|
Ios |
|||
|
Ios without any doubt is one of the major party centrals in Greece and the Aegean Sea. It in many ways is a very honest place. People that visit Ios go there to wallow in vice; booze, debauchery, havoc, that's it. The vast majority of the mostly pretty young crowd parties pretty much all night just to pass out and continue as soon as they wake up. If you are older than 25 you might feel like a granddad but then, all cat are grey at night. If you feel young enough for this mayhem you are more than welcome to join the party.
Ios (Greek: Iος) is situated right in the very heart of the Cyclades group and a hilly island with plenty of cliffs. It is in between Naxos and Santorini, about 18 km long and 10km wide. It has an area of about 105 kmē. In 2006 around 1,800 people lived here this number is obviously a lot higher during high season.
To be honest, there is very little to see on Ios. It is said that the most famous Greek poet Homer died here and although this is unconfirmed the locals will gladly show you the alleged gravesite. It's quite a walk so if you need some exercise after all this partying that's the thing to do.
Homer without any doubt is one of the most famous and most influential writers and poets of the ancient world. The tale of the "Trojan War" and of course Homers "Odyssey" are known to pretty much every little child in Western Europe. Even if you did not read the originals you probably have a very good idea who he was. And if someone after a week asks you "So what have you done on Ios?", you can always say, you visited the grave of the founder of Western European Literature. Sounds like an excuse? Yeah well
If you wander through Ios town you soon get the impression that there is nothing but restaurants, bars and pubs. I am obviously exaggerating a bit but besides the impressive number of Irish Pubs (and the even more impressive number of Irish drunks in these pubs) Ios is indeed dominated by seedy bars that attract customers with cheap booze and loud music. And they are fun. You don't go to Ios to do sightseeing. You go to Ios to party, get drunk and with any luck get lucky. Famous (or rather infamous) locations in Ios town are the Slammer-, Statisfaction-, Flames-, the Jungle- and the Red-Bull Bar. You get the idea.
Since most people that visit Ios are backpackers the prices are rather reasonable. Most bars are open until 8 or 9 in the morning. If you go to a restaurant and order breakfast at 6 PM no one will be surprised. Most restaurants cater for the average Ios visitor, meaning prices are somewhere in between moderate and low, so is the quality. Among the better places are Ali Babas (Asian cuisine), Harmony (Mexican) and The Nest (Greek cuisine).
Cheap places to stay are Francescos in the village, a night in the dorm costs about 12 Euro and party 24/7 comes for free, the most popular place however is the "Far Out Beach Club". The camp site at the end of the main beach offers dorms as well. With 8 Euro a night it is the cheapest place on the island. Another popular place to stay is "The Purple Pig". From there it is only an about 15 minutes walk to the village, how long it takes to get back will probably depend on other factors. A night there costs 10 Euro. Both places - "The Purple Pig" and "Far Out" offer various activities; live music for example, BBQ and a swimming pool with bar. Offers Tours Pompeii from several cities in Italy.
For not much more money you can stay in one of the many hotels on Ios. You can book Pelagos Studios on the internet here. The pension is between the old town and Milopotas Beach, the two nightlife centres on Ios. Good rooms with balcony, bath, fridge, Television and air-con are not more than 25 Euro (June 2011). My other favourite on Ios is the Brotherīs Hotel. List of other accommodation on Ios click here. ht allzu weit vom Hafen entfernt (25-30 Euro pro Zimmer).
Getting to Ios - During season there are plenty of ferries from and to Ios. You can easily get to Piraeus, Naxos, Paros, Santorini and Mykonos. Even to Heraklion on Crete you can go from here but not every day. There is no airport on Ios and very few cars. The reason for the latter is quite simple. And if you now guess it is because everyone is drunk all the time anyways you are wrong. There are very few roads on Ios so a car quite frankly makes no sense.
|
|||
