Ios, Greece

A popular line in a Greek song says that Mykonos and Santorini are two penguins in love ‘ερωτευμένοι πιγκουίνοι‘. The reason for this is that most tourists go to Mykonos and Santorini for one long holiday. To Mykonos for the cosmopolitan vibe (who knew that such a tiny island could be so chic) and to Santorini for the views. I had done the same thing two years ago (adding in Mylos, Aegina and Athens into my itinerary) however this year I returned to Santorini and decided skip Mykonos and to hop over to Ios which is a one-hour boat ride from Santorini.

I honestly knew very little about Ios other than it was located between Santorini and Naxos. When googled it I got iOS (which has something to do with the iPhone) and on Wikipedia it is even noted on Ios (island) in order to distinguish it from the phone. If a phone device was more famous than an island then Ios really was a secret and one I hoped worth keeping. My main reason for going was to see something different during my five-day holiday in Santorini. And yes there is a thing a stunning-view-fatigue and I wanted to discover something different. Ios was the next best (and closest) island and I was pleasantly surprised with what we discovered.

We were on the bus on the way to Santorini harbour for our boat to Ios at 9.00. We did not get onto the boat until 10.30 because our bus from Oia in Santorini had to go all round the island to pick people up from other hotels. What Fun! But once we were on the water, sipping a frappe and looking out for dolphins I felt that adventure feeling come on again. We docked at the tiny harbour called Ormos. Welcome to Ios, population 2’024 (but qudrule that in the summer). Our medium-sized ship was too big even for the harbour and I overheard some Greeks saying that that prevented more tourists from visiting. Surely that was a good thing, no? Who would want another tiny island spoilt by all the tourists?

Our tour guide told us that Ios was a party island and its main town, Chora (also know as Ios town) was the capital of the island’s nightlife. I dreaded to think what it would look like. Like Magaluf? Even though it was 11.30 I expected trashy two-for-one drinks, drunk teenagers and people dressed in costume. Other than one or two drunk tourists asleep on the pavement by the bus stop (I kid you not) it was a quaint, quiet town of small shops, market squares and small Churches almost on every street. The trashy tourists were like and old man’s false teeth. They come out at night.

Apart from Chora, Ios has sporadic settlements. Most people live around the main town and the main beach with golden sand called Milopotas which was famous with hippies in the 1970s and now is popular with young tourists. Today the Milopotas Beach area is developed for packaged tourism but the Greek authorities have done a good job of allowing the building to blend in with the beach and its environmental surroundings. I sat on the beach and drank Ouzo. 

Interesting facts about Ios:

Homer's mother was from Ios and Homer's tomb is in Plakotos in the north coast of Ios.

There are 365 Churches in Ios. One for each day of the year, so no excuses for not going to Church every day. 

Greek Tourism Board website on Ios: http://www.visitgreece.gr/en/greek_islands/ios