Pete and Judy tour Ios

25^{th -} 27^th June 2011

Sorry still playing blog catch-up.

We went for a walk around the port before I thought it a good idea to ask the two couples from last night onto our boat.  It turned out to be great, did the Tzatziki, dips, etc.  As Rob and Jo did on Stingray.  Everyone had a look at Fai Tira and was suitably impressed.  We ended up going for dinner with Anne and Jim and had a great night out. 

The ferry docking.  The day after this he had to abort the manoeuvre as both his shore lines broke due to the strong wind of the Meltemi.  

Sunset over the port.

The next day saw Judy and I renting a quad bike and touring the island.

Homer’s Tomb

Our first stop was Homer’s Tomb.  Visitors had piled rocks at this site possibly to remember absent friends. So I did the same and created this in memory of Phyllis and Bob.  The view was great overlooking numerous Greek islands.  

Next we stopped at a beach for lunch but the wind was onshore and quite strong so settled for coffee at a cafe and was then amazed as we watched three, Eleonora’s falcons, perform in front of us.

We then headed up a mountain track to a monastery.  We didn’t quite make it as Judy was complaining about her bum being sore.

We found this beautiful little church on the way down. Unfortunately we couldn’t get inside as it was locked.

I found "a shortcut" to the beach behind the port.  The shortcut was a very long steeply inclined trip on a dirt track, the lovely thing was the two girls in front, we could hear their squeals of delight and every time they came across a male travelling in the opposite direction they were stopped.  We could just imagine their joy - the girls were lovely. 

Eventually we reached the beach which was full of youngsters, mostly on the "tour", English, American, Dutch, Swedish, all nationalities all having a great time, although one or two looked a little jaded from what we understand could have been a very hectic night before.  Ios to us appeared to be a sleepy island, but according to the Lonely Planet has a reputation for partying - the amount of bars in Chora did seem to support that theory.  Perhaps next time!

We walked up to the top of Chora and were rewarded with magnificent views of the port and village.

On our return we were invited to join Colin and Margaret for sundowners - Ann and Jim now had a friend visiting so a lovely couple of hours were spent sharing experiences.  Early start tomorrow - setting the alarm for 6.30am.