Picking up from the previous blog, we departed the Greek mainland and took at 2 hour HUGE Ferry over to the island of Milos. By the way, Greece has 227 islands, and Milos was one of three we visited. It turned out that the island of Milos was our favorite. In today's blog you'll learn what's needed to get on a ferry, where and what is Milos, and the best means of transportation... and sadly, a difficult dinner experience.
ABOUT THE FERRIES - The ferries to the many Greek islands are huge! They a like giant freighters and have lots of room for trucks and cars and freight to carry to the islands. They have a huge deck or decks for passengers, and to get on the ferry we needed a ticket, Proof of COVID vaccine, completed on-line form of personal info, and our passport. That's a lot to show someone to get onboard!
WHERE IS MILOS? Milos or Melos is a volcanic Greek island in the Aegean Sea, just north of the Sea of Crete. Milos is the southwesternmost island in the Cyclades group.
WHAT IS ON MILOS? There are over 70 beaches, there are archaeological sites (which we will take you to), natural wonders with unique rock formations (which you'll see later on in blogs), sea caves and villages. Milos is shaped like a tilted letter "U."
GETTING ATVS - Milos is a large island with narrow streets, and the landscape appears desert-like (there are few trees). Because of the narrow streets that cover the island, all-terrain vehicles or ATVs are the best thing to rent. ATVs are popular because they are small and can navigate easily through the narrow streets in Milos. Because Tom used to ride a motorcycle in his younger wild days, I let him drive and I played passenger. For once, it was nice to not have to do all the driving (as I do at home). He knew all the tricks to starting it, and keeping it going, too, while some others struggled.
OFF TO THE HOTEL and a SHORT ERRAND RUN - There were 17 of us in the tour group and a couple of us paired up on ATVs, so in total I think there were about 12 ATVs to account for every time we traveled to a spot on the island. We all followed the guide to the hotel and most of the guys went to the pool, including Tom. Because the tour guide, Shane needed to do errands and I'm NOT a pool guy, I opted to join him and one other guy came along on his own ATV (I went on Shane's with him). I got a good overview of the island, all the places he was going to take us the next day, and got a feel for the roads and directions.
DINNER DILEMMA - One of the things we learned quickly when traveling with a group of people you don't know, is that some people won't pay for everything they order at restaurants and expect others to cover it. On the first night in Milos, we drove our ATVs to a restaurant where they put up two long tables for our group outside (it was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit still at 7:30pm, but shaded). We sat with our friends Bill and Bill and there were 6 others at our long table. The other 6 EACH ordered an appetizer and consumed a good deal of alcohol. Tom and I had meatballs with fries and iced teas. Our meal was 26 Euro (I mentally noted it) so we put in 35 Euro to cover a tip. . At the end of the night, Shane got the bill for our table and it was still 70 Euro short. The guys at the end of the table refused to contribute more, despite all the excess they ordered, ate and drank. Tom and I, and Bill and Bill wound up covering the additional 70 Euro (that's between 80-90 U.S. Dollars). The others didn't care... That made Tom and I pretty disgusted. So, I suggested to Shane that people record costs on their phones to make paying tabs more fair and easier (BTW, I don't even drink alcohol, so paying for others' booze is a pet peeve of mine). Of course, we only ate with the group 2 more times and made sure the costs were separate or noted in my phone.
NEXT: Milos Catacombs and a Septic Surprise
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