Deep Blue Something

The first thing we discovered was that we had to walk. Not much8212;a kilometre or so8212;but for us lazy Greeks, who go to an island expecting to find a luxe hotel with Arabian women waiting for them at the port, that was tough.

Finding accommodation was easy. You could either choose a cheap room by the sea or a camping site by the sea. Actually, you could walk by the sea, eat by the sea, drink coffee by the sea drinking coffee for the Greek culture is as essential as tea for the British and rice for the Chinese, dance by the sea, well, live your life by the sea.

Many things are said about Ios, but funnily, I had heard none of it until I was 16. That8217;s because Ios is not exactly a family island. Frankly, I don8217;t think too many Greeks visit it. Sure, there8217;s the other side of the island with the villas of the filthy rich, but that8217;s because Ios has some of the most beautiful beaches in Greece: Peaceful, enchanting, vast.

Ios is like a cave in a city; a members-only cave. Young adventurers from all over the world8212;Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Sweden, Egypt, France, Russia, Slovakia, Israel8212;visit this little, almost-untouched heaven. The unofficially official language? English of course. Most of the pubs are English, Irish, Italian8212;as are the owners and the bartenders.

Unlike some of the other islands, and in the mainland Greek cities, there are no bouncers, no dress codes, no distinctions. People drink a lot, dance a lot, talk with strangers, are not afraid of the wolves and enjoy every single moment, how ever clicheacute;d it sounds. There8217;s also a notable lack of police, suggesting a decent amount of we-know-but-we-let-it-be drug trafficking.

The truth is that Ios was always tagged with a hippy reputation. For the Greeks, who have a 8216;categorising8217; gene, Milos and Santorini islands, for instance, are part of the families category, Mykonos is a gay island though the Greeks are, in fact, fairly conservative and not publicly accepting of homosexuality and Ios is a hippy island.

Days passed by like thunder. Burning in the sun, next to topless young girls and English lobsters Astakos8212;lobster8212;is what the Greeks call the white tourists from the north, who think the sun is a chocolate massage; after two hours of stupidly exposing themselves to the ruthless radiation, they have once and for all changed their skin colour to a monkey-a red, soothing the harshness of the sun with the cooling water. I was told that parts of Luc Besson8217;s 1988 diving film Le Grande Bleu The Big Blue were shot here. I wasn8217;t surprised.

We filled our stomachs with gyro a typically Greek kebab sandwich and tzatziki a delicious dip of yogurt, oil, garlic and cucumber, and wasted hours drinking frappeacute; and talking nonsense. Around us, people threw each other in the water, or spilt retsina cheap white wine on their sunburnt bodies.

On the last day, we joined in a game of beach soccer. Of the international teams, the most intriguing ones were those from Israel and Argentina. The five Israelis were celebrating their last summer before joining the military for three years. One of them told us that a lot of Israelis choose Ios as a last experience before the army, because it seems to be a free island. The Argentineans, meanwhile, played soccer as if they were born with a beach ball attached to their feet.

The sun set, and we had to leave. As we sadly walked to the port, like lonely cowboys, we felt obliged to make the promise you always make and never keep: To come back; come back to this international paradise, free of prejudices and stereotypes, full of life and energy. Sometimes, it8217;s somehow comforting to promise; it makes you feel better. We felt better for a bit.