Wrapping Up Kos

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It took a while to wind down from the excitement of getting here but I soon learned to embrace it. The urgency to have excitement and adventure fill every day subsided as I knew that there was more of that ahead

Routine relaxed to consist of laying by the pool or beach, reading, writing, walking and bathing.

In the evenings after returning from dinner in town we usually sat outdoors near the resort lounge. Here we had WiFi and also a beautiful fresh breeze that came from the beach. The breeze was welcoming. If there was no breeze the mosquitoes were relentless and got a good feed from both of us during our fortnight.

The days have been so long that it hasn't been getting dark until 9.30 pm and to get fresh air into the room we sleep with the screen door only across the sliding door to our patio so the sun streams in at 5am.

Everyone in the resort shares information about where to eat and what to do. We were lucky enough to discover a great Taverna called Alikes that became our favorite. Word of mouth has worked well for this place and everyone ends up recommending it once they have been.

I read somewhere that early season is a good time to visit Greece, or any European Resort. Staff are more relaxed and friendly and excited about the season ahead whereas late season they are exhausted, sick of the tourists and more likely to be intolerant. It is now early season and all our experiences have been positive.

The Greek economic crisis took a head in our last 2 days. We read that Greeks were restricted from withdrawing more than 60 Euro a day from their accounts. Despite this front page news no one was talking about it and without reading the news on line we would have had no idea any crisis was happening

WALKING
When we first arrived I had listened to our neighbours describe what they did during their days. My reaction was one of shock when they described their 10 km walk to Kos town one particular day. I could not fathom doing that in the sun and heat.

As I acclimatized in our second week I also took to walking in different directions from Tigaki. Returning from one of the walks walks telling the newly arrived British tourists what I had done and their reaction was also one of shock. I probably should have held my tongue as Im sue they came to think I was a but case as they were there for the sun and alcohol and we were from totally different planets.

One morning I set off for about 5km on a back road towards Zipari managing a two hour round trip before it got too hot in the middle of the day.

The next day a morning walk around the salt lake to Marmari with a round trip back to Tigaki. The surrounds of Alike Salt lake was home to mainly sheep and litter. On the other hand flamingoes often visited the waters and this was a special sight.

Eventually Tomas also got tired of sitting by the pool and agreed to join me up to Zia in the "mountains". We set off at midday for the 8 km trek up hill. Along the way we passed a few wineries stopping at one for a tasting and rest. What I tried was nice but I am not one to pass comment on wine.

I walked under the shade of my scarf the whole way and a strong breeze gave us a gentle push from behind. It was only one and a half hours later that we made it to the taverna from where we had watched the sunset a few days earlier and then continued another one and a half kilometres to the village of Zia. Zia is lush and green compared to the rest of the island apart from Kos Town.

Magnificent views from all the tavernas draw the tourists and these are taken advantage of by all the little stalls that sell all the Greek specialities. Zia tended to specialise in more organic goods so there were syrups and wines made with cinnamon and cloves and organic cosmetics. On the other end of the scale were the trashy bath mats, wooden penis bottle openers, plastic crap and traditional table mats.

Walking down from Zia we followed the shaded windy road that we had discovered with the motor bike and then stopped for the best ice cream yet at the Special Patisserie in Zipari that I had discovered on one of my other walks. This ice cream was the best yet because it had been so well earned and the anticipation had lasted all day. Tomas went back to the old favorite yogurt cherry and I was adventurous and tried a casata and as I write this I wish I could be eating another one.

We mentioned our walk to our new British friend, Graham, as he was waiting for the airport bus to go back home and he had walked even further up the hill than we had and to top it off he had done it twice.

PEOPLE WE MET
As the pace relaxed we started embracing being rather than doing so much, which gave us the chance to get to know others.

The people we have met have certainly made our holiday here special and unique. Each few days guests at the resort come and go and a special connection sometimes sparks.

I have already mentioned the staff that made our stay extra special.

The more memorable guest encounters have been Jacquie and Pete, the world sailors who have had to take a reluctant pause. Jacquie discovered that she has breast cancer and is about to undertake chemo and a double mastectomy. This was not the type of holiday they normally chose, nor was it for us. We had sunset dates on their deck in the evenings.

Claire and Ian, the British tourists who were doing almost every tour in the brochure and giving us a daily recount. They made us thankful that we had chosen to follow our instincts and forgo the thermal pools on our motorcycle tour. No toilets, nor shade, leaving the pools as a smelly hot bath of diluted urine from the 400, or so, tourists crammed into the small space. Adding to it the inevitable mess from donkeys and goats.

Then Graham from UK, who celebrated his 50th on a Tuesday and Tomas on the following Friday. He joined us at our favorite taverna on the night of Tomas birthday where he was dining with his parents. Graham was close to being a perpetual traveller after retiring from selling the family business.

The two Austrian boys, who had been studying graphic design in Istanbul and were free camping their way from Istanbul to Ireland. I listened to their stories in awe. They had energy and excitement for life and enormous passion. They had free climbed cliffs to sleep in caves and on beaches with turtles. They had seen small details of countries such as India and Turkey and enviously live with the dial for life turned to full and ignore the fears that stop most of us from following our passions. They are unique in a world that tries to enforce conformity.

The four Israelis in their 50s on a boys holiday, hooning around in scooters, windsurfing and eating cakes at our favorite patisserie in Kos Town.

Then there were our Dutch neighbours Maria and Steven who had the experience of knowing Kos so well in their second year visiting and advising us on the highlights

Stories from many were full of passion and inspiring. Each appeared to fully embrace their lives completely aware of how special it was.

On departure from Kos airport it appeared that the facilities were inadequate for the masses of people queuing. We initially sat as our flight was not listed on the board but then I noticed that no one else was sitting; all were in queues, so I asked and was fold to join the 100 metre queue aiming for desks 14 and 15. I noticed that all these people were queuing to check their bags in so asked again. We had no bags to check in and had already downloaded our boarding passes so were allowed to bypass everyone and pass through security. What would have been a nightmare turned out to be totally stress free.

Flights to Manchester and Glasgow left before us and the crowds disappeared. Many of these passengers were accompanied by trains of unhappy children one of which vomited all over the floor which parents conveniently ignored.

By contrast our flight to London had very few families aboard.
Again the flight was crammed and quite uncomfortably, added to by my having tall men on either side of me spreading their knees across most of my legroom whilst sleeping peacefully.

We arrived at Gatwick at 1.30am, 3.30 Greek time and it had been a 4 hour flight so we found some chairs and slept a little.

At day light I went for a little walk in the fresh air. It was a stunning day and not too hot in the morning but the forecast was for 36 degrees and the hottest 1 July in 165 years. We spent the rest of the day in the airport so it was unnoticeable.

On returning to the terminal I came across a policeman holding a machine gun. I chose to go into another lift beside him, rather than join him. In that lift I was then joined by two other police, one with a sniffer dog.

We then caught the free train from North to South terminal and as we were early found some very comfortable, pleasant seats overlooking all the crowds. Many people were sleeping on them so we followed their example and also chatted to some other Australians who were waiting for their flight to Malta.
We only had 6 more hours until our next flight which was to Prague.

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Photos

A Beautiful Taverna
On our way walking up the mountain to Zia

View frin Zia
After a big hit walk up from the coast

Tomas and Graham
At Alikes for Tomas Birthday

Well earned Ice Cream after a Walk
Ice Cream like I have never tasted before.

Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Greece
Beautiful photo

[Sue Harcombe]

Bliss!
It sounds amazing.