Milos

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The ride over to Milos was an interesting experience to say the least. We bought our tickets late, so there was only a slow speed boat available and “seats” on the cabin deck, really meant outside with no seats. There were a few plastic seats stacked in the corner, so Caitlin grabbed one and we tried to get a spot in the shade. I blew up the pillow part of the floatie I bought in Mykonos and laid down on the ground on it and tried to sleep. The boat was dirty and all the bathroom toilets had poop in them because the plumbing was so weak. It was just a gross ride.

Regardless of the trip there, we were nicely welcomed with another “Erin Jones” sign at the port town of Milos. The taxi driver seemed to be taking us into the boon-docks, then we arrived at a random restaurant with a friendly welcome from Antonis, the owner of the apartments we were staying at just next door. He paid for our cab ride, and waited for us to eat a dinner before we headed to our room. When we made it to the hotel - Caitlin and I felt so lucky. The beach we were on was even more private than the one in Mykonos and was literally right outside our doorstep. The moon in the sky against the water was a beautiful site. We slept in and Antonis woke us up to go rent a car from his son. We rented a little Panda, and by little, I mean LITTLE! Caitlin was a bit grumpy because there was no AC (it was like 115 degrees out), and I felt like it was a bit of a work out to drive with no power steering, but it was still a funny car once we took light of the situation. We were on a beautiful island - we really couldn’t complain.

Antonis marked off about 10 must-see beaches on a map, so Caitlin and I chose a few for the day. I thought Caitlin wanted to shoot me, with how much beach hopping I wanted to do, but each beach was well worth the trip. Antonis said Milos had the most beautiful beaches in all of Greece, and I was skeptical at first - but then I realized how truly amazing the beaches were. The island of Milos is almost entirely a volcanic island. Since Milos lies on the collision boundary with the African Plate, the consistent activity dating back around 2-3 million years ago created beautiful results: cliffs are full of extraordinary color; beaches are made with various sizes of pearl-like rocks; thick layers of volcano rock created many bridges over the bright blue water. Basically, all Caitlin and I did in Milos was check out beaches, sun bath, swim, and create videos and photoshoots under water.

I can't forget our experience to Tsigrado beach. It had already been a full day of beach hopping and we wanted to end the day at this beach. Little did we know that you had to hike down and mountain climb to get in and out of the cove. I may exaggerate a bit, but it's true - it was quite a hike. A ladder and rope were provided to help you maneuver in and out. It was hysterical to me how pissed off Caitlin was at first, but then she started laughing with me. I took my floatie down to the cove and took a private trip out to an island. It was so peaceful and the water was amazingly still.

One of the biggest highlights was a personal tour from Antonis on his fishing boat. He took us out to a famous beach where he says the biggest and most expensive yachts from all over the world visit: Kleftiko. He dropped us off for about an hour and half to enjoy some swim time in the caves and under the rock bridges. I thought it was so fun and beautiful. Again, Caitlin wanted to kill me though, because she was scared to be in the water near the caves. You could seriously see to the bottom of the water it was so clear, so I assured her I was looking out for us. That didn’t really make her feel any better, though. There is something thrilling and scary about having your feet dangle in unknown waters. When Antonis came back to pick us up, he drove us under some of the famous rock bridges and into some seal-dwelling caves.

While we were swimming, Antonis caught a bunch of sea urchins to serve back at the apartments. Apparently, many of the people who stay at his apartments are return visitors, so he calls everyone family. He served the sea urchins with Ouzo at the top of the cliff and we watched the sunset with other visitors. The people we met were really nice, and we were so thankful of Antonis’ hospitality. Although, Caitlin didn’t like the Sea Urchins at all - she still smiled and said thanks with puckered lips. It cracked me up. It was basically goo mixed with olive and lemon.

