Kos

It has been said that you do not know the meaning of "squalid" if you have never been on the London Underground.  I would agree, and add the following:  You have not seen "pallid" until you've seen the English on holiday at the beach. Kos is an English and Dutch holiday destination, and the southwest portion of the island is almost entirely anglo, with a series of beaches named in English culminating in a Club Med.  Actually, I think its rather sporting of the English to sequester themselves away like that. Kos is also the first island to remind me of Northern California.  The other islands I've been to have had the brown hills and low scrub of Southern California, but Kos has real trees -- pine forests, eucalyptus groves, and a startling variety of planes, palms, elms, cypress, etc. spread across the island.

Some pictures...

Sliding shutters are extremely popular on Kos, so much so that I first thought that you simply couldn't get weatherproof hinges.  That theory didn't bear out, but it is definitely the style of choice.  Not that I am complaining, mind you -- it saves everyone from the constant clatter of unbound shutters than characterizes the windier islands.

The plane tree that Hippocrates taught under... ..if there was ever a Hippocrates and if he ever taught anyone.  That's one thing I like about the Greeks -- they don't even pretend to keep their mythology and their history separate.

"They were beautiful, these chickens in the mist."

I kept hearing a tinny loudspeaker repeating something over and over as it circled the neighborhood.  Thinking perhaps it was the ice cream truck I went to investigate and found this:  the fresh fish truck.  The bed was packed with ice and the ice was covered with all the fish a person could possible need.

The presence of cat colonies has been challenging my notions of cats as territorial creatures.  This particular colony had about fourteen cats that I could see, all lounging about in a small area. I did notice that many of the cats were older, and that the whole colony was on the waterfront where the fishing boats come in.  Perhaps this is how cats retire. Notably, there was a bench nearby where several older greek men sat silently, watching the harbor.  I didn't know whether to count them as part of the colony or not.

Every port in the Aegean has at least two excursion boats, one named "Argo" and the other named "Odyssey". You'll never find me aboard either.  From a karmic standpoint, it would be like chartering the U.S.S. Minnow for a three hour tour.

I've never been much for "retro" stuff, but I have to say I found these 1950s style scooters kind of cool.

Moo.

A cliche shot of a coastal traffic jam.  Still, it's a little different when you're on a scooter -- there's no car doors protecting you, and goats *will* eat just about anything...

As I say, the island is reminscent of Northern California, right down the occasional lone cypress.

There was also a ruined fortrees at Antimachia, and a fairly intact castle in Kos.