He Said:

Before the overnight ferry left port, we were sitting in the Casino Lounge near a crew member who was checking people's tickets . His job was to reflect away any deck class passengers and to make sure only first class got into the lounge. We, of course, were riding deck class and weren't supposed to be there.

Since there were no remaining seats inside the boat for deck class, we contemplated an upgrade. After a few laps around the boat, we decided against it. It turned out that first class on this particular ferry didn't give you access to cushy cabins or cruise-ship like lounges and discos. They were all closed. It only gave you access to sleep on the floors of these places. So we headed above deck and found a bench along the port rail of the ship's stern, and we spent the evening under the Aegean stars.

Despite a rough night of barely sleeping, it turned out to be one of the most memorable nights of the trip thus far, and one I'm sure we'll talk about much more than a night when we decided to splurge for air conditioning and a pool. It seems the best memories on our trip haven't been related to money and amenities . I meditated on the sound of the water all night long and watched with curiosity as a crewmate mindfully unfurled a Greek flag that had become twisted around a lamppost. He nodded after a quiet pause of admiration and went back to his less meaningful on-board duties, and I realized that I have grown quite fond of the brilliant blues and whites of the Greek flag that seem to represent their landscapes so well. At some point during the night, Alli asked me why I wasn't writing my blog, and the only thing I could think to say was, "Why write when you're doing something you can write about." Maybe that's the story of my life.

When morning arrived, we were in the port of Naxos, an island just north of our destination of Ios. We watched the sunrise over the mountains, then the water, then the deck of the ship, which had grown less populated since the night before. Even though we were a bit tired, we were glad we had made the decision not to upgrade, especially when first class often only buys you a title, as was the case in this situation.

Upon arrival, we had a brief problem at the hotel that Jamie and Bill had pre-booked, but we managed to resolve the situation, talked to the friendly owners of the family-run establishment, and I watched as these things I think were hummingbirds darted around a vine of flowers at the hotel restaurant. I'm still not sure what they were, but it was entertaining to watch them . When the rest of Team Greece arrived, we hung out at the great slate tables awarded to the porch of each hotel room, had some ouzo and wine, and made friends with our Aussie neighbors, Adam and Janelle, who happened to be huge race fans and are now officially invited to Indy.

The next day, I took the morning and afternoon to myself to catch up on all the writing I had been living, and then I took a walk out from the main port of Ios to a tiny, Greek Orthodox church that sat on a hill at the harbor's entrance. It was domed and white with an almost igloo-ish quality that all the photos of the Greek isles depict, and a couple who I presumed to be the caretakers of the establishment saw me walking around a kindly unlocked the doors for me to take a look. After all of the gigantic and somewhat ostentatious religious buildings we have been in over the past two months, there was a quiet, humbling quality to this church, and I thought it interesting that a feeling of meekness can come from both types of designs. I walked out past the church along a barren path, and admired a wide shot of the port and main town above it.

On our final day in town, we decided to rent a car so we could really explore the ruggedness of the island. We began at Homer's grave, the place on Ios I was most looking forward to visiting. Homer is one of my favorite storytellers of all times, and note that I didn't call him a writer . In Homer's day, stories were all told orally. So his Iliad and Odyssey might have been told at the dinner table or around a fire at night, and as Bill and I imagined, they may have even been told back to back as part of a doubleheader in the case of a rainout. The grave, though, is quite modest, and even though he did live and die here, there is some debate as to whether this is actually his burial site. It was nice to spend some time with him nonetheless.

We also discovered a few of the more remote beaches on Ios and were able to photograph Jamie and Bill in Greek beach chairs they had found on the internet at work and were looking forward to filling. They then took a walk, and Alli and I sat down to listen to the surf move the large pieces of sand from the beach to the Aegean to the beach and back to the sea again. It was near the end of the day and we were a bit tired. I was the only one able to push out words for a long time, and all I could say was, "I think the tide's going out ." Somehow, we eventually pried ourselves out of those chairs. On the ride back we passed a herd of goats on a road high above town and took in some amazing vistas of the bluish water below that we've all said doesn't look real. During that car ride, my perception of Greece went from charming to enchanting.

Dinner that night was probably the best we've had yet, as we were joined by Adam and Janelle, had authentic Greek food at a great family-run, port-side restaurant, and had a waitress that couldn't have been nicer to me. By the end of the meal she called me a child - well, OK, what can I say about that - but she also said I looked the youngest of anyone at the table, and preceded to twice give me the Greek double kiss, which for the mathematically challenged, equals four. Alli was in the bathroom and missed the whole thing.

