08 Apr 2015

Cyclades, part I

Disclaimer: This is where the really nice pictures of beaches and islands start. If you already hear the old hobo demon whispering in your ear you should tread lightly. I’m looking at you, Sofia!

Leaving Athens

On Sunday 05/04/2015, Holger and I left Athens to do some relaxed island-hopping in the Cyclades. Named after its round shape, this group of islands is what people imagine when they hear “Greece”. Clear turcoise water, We had decided to make the best use of Holger’s limited vacation time by visiting two islands: Milos (not very touristy) and Santorini (very, very touristy). The best of both worlds!

So on said Sunday we agreed to meet up at Athen’s ferry terminal (yes, yes: it’s technically in Pireas, but you really can’t tell it’s a different city). Since I dislike being late or missing flights, boats or coaches, I arrived at the port way too early. So after finding the correct gate, I had plenty of time to sprawl out in the shade and watch a number of ferries enter the port, dock, offload, load and depart. Sure, airports have that atmosphere of travel and adventure, but they often feel so rushed. Ships, now that’s a different matter!

Anyway, before I get too philosophical: Ships. We took one of those. For around 50 euros per person you are allowed to get on one of the shiny ones. Hence we got on a shiny, blue catamaran one which would carry us to the island of Milos in around 4 hours.

The ferry was quite neat and well-equipped but we spent most of the trip on deck, looking at the fantastically blue water or the islands we passed.

Your intrepid protagonists!

Milos

We reached Milos in the late afternoon and found our hotel pretty much immediately. Truth of the matter is that the town of Adamantas is rather small. We saw several hotels, hostels and rooms for rent, but it was clear that tourist season was yet to start. That might also be the reason why we managed to get a room with two beds for 10 euro per person and night. As we reached the place indicated on the booking confirmation, this guy walked up to us, ushered us into this spacious room on the ground floor and I gave him 20 euros. Simple. The room seemed perfectly suitable, so we just dropped off our luggage and headed into town.

Even the clouds look amazing here! I’m currently using this shot as a wallpaper.

Meeting the locals

After a hearty meal in an almost completely empty restaurant and a few shots of raki, we wandered around the deserted town until after dark. Amongst other things, we came upon the island’s mining museum. Turns out that Milos actually earns more revenue from mining rare earths and obsidian than from tourism. That at least explains the relatively low-key tourism infrastructure in the town. I was left wondering who in their right minds would mine for obsidian though. I knew that they were historically used as blades and arrow points, because these stones tend to have sharp, glass-like edges. Amusingly enough, that seems to be one modern application, too: Obsidian is used for experimental scalpel blades.

Sunset on Milos

The next day we got up early (Hahaha…no. No, we didn’t) and decided to do a quick hike along the northern-most cliffs before leaving the island with a ferry in the afternoon.

Walking along the coastline.

Up on the cliff. Near the edge. Thanks for the shock, Holger!

Just as we sat down on the beach behind the cliff, it started drizzling. Glancing up the ominuous-looking clouds above us we decided to leg it and scuttle back to the hotel before we got properly drenched. This turned out to be one of the better decisions we made, because just as we got close to the hostel, it started raining in earnest. We waited for the rain to die down, grabbed our bags, left the key in the door (apparently that’s how you do it on Milos) and headed for the ferry terminal. The ferry arrived on Greek time (50 minutes late).

Looking at a map of the islands and thinking of the first leg of our journey, we figured that our trip to Santorini would also be about 4 hours long. Nope. Paying only 20 euros for a ticket, we got the less shiny ship this time. 7 hours on a ferry which was as deserted as the town of Adamantas had been (for similar reasons, I gather). At first both of us passed out on the sofas in the ferry’s bar area. The warmth and the gentle rocking of the waves just put us right to sleep. Fast forward a few hours, we were rather confused that we were still at sea. According to our GPS we were moving…slowly. Should have shelled out for the shiny ship!

Also, the wind had picked up significantly and the ship was lurching up and down a lot. The crew apparently had some problems with the heating: It heated well enough, but you couldn’t turn it off. Something smelled vaguely burned. The heat, the smell and the rocking motions caused some queasiness amongst the passengers. At some point I chose to step outside, too. For the view, of course! Observe:

Some island. Could be Ios, I think. It’s late here as I’m writing this. Can you tell?

Suck my…Kielwasser?

I’m an artist!

Much, much later than anticipated, we arrived at Santorini and slipped inside the horseshoe-shaped island towards the port. In the setting sun the view of the towns up top on the cliffs was spectacular: We had both read that most of Santorini’s urban area perched on those cliffs but we hadn’t anticipated just how HIGH those things were. As these sights unfolded before us in dusk, I have no nice pictures to show for it (my smartphone camera can’t handle lack of light too well). But trust me, there will be plenty of awe-inspiring pictures in a later post!

We docked at Santorini’s new port and let ourselves be talked into paying an outrageous sum to be transported from the tourist information to our hostel. It was late, there were no visible buses or cabs, but I’m still too ashamed to mention how much we paid for the 8km car ride.

Lesson 004: Tourist informations can be great. Some of those places have been incredibly helpful. In some cases they are little more than travel agencies shuffling people to hotels and getting commissions on bookings and transport fares. The guy in Santorini tried to justify the outrageous prices by saying we would also receive a map of the island. The same basic map you get for free at every hostel. Screw that. We should have just called a cab and waited for a bit. Don’t get talked into paying for a service you don’t need. Even when it comes with a fucking map.

Santorini really deserves its own post, since Holger and I stayed there for 2 days together, after which I stayed for another 4, which was not planned but very lucky anyway.

Until next time,
Arne