Another day, another Greek island – although a totally new island for us, which is nice. We have a car, of course, and are exploring the interior reaches of the island. We’re ready for the first tender – surprised? Right! We’ve now decided though, even if we weren’t “suite whales,” Simon and everyone would still know us. I mean, really? We’re 2 of the small elite group (ok, there are typically only us and Rosanna and Peter – which is how we became fast friends on these voyages!) who are always walking the top deck before 7am, waving to Simon as he goes to get his coffee. We are also always the 1st off the ship while everyone else is basically still sleeping or having breakfast. So, today, tender. First off. Simon is on the gangway as always, looks at us and says, “How did I know it would be you two?” LOL.  It was us and the 40 people on Ship tours!  We actually had to wait 15 minutes on the boat for them to come down.   Too funny. 

Off we go, on a short walk along the water to the rental agency, getting our car easily and heading out onto the road in no time. Our first stop of the day is Asklepieion, a 10 minute drive from town, where the sanctuary of Asklepios is located. Famed for its medical school where Hippocrates was trained….in the 5th Century BC…people used to come from all over seeking treatment for different illnesses. It is easy to find, decent signage and a huge parking lot at the top of the hill outside the entrance. A bus has arrived as we were parking, so we decide to grab a cappuccino from the little cafe at the gates and let the hordes go in ahead of us. As we sit sipping, though, lots of others begin arriving, so we hustle up to the ticket booth, buy our tickets and proceed onto the temple grounds.

Oh my gosh. This place is enormous, on 3 different levels with tons of great information, signage and schematics that show us just how huge this place was when it was in use. Incredible! We start off on the lower level where once the patient rooms and Roman baths stood. It was the entry way to the next 2 levels of the temple. After climbing up the stairs to the middle level, we see the remains of the Temple of Apollo (father of Asklepios) on the right and the Temple of Asklepios himself on the left. The columns still standing for both temples.

Climbing further on the wide steep stairs we reach the top level of the complex where once the Great Altar was located, along with a huge statue of Asklepios. Now though, it consists of ruins and the remains of columns and building cornerstones. But, oh, what a view from up here!

Fabulous. Instead of climbing back down the way we came, we skirted around the top terrace and found the little museum on the premises that houses the remains (some actually whole) of decrees pronounced, incredibly detailed and chiseled right into marble slabs. There was a decree prohibiting the felling of cypress trees in the Sacred Grove, which was anywhere around the Asklepieion temples. Wow.

Back outside, we wandered down past the remaining walls of the lower terrace, where the actual baths were located, we think in the round structures, and found a great fresco remaining in the walls there.

And then we were done. And just in time too – we could barely get out of the complex, it was so packed with people. Seriously, the line to get in stretched all along the narrow little path and back to the cafe at the entrance – and we almost has to linebacker our way through because people took up the whole walkway and wouldn’t move. Yikes!

Happily and safely back in our car, we strike off for our next walk in the woods – Palio Pili, the site of an abandoned village (we are continuing our Italian tradition of exploring abandoned villages). The little village on Mont Kieo was actually the capital of the island from the 11th Century until the 19th. It was abandoned in 1830 due to a cholera epidemic, the houses left to fall prey to the environment, which is how we find them in various states of ruin.

A half an hour drive later, we end up on a dirt road which ends at the path up the mountain to the 9th Century Byzantine castle that was a refuge for the Knights of St. John against pirate attacks. You can see it way, way up there – and well, nope – we’re not doing that. We want to hike, but not become mountain goats. And as soon as we say that – what do we find? Yep. goats. This is now officially the goat tour!

Bypassing our horned friends, we begin a walk up the dirt road, passing all sorts of crumbling stone structures along with pastures that we think might hold more goats along the mountain side? Yeah, don’t know, but we’re keeping clear of any animals today.

