Rita's Place Hotel Ios

... for me.

Ancient Thira is well worth a visit. Perched impossibly on top of a mountain of pure rock it looks out to a view to forever. It’s not hard to imagine the reasoning behind setting a city up this high, even though it must have made life very challenging for the inhabitants. Wandering around the ancient laneways poking in and out of the ruins of houses thousands of years old made me wonder what life must have been life for the original inhabitants ...

... buildings with stunning caldera backdrops that you will need another memory card. It took us almost an hour to reach the village of Imerovigli, another town perched impossibly on the top of the cliffs. Although there was nothing open in this town except the supermarket, this allowed us to get the water we needed (but not the coffee stop we craved...)

We were told that the walk to Oia is two hours, but the literature (once we read it) said 3 hours. We took more than four ...

Traveling from Santorini to Ios, while not really a big distance, took most of the day. We waited around in Santorini port in the morning before boarding, then tried to get some sleep on the ferry. The ferry arrived in to Ios port in the mid-afternoon and we attempted to negotiate through the throng of accommodation offers. The winner was a very persuasive lady who owned several villas at the top of the town. We really didn't have much of a say in it. She ...

... of that exercise... the hill and wake boarding! August 3, 2008 My last and final day in the Greek Islands... we had a true vacation day and got up early. We went to the good pool with the good loungers and baked all day long. Stopped for some good pasta for lunch and continued to bake with the occasional swim in the pool. It was perfect! We had a nice long day of relaxing, good food and good company!!

... Euro and the Pound rule, is tough on the ol' pocketbook. 8. Europop is inescapable. 9. So is Bon Jovi. (And Prince, for that matter, which isn't so bad) 10. Lucerne Switzerland is the most beautiful I've ever been. I'm going to move there. 11. Every day I say a small prayer of thanks for my Ipod. 12. I've invented a game that involves trying to avoid Asians hungry for a photo-op and asking you to take their photo. I ...

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A great view of the Caldera, and I can already imagine the night view of the Caldera.










After lunch we took a walk throughout the Thira area.
The ice creams and dessert selections blew us away!!







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And I have to take a picture of this ...

... until now was actually pretty impressive.
But overall, if you are not a person who appreciate ancient stuff, you won't enjoy it.
We were a little disappointed to see nothing but rocks.
Half way, we asked a couple who is on their way down, whether there is anything interesting up there. The man tell us there is some archaelogical site, and people were ...

... I ended up still getting a car... hahaha. A Smart Car for two. Small and economical. Protected from the cold breeze too! Great! And Ai Ling can be my navigator, and we don't have to shout to talk to each other throughout our journey, good deal good deal.








You probably would have guessed, the first place we went is lunch! We had paella ...

... and honestly, that is all there is to do on this island... party, sleep, beach - repeat. unlike santorini which had sights to see during the day, ios doesn't really have any sights to see. apparently homer's tomb is on this island (maybe he was a party animal too?), but the buses don't go there and it's a 3 hour walk. although i am usually down for walking, in this heat i would probably faint ...

Well, it's been quite some time. Call it laziness, the fact that Groundhog Day mode takes over your life in every way out here, whatever, either way, it's been forever and a day since I've proven to most that I'm actually alive. I joke, but making it out of Ios intact -- especially after two-plus months -- is a bit of an accomplishment. This really is unlike any other place I've been to. I've never been anywhere where I could say, with a straight face, "I had a quiet one last night ...