Team Greece decided that our time in Ios was over, so we decided to make an early night of it to pack for our morning departure . I somewhat reluctantly agreed because I sort of wanted to stay out a little longer to try to find the infamously-famous party scene in the upper part of town that had somehow eluded us during our first few nights. Of all the passages in all the guidebooks I had read about Ios, this is the one I remember:

"In Ios, you'll inevitably wind up going to bed with the person you had drinks with that night."

Though the party scene was a far cry from 15 Frat Row, it was still Greek. And after having drinks together that night, Alli and I did wind up going home together. Thus, the guidebook was validated and my place on the boat the next morning was secured.

She said:

When we bought overnight ferry tickets to Ios from the travel agent, she assured us we would have seats inside and that there was no need to upgrade to first class. We believed her since first class seats were twice the price and took our time getting to the boat . When we arrived, we quickly realized that we were grossly misinformed and all together missed "the amazing race" for an inside seat in the tiny lounge of deck class. Trying to figure out what to do, we unintentionally entered a first class area to regroup and were swiftly told that we had deck class and should proceed to the proper deck. The man did, however, have pity on us as we were totally mislead and allowed us to wait there until the ship sailed for a potential first class upgrade. As we sat in the cushioned booth that was first class, we realized that was all first class was - a guaranteed seat on a cushioned bench. Feeling adventurous and hoping it would be as romantic as it sounded, we decided to join our fellow deck class passengers and picked our very own bench on deck for the night.

Sailing at night, under the stars, and listening to the crash of the waves is very calming. There is a hint of romance as well; however, I imagine it would be more pronounced given a more comfortable place to recline and some privacy! Nonetheless, we didn't regret our decision to sleep on a park bench under the stars, and though we didn't get much sleep, we stayed up talking and witnessed a beautiful sunrise over Naxos .

We arrived to Ios early in the morning and were greeted by what seemed like a small, quiet island lined with beautiful boats and port cafes...and bees. Apparently, Ios has a small problem with bees, and although they have good honey, it becomes quite an issue when you are eating. We had some coffee to kill time before check-in and proceeded to the hotel for a much needed nap. After some confusion with room changes because of a family who hadn't yet vacated our reserved rooms due to a motor scooter accident, we settled in and got some sleep until Jamie and Bill arrived.

Upon arrival, we picked up some groceries and wine at the supermarket and settled in to what would be our hang-out for the next few days - the porch.

Porch sidebar: Porches are really great architectural inventions. They allow time outside, while still having all the amenities of the inside just a few feet away . They also allow the possibility of meeting neighbors, or just people watching if you choose. I had a porch in college which served as a great social arena, and I am pretty sure it's where the Omara's began their romance! In New York, our porch was more of a stoop, but nonetheless, allowed us to meet one of the greatest boxers of all time (Jimmy Gambino), see multiple celebrities enter Cones or John's pizza, watch both the Halloween parade and the Gay Pride parade up close, and finally, to develop a friendship and "stoop time" with our neighbors Fred and Jared. In Ios, it's where we met Adam and Janelle.

Anyway, we sat on the porch and met our Aussie neighbors, whom we would end up spending much of our time with in Ios. Our hotel was down by the port, so we decided to check out a restaurant up in the hill town where supposedly all the nightlife occurs. We went for dinner at a restaurant recommended by the pool bartender, with the disclaimer that all restaurants up in the town were touristy. The place was pretty lively and the owners took great pride in their menu. Unfortunately, they didn't take as much care in cooking the food because most of what we ordered was overcooked. But, it was still an enjoyable dinner, and of course, the company was even better.

The next day, I headed to the beach with Jamie and Bill while my "I-hate-lounge-chair-tanning" husband caught up on some writing and local exploration . We settled into the local beach after a short 15-minute bus ride. It was nice to relax, catch up on People magazine gossip that Jamie so thoughtfully brought for me, and a dip in the chilly Aegean Sea to cool off. Jamie joined in the topless European phenomenon while I remained covered up since I was in the presence of my brother-in-law.

Boob Sidebar: What's the big deal about boobs? I mean we all have them, so why is it so taboo to show them? Who decided it would be ok to show our chest, stomach, legs, and butt, but not boobs (let's face it, a bathing suit does not hide much, especially g-strings with skimpy tops?) Why does a man get to reveal his chest, but women are forced to have ugly tan lines? Sure, boobs can be used in a sexual way, but topless tanning is not a sexual thing, and in Europe, most people don't even look twice. Bill was a good sport and offered to look away, but I declined fearing it would be weird. But I gotta tell you, I don't understand why...

