The Past Month - Part II

So, the next day, we fly off to the island of Kos. We get to the airport there - which is in the middle of the island and not close to any town - and it is hot and dusty. I go outside to get a cab, and I see a dog lying on its side by the kerb. So, I'm thinking it must be dead or something and how gross is that. Then a taxi comes flying up, swerves around the dog and stops. The dog doesn't move a muscle. It must be dead! I go over. No, she's very much alive. I find out from the cabbies that she lives there at the airport! She's very friendly and loved the petting, but didn't try to follow me or anything. And the cabs and buses just drove around her! It was rather funny, and a good intro to the laid-back life in Kos.

We got to the hotel, which was one of those big resort complexes. Uncle Jac called it The Institution and kept making jokes about Matron! It was full of kids and they played music all day by the pool. The beach was just gravel, so we gave it a miss. It was a ways out of Kos Town, about a half hour walk, so not terribly convenient. Plus, the restaurants only served meals at certain times! We really didn't do much at the hotel as it wasn't our scene.

By now it was quite late in the day and we hadn't eaten lunch, so we started walking back towards town, jumped on a bus that came along and jumped off at a nice little "taverna" by the sea. It was like something out of the movie, "Shirley Valentine". We could see the coast of Turkey across the strait, and we had a light meal, a light wine and enjoyed the scenery. It was fantastic! We must have stayed there for an hour after we ate, just enjoying the scenery, sun and talking.

Headed back to the hotel and relaxed for the evening. I went and had a swim after a while, since all the kids were finally gone. The water was lovely, but a bit cool. Nice mild evening, spent a good chunk of the evening sitting on the patio reading.

The next morning we decided to rent bicycles and use them to get around. The bikes were cheap (only about $10 for the day) and we had a blast riding around on them. Parked and locked them by the port in Kos Town and looked around. Found out it was only a 15 minute hydrofoil ride over to Turkey! We didn't have time to go, and if I had been staying longer, I would have, but I had to leave the next day to get back to work. :(

We went into Old Town and looked around at the shops. It was my last day to purchase gifts, so I needed to get on it, as I hadn't got anything for Paul's girls, or for Paul! We found a wonderful spice market and I got some whole nutmeg and cinnamon and some dried chives. All quite inexpensive and very fresh! Also got some honey with nuts marinating in it. MMMM! Honey is one of Kos' specialties.

We ran into a colleague of Uncle Jac's, I shall call them Jennifer and Mike (mostly because I can't remember their real names!). Jennifer works with Uncle Jac at the university in Sydney, Australia, and they were there for the same conference. We made plans to go for dinner later. Uncle Jac headed off shortly thereafter because he was tired of shopping (typical man!) and wanted to hit a beach.

I kept walking around the streets and stumbled upon this amazing archeological site! There were lots of old ruins, and you could just wander around them to your heart's content. There were some dating back to the 2nd century BC, and amazingly intact mosaics and frescos! I've discovered that it was quite common over the centuries to build a new building on the site of an old one, using the same stones from the old building. Some of the more delicate mosaics and frescos were covered over by a roof and had railings around so you couldn't walk on them, but I couldn't believe how it was just out there to wander around in. There was amazingly sophisticated drainage and piping for water and sewage. Everything was so solidly built and so well preserved. It was so, so cool!!!

Eventually I decided to head back to the hotel, so I went and got my bike and started riding back. I took a wrong turn and ended up on this back road touring rural Kos! It was quite interesting seeing things away from the tourist areas - farmyards with chickens running around, people living in stone buildings that looked hundred and hundreds of years old. I found my way back and headed back to the hotel.

We met up with Jennifer and Mike at about 6:30. I forgot to tell you that they are both Greek descent, although they were born in Australia. Everything in the movie, "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is true - they both had to go to Greek school while they were growing up. So, they were invaluable at the restaurant. We went to a restaurant that was recommended in my guide book. It looked pretty tacky when we got there, but the food was amazing. We were there for 5 hours, eating and drinking. It was some of the best Greek food I'd had the whole time. It was aboslutely brilliant! We finished off the evening with Greek coffee (which looks and tastes like coffee-flavoured mud) and baklava. It was a lovely evening.

The next day I had to leave. I packed up and we sat on the grass in the sun for about an hour until it was time to catch the taxi. I had such a lovely time and I really want to go back again. It was so great to be able to spend all that time with Uncle Jac and we plan to go travelling together next summer in Europe.

Here are the pictures from Kos.

http://www.chrisinchiswick.zoomshare.com/1.shtml/Adventures%20in%20Kos