- Rhodes was our first stop in an island-hop through the Dodecanese. We’d planned stays on Tilos and Lipsi with a bit of flexibility around the edges.
- Caught the ‘Dodecanese Express’ ferry from Rhodes to the island of Tilos where we spent four nights in the port town of Livadia. We passed through Symi on the way and decided to backtrack and spend a night there before going on to Lipsi.
- This was our first taste of ferry travel in the Greek islands and we enjoyed the whole experience. There’s the sun, the wind, the waves and the swell. There’s the scenery as you cruise across the Aegean and adjacent seas. Then there’s the drama of getting into and out of the ports, which are often quite beautifully located. And the Greeks do drama very well.
- We got talking to a guy called Dimitrios on the ferry. He was driving a meat van, making deliveries across the islands. We chatted about where he was going and where we were going. Towards the end of the conversation he said that Greek people don’t have ‘the program’. He said the English, Germans, Scandanavians all have ‘the program’. They come to Greece to get some sun, swim, eat, drink, dance, then go back home to work. For Greek people this is ‘everyday life’. I think he thought we might have been on ‘the program’…
- On Tilos we walked around the coastal paths, walked through Potami Gorge to the abandoned village to Megalo Horio which has been re-invented as a nightclub venue, and hired a car to tour the north of the island including Plaka Beach. We found the standard of food in the tavernas of Tilos to be particularly good.
- Caught the ferry back (i.e. south) to Symi and overnighted at the port town of Gialos, in a lovely room overlooking the harbour. We climbed up and up from the port to the hilltop village of Horio, stopping for lunch, admiring various churches and windmill towers along the way, then listening to a medley of church bells ring out one after the other in the early evening. Wandered back down for dinner on the waterfront to end a perfect day. Symi is a gem.
- Next day we caught ferries to Lipsi via Kos, Kalymnos, Leros and Patmos. It was a lovely trip and at times you could almost touch the coast of Turkey. We spent a few pleasant hours in Patmos, waiting for the final connection to Lipsi.
