Sunday October 26 - Day 9

After breakfast today we drove to the south end of the island and viewed the garbage dump! Yikes!! It will take thousands of years for the plastic to degrade.

The view from this mountain top was violated by tons of plastic garbage!

On the bright side, someone had left a toy for the boys!

Looking in the other direction.

Tiny St. Goeorges church in Livadia (Tilos port)

A square door knob on St. Georges Church.

We left Theo at the start of another pathway. He joined us three hours later in time for lunch. 

We were all starving but discovered that there was a power outage on the island. 

No restaurants in the port were open...so...we decided to drive back to Magalochora 

to see if the restaurant was open there. 

Even though there was no power we knew that she would make us a salad!

The owner managed to heat some green beans, cabbage rolls and dolmadas by using a small camp stove burner and made a delicious salad. A bottle of Rhodos wine provided a nice touch while we watched another thunder storm pass over.

We were greeted with another rainbow when we returned to our rooms.

Dinner around 9:00pm (new time-changed the clocks back one hour last night) and early to bed (new time)!! Temperatures have dipped a bit but the sea is much calmer so we should have smooth sailing for both portions of our trip tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Day 8 cont'd

I forgot some important details about this island. First of all...the car rental place is only open from 4:00am - 1:00pm...and...the owner had to check his register to see if he had a car available for us. Hah! Who else was going to rent a car?! Our car is not old but it has definitely been through a few wars and some serious side gouging!!

Second...there is one gas station on the island, about 5km from the port It is open from 9:00am - 1:00pm on various days of the week...and, have I mentioned that rental cars have empty (or near empty) gas tanks when you pick them up? As a result, when we rented our car at 5:30am, the agent had to pour some gas into the tank so that we could get to the gas station when it opened!!

Third, I learned today that churches are built facing east. So, if you are ever lost in the hills on a Greek island, you should be able to determine your direction by the closest small church!!

Fourth, one of the best traditions on the islands. When you ask for your bill after dinner (they will never bring a bill until asked) it is presented along with a dessert, sometimes fresh fruit, other times a sweet wine. It is their way of thanking the customer!!

October 25 - Day 8

Almost impossible to get out of bed this morning. The bed is huge and comfortable. We slept late, finally getting up at 9:00am!!! Of course Theo was awake and waiting for a sign of life from our room since 7:00am. We had breakfast on our adjoining balconies before seeking adventures on local mountain roads. Our car is decrepit but functional. At least the brakes work!

After climbing and descending the mountain on an extremely narrow road we stopped at the abandoned village of Mikrochorio. Fascinating to see the remains of a large village that was emptied after WW11 due to poverty.

Only the church and 2-3 renovated homes are in use.

It appeared that several homes had been reclaimed and rebuilt so maybe the village will become reinhabited eventually. Right now it is more a "goat" town than a "ghost" town. From here we drove to the Agios Panteleimonas Monastery which was built in 1470.

The wall paintings (frescoes) date back to mid 1700's.

From the Monastery Theo embarked on a 6km hike that would take him to a beach where we would meet him in approximately 2 1/2 hours. He finally appeared after 3 1/2 hours having taken the wrong path which took him over two hilltops that were not on the route.

We were prepared to call out the military if he didn't appear by 5:00pm. Fortunately he made a full recovery with dinner and a bottle of wine!! Now it is rest time before we join the rest of the islanders in the Greek tradition of "meeting up" at a cafe around 9-10pm!!

October 24 - Day 7

In bed at 10:30pm…up at 2:00am to catch the ferry to Tilos. John and Theo managed to catch some shut-eye but I was wide awake. 

The cafe at the port on Tilos was closing but the owner brought us tea and coffee when we arrived at  5:00am. Theo wandered off and returned with freshly baked cheese and spinach pies from the bakery and also discovered that the car rental place was open so he arranged for a small car. We decided to sit and wait for daybreak before driving to the other village, away from the port, to look for rooms.

Enroute we stopped at a long beautiful beach with smooth colourful stones. In the summer it is home to free campers. Arriving in Megalochora we could only find one set of rooms open. Maybe we should try the port?

The owner of the local cafenion gave us lots of information and arranged for us to see the museum collection of dwarf elephant bones that were discovered on the island during a cave excavation. An old woman gave us a tour and explained the findings. The Tilos dwarf elephant is the first dwarf elephant whose DNA sequence has been studied. They became extinct just less than 4,000 years BCE. Further excavation of the site is dependent on funding.

Back in the port we found rooms right on the beach. A beautiful stone pathway runs around the harbour, dedicated to the past mayor who brought many ecological and environmental reforms to the island. Tilos was the first (and only) place in Greece to allow gay marriage. That law has since been overturned by the courts.

Before the storm

After the storm

Theo went for a hike while we had a nap. About halfway through his hike a thunder storm hit the island. He tried to find shelter but was soaked when he returned. After drying out we went for a small dinner and off to bed early!!

