Phood, Photos & Politics: Visiting the Cyclades: Overview and Milos

Ocean View from Pollonia on Milos

Seven trips to the Greek Islands have included six visits to the Cyclades. My wife has only been to the Northern Aegean island of Chios, a side trip during a vacation in Turkey, three years ago. I wanted to share my knowledge and love of the islands with her. Let me also share it with you.

The first question is when to go. With some exceptions, such as Syros, Rhodes, and Crete, most Greek Islands shut down for winter. Hotels and restaurants are scarce, and transportation is limited. Summer months, particularly July and August, are hot, crowded and expensive. Hotels are double and triple the price charged in Spring or Fall. If you must travel during those months, choose less touristed islands such as Amorgos, Anafi and Donousa. Reserve early.

The two shoulder seasons, from Greek Easter until the end of May, and from mid-September through mid-October are best. If swimming in warm crystal blue water floats your boat, choose fall. September average water temperatures are in the mid-70s and still in the low 70s in October.

Living in Southern California, sand and surf are not a rare treat. I can get my tan at home. But staying on the ocean, enjoying the view and the sound of the waves is special.

In Spring the ocean temperature is in the low 60s. May has different advantages. Food is fresher and more bountiful, including Spring lamb. The world is fresh. The hotels and restaurants are just reopening, repainted, and ready to welcome customers again. Hikers and photographers can enjoy wild flowers. This contrasts with the end of the fall, when even the generous Greek hearts tire of tourists.

View from Kastro on Sifnos

Having chosen your season, you must choose your islands. That is a question of priorities and logistics. If partying and hooking up are priorities, Mykonos and Ios might suit. But they would be a poor fit if you want to experience authentic village life. A nearly universal priority is beautiful beaches.

Chrisopigi Beach on Sifnos

But what kind of beach? Lively, with a wide range of restaurants and accommodations, or quiet and secluded. Is golden sand the goal, or will a pebble beach do?

Other priorities may include, history, archeology, architecture, geological formations, and food specialties.

Logistics largely comes down to transportation. There are three options, ferries, high speed ferries and flights. Ferries are ridiculously cheap and, at least in shoulder season, spacious and comfortable.

High speed ferries are often 5 or more times as expensive as standard ferries. When traveling to or from Athens, flights, if booked in advance, can often be cheaper, and more convenient than high speed ferries. Regular ferries can be a long haul from Athens.

A brief word about packing for ferries. It is much like packing for a flight, but with an exclamation point. When flying, you usually have your valuables and medications in your carryon and clothes and other items in your checked bag. You try to have your carryon light enough so that you can lift it into the overhead compartment.

With a ferry, you leave your larger piece of luggage down below as you board. It is unattended and not secured. You then proceed up a flight of stairs to the seating deck. Obviously you want your valuables with you. Just as obviously, you do not want to carry a heavy bag up and down the stairs. A normal wheeled carryon weighs 8 to 12 pounds empty. I recommend using a nylon or similar duffle with a sleeve that allows it to attach to your wheeled bag.

If you are traveling either to or from Athens, I recommend starting or finishing your island hopping at an island with an airport. In shoulder season few islands, other than the very heavily touristed, have daily ferry connections. Ferry connections will play a role in what order you visit islands, which islands you visit, and how long you stay on each island. The easiest connections are usually within one island group, in this case the cyclades.

Look at a map of the islands to see which islands are near each other heading in a single direction. Check with an online ferry schedule, such as ferryhopper.com to see the frequency of connections.

On to our trip. We had some business to attend to in Istanbul. I also had some system wide American Airlines upgrades I needed to use before they expired. American does not fly to Istanbul, but I figured to upgrade the LAX to London leg, and then upgrade the flight back from Athens.

My original plan was to travel from the coast of Turkey to Samos and from Samos to Ikaria, which ranks high up on the authenticity scale. Ikaria has good ferry connections to the cyclades. We would then visit a few of the cyclades before flying to Athens. The lingering impact of Covid intervened. Even as the virus waned, the Kusadasi to Samos ferries remained on hold.

So instead we flew from Istanbul to Milos by way of Athens. We no longer crave wild parties. But with that exception, we sought all of the above. We chose the following islands: Milos, Kimolos, Sifnos, Syros and Naxos. Kimolos, with only a few hundred residents, and very few tourists, was our venture into authenticity, although pockets of village life can be found on the other islands as well. As I will cover later, Syros offered a different peek into Greek life.

With the exception of Kimolos, all our other destinations had a lure for foodies. Sifnos and Naxos are known for their beaches. Milos is know for its geological formations, and unusual beaches. Syros has unexpected architecture for the Cyclades, neoclassical. Naxos has Venetian and classical ruins as well as access to the archeological treasure trove that is Delos.

Milos and Naxos have airports, which made for perfect bookends for going to and from Athens. Island selection and the length of stays was determined with an eye toward ferry schedules.

