10 Reasons To Visit The Greek Island Kos

by Dave Seminara on

There are more than 200 inhabited Greek islands and travelers can feel a bit overwhelmed trying to decide which ones they should visit. Most Americans stick to Santorini, Mykonos or Crete but there are scores of other viable alternatives that are just as alluring as these famous locales.

Over the next several weeks, I’ll be reporting on some Greek islands you might want to consider for your next holiday. Our first stop is Kos, a bucolic island of about 30,000 year-round inhabitants that was the home of Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine. Here are several reasons why Kos is well worth a visit.

Direct Flights. Unlike many Greek islands, you can fly directly into Kos on Ryanair from a dozen European cities including London, Rome and Brussels, and a number of other discount airlines, including German Wings, Air Berlin and Easy Jet. We flew from Bari, Italy, for about $100 each, one way. Kos is also a convenient ferry hub where you can continue on to Patmos, Kalymnos, Rhodes, Piraeus (Athens) and a number of other ports.Paradise for Cyclists. Kos is a flat island that is great for cycling. You can get from one end of the island to the other in an hour by car, so it’s just large enough for a nice long bike ride. You can rent a bike for about 4-5€ per day and there are well maintained bike trails all over the island. (But beware the mopeds and motorcycles!) Take a spin around the island and you’ll get amazing views of Bodrum, Turkey, Nissyros and other beautiful islands in the vicinity.

History. If you’d like to do a bit of sightseeing in between visits to the beach and excursions in the area, Kos town has a castle, some impressive ruins that date to the 3rd Century B.C. and a huge, impressively twisty old tree held up by scaffolding where Hippocrates supposedly schooled his students.

A Lively Port. For those in search of a lively base, Kos Town is a good choice, as it has a nice mix of bars, restaurants and shops. The streets are alive until late in the evening during the summer.

Boat Excursions. Kos is a great place to get out on the water without breaking the bank. For 35€ or less per person, you can visit Bodrum, which is just 20 minutes away, Nisyros, a lovely island with an active volcano, or a combination trip involving Kalymnos, home to Greece’s famous sponge divers, and Pserimos, a quiet little place with 15 families and a nice sandy beach. During the high season, there are even more day trip options, including Rhodes and Symi.

Beaches. Just outside of Kos Town there’s a very long pebbly beach with dozens of beach bars that’s great for families. My favorite beach bar is The Artemis Paradise, which is just in front of a nice hotel of the same name (see photo). They have terrific frozen coconut drinks and iced cappuccinos for less than $3 in an idyllic setting.

Outside of Kos Town, you can find nicer sandy beaches. My favorite is Paradise Beach, which can be reached by bus from Kos Town in 45 minutes for €4.40. Tigaki is also quite nice, especially for children, given the shallow waters. Down the way from the main beach, there’s a clothing optional beach for the naturists and exhibitionists.

Good for Kids. Your kids will love the beaches and in the evening take them to Friends Junior, a terrific play place for kids above the Friends Café in Kos Town. For €4, they’ll supervise your kids while you have a coffee or surf the net, and the price includes a big balloon and a drink of their choice. We had to literally drag my 2-year-old kicking and screaming from this place, he liked it so much.

Nightlife. During the high season, and to a lesser degree in the shoulder season, the bars in Kos Town get quite busy. If you want to meet a good-looking Scandinavian, this is a good place to do it. But note that some of the bars trend toward the cheesy side – they play Top 40 music and employ gals dressed in booty shorts to lure in passersby.

Cheap Laundry and Other Good Stuff. If you’re coming to Greece for a short trip, getting your laundry done won’t be an issue but Kos is big enough to support a couple laundromats that don’t have tourist pricing. Easy Laundromat is my favorite. They did a mountain of laundry for us for just €6. The beauty of coming to a mid-size island like Kos is that you can find businesses like this one that cater to locals and have good prices.

Good Food & Cheap Accommodation. I stayed at the Kosta Palace Hotel right on the harbor in a one-bedroom apartment in late May for just €50 per night. I also spent my first two nights at the Hotel Sonia, which is significantly more expensive and the rooms are smaller, but they have better Internet access, a much better breakfast and renovated rooms. There are scores of similar places and the prices go up only a bit during the high season. Our favorite finds on the dining front were Broadway, an inexpensive Greek restaurant that is only a 10-minute walk from the port in Kos Town and Ararat, a really tasty and inexpensive Armenian restaurant, just off the harbor in Kos Town.

Caveats. Kos and especially Kos Town won’t appeal to everyone. Kos is a major destination for Europeans in July and August and from May-September, you’ll be hit with offers for restaurants, bars and excursions left, right and center as you walk around Kos Town’s harbor area. But if you want a quieter, low-key place simply go further out from Kos Town.

[All photos by Dave Seminara]

Delos: the birthplace of a Greek god

by Sean McLachlan on


An ancient theater on the Greek island of Delos has received funding for a major renovation. The Greek government has earmarked 1.5 million euros ($2 million) to make the site more attractive for the thousands of tourists who visit it every year.

