Milos, Greece – An Introduction

Our arrival into Milos in Greece was a lot like a first date. Our Airbnb host Sophia was picking us up from the port (after a two hour ferry from Sifnos) and with her description: “I’m parked in the carpark, near the taxi’s, in a red car” we discreetly scanned the area after disembarking. In the distance, I see a red car with a woman driving and so I lightly jog to her.

“Are you Sophia” I ask with uncertainty.

“Yes” she says, before quickly adding “Sophia who?”

Damn! But wait, there seems to be another lady in red just yonder, I wave the first Sophia off, as we wave hello to Sophia two. The right one. And yes, we nicknamed her Sophia Loren.

Sophia Loren gets out of the car to shake our hand and before we know it, we’re in the back of her Fiat driving across the island, approaching the village, she points out “it’s possible for bakery, mini-market, tavernas and pharmacy”

Sounds ideal…

“Everything is open” her famous last words.

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We stayed in sleepy Pollonia, the furthest we could get from noise pollution and backpackers. We settle into a beautiful studio apartment (Venia’s Guest House), a five minute walk from the tavernas and cafes with our own private beach area – I say private because most people who come to Pollonia wouldn’t know it existed.

To walk into town you need to pass two large silo garbage bins where the local felines hang out. I think I counted eight, but there could have been more hiding inside. It looked like they were organising a coup, but I could be jumping to conclusions.

Some useful things to know about Milos:

• Like Sifnos, if you’re staying in Milos, you’re going to need wheels. We hired a small VW Polo for thirty euro a day. Car, scooter or ATV – which ever you prefer – You need wheels!

• You can pay with credit or debit card everywhere, nobody is missing out on a sale in Milos.

• Similar to Sifnos, you cant drink the tap water… Ah sigh, all our hopes at plastic free travel are at a standstill. Thankfully I have my trusty steel straw so I can still do my bit. You can too – just say no!

After four days our map is well worn.

Some places we visited:

• Plaka for lunch – I was in a foul mood (I can’t remember why), but the food wasn’t great, so we didn’t stay for long.

• The Catacombs were super interesting. Imagine a place where 3,000 bodies are buried underground in 2,000 graves. Chilling. Literally – it was freezing in there.
  
• The Ancient Theatre is a quick walk from there and well worth it! We were lucky to be here for the first edition of the Milos International Theatre Festival and caught a performance on opening night. The acoustics were incredible.

• Tsigrado – the famous beach with the famous ladder to get to it. Ahhh Instagram got me good, I was suckered in following the pictures of others. In our experience – The ladder was sketchy and I wonder if it was the recent rainfall that’s made it this dangerous to get to or if we’re being cautious. The fact that no-one else was down there, said a lot. We gave it a miss.

• So, instead it was over to Firiplaka beach (opposite), we found a secluded area, away from the beach and lay there for the afternoon. We read and waited patiently for the sun – those retched clouds are following me, I’m sure.

• Then off to Provatas, ahhh a sandy beach, I forgot how comforting you are after laying on stone for days.

• Spoilt for choice and dedication to gastronomy, we found the food on Milos, Greece terrible in comparison to Sifnos. Apart from two epic meals out (Rifaki & the other I’ll share next week), the next best meals were our own. Mind you – apparently the best of the best still aren’t open for the season – damn it Sophia Loren !

And YES, OF COURSE WE WENT TO SARAKINIKO! I’ll write more about that in the next post. Along with details about Tripiti, Klima, Papafragas & Filakopi.

My only regret of course is not being able to go on a boat trip around the island. But the weather my dear friend – the weather was not kind and the water too cold to risk it. We’ll have to come back.

Tune in next week to read about the thrills and spills of Milos, our favourite day on the island.

Until then, sojourn farewell xo

PS: Have you been to Milos, Greece?