Growing Roots in Ios

Ios was the island we stopped at in order to take a ferry to Santorini.  After the adventurous sail we had experienced to get to Ios, we all decided it wouldn’t hurt to spend a day or two to hang out at the marina and chill.  The day or two we had planned to stay, turned into about 4 days hanging out on the boat and in the village because of bad weather, and 1 day spent in Santorini. 

The last day we were in town we were clocking 20 knot winds and there were bands of rain coming through making it just wet enough that we didn’t want to venture out much.  That night it calmed down, or so we though, so we went into town to dinner at “Lord Byrons” a restaurant that had been recommened by an American we met on the bus the first day.  It was a really cool place with lots of stuff on the walls and really good food.  As soon as we got on the bus to go back to the marina town, it began to rain.  Once we stepped off, it was raining but not terribly so I decided to face it and work my way back to the boat.  As soon as I was out of the shelter of the bus stop, it began to pour.  By the time I made it to the grocery store I was dripping and the wind was so strong it was pushing me the other way.  I decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to attempt to board the boat via gang plank because I would for sure end up in the water, which was dark, cold, and between the boat and a cement block.  So I ducked into the Port Police office and was able to actually talk to 4 Coast Guard officers on night duty that were in their 20s and watching bad American reality TV (the show Kendra which they plan on E! about the former Playboy bunny).  We talked the best we could with the language barrier and most of them were in the same boat I am – a degree in one thing, but working in a completely different field.  Some things cross the international barriers more than expected.

Ios was a nice fishing town but had pretty much shut down because it is the end of the season.  We got lucky and were close to the biggest super market on the island, but to get into town we had to take a bus ride and like I said almost everything was closed. 

What we did see was a nice town where backpackers stop on their way to Mykonos or Santorini.  I took some fun photos of the town that I would like to share and some pretty photos of the Pipedream in Greece!  I also have photos of the awesome ferry we took into Santorini… it was very much like a cross between a cruise ship and plan cabin.  I was impressed.

This is a view of our harbor as we were leaving on the ferry.  The church at the end of the point there is all lit up at night, but because of rain and crazy weather, I didn’t get a photo of it.

So much for character integrity.  This Ariel was without shells, the one on the other side of the boat had shells.  There were a bunch of fishing boats like this one (without topless mermaids) lined up against the Harbor.  It was fun watching them fix nets and bait hooks and all the stuff fishermen do.

This is the view from the bus station looking into the village of Ios.  It’s on the top of a hill and was very empty.

Dad and I posing with the whitewashed city in the background.

After lunch on the first day of exploring, we found some windmills.  So far it seems that every island in this area of the islands has windmills still standing.  This is a picture of Dad and I doing our best windmill impression.

They have golden arches here too.  My Dad generally takes photographs of McDonalds from around the world.  We have been taking them in most of the bigger cities where we see them, but there wasn’t one on this island.  Instead there is “MyGyros”.

I am pretty sure this donkey was playing hide and seek…

This is the same donkey.  We saw this man ride his donkey into town and he would sit at one of the cafes and socialize and then get back onto the donkey and ride back into town.

This is the wake the ferry is giving off.  Imagine tubing or skiing behind this guy!

This is one view of our seating area.  We were in the normal seating, but they had a first class cabin and an upstairs.  The seats were very much like airplane seats, tray table and all, but there was a little but more room to stretch your legs and a lot more room once you stood up.

There were 2 café like places like this one where you could buy everything from pastries to beer.  They also had TVs mounted so Dad and I got to watch a game show that we had actually seen in Italy, but had a lot more trouble figuring things out because at least we could pick out some words in Italian.  In Greek we didn’t have a chance.

This is a view of our boat on our way back into the Ios port as the ferry gang plank was being let down.  It was really cool how the ferry docked.  It let out an anchor and then swung itself around the anchor while letting down the car ramp/gangplank.  What would happen though when it swung around is that our boat would be at the base of the wake and we would rock and roll.

This is a view of the Pipedream at sunset from the ferry dock. 

The Pipedream does Greece!  All of the other boats around us had left by this point so we were alone at the dock and I was able to get a great photo of the Pipedream with a Greek church and mountains in the background.