Milos

This is our return visit to Milos.  In 2015 we stayed with Eleni, and I think I would always want to stay with Eleni in her comfortable, stylish, small hotel.  She remembered us and by the time we left six days later Eleni was suggesting that we come back for six months; she offered to help us find a house to rent, and would give us Greek lessons over coffee each morning.  Very tempting, Eleni!

Again we rented a moto and scooted about the winding roads of Milos discovering new places and returning to our favourites.    We also used the local buses;  such a great way to get around on these small islands.  Just a euro or two, the summer timetables are regular, and the bus trundles around to little corners of the island we might otherwise miss.

On this very hot Thursday we bussed up the hill to the capital, the white hilltop village of Plaka, to visit the Archaeological Museum of Milos, a wonderful old-style museum housed in a stately neoclassical building.  As we enter I couldn't help but breathe in and exhale with a 'wow' as the first thing we see is the most beautiful white sculpture.  Of course we recognise it immediately, it's the Venus de Milo, but not the one that lives in the Greek antiquities section of the Louvre.  Well, it should be that one, but no - the statue we're looking at is a plaster cast made from that original marble statue that is sitting in the Louvre.  You see the Venus de Milo (which is actually Aphrodite of Milos) was found right here in Milos in 1820 by a local farmer.  He found the white Parian marble sculpture in an underground niche that is thought to have been part of the ancient city.  After the discovery, there was such fervent interest in owning the statue (and the Greeks did not want her to go the the Ottoman Turks who ruled Greece at the time) that is is believed Aphrodite's arms were broken off in the rush to get her off the island.  The statue eventually came into the possession of the French Ambassador to Istanbul, who then presented her to King Louis XVI.  In 1821 King Louis donated her to the Louvre.  She has lived there ever since.  This cast is so impressive I can almost imagine it is the original.

A cast made from the Venus de Milo

She really is just as beautiful as the real thing.

The charm of this old-school museum is equal to its
stunning artefacts.

The sculpture gallery of the Archaeological Museum of Milos.

After the museum, we hiked up the hill to the very top
of the Venetian Kastro.  Half way up was this little terrace.

On the way up to Kastro, the views are breathtaking.
This is Panagia Thalassitra with its white dome, peaked
arch and beautiful stone bell tower.

From the very top of the Kastro we spied this beautiful
bay.  Next day we set out on our moto along the dusty
roads to find it.

Another day and a boat trip to the very south western tip of the
island, to Kleftiko.

The clear turquoise waters and stunning white rocks of Kleftiko.

Sailing to the white rocks of Kleftiko.

Gerakas beach where if you dig your feet into the sandy sea
floor just a few metres from the shore it's hot.  Geo-thermally
hot that is.  

It's hot and the Aegean provides instant cooling off. So refreshing.
This is the perfectly clear, deep water of Kleftiko.  We're on our
way to swim in the caves.

Balance.

This is Plathiena - the emerald and turquoise bay we
spied from the very top of Kastro.  It now has a place
on our top 10 swimming locations.  Stunning!

Scooting around the winding, dusty roads.  Right down there,
on the right, that little blue inlet is Firopotomus.

Firopotamus

We love Milos.
(I don't think there's an island in the
Cyclades that we don't love)

FUN FACT:  As the 200 year anniversary of the discovery of Venus de Milo approaches,  the people of Milos have made formal request to the French to have their statue of Aphrodite returned home.