Milos

Greece is not only Athens, so we had to visit some islands. My Greek friends recommended Milos as an island with all beaches you want. We took a ferry to cross the Aegean Sea for a more authentic island experience.

Our ferry was jet powered — it took about 4 hours to get to our destination. It had multiple levels with stores, cafes and balconies. It stopped on some islands with small villages on our way to Milos. The villages were quite small, the islands looks a bit like a desert and I am still curious what the life is like there.

Finally arriving at Milos, we disembarked at the harbor in a small town called Adamantas. The island is C-shaped and the harbor was located inside, protected from the storms. A car on the island is a must — we got white Jeep few blocks away from the ferry terminal. Driving on the island was super chill with 2 small exceptions.

After a quick stop at the local supermarket we got to our accommodation. It was multiple renovated houses connected around big blue pool — nice when the sea is too rough for swimming. Also it had a big kitchen for making those Greek salads and yogurt bowls in the morning.

Another reason for renting that particular villa was its proximity to the most interesting beach on the island — Sarakiniko

The route there resembles a lunar surface and looks quite surreal. Closer to water it looks even more bizarre, like open-air sculpture museum created by the sea winds.

One part of the beach had calm sandy entrance, like a small fjord. On the other side there were cliffs and caves. It was fun to jump, you can choose height according to their courage.

After visiting the beach we headed to a village called Mandrakia that had the cutest little harbor I ever saw. And also there was a seafood restaurant called Medusa. Apart from tasty food it was also interesting to see how they dry freshly caught calamari in the sun.

Next beach on our list was pinky-red. The main challenge with that beach was the entrance. It was narrow passage between the rocks and a few quite height and unstable ladders (with a rope for insurance). We're seen few people just turned back when they reached the second ladder. The beach itself was nice, but not that impressive as it was quite small.

Life on the island seem to be very calm and relaxed. The island is not completely taken over by the tourists, still bunch of local services and business running for the needs of local population. There was some schools and children were playing football on a small stadium. Bunch of truck were going back and forth on the western side of the island — turns out that island is rich in some minerals used in constructions.

For tourists the main event on the island is to gather on the hill above the church and wait for the sunset. Few restaurants on the way there offered some cocktails to go. Lots of pictures are taken, people climbing the roof, but friendly vibes. And when the sun finally hides behind the horizon the round of applause runs around the hill.

Driving was chill for the most part. We had small white Jeep. White color was kinda classic on the island — to avoid overheating the car. And automatic transmission was quite handy in the small villages and especially on the way to spectacular Kilma village — there was a narrow road uphill that can only fit one car, and it was quite busy, we had to drive back and forth multiple times.

Other days we explored more beaches — one with super smooth yellow send and another with beautiful monochromatic pebbles. Our visit was in early September, water temperature was quite pleasant so we swim a lot. And in general after a few days the calm vibes of the island life took over and we did out explorations on a more relaxed pace.

And just a day before our leave the weather got worse. The storm on the way to Athens and our ferry was cancelled just before departure. There was another ferry — slower and smaller, but it was packed in minutes. No flights either. And the forecast for storm was for at least few days. We stuck on the island. On the good note — new guests didn't arrive so it was possible to get back to our previous accommodation. We rented another car for a day, this time it was quite old white Opel, and I felt driving it like a local grandad.

The next day storm calmed a bit and the ferry arrived to pick us up. We departed during sunset and night approached quite quickly on the water. But the biggest thing was the storm outside the harbor. The jet ferry was jumping meters, most people got green faces and some used paper bags. Surprisingly I felt okay, even went to the cafe to eat something.

Recommendations

• Taking ferry was fun, highly recommend
• Car with automatic transmission if you don't have a lot of experience driving on hilly terrain
• Food was nice, but a bit expensive (like 25 euros for a greek salad) — try to mix it with home cooking if on a budget
• Medusa Milos — seafood restaurant with fresh catch and nice view
• Kilma — small village with restaurants just on the water edge
• Marmara Sand Museum — the island is very rich in different types of sands and this is the place to learn more
• Ceramica Kimbe — cute ceramic workshop, perfect for souvenirs

I hope I managed to capture and express the calmness and warmth of our relaxed week there. If you enjoyed this post, feel free to show some love with the heart button below — always makes my day with the lovely feedback! And by the way the button supports multiple likes