We motored slowly (to make water) to Kos and by
noon were tied up alongside on the outer mole of Kos marina. It’s not a huge marina, and we might have
stayed in the Old Town harbour had we known more about it, but we were planning
to drop off Karl (Tad’s eldest son) who was catching the ferry to Athens in a
couple of days. The marina is curious in
that the entrance is open to the prevailing northerly winds! As such, where we were tied alongside, we had
a considerable swell coming in over the next few days as well as plenty of wind
– not particularly comfortable! The
berths were all occupied and a flotilla came in while we were there as well so
the place was packed! As well, being on
the outer mole meant that we were a good hike from the toilet/shower block, so
out came the bicycles to make that journey a little faster!
Patrick raising the Greek and Q flags
Patrick sitting under Hippocrates' Plane Tree
The citadel of Kos looking towards the old harbour
View from the marina end of town looking towards the Old Harbour
An afternoon walk into town for me to clear us
in, get us checked into Greece and obtain all the necessary documentation,
while the boys wandered through the streets (and of course found a cheap
beer!). We also found the tree under
which Hippocrates was said to lecture to his students and took a photo of
Patrick there (he is hoping to study medicine in the future). That night we had a delicious dinner not far
from the marina – I mention it because it doesn’t look like much but
super-friendly service and great value – it’s called O’ Sakis and is about 200m
from the northern exit of the marina on the west side of the road into town.
Of course a visit to the Aesclepion was a must
so we rented bicycles for the two boys (and used our own as well) to ride the
few kilometres to the site. Of course not everything is well marked and we took
the ‘scenic’ route which was mostly uphill but lovely and quiet with no
traffic. The town of Kos is practically
an archaeological site in its own right with ruins everywhere, and so there
were lots of stops to take a look both on the way to the Aesclepion and on the
way back.
Taking the back roads to the Aesclepion
Some of the sights along the way
View from the top of the Aesclepion
The Aesclepion is a magnificent site with
spectacular views and must have been a very inspiring place to learn and be
healed once upon a time. There is a
small ‘museum’ with a slide show to one side of the site to which very few
people venture but contains some very interesting information.
We cycled back to town for lunch and a visit to
the citadel/castle. Mostly ruins, but
beautiful views over the town and across to Turkey.
The Old Harbour Kos
View of the citadel Kos
View south from the Citadel towards the marina in the distance
The next day we decided to explore the island in
a little more detail – we rented a car and drove south to Kefalos for some more
lovely views over the island. We
discovered a beautiful beach at Agios Stefanos with a tiny island just off the
beach (the water is so shallow you can almost walk there but you do have to
swim a short distance), with a cute chapel ashore. There are some ruins at the northern end of
the beach. We enjoyed a couple of hours of relaxation on rented beach chairs, and
enjoyed being ‘land lubbers’ for a short while.
In the afternoon we drove to Palio Pyli, high up in the mountains on the
north side of Kos and discovered a ‘taverna’ at the end of a dirt road and up
some steps (see Lonely Planet Guide for Kos).
It’s called Orena Taverna and is run by a man who lives alone up there
in the summer. He produces some rather
amazing food (we just let him bring us what he wanted to, which ended up being
grilled meat, salads and dips with lots of bread) and with the most spectacular
view of the 1000 year old ruined fort and the sea beyond, we were in 7th
Heaven!
Agios Stefanos beach with the small islet in the distance
The view from Orena Taverna - worth the hike up!
We then drove to Zia, another (much more
touristy but still lovely) village town where we had an ice cream and bought a
few souvenirs. It would have been a
great place from which to watch the sun set but I didn’t want to drive in the
dark so we headed back to the marina and Bisou for the evening.
Karl left the evening of the following day, so
laundry, packing and generally hanging out was the order of the day. We wandered into town for an early dinner and
I checked us out of Kos (as we would be leaving the next day – the winds
finally laying down).
In the morning, we fuelled Bisou one final time
for the season (the fuel dock is just outside the marina on the south side) and
headed north to Kalimnos. We were able
to sail a short distance before being back to motoring as our heading took us
head on into the wind.
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