September 2017: Kos

September

Kos was our last true destination before we would all be heading our separate ways in Athens. It was bittersweet knowing our adventures would soon be over, but still having one last place to explore. 

We were lucky enough to stay in a truly unique accomodation - an Airbnb in a ruined village. Our host also ran a little taverna in the village, and the whole place was extremely atmospheric. 

Called Agios Dimitros (though once called Haihoutes, the name of the family who settled there in the 1800s). This village is considered a hamlet of the larger Asfendiou, and was very much off the beaten track (and up a dirt road in the mountains). 

Whilst highly populated in WWII, as many fled into the mountains to this village (and at one point, apparently NZ soldiers hid here) it became depopulated in the 1950s and 1960s as people moved away to the cities, and was slowly abandoned. 

Wandering the town as pretty much the only occupants was glorious, especially when eating breakfast outside, in the middle of a ruined village! Once or twice, adventurous tourists wandered by, eyeing us wonderingly as we casually dined in the sunshine as if we lived there!

Not having our fill of ruins yet, we visited what is catchily known as the Western Archaeological Zone of Kos town. My favourite part was this paved road dating to the 3rd century BC; it had a drainage pipe system running along one side, and grooves were visible on the road from long ago wheels. 

We also checked out the Odeon, an open air roman theatre in beautiful condition. Christophe kindly took a photo of me playing silly, while Yannick snuck up behind me, beautifully captured in this photo. There are so many wonderful ruins on Kos, it's well worth spending the time to wander them over a couple of days. 

We also checked out the castle and old town of Pyli and then feeling rather tired, later walked the two minutes down the road from our accomodation to the taverna. It was delicious - and interesting as the owner told us more about the village and his own life.

I don't know where this desert was eaten (somewhere on Kos) but I decided it deserves a mention because of how interesting it was. I suppose I'll just have to take a trip back to refresh my memory, what a shame. 

At some point during our Kos travels we were feeling a little ruined out, so we went for a spontaneous drive and happened past a winery (This seems to occur a strange amount when travelling with my family) Well of course we just had to stop..

..And taste the wine! And then buy the wine..I think you see where this is going. 

To clarify, no, we did not buy all the wines pictured below (sadly). In fact it is the array of wines we were able to taste (the dessert wine was especially excellent, though we would have bought one of everything if we were millionaires!)

One of my favourite memories from Kos was a quite spontaneous bar trip; we were going to head home from the beach one lovely evening, enjoying the beautiful sunset across the water, when we spied a rather epic beach bar and couldn't resist popping in for a drink.

Now that is how you have a beachside drink! I was rather gleeful and suddenly felt like I was on a caribbean island (it was all the palm fronds).

I took a last wander around our ruined village before we left it for good, spotting this goat wandering through the ruins as I did so. How very Greek!

It was strange to be saying goodbye, both to my travels and my family as I was at the end of my trip, and they were continuing on (the lucky buggers). However the upside was knowing I would see them all again in the not-too-distant future (spoiler alert, prepare for good wine and cheese in the coming months!) and I was excited to begin my Masters in Sheffield!