Day 26. Santorini - Kos

1:30 wake up alarm. Ahhhh
Ferry to Kos
The reason for this ridiculous start time and indeed our visit to Kos at all, is that it’s the only way for us and more specifically our bike to get to Turkey. The road down to the port seemed steeper and windier than I remember, I’m glad it was dark so we couldn’t see the drop off.
Anyway not much sleep but a little. Had a nice ride but thank goodness there is only one ferry to go and that is only 45 minutes.

First impressions of Kos is very nice. Old port area is very nice and the streets are tree lined. Very rustic. Apparently it’s not so rustic in July and August when the hordes descend but I guess most places are like that.

Our hotel is very nice and the bonus was a couple booked out early so we’re in it by 9:30. Result.

                   View from the hotel.

Had a bit of a wander around, what an interesting place. We set off to get our bearings and walked to the port area where we will leave from tomorrow.

 
 Couldn’t believe my eyes, from walking in a neat little port bay with fishing boats and the odd super yacht, before us as far as the eye could see are beach umbrellas and thousands of holiday makers, mainly older people, I guess taking advantage of shoulder season specials. A plethora of restaurants which all pretty much seemed the same to me.


Back to the older part of town there are ruins from the 5th - 6th century. Some have been excavated and are well kept, and others are totally neglected, overgrown and I guess will disappear in time.
We visited a small amphitheater complex which was quite impressive and well restored and looked after.


It seems there was an earthquake here in around 1935 (familiar) and a lot of the restoration is post then.
We have noticed one or two quite impressive dwellings in amazing locations, but totally abandoned and we wondered why, so maybe that is it.
So its a town with charm as well as over run with holiday makers. Not many visiting the ruins though.


Lovely dinner at a waterside restaurant, a nice way to say goodbye to Greece.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Auckland - Home

Image
This journey doesn’t seem to want to end. Firstly we had to wait in the plane in Bali for 20 minutes so we wouldn’t arrive in Sydney before the 6am opening time.  We were expecting to land in Sydney in a few minutes when the captain informs us there has been a major malfunction with air traffic control and the landing time scheduled for us is outside the window of fuel remaining on board. So we diverted to Canberra for more fuel and a new flight plan to return to Sydney.  We arrived in Sydney 3 hours late and someone had parked their plane in our space!  Of course we missed our connection to Auckland.  We are booked on an afternoon flight, it could have been worse.  We had a lovely day with Paddy and Jules in Auckland with a nice brunch followed by a walk on a local walkway. Very relaxing in the warm sunshine. On Monday we collected the bike with no fuss, it was great to be reunited.   We then had a miserable  ride to Cambridge in torrential rain....
Read more

Day 166. Cameron Highlands - Kuala Lumpur

Image
It was funny packing the bike today knowing that it was for the last time.  The descent from the Cameron Highlands was a delight, narrow winding roads with beautiful bush scenery in cool mountain air.  Before we knew it we were on the motorway and heading for the megatropolis of Kuala Lumpur.  What a massive city.  We entered from the north and are staying in the south closer to the airport.  We navigated the labyrinth of the motorways and found our hotel ok Our hotel is quite large with apartments as well as hotel rooms.  There is a large shopping complex nearby so we should be ok here for a few days. Also the carpark has a carwash with very obliging man so things are falling into place.  The next few days we will be busy organising the shipping for the bike and cleaning it thoroughly for NZ customs.  Suddenly  our journey comes to an end.  It hasn’t sunk in yet.  So this is the last daily post. Thank you all for reading it.  ...
Read more

Tribute to a Tiger

Image
I agonised for months about which bike to bring on this trip and then spent more months preparing it for the journey.  It hasn’t missed a beat.  3 oil changes 3 tyre changes 1 set of front brake pads.  The 14T front sprocket is badly worn and will end its days on display in my workshop.  Punctures 0 đŸ˜„ It has been used and abused, dropped, and ridden on many many roads and trails it was never designed to be on.  This kind of trip is all about compromise, sometimes I wished for a bigger bike, sometimes I was glad it wasn’t bigger.  It has handled everything we have dished out to it and not once let us down.  It is a miracle it hasn’t shaken itself to bits.  It has been a great servant and we couldn’t have asked for more. 
Read more