Delos was an important religious site in ancient Greece, being the purported birthplace of Apollo. Delos is one of the smallest of the Cyclades Islands, which are a favorite destination for many travelers for their historical importance and natural beauty.

The theater was finished in 250 B.C., and constructed entirely of marble. It could seat up to 6,500 people and it may be used as a theater again once the restoration is completed. Restoration work will include putting together the jigsaw puzzle of many broken pieces of marble, clearing away the plants that have grown on the site and providing drainage to minimize water damage.

The entire island of Delos is one of Greece’s seventeen UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is rich with archaeological remains. Archaeologists from the French School at Athens have been excavating at Delos since 1872 and are still making major finds. One of the most attractive is the Sacred Way leading to the sanctuary of Apollo. The road is flanked with carved lions, much the way sacred paths in Egypt were flanked with sphinxes. Besides Apollo’s sanctuary, there were also spaces set aside as sacred to Dionysus. Several giant phallic symbols sacred to the god of wine and partying have been found. You can see a couple in the photo gallery below.

Sumptuous mosaics have been discovered in many of the buildings as well as statues and richly painted pottery. Many of these finds are displayed in the local museum, one of the best in Greece.

Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

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Greek island for rent

by Melanie Renzulli on

Island-hopping around Greece is one of the most glorious travel activities imaginable until you arrive in Corfu or Santorini or Crete and realize that thousands of other holiday makers had the same idea. If only you could have an island to yourself….

Well, now you can.

Having grown tired of asking cash-strapped Athens for money, Michalis Patros, mayor of the Halki (sometimes Chalki) Islands, has decided to put one of his islets up for rent. Should the Halki municipal council work out leasing details, the tiny island of Alimnia will be available for rent beginning in 2012.

Alimnia is a 4.6 square mile (7.4km) island in the Dodecanese archipelago. Although it has been uninhabited since 1966, Alimnia is a favorite day trip for visitors to Rhodes, which is about four miles away. If you’ve ever been on a boating excursion in the Greek isles, this is one of those land masses where your motorboat or catamaran drops anchor for an hour or so in order to allow you to sun, swim, snorkel, and soak in the scenery.

Rental fees for Alimnia have yet to be disclosed, but one would have to assume renting an island for private use could be pretty pricy. It is also unclear what a potential investor would get should he or she decide to rent Alimnia. An abandoned island doesn’t have towel service and a swim-up bar, for instance. Further, I wonder how or if the Halki council will prevent day trippers from stopping by the island once it has been rented out?

At any rate, a Greek island can be yours if you can afford it. Should this scheme work, I have a feeling Alimnia will be the first of many islands up for rent as Greece looks for new ways of raising funds during tough economic times.

Photo Flickr/Francesco Sgroi

Caribbean cruise is 60% off and kids travel free

by Jamie Rhein on

If you’ve ever thought about taking a Caribbean cruise, here’s a deal for you to consider. MSC Cruise Lines is offering 60% off on a 7-night Caribbean cruise that departs from Ft. Lauderdale and stops at the following ports: San Juan, Puerto Rico; Basseterre, St. Kitts; Philipsburg, St. Maarten; Cartagena, Colombia, Puerto Limón, Costa Rica and Cristóbal, Panama. There are other itineraries as well, so check out the options. Prices range from $349 per person for an inside state room to a few hundred more for a balcony room with an ocean view.

To sweeten the deal, children 17 and under who are accompanied by a paying adult are free. That’s right, free. There needs to be one adult for each child, however. This cruise line is one that offers activities for kids of a variety of ages and the rooms are big enough that four people can share.

This summer I took an MSC cruise on the Musica from Venice to several Greek islands with my 7-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter. All of us loved it, and up until this summer, I was not a cruise type person. In case you’re a cruise type person or wondering if you might be and are looking for a deal as winter cold looms, I didn’t want you to miss this one if it strikes your fancy.

Unfortunately, this sale ends today–November 30, but I’ve noticed MSC cruise line offers deals often so get on the mailing list. If you miss the 60% off, try for 50%.

Flickr photos of 1,000 places to see before you die

by Jamie Rhein on

A friend of a friend of mine sent me a link to a blog post by Molly McCall. Molly has the dibs on a Flickr pool where photographers are uploading their best shots of the places that made it into Patricia Schultz’s book 1000 Places to See Before You Die.

When I went to this Flickr pool myself, I picked out the Sistine Chapel from the thumb nails on the first page straight off. Yep, I agree with this one. It’s worth braving the crowds of Rome to see this gem. I also recognized The Louvre. The rest of the first page thumbnails I’m not too sure about. If it”s between Paris and Rome. I’d choose Rome. If you’d choose Paris, there’s nothing wrong wth that.

With 404 members, this pool of more than 4,000 photos can keep you busy marveling over the variety of places to see in this world. There are close ups, panoramas, buildings and nature that range from the artsy to the mysterious to the bold camera angles. The variety of the composition is a broad as the subject matter.

This shot of Oia, Greece by Avarl reminded me of the trip to Europe I took after I received my undergraduate degree. The day I spent riding a motorcycle around Skopolos, another Greek island was one of my days of perfection. I drew a sketch in my journal of one of the villages that looked quite similar to this one.