MILOS

Although not as dramatic as Santorini, Milos is a stark volcanic island. Mining is still a major source of wealth for the island. There are three areas to stay. In the center are the main villages, including the capital, Plaka. Adamas is the port, with frequent ferry connections and the hub for public transportation. As I have in the past, I chose Pollonia a fishing village/ resort on the northeastern tip of the island.

Pollonia is a zone of tranquility surrounded by the ocean, with a small, but charming, town beach and waterfront gourmet restaurants. The 7 mile taxi trip from the airport to our hotel was a staggering 30 euros. Transportation, including rental cars, is expensive on Milos. In this, as in so many other ways, each island is different.

We stayed at Ostria Vento. Above is the view from our terrace. Walk down towards the ocean, and this is the view in Spring.

The lawn furniture belongs to Nefeli Sunset Studios, another excellent hotel choice, offering some ocean front studios at about a 50% surcharge over the rates at Ostria Vento. Both properties get a 5 star rating on Tripadvisor, my main resource in choosing hotels.

As the saying goes, you cannot choose your relatives, but you can choose your hotel owners. I wanted Roslyn to experience the special warmth that is uniquely Greek. Elpida is the mother, or grandmother (depending on your age), of your dreams. She cannot do enough. Although breakfast is not included in the rate, every morning she has coffee and a different home made cake. One day she asked if we like chickpeas. Having answered in the affirmative, the next day we found a lunch of chickpea soup and a salad in our room. When we left not only did her father drive us to town to catch the ferry to Kimolos, but she made us promise to let her know we arrived safely.

The rates are very reasonable. We arrived on April 27 and left on May 2. The room was 42 dollars a night in April, and 62 for our one night in May. Rates peak at 120 in August.

Every evening was the same scenic walk into town for dinner.

One of our favorite restaurants is Yialos. Perfect food right on the water. There. as at virtually all Greek restaurants, order the house wine which generally is ordered in a half liter size. For between 4 and 6 euros you get a palatable vin ordinare.

They do an excellent taramasalata (fish roe) and the shrimp is as good as it looks. I would note however, that both in Turkey and Greece, the large prawns had a softer texture than we prefer. At Yialos be sure to order french fries. They are fabulous.

Enalion was another waterfront standout.

Two local Milos specialties are tiropita (cheese pie) and octopus stifado (stew). Both were excellent at Enalion, although I admit feeling a bit guilty eating octopus.

Another restaurant, off the water, Jordan's Meating, had not yet opened for the season. But on a prior visit I thoroughly enjoyed their lamb chops.

A prime activity on Milos is to cruise around the Island, seeing unusual rock formations, fishing villages, and enjoying secluded beaches, often only accessible by water. But like mariners of old, we were subject to the whims of weather. Strong winds cancelled our outing. In shoulder season cruises cost from 70 to 120 pounds per person. Most cruises include lunch and drinks.

So our island exploratio was limited to our one day car rental. After much online searching we booked through Avance for 55 euros. Most rental agencies charged from 75 to 120 euros a day. Be aware that to rent a car in Greece you must have an International Driver's License. You can pick one up at Automobile Club in a few minutes. The cost is 25 dollars.

Our first stop was Sarakiniko Beach. This is often called moon beach because of its resemblance to the lunar landscape. I am going to apologize in advance. First my lunar experience is limited, so I cannot confirm the resemblance. More importantly, although I consume a lot of goat, I do not move like one. Online, you will find pictures from those who ventured further down than I.

As the roads got narrower, Roslyn took over the driving. But even in my limited role as navigator, I was an abject failure. We were on the road to Mandraika, with is like the road to Mandalay, but much narrower. Somehow I missed a turnoff. I guess all dirt roads are not alike.

Mandraika is a fishing village with turquoise water and a well reviewed restaurant, Medusa. Since I will not be your navigator, you will no doubt find it as well as Klini, a colorful fishing village.

Toward the end of our day we did stumble on to another fishing village. Each boat is sheltered behind the garage like doors. The family sleeps above.

You might note the lack of turquoise waters and of a gourmet restaurant. Roslyn did.

Instead we ate at To Glaronisia in Tripiti. Tripiti is one of the three villages, which along with Plaka and Triavosolos, house the bulk of the population of Milos.

Roslyn's chicken gyros, not pictured, was the best she had on our trip. As always in Greece the fries were quite good and the salad fresh. Greek servings are generous. These were even more generous than usual. We followed our rule of three. Usually we ordered two appetizers, which are distinguished from entrees by name only, not by portion size, and one entree to share. If I fell prey to my carnivore cravings and chose goat, lamb, or sausage we ordered one appetizer to share and two entrees. Occasionally, we ordered three appetizers.

We headed towards what is generically titled, the Ancient Theater.

In the same area is the site where Venus de Milo, more properly called Aphrodite de Milos, was discovered.

We finished our village tour at Plaka.

A little lameness on my part prevented us from climbing up to the Kastro section. Kastro means castle and refers to the Venetian built portion of the town. We consoled ourselves with hot chocolate.