Greek island hopping

I'm in Greece. Stranded on Syros and hoping that our ferry to Athens will arrive soon. Our ferry has been delayed due to poor weather; winds so strong they remind me of Saskatchewan! I'm trying to sort out how to use semi colons. Please post and remedy my grammatical errors. We have been placed into rush mode by our Tunisian friends canceling our flight and reassigning it to an earlier date. Not the best of news. So we're hoping this ferry doesn't get cancelled.  On the plus side Tunisia is supposed to be cheaper than Greece!

Rhodes

Enough complaining let me tell you about Greece! We started in Rhodes. Flying in we had a birds eye view of the Greek isles, spread out below us and glowing in the Mediterranean sun.  The flight was followed by a long, hot, standing, bus ride that ended with a nice hotel and dip in the ocean. The ocean was wonderful. It is warmer than in Italy and we had fun floating in its salty waves. We finished off our first day with some Gyros and cold beers/Bacardi breezers. The next day we explored the walled medieval city, with it's original stones crumbling and un-replaced (most castles we have visited have been up-kept and as such don't look or feel old).  Leave it to the Greeks to let something crumble. After a small jaunt around the island Amanda and I opted to leave the more crowded Rhodes and head for the unexploited isle of Tilos.

Tilos

Tilos was beautiful. The whole island was something out of a novel. Friendly Greek people and an immensely pleasing calm pervaded the island.  We arrived at dusk and were welcomed by Greek hotel owners vying for our attention, competing with the buzzing crickets in the background. The island is small. Only three hundred year round inhabitants spread between two towns, Livadia and Megalo Horio. We stayed in Livadia the port town in a studio overlooking the marina!

Red Beach

Our first day we hiked to a secluded beach known as red beach. Upon arrival we found a couple of  naked older ladies. Amanda and I decided to strip as well to avoid appearing as gawkers and to enjoy the simple pleasure swimming naked in the Ocean. We had to run naked from the ocean to our towels as the red sand was extremely hot  and roasted our pale feet in an instant. Hiking back to the town at one p.m., we came to understand why everything was closed in the village. Between noon and five its impossible to do anything but sit and sweat in the shade, as the sun bakes the earth. We finished the day at a charming Greek restaurant where I was able to try local baby goat cooked in lemon and Amanda's Greek salad came simple and unadorned, just veggies and feta.

 

The night brought with it an array of stars. I haven't been able to see stars for a while due to big city lights and it was nice to see the multitude twinkling away up there. Even at night its still hot. The only saving grace is a cool sea breeze that whisks away the    radiating heat from the day.

The hard work of Greek slaves

Our second day was spent on a boat. A captain had sold us on a boat ride with three beach visits and homemade lunch, plus all the Retsina (a type of local Greek white wine) you could drink! Retsina has an earthy flavour. I found out this is due to the wine making process where they add resin to simulate the flavour from when they sealed amphora's with pine resin to keep them from spoiling. This earthiness seems to be in all things Greek. It permeates their bread, coffee and snacks. Because Amanda is vegetarian the Captain had his mother-in-law make us special beans, cooked in tomato sauce and olive oil, that were absolutely fantastic! We were joined by a Swedish family, on vacation, who let us try their Snorkeling equipment. After the one dive we were hooked and shortly after bought our own masks. The day was beautiful and we watched the island pass by with the boat engine chuffing away in the background. The whole island is covered in striations, formed from the countless garden beds the ancient Greeks forced slaves to erect. The raised beds prevent the soil from eroding off the island when it rains. Tilos looks as though some Greek god came down from above and pasted topographic lines onto every surface of the island.

The Biggest Church in Greece

Sunset on Kos

We left the next day on a long ferry ride stopping in Kos and then heading to Syros.  Arriving at four a.m. we were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by the owner of our guesthouse. He was soft spoken and kind and gave us a small tour of Syros in broken English before showing us to our room. The next day turned out to be a painful adventure. Amanda kicked a sea-urchin on our first snorkeling dive and had to head to the hospital to get the spines removed. A very painful experience, one I hope doesn't happen to me. This necessitated us renting a car which ended up being very cool. We drove along winding Greek roads from beach to beach all the next day.  It was too windy to snorkel but we found an amazing beach for bodysurfing and joined the locals frolicking in the windy waters. Syros is so small it takes no more than two hours to circumnavigate the whole island, and great views are to be found everywhere.  For dinner we had cheap but tasty Greek food in a mountain top restaurant overlooking the sea. Enjoying our spanakopita and Rabbit we listened to the wind sigh and watched the sun set.

The most even paving ever

View of Kini Beach, Syros

I think one of the coolest parts of the trip is the ferrys. I watch these monstrous boats lumber into the port and then to my amazement they stop, spin a one eighty, and back up to the pier. There is a guy who's job it is to chuck a rope to another guy on the pier, then they crank the ropes tight and let down the gangway and voila you have arrived! Anyway that's all from Greece for now!!