PART 1: TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY TRIP
I’m always up for an adventure anywhere, but there aren’t many places that leave me saying “I have to come back here again someday!”, rather than “maybe we’ll come back here again someday?” but Milos did that for me!!
(Disclaimer: some pics are out of order. Overall takeaway: Milos is worth it!! Go to Sarakniko, Plaka at sunset, Firiplaka during the day and take a boat to Kleftiko to snorkel with the fishies. Enjoy the Greek food!!)
Milos – May & June 2018. Our flight to get to the Greek islands wasn’t quick or easy, and we were taking all 3 kids, so I already had resigned myself to thinking that Greece probably wouldn’t be as stress free as it appeared in travel blogs. First of all, we had to do FOUR connecting flights just to get there (to London, to Munich, to Heraklion where we stayed the night at the cutest hotel called the Lato Boutique Hotel, then on to Milos), we were jet lagged and the kids were bored, but when we landed at the tiny little airport on Milos, my spirits perked up. The airport was pretty darn cute with its tumbleweeds, dirt landing strip and tiny little baggage carousel. I was excited. We all were. We had made it!!
Picking up the rental car was a breeze. I called the number for Europcar and a few minutes later a guy pulled up to the airport in our rental car. He then went and got in a different car (that wasn’t locked and had the keys inside! This is how the whole island is… totally laid back) and told me to follow him to the rental shop. It was definitely a bit nerve wracking to get into a tiny little car with a stick shift (which I haven’t driven in a couple years) and blindly follow this guy down unfamiliar Greek roads, but I did it and soon enough we were checked in and free to head off to our airbnb!
We stayed in 2 airbnbs while on Milos. Our first place was in Pollonia (see pics above – the food was great!!), which we ended up loving because we could walk to a ton of restaurants and a little beach with a playground. However, I’m glad we stayed there first, because our second place in Plaka was SO much cooler and we would have been disappointed if it had been the reverse (see pics of Plaka below – it’s even cuter in person).
Our first beach adventure of the trip was to Firiplaka. I had read online that this was a must see beach, so off we went!
::I’ve decided to do a little survey for each place, so you can skip all my babble if you want and just get down to business! Here’s what you need to know about Firiplaka.::
We woke up the next day ready to tackle another beach. I had seen Firipotamos beach on this blog: http://blog.jennasuedesign.com/2017/09/greece-athens-milos-santorini-paros/and had actually even reached out to Jenna on instagram to get her opinion on whether we should go to Milos or Santorini. With only 5 nights and jet lag to recover from, I knew we couldn’t do both. I’m happy to say that I think she steered us in the right direction! What I’ve read about Santorini is that it’s expensive, crowded, not that beautiful unless you are actually in Fira or Oia and doesn’t have great beaches. Milos was the opposite of all of that. Milos was definitely the right choice for us (though we’ll come back for you Santorini!).
As far as beauty goes, this beach is a stunner… but not because of the beach which is small and hard, like concrete rather than sand. It’s because of the little houses surrounding this tiny crystal clear bay, with a church and old Greek ruins to boot. If you are a photographer then this is your dream! If you came here for the beach, then I think you’d be disappointed. One thing I didn’t realize while staring at a map is that Firipotamos is not easy to get to! Our little car took a beating going up and down those rocky mountains roads. In fact, one of the funniest moments of this day was when I made the whole family get out of the car and walk up the biggest hills, because our car COULD NOT MAKE IT UP!! Seriously, our dinky little car was just spinning and spinning trying to get up those hills with all 5 of us weighing it down, but I had no problem getting up the hills when I booted my family out of the car. Hahaha
Our third day on Milos was spent in Klima. This is a quaint little village with one amazing restaurant that I highly recommend. We were able to pick our fish out of the fridge and it was caught that morning. So fresh! Mike and I took naps on the beach while the girls played in the shallow calm water. We made friends with a family from the UK, the mom and I bonded over our mutual love of online yoga star “Yoga with Adriene”. Funny how you can be all the way around the world, but find someone who is so similar to you.
We ended up visiting Sarakniko twice on our trip. This place was high on my must see list and it DID NOT disappoint. It’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen in my life.
One thing Milos is known for is it’s epic sunsets. One night we went to the Utopia cafe to watch sunset, and the next day we hiked up to a church to watch the sun slip behind the islands in the distance. I recommend skipping the restaurant (crowded/bad service) and going straight up to the church with a bottle of wine and some snacks! It was the highlight of our time on Milos. Peaceful. Church bells. Roosters crowing in the distance. What could be better?!
Here’s a caption I wrote on instagram: “Mike & I went on a date tonight! We gave the kids 20 euros and told Portia to take them to dinner. They walked to a crepe/pizza place and she ordered/paid all by herself. We basically said “good luck in this tiny Greek town kids! Fend for yourself! See ya” haha and it worked out just fine! They ended up running around looking for stray cats and “adventuring” until we got back from dinner. I love that we have been able to give them lots of freedom on this trip. It also helps that we have a built in babysitter. Thanks Portia!!”
Last but definitely not least was our day spent on a boat snorkeling and enjoying the azure blue Mediterranean sea. We swam in an area called Kleftiko and it was beautiful. Crystal clear crisp water. Big rocks for jumping/cliff diving. Little fish everywhere. It was our favorite family activity! We finished that night with dinner at a place called “Jordan’s Meat-ing” in Pollonia and it was so gooood.
Until next time Greek islands! Next post will be of Athens… can it compare to the magic of Milos?
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