The second day aboard the EasyCruise ship, and we were awoken to the Captain informing everyone the ship was passing by some interesting rock formations. I quickly got washed and dressed leaving Kristi to finish getting ready while I went out on deck to investigate.
Similar to the rocks of Sarakiniko beach we had seen the previous day on Milos, the southern tip of the same island, known as Kleftikothe, reminded me of the White Cliffs of Dover. After I had taken some snaps, Kristi joined me and we went inside for breakfast and waited for the ship to reach the island of Ios.
As we entered the harbour of Ormos we passed idyllic domed churches and chapels perched atop the rocky cliffs. The town itself was at the base of hill, with the island’s capital, Chora, at the top. I decided, imagining what the views would be like, that I just had to get to the very top of Chora.
We started our assent, using a steep winding footpath that took us to the top, stopping at regular intervals to admire the growing view behind us. After an exhausting twenty minutes, climbing step after step, in scorching heat, we finally made it to the edge of town.
Chora turned out to be quite idyllic, with white washed buildings and streets so narrow there was barely enough room for us to walk side by side a lot of the time. There were a few shops dotted about the place, but most places seemed to be bars and restaurants.
With most things being shut for the midday siesta, we decided to try and make it to the very top of the hill Chora was built around. It was interesting travelling through the maze of streets was half the time we didn’t know if we were walking through someones backyard, going down a dead end, or actually heading in the right direction.
We finally found our way to the top, where we came across not only fantastic views of the island, but also a great looking church and couple of chapels. Unfortunately we couldn’t look inside, but was still well worth the hike up there.
After a while we headed back to the ship to freshen up before heading back out for dinner later that evening. We returned to the town of Chora, having spotted earlier a restaurant we wanted to try. It turned out to be quite an unusual one, being an Italian restaurant in Greece, run by Australians. The food and service turned out to be excellent though.
To round the evening off, we decided to return to the top of the hill. Wonderfully peaceful we looked down upon the illuminated town, whilst bats darted around us. Well until a group of youths disturbed us, am I getting too old?
The story continues: Greece Tour - Day Eight Amorgos
Previous part of this story: Greece Tour - Day Six Milos
To view photos of our trip to Ios Click Here.