Bill organized a car rental for noon the next day, so we all slept in, had some coffee, and picked up the red Samurai. We drove through much of Ios's winding roads, requiring frequent beeps from our driver Bill as we rounded narrow bends. We stopped and paid homage to Chad's good friend Homer, although it is highly suspect if he is even buried there. From there, we explored a few different beaches . The first beach was rockier with great swimming and nude Germans. Jamie and I went swimming and decided to take a stand. Since both Chad and Bill were present, and the playing field was equal, we took our tops off and returned to our lounge chairs. I am only including this because their reaction was hilarious. Chad looked up, laughed, looked at Bill, and then immediately returned to his magazine. Bill, seeing us coming, moved his book lower to avoid eye contact and began to chuckle.

The second beach we went to was sandier and nudism was prohibited. We grabbed some snacks and enjoyed the view. The third stop was purely to enjoy the sunset. We had some umbrella drinks, beers, and ouzo and watched a beautiful sunset over Ios.

That night, we had dinner with our Aussie neighbors again. We went to a port side restaurant recommended for its homemade food and family run style. We were served by the cook's daughter, who took a liking to us all immediately . She recommended dishes that turned out to be some of the best Greek food we've had. Through the course of the meal, we heard all about her life, the family restaurant, and met her son. She took a special liking to the boys, and by the end of the meal knew them as we all do. She told Bill that he talks too much and told Chad that he was the child of the group...pretty good for having just met them! Chad told her she looked younger than her age and earned himself a double kiss. Apparently, I missed the second round!

The Attorneys Said:

After receiving a gyro's welcome in Athens at the Grand Bretagne (double entendre intended), we migrated - albeit via airplane - to shall we say less plush digs in order to stay with ChAlli. We arrived in the Ios port after a short twin hull catamaran ride from Santorini (the nearest island with an airport). The views of the cliffs were unbelievably dramatic from the water. The hotel was actually quite nice with a pool and clean-ish rooms . The owner of the hotel, who had to be pushing 65, grabbed our largest bag despite Bill's protest and warning that he might slip a disc in his back. Sure enough, he swooped the bag up and put the leaden luggage on his shoulder, ascending the uneven steps without hesitation.

Our initial room, which was adjacent to Alli and Chad, disappointingly, only had twin beds, so Bill requested a room with a double bed in the most rudimentary linguistic fashion possible, by pointing to his wedding ring. The owner's son responded in broken but unmistakable English, "You want bed together maybe now, but wait couple years, you ask for separate beds." We all laughed heartily as we ascended still more steps to a room with a double bed.

Being both cuisine and beach junkies we were immediately ready to find the closest restaurant. You may not be aware of this, but Ios not only has a reputation like that of Ibiza for wild partying, but also for beautiful white sand beaches, which is why we wanted to go . Nonetheless, we headed to the top of a huge hill to explore the town. Our high standards for food were not exactly met the first night, but after several carafes of house wine, we were pacified and ready to take on the most dangerous uneven steps this side of the Rio Grande. We made it down to the hotel without incident and went to bed, dreams of beautiful beaches dancing in our heads.

The next day we took the bus to probably the most traditionally beautiful beaches either of us has ever seen - a beach called Mylopotas. The beach was crescent shaped, and amazing umbrellas and recliners filled the beach with tavernas and beach side bars dotting the landscape behind the beach. The water was fantastically blue and clear, and we really enjoyed our afternoon reading and swimming amongst a predominantly young and European crowd.

The next few days in Ios passed quickly, with afternoons spent drinking Mythos and bottles of wine on Alli and Chad's porch with our backs to the sign prohibiting drinking beverages on Alli and Chad's porch. We spent much of that time with our new Aussie friends, Adam and Janelle, swapping travel and life stories, in addition to some truly choice colloquial phrases, which are specific only to our respective nations. Needless to say, for everyone's sake, you will need to ask for details on that one.

Aside from our radio-and-power-steering-free jeep rental trip and jaunt out to see Homer and the perfect sunset at Koumbara beach, the final fantastic part of the island was the dinner we ate at Taverna Susanna in the Port. The place was a true family business - mom, dad, two sisters, and grandchildren all running around. The food was very inexpensive and among the best Greek food we sampled in our trip. The moussaka (a traditional clay pot dish with eggplant, béchamel, potatoes and ground beef) was utterly amazing, the company was great, and again, so was the house wine (and the punctuation of fireworks over the water at the end of the meal was fitting). It was a great last night before our spur of the moment trip to Folegandros the next morning.

They Said:

-Happy 31st Birthday Max!
-Happy 30th Holyfield! Hold down the fort at the Gin Mill!
-Go Gators!