All Greek islands claim to be the best. They all seem to have been the peak of civilization for the Greek Islands at some point in history or by some measure or another. Milos was the best of all the Cyclades during the Bronze Age. Being a volcanic island, it has a long history of exporting obsidian tools. Some made it all the way to Egypt, and by that definition, it’s the best. These days, Milos is known for its beaches, where the Aphrodite of Milos (mostly known as the Venus de Milo) was found. I don’t exactly remember why we chose to stop by the island when we made plans, but one thing is for sure: we’re heading there.
We spend our morning back at Volkan on the Rocks. We had breakfast and monopolized a table until it was time to go to Santorini’s port and wait for our ferry.
Santorini’s port suuuucks! It’s at the bottom of the cliff; I can’t see a single establishment that would be a decent coffee shop or restaurant, and there are no signs indicating which of the five “gates” are for which vessels. We had to pick at random between gates one through five, and we ended up picking the wrong one.
Seajet, our ferry line for the trip to Milos, has a reputation for being late. Luckily, we’re off-season with a calm sea, so it was right on time. Also, seats seem to be assigned at random during check-in. We ended up sitting across the aisle from each other, and many people struggled to count or follow the alphabet. I understand that the Roman alphabet might be confusing to the Greeks, but not to a pair of Americans. I get that it’s disappointing being assigned 32A and 33A (one behind the other on the starboard side of the boat), but finding the seat shouldn’t be that hard. Seating was chaotic at best, and we were well underway before everyone was seated. To my great relief, the boarding confusion didn’t repeat when we stopped at Folegandros, leading me to believe that the people who cannot read a ticket depart from Santorini.
Milos is awesome. Not only did we arrive around 17:00, when everyone was at the beach, to find an empty town all to ourselves, but we also got to meet all the cats with no one around! While two other islands on our trip could change our conclusion, at the moment, a healthy cat population correlates strongly with our enjoyment of the island. The fact that our room has a spa and a large balcony is a positive thing, but the cats are really the significant datapoint.
We had an apéro on our balcony with the wines we brought from Santorini and crackers from the excellent Artemis Bakery in Milos. We went for dinner at Flisvos for a long list of good Mezze and some more wine.
The day ended with a soak in the hot tub and some planning for a hike tomorrow.
Places
Flisvos Restaurant · ΑΔΑΜΑΝΤΑ, Plaka 848 00, Greece
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Artemis Bakery · ΑΔΑΜΑΝΤΑΣ ΜΗΛΟΣ, 848 01, Greece
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Volkan on the Rocks · Firostefani, Thira 847 00, Greece
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