On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
otmar
I haven’t submitted pictures for “On the Road” in a while. My travelling was very light over the last 18 months, as covid completely killed my business travel. But just as last summer, we managed to squeeze in a vacation in Greece between the waves of Covid. We went with what we know: a club on Kos (one of the Dodecanese island, close to the Turkish town of Bodrum) where all four of us find the features we need to relax and recharge our batteries. This year, we dug deep in our travel and time budget and stayed for 20 days.
A few years back we rented a car for a day and explored the east part of the island, including the capital Kos itself. This year we also got ourselves a car, but this time we focused on the western part. Here are some impressions from that day.
But first, no series of pictures from Greece can skip the “boat on the beach” motif. This one was taken a bit east of Mastichiari.
In the middle of the island, close to the airport, there is the castle of Antimachia , built by the knights of Saint John (dating back to the 14th century). The picture is the view from the castle in southern direction, you can see the volcanic island of Nisiros.
Driving west, we passed through Kefalos. The pattern is typical: you have the old city somewhat inland, in a defensible position. And below, there are now rows of hotels on the beach. This picture was taken from the hills / nature park on the southwestern tip of the island looking north.
We walked though the old city. This is one of the places on the island, that is not completely overrun by tourists. It’s obvious that people actually live here. There is a newly built church and this cemetery. This is completely different to the ones we have in Austria. Instead of digging graves, they are building small chambers above ground (I’ve seen similar ones in New Orleans), and that in bizarrely chaotic manner.
We got our lunch at a very nice restaurant (Aghios Theologos) at the end of the paved road on the western end of the island. When we rented our car, the lady was adamant that we must not use the gravel roads (or hire a 4×4). Apparently, they had to salvage their share of rentals stuck in sand and gravel. Overall, the traffic on the island seems to be around 50% tourists in rental cars or some sort of buggies.
For dinner, we drove to Zia, a village on the north side of the largest mountain here, which is apparently the spot on the island to dine while the sun sets into the sea. Very touristy, but actually really nice and scenic. The church is Kimissis tis Theotokou, the bright spot behind it is the salt lake of Alikes, close to Marmari. The other islands on the picture are Kalimnos on the left and Pserimos on the right.
Emmyelle
I went to Kos in ‘96 and have 25 year old versions of this same pictures. Such a beautiful island. We went biking or hiking pretty much every day. Went to Marmari, Tigaki, Thermes. Hiked around Kafalos, took a boat to Nisyros, did the bus to the volcano, and hiked down. Ate greek salad and drank greek coffee every day. We did one of these last minute trips that Germans do (I was living there at the time) where you get a really cheap charter flight and hotel package as long as you are open to going wherever they have a spot two weeks out. So Kos it was. We didn’t spend much money and had a great time.
lowtechcyclist
So for twenty days, it was your daily Kos?
I’ll show myself out now.
Betty
Looks like a great refresher.
Elma
We spent a day on Kos during our Greek Islands cruise in 2017. Not long after, there was an earthquake that damaged some of the sights we had visited. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions!! I think Mother Nature is telling me to stay at home and not endanger tourist destinations.
cope
Wonderful pictures of beautiful places, thanks for posting them. When I was young, I was most interested in visiting wild mountain and desert realms. Tranquil islands soaked in Sun: not so much. Now, I’m old and it’s “bring on the sun-soaked, restful islands”. Life is funny, no?
Thanks again.
SkyBluePink
Lovely pics.
Cemetery very intriguing.
BigJimSlade
@lowtechcyclist: I dunno, I don’t even see any orange in those pictures. I would think the great orange satan (atrios would call it that) would be visible at some point ;-)
Yutsano
Appropriate musical interlude.
emmyelle
I also remember at Marmari feeling like I could, on a good day, swim to Pserimos. More a comment on the distance, or perceived distance, than on my swimming skills.
J R in WV
Otmar, great to hear from you again. Don’t forget, you can take pics just down the street from your home and they will be wildly new and different to us across the pond. And your Greek Island adventure looks like it was really wonderful, love the Island feeling.
Thanks for sharing, please do keep in touch !!