Aegean dreaming

I'll start this blog with a photo of the view we had while sipping cocktails at the Hilton for Ryan's birthday which Ryan for some reason didn't deem worthy enough to include in his own blog, but with the sun setting down behind the Acropolis it nearly justified the 20 Euro a cocktail price tag.

The Acropolis at sunset

Tuesday September 11 we woke to the alarm at 5:30am, as we had a boat to catch at 7am to Milos. For some reason all the boats seem to leave Athens for the islands at the crack of dawn. We cabbed it to the port Pireaus in the dark, driving past the Acropolis still all magically lit up. Once on board it was all a bit of a dog fight as the tickets were issued with seat numbers, but for some reason they like to issue out these seats completely randomly and so pretty much anyone that was travelling together was sitting at least a few seats/rows away from their companions. Due to some good thinking on my part, I had popped a travel sickness pill before I got on the boat, and thank God because unbeknownst to us it was an extremely windy day and the sea was really rough. The journey took nearly 3.5 hours, instead of 2.5, and at least a third of the passengers filled up the sick bags. I felt fine, and just closed my eyes trying to ignore the sights and sounds around me and the fact that the waves were crashing over the boat. Even Ryan, the 'salty old sea dog', looked over to me (from 4 seats away) and said he was feeling pretty average. But we finally arrived at Milos, greeted by my dear friend Katrina (who I used to work with at the Garvan but now lives in London), and who decided to join us on the islands for 6 nights!

Our balcony view when we arrived - you could virtually surf those waves. It was flat the next day.

Kat had flown in earlier that morning and picked up our rental car, so we dumped the bags in the car and then went for some brunch near the port for a catch-up and so Ryan would feel better! The laid-back waiter had some troubles with our order - he couldn't believe I didn't want sugar in my cappucino freddo, and he couldn't get his head around the fact that Ryan wanted some bacon and 2 eggs in between 2 pieces of toast. Anyway, it didn't matter that some crepes took 45 minutes to come out or the fact that he never brought the juices, because we had a lot to catch up on, and there was a mini-market next door where you could pick up a juice for 37 cents anyway. After brunch, we then drove to Pollonia where we were staying and checked into our respective hotels. Kat was staying at a place next to us as where I had booked was full, which is understandable when you look at the pic of our balcony view above.

We bumped into Ryan's doppelganger again in Milos. He's a funny guy.

After settling in to our accommodation, we hit the road in out little Fiat down to the south of the island (a beach called Paleochori I think) where it would be a little calmer on a windy day like that day. It was a small and quiet pebble-stoned beach with only a few other people there (which was such a nice change from the hoards of  tourists in Athens and Rome). So we relaxed on the chairs under the umbrellas, which yes we did pay for but it was so much cheaper than we had seen elsewhere and it definitely is a lot more comfortable! And so we swam and read and snoozed and chatted and did all the relaxing things that one should do when on the Greek islands.

It's a pretty easy job taking photos in the Greek islands

I had chosen Milos as our first island stop, as after visiting the islands (well, the Cyclades at least) ten years ago, I knew we'd end up at Santorini and I wanted to visit a couple of islands nearby that I hadn't been to before. I'm glad that we did because Milos was a small slice of heaven! So after our first beach stop, we drove to the capital, Plaka (which was the sleepiest capital I have ever visited), and we climbed up to the top of the hill where there was not one, but two churches. There are churches scattered everywhere in the Greek islands, particularly on the top of hills, and not only because they are very picturesque and make good photo opportunities, but also apparently because the higher up the hill, or the more difficult location the church is built in, the more likely the Greeks thought they would be rewarded by the powers that be. So the 3 of us climbed up to the top of the hill, to what was the highest point on the island with impossibly amazing vistas. Having the place to ourselves,  we hung out for a bit taking photos and enjoying being in such a spectacular spot on the planet.

Ryan doesn't like when I get on his case to do the next blog update - it is a very hard job after all

Back in Pollonia we showered the salty sea away, and walked into the heart of town for dinner. We'd picked a place which had been recommended to us as "only fish" so picked a table and ordered some grilled cuttlefish (me), amber jack (Ryan) and seafood pasta (Kat) accompanied by a bottle of Santorini white wine, and surrounded by some stray cats which seem to be prolific on the islands.

They don't all have to paint their doors and windows blue

The next morning we headed back to the south of the island to a different beach, this one being sandier although colder than the previous day. We lazed around, swimming, reading and chatting with some iced coffees and beers to boot, and then headed back near the port for lunch to a quirky little restaurant called Oh!Hamos! where we had tzatziki, lamb, wild goat and stuffed eggplant to complete the yummy Greek dining experience. The waiter was a funny and friendly guy, as most of the Greeks seem to be, and gave us a free little dessert each. Then we drove to a place called Starakiniko (which looked like the moon with all its white rock, but with more atmosphere), and with a narrow passage of water through the middle of it, which we of course went for a dip in. After returning home and again washing the salty sea away, we went out for a dinner of greek salad, prawns, and a seafood pasta which unfortunately for Ryan turned out to be squid ink spaghetti sans seafood. Kat made up for it by ordering a delicious dessert (white chocolate millefeuille type thing with caramelised strawberries I think). Then back home, with full bellies as is always the case, we went.

Underwater caves on the boat trip

The next morning we decided to go on a boat tour (OK I think this was our first official tour of the trip, but when it's a boat you don't have many alternative choices).  We hopped on the boat, which was a sail boat although we motored around everywhere rather than hoisting the sails, for what was a fantastic day sailing/motoring around the island of Milos. We sailed past some little towns, one which was particularly cute with all the little while buildings having doors painted different colours, around to the western side of the island where we anchored next to a little cave. We hopped off into the cool waters and swam through the cave into a still area of perfect Aegean water. I think that there are not many things better in the world than when I'm swimming with Ryan, a friend like Kat, and even strangers, in a spot where we were all floating and looking around us and saying "Awesome".

Sea gazing

We then motored on to another spot called Kleftiko which is only accessible by boat and which is another heavenly spot. We hopped off the boat, into some of the clearest and most turqouise waters I have witnessed, and swam/floated around, saw some wild goats scaling steep cliffs, swam through a cave where the water was so blue I thought they may have been shining a blue light onto it (but no they weren't, and I was glad that I didn't bother paying the exorbitant fee to see the Blue Grotto at Capri because there is no way that is the bluest water in the world. You can see it for free at Milos.)

Returning home from the boat trip

We had a delicious lunch on board the boat, and then gradually made our way back home after what was a spectacular day on the water. After watching the sun set from our balcony, we headed into town again for our last dinner in Milos. It is indeed a first world problem when you have a heavy heart leaving one Greek island for another...