So when I first signed on for the Athens-Mykonos-Ios-Santorini itinerary that Dustin and Chaz had mapped out, Ios was the one spot that I wasn't familiar with, at least in passing... It's unsurprising really, though one of the bigger Cyclades islands in terms of geographic area, it's also fairly undeveloped, with a year round population of only ~900 people (though that swells to 10-20,000 each summer), and little development other than smallish family run hotels and similarly owned restaurants... What I didn't know however, is that Ios, though maybe not a household name in the States, is considered something of a party destination throughout most of Europe, with hundreds of Scandinavian college kids and backpackers descending on the island each May-July for extended working vacations, and hordes of Italians and Greeks setting up on the island for the high season of July-August.
Thus for the past five days the four of us have enjoyed relatively cheap food, ridiculously cheap drinks, great beachfront vistas and a college-town atmosphere, all on a relatively rustic-feeling island and with everything in walking distance along one main strip stretching from the port to the village to the main beach. =)
Basically we spent the days laying out at the pool or throwing the pigskin on the beach and the night bouncing through the village, which is a warren of pedestrian alleys connecting bars, clubs, coffee shops and gyro stands... Late nights and late mornings were the norm for the week, but the highlight of the trip was definitely Midsummer Festival which kicked off at 11am this past Friday...
For those of you that have never heard of it, Midsummer Festival is basically a Swedish holiday / all-day drink fest celebrating all things Swedish... think St. Patty's Day and Cinco de Mayo, but celebrated by thousands of young Swedes, Norwegians and Danes, and also Brits, Aussies, Kiwis and Yanks, all of whom wear yellow and blue and pretend to be Swedish for the day... the party was ridiculous. It started in town at a bar called Flames, where everyone showed up early and ready to drink... particularly Bacardi Breezers and Smirnoff Ices... You could buy 5 for 15 Euro and they'd throw in a free Midsummer Festival t-shirt... cue 15 Smirnoff Ices and lot of double-icing. ;) ...BTW, did I mention some Boston girls Iced Dustin totally unprovoked when we were watching the USA-Algeria match-up? This shit is SPREADING!
Anyways, Midsummer Festival was one of the longest days of my life, and thus last night (Saturday night) was an early one by Ios standards, as us guys came home at 2AM to drink some beers on our patio before calling it a night. All in all it was a great trip, and definitely an island I'd go back to some day... It's one of those places where everyone seems to know everyone else... not just the locals, but also the tourists, since many of them are visiting for months at a time and return every summer to their jobs as bartenders, waitresses and doormen... We met a lot of cool tourists, from Dan the Norwegian who comes to Ios for Midsummer every year, to Isabelle and Angie the crazy Swedes that never stopped partying, to a score of fun Aussies, Canadians and Europeans. We also met a lot of great locals, from Big Niko and his Mother who ran our hotel, to Ruth, the saucy but matronly, British woman running our poolside restaurant and catering to a constant influx of hungover and hungry travelers, to Sinead, the Irish-Zambian-Norwegian bar-owner that hosted us every night, to Terry (or Curry as Chaz kept calling him), the 60+ year old British ex-pat who drove us all over the island on our last day giving us the insiders tour of Ios (and regailing us with stories of what the island was like in the 60s and 70s), all told with loving reverence for "the Rock," as he called it, which has been his home for 37 years.
Today however is Sunday... And this morning at 11AM I set sail from Ios with mixed emotions: sad that the Greek portion of my trip is about to be over, but glad that I escaped with my liver in one piece. ;) I now find myself on the mythical island of Santorini, or Thira as the Greeks call it, and having watched the cliffs of Santorini rise up to surround me as we sailed into port this morning, I can understand why some people consider this most beautiful place in the world... The view, not only from the water but also from atop the caldera is truly awe inspiring, and although we've already experienced a bit of price shock after transitioning from the undeveloped Ios to the very commercialized Santorini, I'm nonetheless looking forward to exploring "Honeymoon Island" over the next 48 hours.
Unfortunately Alex left this morning and Charles departs tomorrow, meaning my last day and night will be spent in the every-so-romantic company of Dustin... lucky me. ;)
Tuesday afternoon I fly from Santorini to Prague (via London, of course... courtesy of Easy Jet), where I'll be meeting Mike Taylor for three nights in the Paris of Eastern Europe... Can't wait as I've heard nothing but amazing things of the capital of the Czech Republic.
Till next time, =)
-Tom
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