– sleepy villages and local life –
This is my fourth post on Milos Island. We’ve seen a few villages during our travels around the island in the last few days. As mentioned in my first post, Adamas is the primary port town where most visitors to the island by boat arrive. It’s raw and busy. It’s not particularly pretty, but it has character. And it’s here that you’ll find the best selection of supplies on the island. It also has a Mining Museum.
The best restaurant we dined at in Adamas (and possibly on the island) was O Xamos! Loved their menu handwritten in an excercise book!
The other main port town is Pollonia. It exists mostly as a tourist hub and departure point for boat tours around the island or to other nearby islets. We found it a little inauthentic, though there were some nice spots:
Further inland, we also visited Trypiti, which is just below the main town. This is where you can find a few archaeological sites, including the place where the statue of Venus de Milo was found; the site of an ancient Roman theatre and catacombs used for early Christian burials dating from the first century AD – which is very early in the history of Christianity – some 300 years before it was even recognised as the official religion of the Roman Empire.
We were to discover later on when we visited the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, that Milos was inhabited from Neolithic times and had a very illustrious past in view of its strategic position and resources. It’s been the source of numerous prestigious archaeological finds. Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to Milos’ own museum in Plaka during our stay where we might have learned more – that’s a regret!
Trypiti is a pretty little town that we visited several times during our stay. Here are a few shots of the streets during the day:
And at night, when they turn on the pretty fairy lights everyone turns up for dinner
It was wonderful to discover this around a corner in the middle of town.
It was the tobacconist’s store from which an injured ex-veteran sold cigarettes to all – young! and old – for well over 50 years, every day come rain or shine. It became a gathering point for the locals. When he died, the town decided to commemorate his life by preserving the booth exactly as he left it. What a brilliant way to preserve a small and important part of the village’s history!
We dined at a couple of places in Trypiti. Methismeni Politia, where the meat is cooked for hours in a wood oven, was the restaurant we enjoyed best. The food was very good, and it was lovely sitting in the open garden.
The final main village that we visited was the “capital”, Plaka which sits on top of a hill just above our house.
It has that small archaeological museum I mentioned earlier, as well as a whole range of stores, cafes and restaurants. There are a lot of charming little alleyways and cobblestone streets to wander around and it’s the prime site for sunset watching in the evening – either from the main church or from the kastro (castle) up on the hill – the latter definitely the better of the two.
As an aside, the Greeks seem to love their cats. They have a pretty good life here:
This is a square near the main church in Plaka:
And some more side streets on the way up to the castle:
The walk up to the Kastro is a little steep and uneven but well worth it. This is the good bit!
This lovely church on the way up is a nice place to stop and rest a moment:
And the views when you reach the top of the castle are just breathtaking:
After our walk up the hill we spent some quality time at the Palaios cafe in Plaka. Their orange cake was to die for, and they served good “freddo cappuccino” – which seems to be a brilliant Greek invention as we haven’t had it anywhere else.
Finally, a night shot of Plaka from our rear balcony. The colours are real – no filters – if anything the red was even more intense in real life!
For more about the landscapes of Milos see my next post here
