My new clock
I had forgotten the joys of the open road after living on Paros for such a long time. True, the occasional trip to Athens took the edge off of staying put, but when I began traveling back in 2005 I was always exhilarated by what was around the bend or over the next hill. I have missed this. I seem to have found it again in this little island hopping adventure on which I am currently engaged. First, the ferry schedule mix-up on Ios readjusted me to the realities of the road (or sea, as it were) then, as a result of the schedule changes not only did I spend a lovely day on that island but I was “forced” into coming to Milos, an island not originally on the agenda. I am very happy that this occurred. I have had a lovely time here and met some of the nicest people. Let’s face it, the Greeks are the nicest bunch of folks I have ever met anyway so this is saying a lot. The beaches, the food and the accommodations were all top notch in my book. I stayed at a nice place, just off of the port called “Aphrodite of Milos Hotel Apartments.” The owner, Nikos Mathioudakis is a charming host and was willing to talk about his joys and troubles in the same breath. He was also able to help me with a small load of laundry and send an important fax to America. All of this he did without charge. Ephcharisto para poli Niko!
This morning I was up at 07:00 and out the door with my camera, tripod and a towel. I stopped at the old salt factory on the edge of town and finished up my shoot there, which makes for 5 rolls of Plus-X exposed on Milos. I have 9 rolls left and I am pretty sure I can use them up on Serifos and Sifnos. This will make me happy. After the shoot I went down to a nice sandy beach for an early morning swim. The water was perfect and as the sun rose above the craggy rocks I walked along the edge of the sea to dry off. Then, of course I had to swim some more and then walk around again. I decided to do some stretches and crunches so I did about 50 of those and then, yes, I had another swim. At that point it was edging up to 09:00 and almost time to drop off my reliable Fiat Panda at Nikos Rentals here in Adamas. So I walked around some more, dried off, got dressed and headed back to the road where I had left the Fiat. As I drove back into town I was full of gratitude to be able to be living this life. Truly amazing. I checked out of the hotel and wished Niko good luck for the summer. When I come back to Milos I will stay there again.
I have a few hours until the NEL Aqua Jewel arrives to take me to Serifos and I am sitting in the Puerto Snack Bar, immediately adjacent to the port. It is a decent place and actually only serves Greek fare in the evenings when they make kalamakia but during the day it is more western: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, panini, salads, etc…Excellent espresso freddo, by the way, and lots of shade. It is just after 11:00 and it is already very hot. Poli zesty! If the boat arrives on time (14:05) then I should be on Serifos round 17:30, I think. No matter, however, since I am on a different kind of schedule that pays less attention to timetables and emphasizes the unknown journey over the wine dark sea.
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