Milos

The hotel in which we stayed on Milos, was called Portiani. A great place to be based as it was right in the centre of the harbour area and so close to everthing that was open.
We had a small suite with sitting area, large bedroom, bathroom and a huge balcony area over which we could view the happenings in the port.

The port town of Adamas as seen from our hotel balcony.
The weather, apart from half a day, was warm and sunny. It was important by this stage to find a laundromat. Washing everything by hand is all very well, but generally things at best get a very good rinse not a propper wash and drying heavy jeans is an impossibility in a hotel room.
Having sussed out the laundry, we decided to wait until our last day before washing everything. We priced a small hire car and borrowed it for two days so we could explore the island.

More scenes looking at the harbour from different angles. The island of Milos has a wonderful natural harbour, created by the half-moon shape of the island. The water is very deep and sheltered. So the port is really well protected and safe for all kinds of vessels. Unlike Sifnos, the ferries can land here even if the weather turns really nasty.

There are some really interesting ancient hustorical sites on Milos. These are the catacombs, dug into the teff (soft volcanic matter), where the Romans and later the Christians burried their dead. Many well preserved ancient artifacts were found here; most are currently being held in the main museum in Athens.

There is also a very beautiful ancient Roman theatre on the island. All of you will know of the very famous Venus di Milo, in the Louvre, France. Well guess where it came from? Here! I had never made the connection between the statue's name and this island before. As you probably know, Venus di Milo has its own space in the Louvre and is one of the greatest treasures of the ancient world.
The local story is that a farmer was ploughing his field one day and unearthed Venus. He fell in love with the beauty of the statue and hid it in one of his farm sheds. His wife became really jealous of the time he spent looking at and admiring the statue, so she contacted various authorities around the world. Yup, the French stole it!

The car we hired was a very small Chevrolet. It ran on the smell of an oily rag and had a very small engine. We were not allowed to drive on any dirt roads. Given the very low clearance and tiny tyre size, this was no wonder. With this small car, we travelled as far around the island as we could to discover its treasures.

Unfortunately most of the museums were closed for the season. This ruin, however was open. The ruins are Micean, but not well preserved and only one short path to follow.
There are tantilising glimpses of possible ancient civilizations at every turn with stone walls and stone terraces everywhere.

When the tourist season of seven months is over, the island returns to its fishing and mining.

Bentonite is mined here; used for the building industry, medicine and kitty litter. A general cargo ship at the bentonite terminal was filling its hold with the volcanic clay whilst we were on Milos.
Yesterday, after having returned the car we walked to the other end of the harbour. Here we found a thermal bath house, called Hippocrate's Cave. It looked really interesting, but like most other things of interest was closed for the winter.