First stop on the island hopping agenda was Naxos. It's a reasonably quiet island popular with families and groups (especially loud annoying French teenagers), but Naxos town is buzzing with bars and restaurants right through the night. We found ourselves a nice shady campground as our base, and then in Lecky's new love, Buggy, we zipped up and down the coast swimming in the azure blue water and sunning ourselves on gorgeous beaches. We drove Buggy to and from the open air cinema, through farmland areas and up to the Temple of Dimitri. In Buggy we found ourselves the envy of other mere pedestrians - that is, until our rental period finished and we were once again relegated to the status of wheel-less plebs.
Next stop - Ios. This small, barren looking island has a reputation for partying, and as soon as we rolled into our beachfront campsite we realised that we were stepping into a permanent schoolies week / spring break gig, complete with the mandatory wet t-shirt competetion (predictably, won by blonde twins). The only problem being that the average age was about 20, so we felt a bit like toolies arriving 5 years too late. The campsite was chockers with tents, bungalows and sleeping bag campers, with a massive pool, bar and restaurant out the front and hip tunes cranking until late so everyone had a beat to strut to. And were there some posers getting around! The highlight of Ios for me however had nothing to do with the beach, posers or even alcohol. While walking along the beach road I spotted a guy on horseback trying to lead another horse, which wasn't co-operating. When the horse broke free I went and caught it, and then spent the next 2 hours riding up through the narrow cobbled streets of the classic white village, along the side of hills overlooking the ocean, and finally down winding country roads to the paddock where the horses lived. Ater the guy gave me a lift back on his scooter, I met back up with Lecky just in time to catch the second half of Origin 3 online. What a morning!
After several nights of broken sleep and sore throats, it was on to Santorini. There really is nowhere else we've seen that is like this place - sitting out on a restaurant balcony you look out over the ocean sunset, the volcano, and the white buildings perched atop spectacular sheer cliffs, while lines of donkeys draped in bells amble their way up the cobbled lanes after a hard days' work traversing the switchback path down to the small port. It's magical! Less magical is the campsite - after a night of gale force winds and choking dust we packed up and opted for a cheap pension tucked away in the backstreets. The cool clean tiles, crisp white sheets and our very own bathroom feel like million dollar luxury after weeks of hot, dusty campgrounds and cramped hostels. We also rented an ATV (4 wheeler) to check out the rest of the island. The beaches can't compare to those on the other islands - the water is still fantastic and blue, but the beaches are sizzling black volcanic sand which burns your feet. We took a day cruise out to the volcano, hiked around the rocks in the heat, and then cruised on to the hot springs - which may have been slightly exaggerated, the water was warm, but it looked like there were pipes heading into the water where the volcanic gases bubbled up. Regardless, it was good fun, and we got to ride the donkeys up the hill in a mad crush of donkeys and legs.
After experiencing a decent taste of the Cyclades islands, we hopped on the midnight red eye ferry to Kos, near Turkey (part of the Dodecanese islands). This island was really pretty and nice, with actual trees and grass, and ruins scattered all through Kos town. Immediately the difference from the previous islands was noticable - the Turkish influence in the buildings, date palms lining the streets, and it felt like people actually lived on the island, as opposed to working through high season. Having come down with a bout of flu, we spent most of our time resting up indoors watching old 90210 and Baywatch episodes, and cooking some meals for the first time in months.
Off to Rhodes next, and who knows after that...
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