The next morning, I checked out the Ancient Theater and saw the initial site of the ancient statue Venus de Milos which is held at the Louvre now. The theater reminded me of the opera arena in Ravello - just a lot lot older. We tried to give Antonis a tip for all he did for us, but he wouldn’t even accept it. Our time spent in Milos wouldn’t have been the same without his hospitality; he’s such a sweet guy. Thanks Antonis!

July 28 - Athens
Athens was VERY short. We arrived late to our hostel about 10pm, and made it to the roof top bar to have a drink and a cheers for our last night in Greece. The view was great - you could see the Acropolis Hill and the Parthenon lit up. EVERYONE at the hostel spoke English so it was a fun crowd to conversate with. Once we had one beer, I was determined to just have one more at the neighborhood bar everyone was going to. Well, two led to three and then to four. And, then we were having such a good time with the people we were hanging out with from places all over - California, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Australia, Canada, France, London, etc…. we decided to buy a six pack and retreat to the Plaka.

When we made it back to the hostel I was so tired and ducked inside to go to sleep - and came to find that Caitlin and I only had ONE twin bed. Someone had taken our other. I figured she’d wake me up and sleep in the twin bed with me when she was ready, but little did I know it’d be so hard to wake me up. She ended up going back to hang out with the rest of the group and stayed up until 7:30 am. ICK! We had to get out of the hostel by 10:30am, and on top of that it was surely 120 degrees and we wanted to climb to the top of Acropolis Hill and see the Parthenon up close. It took us an hour to do what should have taken 20 minutes. We had to stop every 20 steps because we were so ruffed up. It was actually quite hilarious. We spent the rest of the day traveling by train to Athens airport, which led us to the Milan airport, and then we rode a one hour bus to Milan….only then to wake up the next morning at 5:50am to head back to the Milan airport via one hour bus ride. Whew - it’s a lot to trek back home. Before we left Milan we had one more Italian dinner. It was so delicious. It was the same place near the train station that Em and I ate at for our first dinner, so it brought everything around 360.

My flights home didn’t go quite as planned. I flew from Milan to Philadelphia where the weather was fine, but there were flight delays due to the weather in between Chicago and Philadelphia. I sat on the runway with 30-40 other planes for 3 hours waiting for permission to take off or for a re-route. Low and behold I miss my connection in Chicago and am determined not to rent a hotel room there. I sprint to see what flights land anywhere in Texas. It was about 10pm at that point, and there was only one more plane to Texas to Dallas. I managed to get tickets and sprinted to the gate, which was locked and closed, but they let me on still. Thank God! At this point I’m just praying my Aunt can pick me up and I can stay with her, and lucky me - it works out just that way. I had no cell phone remember though, so I’m constantly having to borrow the stranger’s phone next to me. What a mess. I don’t have my luggage of course so Aunt Jackie takes me to Wal Mart at 2am in the morning so I can buy clothes to wear to work the next day in Austin. It’s pretty hilarious because all of the dressing rooms are closed, so I have to try everything on over the clothes I’m wearing out in the aisles including a new bra. I get two hours sleep and fly out for Austin the next morning in time to make it to the conference I was there ready to work at 7:30 am. What an accomplishment. 😊

All in all - I LOVE TRAVELING. I met many interesting people, saw many unique traditions, hiked many paths, climbed many stairs, swam many seas, tried many foods, drank various local liquors and tried to soak in the beauty of it all to keep with me for forever. I couldn’t think of anyone better to finish out this trip with than my sister. She was usually navigator, and I was instigator. 😊 We were a good pair. I loved it all - and can’t wait to share more memories with everyone. Some of the videos are quite hysterical, quite possibly just to me. 😊 I’ll never forget this trip and am so thankful I had the opportunity to take off and just do it. Namaste!

Love you all!

XOXO
Erin

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Photos

Tsigrado beach island
View from my raft

Goodbye Greece!
We'll miss you!

We made it
Keep in mind it's 120 degrees! Mommy!

Sarakiniko beach
First stop