Kos continued
Arwenofbosham
Rob and Jacky Black
Fri 2 Oct 2009 11:55
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We had a delightful week with Avril doing the
tourist things like hiring a car and visiting the famous archeological sites as
well as some of the beautiful beaches to the south of the island. The Asklepeion
ruins were truly spectacular having been built between the 5th and 3rd Centuries
BC with various temples and shrines as well as healing fountains and living
accommodation. It was here that Hippocrates and the medical school he founded
developed scientific medicinal practices. The Romans continued to use the site
and added more buildings and later the Christians built a church. It had a very
peaceful and calming feel to the place and wonderful views down to the north
east of Kos and to the Turkish mainland.
The south of Kos boasts some lovely sandy bays and
we chose Magic beach for a day in the sun it is near to the famous Paradise
beach but less commercialized and we had a lovely relaxing day on the sun beds
with lunch in the Taverna near bye.
I celebrated my birthday with a morning at the
shops in Kos town as well as a brief visit to the ancient Agora (town) where the
ruins of several centuries worth of Hellenic and later Christian sites had been
un covered in the 1933 earth quake. Later we all went out for a super meal at a
lovely restaurant in the centre of town recommended as being one that was open
in the winter and served proper Greek food not just tourist things!
We were not disappointed and probably ate the best
meal of the year there it is called Elia and is at the top end of the
pedestrianised street Apellou on the left hand side before you get to the
square called Diagora. So if you are in Kos make a point of visiting
it!
Kos is famous for it's sunsets so we duly headed
for Zia a small hill village to view this spectacle on Tuesday evening followed
by supper at a taverna recommended by the hotelier Manos and by the car-hire guy
Yiainnis. It was called 'Olympia' and the proprietor Mattheos was most
welcoming and it turned out he had owned a previous property in the village when
20 years ago the BBC 'holiday' programme paid him a visit with Annika Rice
! His new place is just off the main road at the top of the village turn to the
right and it's on the left; much better than all the other rather touristy
places and lovely home cooked food! Following supper we headed for Tigaki to a
Music venue again recommended by Manos the Red House. We had a super end to the
evening being 'serenaded by Dave the owner in his rather Rod Stewart voice but
playing all sorts of Rock and Blues numbers! Fantastic. It was according to
Dave, a quiet night as he often has other musicians who drop in to play and he
keeps a selection of instruments available. We did get a drummer and a lady
guitarist towards mid night but as it was the end of the season most people had
gone back to the mainland. We left at 0100 for a quick drive back to town
and bed as Avril was due to leave later that day.
We had another tour of Kos on Avril's last day
including a visit to the Castle built by the Knights of St. John in the 14th
century. Quite an amazing place and fascinating to see how they had used
old bits of the Hellenic ruins in their building. It was not un common to be
walking up steps which had pieces of inscribed marble under foot! Our last
meal together was at a beach side Taverna looking out over the bay towards
Bodrum and the Turkish coast. Having dropped Avril at the airport we paid a last
visit to Lidl to stock up before turning in early as we planned to leave at
first light.
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