Turning uphill at the little stream, we climb in the opposite direction of the houses and the castle up on the hill for stunning views across the hillsides and various structures dotting the landscape. From this angle you can really see the castle up there – and we congratulate ourselves on the decision on not making that climb.

There didn’t seem to be much more to see up this way, making us reverse course back down and the to the right of the stream where we found this trail with and old paint peeling sign that said “Snak bar” on it, and we were Iike, yeah right. 

But, you know, our curiosity is piqued now. Up we climbed, just to see what we could see. A lot of beautiful views on a very narrow dirt pathway is what we saw!

And still we climbed, really climbed. We got way up high on these crazy steps and found this sign on the rocks! 

Again, we were saying. Sure. Cafe. Right.

OMG. There was a cafe up there! Right on top of its own little plateau with and awesome view of the castle across the valley, and, well, we’re stopping for a drink! I only had orange juice while Ed had beer, but still. No way we are not stopping here!

Totally amazing! So, we didn’t climb to the castle, but…..of course we found somewhere to drink while looking at it! Oh – and the bathroom? You must see the bathroom – in an of itself worth the climb…and the view. That last picture is the view from the commode. Couldn’t resist.

We wussied out on the way down by walking down the dirt road that led up to the cafe, where we assume we could have driven – except not. That road was steep as could be, it was bad enough walking down it, driving up? With a stick shift? And no 4WD? Oh no, not happening. The walk was much preferable.

Successfully making it to the car, we began our trek to the other end of the island – passing the airport which is really far from Kos town (this island is way bigger than Patmos!) – driving through the Plaka forest, which was easily missed, and heading toward a couple of beaches and some restaurants we had researched earlier. We made decent time, but we were still a ways away from any of the restaurants I had picked, so we made an executive decision and stopped at the Cavo Greco Sea Bar Restaurant – because they had a sign on the road pointing toward the beach. Great decision! Not only are the views spectacular on the drive down to the restaurant – the views at the restaurant are gorgeous, overlooking a beautiful stretch of coastline. 

A far better deal than our Mykonos beach resort restaurant, Cavo Greco delivered on great food and beverages for half the cost of the other day! Octopus, grilled Haloumi cheese, Shrimp Saganaki, all excellently prepared and yummy. Perfect location for a lovely lunch.

On the way back to town we stopped at the castle of Antimachia which was built in the 14th C by the Order if the Knights of Saint John – and the walls standing are originals! The rest of the place is ruins – with the exception of a couple little chapels still in use – but the whole thing, which is huge, is so cool! Oh – and for a long while we were the ONLY ONES THERE!  So behold – tons of pictures (too many, I know) – flip through or skip as your heart desires.  

1. The Castle Walls

2) The interior of the Castle

3) The views

4) The chapels

See? What did we tell you? Amazing!

Last stop of the day for us – all the other archeological sites were closed on Tuesday and we ditched the White Rock Cave for lunch. That means it is back to town we go, easily finding a parking space for the car (which had us a little concerned when we left), and onto in-town explorations, which didn’t last too long as there wasn’t much to see. The old Agora was a park looking place that was fenced off and everything else was basically shopping and restaurants. We did manage to find Hippocrates’ Plane-tree, where Hippocrates sat and taught his disciples. Legend or no, the tree itself is said to be 500 years old, and, well, it is looking its age! Fortunately it has been fenced off so you can’t do it any harm, and while interesting, not exactly an easy or good photo opp.

We did stop for a drink at a little cafe near the tree, plus a seaside shot out to the ship…

….then it was back to the tender and the ship to cool off – it was hot out there today! We were melting out there!  Once cooled and dined, we took way too many photos of the sunset (how can you not?)…

… before heading to the show for the Singer again. We ended our evening in the Den, with Anna on the keyboard – who is wonderful and talented and oh so fun.

And then we were done. Can’t believe tomorrow is Heraklion and our last port – we’re not counting the overnight in Piraeus – been there, done that, a lot! Time sure does fly, though.