A Travel Night to Ios

Took the subway to Pireaus; crazy busy port; lots of big ships.
Got a plastic chair on deck & spoke w/ some Canadians. Lots of Canadians & Australians everywhere here. There were seats, snack bar, restaurant, & even beds (for $) available inside, but I decided to tough it out on deck. Beautiful sunset then it started to get a bit cool/breezy & not much for sleeping. The trip took 13 hrs; it stopped at about half dozen or so islands before it got to Ios (ee ous). There was a shuttle bus at the port to take me & others up the hill, which is the city center & nightlife area, & down the other side to The Far Out Beach Club where I'm staying. I didn't expect, & didn't get much for my $10/ night; it's basically an A-frame tent only made out of wood, so it has a locking door. It sleeps two, but I've had it to myself. Thankgoodness; it's small. Anyway, it's just yards (or meters as they say here) from the beach. So I did nap but then headed for the beach where I spent hours relaxing, napping, dips in the water (cooler than I thought), & reading. It's definitely a younger crowd; very springbreak like. Plenty of muscle men & scantily clad (if clad at all) women. The island itself is a little more stark & barren than I envisioned. In the city center, they do have the white buildings built into the hillside with narrow windy streets; it's pretty cool.

As for reading, you'll all be glad to know I haven't picked up a paper since I finished the 21 I brought with me to DaveOs', so I'm a bit out of touch; occasionally, I've glanced at an English newspaper at the stand or logged on to Comcast for a few moments of news. Since I'm finally done trying to read the guide books on Dublin, Amsterdam & Athens before I got to those places, & the guide book only has 2 pages/island, so that's easy, I started reading my non-fiction book on the ferry ride. Sex, Drugs & Coco Puffs by Chuck Klosterman. He was born in 1972 & is writing commentary on contemporary American culture from his generation's viewpoint. Including references to Cheap Trick Live at Budikon & St. Elmo's Fire. So far, it's pretty interesting & it's only about 250 pages, so I should be able to finish! Shamefully, I was trying to think of the last book I read? Was it on my last trip to Europe? Mans Search for Meaning by Victor Frankyl? Maybe I should be re-reading that one! Finally showered about 8 PM, caught a few minutes of the free movie they show each night, Oceans 13 & took the bus up to the city center. Walked around, stopped in a few places, chatted with some Sweedes. & walked back about 130 (the bus stops running at midnight). The nightclub crowd apparently rocks until about 7 AM. I know it's hard to believe, but they dance the night away. Not really my scene; you all know about my dancing lack of ability.


Day 2-Happy 4th of July!
Woke about 930, hot, wandered to the local mini mart for fruit, yogurt & water-breakfast. Then prepared for the beach-book, towel, sunscreen-good to go. And the cycle repeats-read, nap, turnover, take a dip...

Being the 4th & looking for any excuse to party here (they just celebrated Canada Day on July 1), they had red-white-blue balloons. & busses of people from the top of the hill showed up body-painted with where in the states they were from. A little loud music, dancing, craziness. No fireworks! Watched Borat for the night's movie. Then went back up to the city center for some food & eventually returned again about 130.


Day 3
Started with a dip in the pool then hiked up to the city center to enter this blog & get some food. Spent the day poolside which is just yards from the beach anyway. Tried to watch Die Hard 4 for the evening movie but it was hard to understand amongst the crowd noise, muffled speakers & stupid plot; I still don't know what it was about, but it was tedious to sit through. Went to bed early as I had to be ready to get to the ferry by 730 AM


-Ios--the beach was nice, but I would not recommend this island to anyone unless you're looking for a springbreak experience which just about all of you reading this would not be.

Other Side Notes:
-Smokers--There are cigarette smokers everywhere (not just Ios but Europe)! Smoking inside buildings, smoking while working, throwing their butts on the ground... ugh
-Beads--I've noticed a lot of Greek men have this sort of bracelet of beads they carry (rosary beads?) & flip them in their hands which can be really annoying especially when you're trying to read!
-Souvlaki--a bargain! For 2 Euro you get lettuce, tomato, onion, chicken, tzaiki sauce (yogurt, garlic) & a few french fries wrapped in a pita (conical shape). I've had several. Still not exactly sure of the difference between that & chicken pita & chicken gyro (the gyro meat is from the big cone shape meat thing & maybe the souvlaki is kebab meat? I don't really know).
-Italian food--lots of it. Then again I'm not far from Italy & apparently they vacation here a lot.
-Sunscreen--EXPENSIVE! I guess they know they have a captive audience. A tube was 15 Euros (that's like $21 for sunscreen!)
-Pillow--I got a great travel pillow before I left Boulder, by Eagle Creek. Not the traditional horseshoe around the neck shape thing, but excellent. I recommend it if you're in the need.

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