We escaped Rhodes and made it over to Kos this morning. From the ferry we got views of Turkey, literally a stone’s throw away. It sort of looks like what you’d expect: Brown rocky edges with short scrubby bushes… um, similar to the Greek islands?! (Exactly how do you get the raised eyebrow sentiment into a sentence?)
Well Kos is a modern, Oahu feeling place. It has all the touristy kitsch found on Rhodes, but with bigger, more open cafes. The fine print differences between Rhodes and Kos sums up to our departure of Rhodes: standing on the deck with three young German guys blaring a Sinatraesque lounge music version of Mr. Bojangles on their boom box… causing a strong sense that someone like Fred Astair was going to scoot across the parking lot with some fancy dance steps, then Mickey Mouse was going to be marching along behind, all with the backdrop of a Knights of the Round Table fortressed wall in the background and the Agean Sea behind us… ‘Hmm.’
Kos is just your standard Vespa unmufflered scooters weaving down the main street along the harbor kind of place, lined with fast food cafes and lots of Guiness signs (the Brits have settled). We decided Kos was a bit more palatable than Rhodes.
We already found a cafe on the back streets and finally had our FIRST conversation with a someone that lives on the islands. One of the restaurant workers that is seasonal on the island. After two weeks, we were convinced that Greek culture doesn’t really exist. Sometimes you just roll through too much high volume tourism that keeps the local people you meet out of conversation spectrum. That’s not to say that we don’t get a snippet of conversation from folks working the cafes being nice, it is just that we haven’t had more than those 15 second conversations with anyone. Basically, July and August are nuts and way overpacked here.
Food highlights of the moment:
- Gyro: pita stuffed with greasy pork, tzatziki, and.. woo-hoo!… french fries
- Pork in Spicy Red Sauce: schnitzel in mushroom cream sauce (spicy?! Oh, you menu-writing bastards, may you suffer bland food for life!)
- Turkish Pitta: a fantastic folded bread baked in a wood-fired oven with a cumin flavored dry sausage, tangy cheese, fresh roasted onion and green peppers (Win!)
- Roasted Corn: found on every street corner that usually hosts an icecream trolley, a pastry shop, and a pretzel vendor (We’ve yet to pick one up, but they smell darn good… and rather odd to watch a business man walking around chomping down on one… wonder who is selling toothpicks before the afternoon meetings)
- Ouzo: offered at random and much to our distress as a ‘bonus’ as a post dinner apertif
- Retsina: a fine acquired taste.. we read that the pine resin in the wine is only 1% these days, but in the past it was up to 7% (singe your taste buds on that thought and turn you into a squirrel)
- Fresh Orange Juice: everywhere and cheap… just give up on that U.S. reconstituted goo
Organics in view on these islands:
- Hibiscus: yep
- Banana trees: yep
- Plumeria trees: yep
- Cactus: holding up
- Magnolias: yep
- Olive trees: well, of course
- Lemon and Orange trees: of course
- Plants out of town: scrubby stuff kept in check by goats
- Cats: lots, better fed, some almost chubby on this island, a few with collars, neutering non-existant, good sunspots and bushes to lounge under
Internet:
- satellite connection (Win!)
We keep losing our postings due to poor connections at these Internet cafes, though. You would think I’d learn to copy into a buffer before posting after a third retype… but noooo, not me. Holding on to naiveity with an iron fist keeps you young, I say.
