Yes I could say it for this season. I am saying season instead of summer as summer is too touristic. Season is word used in our sector. For boats, the summer season is spent in the Mediterranean while the winter season is generally spent in the Caribbean. As you can imagine, while I was saying I journeyed too much, I wasn’t saying I was on a holiday, I was working.

Cyclades!

If you are not good enough at geography, it might sound a bit strange. However, Cyclade Islands are a part of Greek islands that we all know. Mykonos, Santorini, Paros, Ios, Milos… These dreamy Greek islands, all constitute the Cyclades.

MILOS

Northwest of Santorini, southwest of Paros and Mykonos, and west of Ios islands. As I’ve told, it is more on the west compared to the other islands. It is relatively closer to the Greek mainland. That’s why it is a bit far away for the Turkish sailors. Turkish sailors sail close to the Turkish mainland around the islands Patmos and Simi. I don’t know why but while Europeans travel around the Mediterranean in 30-meter boats and travel around the world even on 15-meter sailboats, Turks don’t dare sailing 10 miles further. Is it because the businessmen have limited time, or are the captains inexperienced that the boats get rusty anchored at the harbors. If there is a sailor enthusiastic about travelling to Milos, let’s talk about it a bit.

Just like Santorini, it resembles a croissant and this is usually attributed to its volcanic landscape. History of the island can be traced back to the Minoan civilization and even further back. It is also home to the sculpture of Aphrodite (Venus de Milo) and Asklepios, the son of the Greek god Apollo and the goddess Coronis. The history of the islands tells us about the impact of the Turks, and Milos was not spared from this. On each August 31st, they have a festival and they jump over bonfires; very similar to the Turkish Hıdrellez. In the past, this fire was set to alert the islanders about the Turkish tax vessels’ arrival. And when the Turkish vessels left, the islanders jumped over the fire to celebrate. Since it is located between Athens and Crete, the island was commercially important centuries ago, however today, tourism boasts as the most important economic activity on the island.

There are 71 beaches on the island! The port of the island, Adamas, is located on the north. There is a considerable number of beaches on the island, as well as incredibly spectacular coasts with crystal clear waters such as Fyriplaka, Provatas, Papafragas. Your chef, of course, explored all the coasts on motorcycle as soon as we disembarked on the island. If you are not one of those who like to kill the day lying on the beach, I can assure you that you can travel around all these beaches in one day by motorcycle.

You see from the recommendations of a rent-a-motor office that the most exquisite beaches are not accessible by car. They will most probably warn you that you must not ride to the western and eastern part of the island while advicing you to ride to the southern and northern parts of the island. If you’re as adventurous as myself, you might take the challenge and begin to imagine your encounter with the treasure hunters in the caves inspired from the adventures of Indiana Jones. But you have to consider that there are no roads in the don’t-go parts! The rent-a-motorcycle office would tell you that if you ride at these regions, we can’t guarantee anything, and you can’t reach us, since there is no cellular reception there!

They provide you with a map marked full of red lines, restricting your route very a lot, that at end just makes you more curios. If you want to follow your adventurous inner voice, you had better travel on a boat like me, or take a tour boat for € 30-60. I cannot say anything for the tour boats, but do the coves worth to see? Definitely! As you watch the inviting sea hidden beside the protruding rocks, you’ll be grateful that these coasts are not accessible by land.

In addition, you definitely have to see the colorful fisherman’s huts called in the region called ‘Syrmata’. As the perilous times associated with pirates and Turks gradually passed away, people established settlements closer to the sea, becoming fishing villages.

If you ask what to eat in Adamas, there are excellent local fish restaurants on the coastline, called Taverna in Greek. But for now, I will not mention anything about food and save Cyclades cuisine for another time on the.

Maybe you know that I have a collection of photos in which I write my name on different beaches in various cities, countries and islands I’ve been to. The one I took here is at the Sarakiniko cove on Milos island. It is known as the shelter of pirates, hidden inside white rocks. After all this information, you had better put together all your stuff in a travel luggage and take a boat to these beautiful islands.

For next week, I plan to write about Cyclades cuisine and introduce you with the actual Greek cuisine.