Travel Log: Greece

Ios

I never thought I'd enjoy doing nothing so much as I did when I was in Ios.

It's a beautiful island full of beaches and not a lot else.

We stayed at hotel Dionysos located on Mylopotas beach. It was beautiful, not quite as elegant as our accommodation in Santorini, but peaceful and pretty nonetheless. 

Ios is great for couples who just want to relax, eat, drink and spend some quality time together, or groups of friends who are happy with sleeping all day and partying all night. There are plenty of water sport options available on the beaches as well to keep the more adventurous occupied. 

 We spent our days lazing around on the couches by the beach, swimming and enjoying bar service by the water, then dining for lunch a bit later in the day at one of the many restaurants before spending the afternoon tanning by the pool and taking advantage of the hotel wifi. The sun sets quite late in the evening, around 8pm, so the days were long and extremely relaxing. We travelled by bus into town, Chora, twice and enjoyed perusing the local stores. 

Stuffed squid I had for lunch one day. Delicious!

The weather was a fair bit warmer in Ios so we didn't have the energy for much else other than relaxing, swimming, eating and drinking. When the evening came, we took our pick of restaurants but didn't enjoy the nightlife as much as expected. There were a lot of insects that came out after dark which made it a bit unbearable for us. We bought repellant but they were thick and made it hard for us to be out after dark. We also didn't get our vaccinations before we went overseas because the only one we were recommended was for mosquitos and we didn't anticipate encountering too many of those during our trip. So we didn't want to risk getting eaten alive by mosquitos and other insects. 

Advice: bring some heavy duty insect repellant.

Mylopotas beach

We enjoyed many lovely meals and cocktails and were able to work on our tan and take relaxation to a whole other level while visiting Ios. We probably didn't need three days there and would have enjoyed it just as much in two, but it sure was a beautiful island.