It's all about Ios!

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The best way to describe Ios is just simply "awesome". After experiencing the expensive and slightly pretentious Mykonos, Ios was a great change. It was just so relaxed there every day. There was no need to do anything more than just sit by the beach or pool, reading a book.

While not as pretty as some of the other islands, as far as the town centre goes, Ios has a lot going for it. We stayed at a hotel right on Mylopotas Beach and the hourly buses heading into the village and the port stopped right outside. Needless to say it was much easier getting around on Ios.

The beach was absolutely amazing too, with beautiful crystal-clear waters. It wasn't hot enough to jump in for a swim, but it was comfortable enough to sit on the little sun beds and just chill out.

Our hotel room at Ios was also an improvement. We had a balcony!!! It was great to come home from having dinner in the town and sit out under the stars on the balcony and have a beer or two.

The hotel also has a bar and restaurant out the front where they also have a massive pool, surrounded by more sunbeds. It seemed to be the place to be on Ios, even for the locals who congregated there particularly on the weekend. You could easily tell the locals apart from the tourists. They were rugged up with jumpers or jackets and pants, while the tourists were all getting around in either bikinis or boardies.

The nightlife in Ios was also much better. There seemed to be bars everywhere you walked in the town. In the main part there was probably at least six bars within ten seconds of one another, which is pretty handy when you are drinking! The bars don't open until about 9pm or later and the last bus back to our hotel was at 9pm. The walk back was generally ok, but the shortcut to the hotel had us walking down this massively steep hill. There was only one spill - by Kara, resulting in a huge bruise the knee and yes, it hurt.

Another bonus of being in Ios was being able to watch English television other than the news. The hotel TV only had one station playing movies constantly with Greek subtitles. It made a nice change to only watching CNN on repeat as the English channel in Mykonos!

If there was one Greek island we would choose to go back to, it would definitely be Ios.

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Photos

Kim on beach at Ios
This is Kim at the Mylopotas Beach, which was right in front of our hotel.

Donkey's
This picture is of the Donkey's. An old mate was leading them down the road beside us, when we were on our way back from the town. Evidently, progress is slow in Ios, and they still use Donkeys to transport heavy rocks and things. I think he used the donkeys instead of a car because the rocks had to be taken down a long flight of rocky stairs, and the donkeys do stairs with ease. I think "old mate" is having a chat to another "old mate".