EPILOGUE - GREECE - THE AEGEAN - IOS

 

Ios (Pop 2,024) is 196km or 5.5hrs from Athens and only one hour from my last island of Folegandros. The island is 18km long by 10km wide with highest point at 713m.

 

Ios is famous for the 3,000BC ancient city of Skarkos and the tomb of the great Greek Poet Homer who wrote the Iliad, the story of Ulysses and the defeat of Troy. Ios is also known for its many cheeses, especially “skotiri” or sour cheese and there is even a museum dedicated to Ios cheeses (not “baby Jesus”) !!!

 

Ios like its neighbours is tree-less but more abundant in green shrubs and bushes and extremely rocky. Like Milos, its coastline is inaccessible by road but has myriads of little beaches and bays with absolutely crystal clear waters. Roads are reasonably wide and good but there are not many of them. They ride high above the waters but the views are terrific as you will see below.

 

Ios has an “ancient” feel to it. A bit like the Minoans in Crete or the Nubians of the Sudan – you feel like people have been here for thousands of years.

 

I swam my 1km at Magandri but Ag Theodoti was equally as good. The Tsimedia or stuffed pumpkin flowers with rice are a specialty of the island. My hotel is Ios was the best location by far – in the centre of town with balcony overlooking the harbour. I was the only guest in the 30 room, two-level building – this is the great thing about visiting in May (or September).

 

Ios is definitely more oriented towards the tourist and you can even see Santorini from Magandri Beach.

Enjoy ancient Ios… 

 

EPILOGUE - GREECE - THE AEGEAN - FOLEGANDROS

Folegandros (Pop 765) is 190km or 4hrs from Athens and only one hour from my last island of Milos. The island is 11km long by 3km wide with highest point at 455m. It sits just 20km above Santorini (Thira) which is the most southern of the Cyclades before reaching Crete.

 

Folegandros is tree-less but gorgeous !!! Why ??? Because of two little bushes known in Greek as “Astivi” and “Flomos”. Flomos is always GREEN no matter what the season. On the other hand, Flomos is GREEN in winter, then RED in spring then YELLOW in summer then PURPLE in autumn !!! You can tell the season just by looking at this unusually beautiful landscape !!! So nice that this island is popular with artists. I met a bunch of French couples painting this changing tapestry of colour admist the cliff-hugging crevices of mountain-hugging slopes. The result is a tapestry of colour in an otherwise barren landscape bereft of trees !!!

 

Folegandros has two famous dishes – BRIAM and MASTELO. The first is a vegetarian paradise of local eggplant, zucchini, carrot, onion, tomato in the oven. The second is rooster and spaghetti in the oven. All tastes covered !!!

 

The main town of Chora where I stayed is simply stunning purched on the edge of very high cliff and overlooked by Panagia Church set high up on a hill - this is the signature feature of this  town and indeed the island.

 

Meant to ask you all before just in case you are all wondering – where does all that electrical power come from? The answer is massive array diesel generators but guess what – Athens is laying a cable underwater to reach this and many other islands in the next 10 years !!!

 

My favourite beach was Angali with its rugged coastline, massive underwater boulders and stone of every colour and “warm spots” of water amongst the usual 16C of calm water.

 

What I liked most about Folegandros is that it is small and unspoilt by tourism. There are no nightclubs or big restaurants. It has a very Greek rural feel to it. If you want to experience real unspoilt Greek island life then this is the place to visit.

Enjoy the tapestry that is Folegandros...