Having arrived back on the late night ferry from Santorini to 'Kejstral', (On the Island of Ios), we woke late but slept really well. Crammed in breakfast we then headed to the bike hire man €25. As ever the bike had no fuel when picked it up, therefore garage first €7 unleaded fuel. The rental guy explains our nice new map it's massive! Unfortunately it had very little on it and, being this huge is quite a handful when on the back of a scooter doing 40 kilometres an hour with a further 35 kilometres of wind ( the map was a shredded mess within an hour) he suggested a few beaches and not much else. So, down to the bottom of the island first. The landscape was quite different from other Islands in that it was rather rocky, barren, no farms or animals. In fact the roads are brilliant but the only thing this 20 minutes of tarmac leads to is a beautiful beach and not a lot else. All that road to a beach, no wonder Greece ran out of finance! A few pretty rental pensions and apartments can be seen from the rocky hills above the beach, with three taverna's all slightly different and no shop at all, not sure how holiday makers get food and shopping! The beach is amazing, crystal clear aqua waters perfect sandy beaches and a little greenery for shade. Umbrellas made from palm leaves with bamboo line the waters edge, blue, green and orange sunbeds are placed seductively awaiting their bathers. The beach is split into two sections one more rock pools and calm sea, the other open sand and clear waters. Both are gorgeous in quite different ways. We stop for refreshments in the slightly more upmarket looking taverna. Locally quarried stone floors lead you through the open fronted garden, palm trees add a certain beauty to the views of golden sand and inviting waters. Very nice place, one downside was the awful rock music at 11.00 am. We persevered, taking in our fill of perfection while we sipped cold drinks with a little bit of head banging on the side! Following the rocky mountain road back until our road splits off to the right, we find one or two small villages, a couple of farms and two cows, so pretty quiet really. Brightly painted bee hives cover the tiered hillsides on the west side of this Island, as really strong winds seem to overwhelm the east. The gusts are so forceful they take your breath away, not to mention your wheels and map! The winds have been the downfall of these last few Islands, the cyclades are renowned for it, it is becoming a battle trying to do anything with 30 knots of wind blowing constantly. On most Islands we have noticed a very strong smell of herbs, mainly out in the more open pieces of land, we have sniffed lots of greenery in our travels but just not sure about this aroma. When we returned to the seafront later that evening we found out it is probably oregano or thyme. One landmark we travelled what seemed like miles for, was Homers Tomb, the great blind poet iin ancient Greek history who wrote, The Iliad and The Odyssey ......... a rocky footpath with a rather grand shaded area alongside led us to the top of an equally rocky hillside, the views were magnificent despite the gale blowing in our ears. Deep cliffs slid down into a deep blue ocean where they came together, white waves crashed forcefully onto the dark wet rocks, it sounded powerful but looked stunning. We dragged ourselves away to see Homers monument. The stone wall edging the pathway was crumbling, stones lay scattered where a sound construction had once been, Kevin decided to carry out a little reconstruction on our way to the top, always the builder! The tomb was surrounded by the continuing stone wall, rather well presented. Hundreds of little piles of this same stone were standing neatly arranged all around us, perhaps as sort of shrines or monuments. It seemed a very simple yet appropriate gesture in this very isolated location. If felt fitting that we too should add our little pile using a few of the discarded rocks creating our own memorial to Homer.
Back down this winding, windy road we passed very little else to capture our attention so we headed back for lunch and siesta. Water and electricity keys can be purchased from €5 upwards on the shoreline, we took advantage of the opportunity to fill water tanks wash 'Kejstral' and charge up cameras and devices. Although our solar is working perfectly, it is good to top up batteries and charge everything we can possibly :) A charter yacht arrived next to us, we climbed out of our comfy bean bags ( ideal for that afternoon doze) to assist the new arrival just as well we did as he managed to smack into the ferry boat on his port side, therefore we were able to prevent him bouncing back into us. Only two near misses !! The supermarket in Ios was brilliant, a good all round selection and we managed to find a few goodies. Cream crackers, not found in Turkey, bacon and corned beef all a bit tricky to get hold of where we live so we stocked up ready for our next passage west to Folegandros. On our way back, we called in for beer in the bar opposite 'Kejstral', just to use the Internet and toilet facilities, very handy and a nice place. Amazing how tiring it is being in the scorching heat with a forceful wind, after tea we settle down to a people watching evening.
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Sailing Kejstral AdventuresRetired and following our dream of sailing around the world Archives
April 2019
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