Next up in my Greece photo series is Ios, which is also known as a huge party island especially in the July and August months (some say it’s the number one party island in the Mediterranean sea). Sorry to disappoint you, but Andrew and I did no partying on this island! We were actually here for one night, the ferry arrived in the night-time and we had enough time the next day to venture out to explore before our ferry left in the late afternoon to Santorini. The night we got there we walked down towards the port town for a delicious pizza dinner, and the next day we rented a car and headed towards Homer’s Tomb.

Homer’s Tomb

According to ancient tradition, Homer’s mother was from Ios, and the famous Greek poet is buried on the island just off the town of Plakotos.  You can take an idyllic drive up the mountain to his tomb, where you will be lead by a rocky path surrounded by fragrant lavender and wildflowers, until you reach the top of the hill and come upon what looks like a stone altar, austere yet beautiful.

Manganari Beach in Ios

After visiting Homer’s tomb, we drove around the island, stopping to take pictures of the several beaches that came into view.  I believe there’s over 20 beaches in Ios, so it was impossible to stop and see all of them, but just seeing them from the top of the mountain alone was breathtaking.  We didn’t have a lot of time left before we had to return to the hotel to get our bags and board the ferry to Santorini, so we stopped at Manganari Beach, one of the more chill beaches in Ios that stretches about 1 km wide.

We missed a lot of the nightlife action that takes place in the main town of Chora, apparently the party doesn’t start until past 1 am so even if we tried I don’t think we would’ve made it–especially since we were just 4 days into the trip, the jet lag was still somewhat present–and we were still recovering from the wedding that lasted until at least 6 am.  One tip we received from the owners of our hotel was to rent a car rather than a quad or four-wheeler, the horsepower (or something like that) on them typically isn’t very strong so it takes forever to make the hike up the mountainous highways.  It was an excellent tip, especially since we felt we were able to see a lot more of the island.

Stay tuned, the next post will be on the magnificent island of Santorini, that one may have to be split up into two posts because as you can imagine, there were stunning picture opportunities at every turn! Have you been to Ios? Let us know what you thought of it by commenting below.