October 23 - Day 6

Neither of us slept well in the cabin. It felt airless and from my position in the top bunk, I couldn't dislodge my tongue from the roof of my mouth!! The bottle of water was below and I didn't want to risk a descent on the ladder until my bladder called!

We arrived just before daybreak on Kos and had to wait until 7:30am for the first coffee shop to open.  I remembered a place that sold the very best bougatsa...it opened at 8:00am and we were served fresh, warm pastries. By 9:00am the travel offices were open and we learned that our boat was cancelled because of the wind. The next one would leave at 3:00am tomorrow.

A decision was made to find rooms for the day so we could nap, shower and have a few hours of sleep before the ferry. We found a simple hotel with 20 eauro rooms and settled down for a nap. Later, on our walkabout we discovered a new cafe/bar that features exhibits of local artists and met Anastasia, the young owner.

John decided to add a touch of poetic graffiti!!

We introduced Theo to the Anastasia and met up with him later for dinner before buying boat tickets for the morning. Our arrival on Tilos will be at 5:45am!! Off to bed for four hours!

October 22 - Day 5

What a day! We had a very relaxing morning and managed to get to the ferry in time for our trip to Syros. Theo and Bas surprised us by making the ferry. We were worried that they wouldn't make the connection.

On Syros we locked our bags at the port and went to meet Joanna (one of the dancers from Saturday's performance) at Boheme, a cafe/bar owned by Sotiris. He welcomed us, offered shots of rum & glasses of wine. Coffee is not a word in his vocabulary!! 

John had an intense discussion with a young student about "end of life" counselling 

and Sotiris decided that John would be his companion at the end of his life!

John is not napping...just one of those unfortunate photo moments!

Interesting place...great music!

It is easy to spend hours in these cafe/bars with a single drink.

Because we still had many hours until the ferry we decided to visit a new little cafe/bar in the old upper portion of town, high above the port. Jason and Vassilis greeted us with wine and mezes. It was a charming little place. 

From there we had to taxi down to Joanna's apartment where her mother was preparing dinner for eight of us. Of course it was delicious!! Then a race to the port where we decided to reserve a cabin for the seven hour trip to Kos. Whew!!! Another kaleidoscope day!!!

October 21 - Day 4

We were up early to share breakfast and rep are for the boat trip to Delos. Prices on Mykonos are ridiculous ... 4 euros for a coffee or tea = $6.00!! The only reason that we are here is to visit Delos.

The boat trip, 1/2 hour from the old port (18 euros each) was almost full. As we approached the island of Delos we could see that the entire island is an archaeological site with pieces from the past scattered everywhere.

Cleopatra, a friend who used to live on Amorgos, greeted us with hugs and kisses. She is employed as one of the guards on the island during the tourist season.

These two statues sit in The House of Cleopatra (50 BC)

The Theatre

The Terrace of the Lions, dedicated to Apollo by the people of Naxos shortly before 600 BC, had originally nine to twelve squatting, snarling marble guardian lions along the Sacred Way.

They created a monumental avenue comparable to Egyptian avenues of sphinxes. 

This is a portion of a mosaic depicting Hermes and a tiger.

It is composed of tiny pieces of mosaic tile that have retained

their original colours.

Delos was inhabited since the 3rd millennium BC. It was once home to 30,000 inhabitants. In the 5th century BC, during the 6th year of the Peloponnesian war and under instruction from the Delphic Oracle, the entire island was purged of all dead bodies. It was then ordered that no one should be allowed to either die or give birth on the island due to its sacred importance and to preserve its neutrality in commerce, since no one could then claim ownership through inheritance.

The French School of Athens has been excavating the island since 1872. Delos is a UNESCO site.

It was difficult to grasp the magnitude of what we were seeing. It was so immense and overwhelming. A three hour visit was much too short a time to fully comprehend that we were walking on history. Below our feet were still many levels of unexcavated remains being trampled by visitors each day. I felt that the island should be closed to everyone except teams of archaeologists who could gradually unearth this hidden ancient world. There were signs of ignorance everywhere...plastic bottles and candy wrappers. The guards do their best but they can't control everything.

The only ones allowed to stay overnight on the island are the guards, the archaeology team and guests with special permission. A heavy fine is levied against anyone attempting to stay. There are no stores, bars, goats, homes or rooms for rent. Our friends Theo and Bas received permission through Cleopatra to spend the night. They took sleeping bags and will sleep under the stars.

Petros picked us up around 9:00pm and we shared dinner at a fusion restaurant. Is there anyone on this island that he doesn't know?? After dinner we went to the opening of a photo "exhibition" by his friend Luca Roberto. We were confused at first because Petros explained that we were going to an "execution"!

Artists' feet on display at the exhibition.

Which ones are mine?