediterranean leg of our trip because it was so much fun that I don't want to make anybody vomit with envy (gloat, gloat). Also this part of the trip was not overly culturally or historically interesting (which raises the awkward question ‘is that what made it so much fun?’. Hmmm.) Neither of us had visited the Mediterranean before and it completely captivated us – it is the most stunning body of water that I have ever seen or touched, being the bluest bluest blue, crystal clear and lukewarm with lots of tasty fish swimming about.

We started with Fethiye, a beautiful mini-Bodrum with a light sprinkling of ruins, a gorgeous gorge and a heavy sprinkling of dirty postcards that mostly featured copulating animals.



We loved the boat trip in Bodrum so much we had to do another...
We accidentally discovered this beautiful place when we jumped on what we thought was a local bus to the famous Saklikent Gorge, and ended up on a 3 hour forced tour of the local area... we had a bit of a grumpy Dan on the day, but it wasn't so bad in hindsight.

When we finally made it to the gorge, the first obstacle was a freezing cold river crossing. Making it halfway across, I turned to find Soph had gone back to look for an easier way across... after much waving and gesturing she eventually realised and with some help made it back to me, my legs having just gone numb. She then celebrated her victorious crossing by signing the wall in mud, as is the custom in the gorge.



From Fethiye we took a blissful four day cruise heading east along Turkey’s southern coast. Our key responsibilities were swimming, eating freshly caught fish, swimming, playing backgammon, swimming, sleeping under the stars, swimming and visiting picturesque villages that are accessible only by sea due to the mountainous terrain behind.


Soph missed one responsibiliy... jumping off rocks, the hardest part being the climb up on the jagged slope.


Jumping montage!

Business as usual on the boat.

We stopped into a few ports, this little hidden beach was so picturesque... the swimming experience somewhat diminished by the patches of icy water coming out of springs under the rocks.

And who should we meet but two lovely resource consent planners from Gisborne - I was overjoyed!


We finished up with a few nights in a tree hut in the tiny coastal village of Olympus, which is currently at the top of my list of ‘Places where I would want to live if I had been born in the times before modern technology’ due to its incredibly luxurious natural environment. There are eternal flames to save on stick rubbing, fruit trees galore to save on farming and a beautiful warm Mediterranean beach to save on cold bathing... perfection!



Our cute treehouse, I was imagining the treehouse I had in my apple tree as a kid but it was still pretty novel.

The eternal flames, created by methane gas seeping from fissures in the rocks.