Ios, the island of dreams! One of the most beautiful islands of Cyclades ideal for all ages!
An amazing destination with traditional housings, amazing beaches, amazing cuisine and not only! You must explore Ios and all of its interesting points your self! Also called “Nios” from locals and Its area is about 109 square kilometers with a population over 2000 people!
This time we visited Ios with a charter boat from Kalamaki after an amazing trip to Poros at Saronic Gulf, Kimolos and Sikinos! It was a long sailing trip but full of experiences we would love to share with you! You can also reach Ios with ferry from Peiraeus or Rafina which first visits other Cycladic islands, like a small tour!
Ios
While cruising Aegean reaching Ios we were all amazed, we read about this island many times for many interesting points and they were all true! When you reach the port you may see something like a small “village” but this is just the beginning! It is just the enterance of Ios! If you need to buy some stuff you are missing you will find whatever you may just a few steps away!
After mooring our boat at the port and doing all the required actions in order to stay there without any problem (Just to notify port police that this boat is ours in order to “charge us” for the mooring) we stared looking for interesting things to do! We went out for some shopping and we began at 18:00 with a small tour up to “Chora” of Ios, just 2 kilometers away from our boat which is the “city” let’s say of the island. A really amazing place, full of white and blue, a classic Cycladic city where can travel you to the past! Slated roads and small churches like the old years are there to show you an interesting part of the island history! Do not miss to visit the church of “Panagia Gremiotissa” at the highest point of Chora! It is a really amazing stop! Since the tour took us many hours exploring chora, we started getting hungry and we stopped at “The mills”. A really amazing and original Greek restaurant with a long history through the years! Located at “Mills” square a very well photoshooted place at Ios since 1969! Try to ask about the special dish of the day! It is always a traditional greek taste that worth it to taste!
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We left “The Mills” at about 23:00 and in our way back to our boat we noticed that Chora was transformed to an amazing Nightlife destination! We started thinking of a drink and we finally visited “Astra Coctail Bar”! Amazing music vibes that make you feel wonderful and some very tasteful cocktails made us to feel like Greeks and stay there up to sunrise! We did it the Greek way!
After this interesting night we have been onboard again and after some hours of sleep and recharging our batteries we left the port for other destinations of Ios! We anchored at “Kolitsani bay” for a dive but we left after some minutes as the beach near was for well known for nudism! We did not know about that and we felt a little bit uncomfortable!
We headed “Milopotas” which beach is the most famous in Ios. We anchored far from the coast and we met the beach with the dinghy. There is a fully equipped beach (about 2 kilometers long!) with umbrellas, sunbeds and beach bars where you can relax and enjoy the sun! You will also find all kinds of water sports like surf, wind surf, wake surf, jet ski, diving and many others! Try diving the sea bottom with complete equipment with professionals near you! You will also find some extras to rend like underwater camera! If you do not have one it worth it for some underwater photos!
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After some hours spending there we had also some conversations with locals and they told us about beaches that are reachable only from water! We found these information very interesting and we started exploring these places! We headed first “Pepa” where is a place near an isolated secret beach, we did not dive there we just used it for a point in our way! After about 2 miles we saw on our left a bay “deep” between rocks, as they told us! We anchored in a safe distance, from the rocks in order to avoid any damages and we used dinghy to go up to the coast. Crystal clear waters, out of wind! A special location to relax and enjoy the sun out of rushy beaches!
We spent many hours there and finally we decided to leave the area and sail to other well known locations and not to search for other secret locations. There are too many things to do at this island that you can not decide from where to start!
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Finally our next destination was “Maganari” at the southerst point of Ios, a unique place with strange geographical relief! The coast was like a lace with small hills near where classic Cycladic buildings use it as their base! A really amazing view! We stayed for the night onboard and next day morning we have been for a walk! We asked locals for interesting sightseens there and they told us about a Byzantine monastery of “Aghios Ioannis” buided at about 17th aion. We also heared that a film was shot there called “Le Grand Blue” and we were interested to watch it! We found a souvenir shop, and except all other small gifts we bought, we found the film in a DVD! . On our way back we decided to stay at the amazing golden sand beach and then go back to boat.
We were feeling exhausted because of the hot weather and all activities we done and it was the perfect time to watch the movie we bought before! Interesting plot with a duration something more than 2 hours. We combined it with some snacks and drinks and after all that we were ready to sleep!
The next day morning, we started sailing the rest of ios we left and it was very interesting! We visited “Psathi” and “Aghia Theodoti” , amazing places like small villages, silent places where the locals will make you feel like home, like one of them! We enjoyed every minute we were there and we did not want to leave but unfortunately we had. It was the last night in Ios and we hope to go back soon for more adventures! We fall in love with this island and we are sure that when you visit it you will understand us completely!
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If you do not visit Ios with your own boat, do not forget to ask about “Sea taxi” in order to visit all the interesting sightseens from sea! It worth it!
If we forget to tell you something is because we do not know from where to start writing. Ask as for whatever you want and we are sure that from our personal experience that we will help you!
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