Can I just tell you how long I’ve been waiting to use that phrase as a title? Pretty much ever since our yacht boat cruise took us through the southern Greek isles–the Dodecanese as they are known. SIDE NOTE: Dodecanese literally means 12 islands; and the Dodecanese is made up of 12 larger islands and approximately 150 smaller islands of which 26 of these are inhabited–so 12 is really more of a figurative number.
While we were in Turkey, we had Osgur, our amazing guide who GUIDED US and kept us from getting lost and made sure we were where we needed to be in a semi-timely fashion, providing of course, the bus was cooperating. However, then Osgur handed us over to a Captain, Cook, and Deck Hand on a yacht boat who spoke very little English and the only guiding they did was with the yacht boat.
It was a complete 180 degrees from the first 10 days of our trip! And don’t get me wrong, it was great to be able to explore on our own, however, after having everything in Turkey so organized (and by organized, I mean we didn’t make decisions about what to see and where to go), we were a bit flummoxed at our first island stop–Kos.
First of all, while at breakfast the Captain tells us to stay onboard until he gets back, we then watch him get off the yacht boat with our passports and walk away. I’m not gonna lie, it was a little disconcerting to see a man I only met the day before leave me on a boat while he walks away with my passport. But soon he returns and says “Okay, you go, you be back by 6pm.” And motions to the shore. So we go. And it’s pretty obvious we were dropped into a touristy part of town, so we follow the masses of people for awhile and then decide “hey! let’s see what’s down this street.”
We found some ancient Roman ruins. We can’t tell you what they were because…well…we don’t speak Greek!
We wandered around for a few hours, down little streets, around hidden corners, exploring areas that didn’t seem to see a lot of tourists.
We eventually found our way back to the touristy areas, when we happened upon a museum dedicated to Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, who was believed to have been born in Kos.
This is Hippocrates tree, which is believed to be where he taught and practiced medicine. The tree is so old, it is now supported by scaffolding to keep it from toppling over! And in case you’re wondering how old, Hippocrates lived in the 5th century!
From there we wander back along the shoe, getting great shots of both the city walls and the stunning blueness that the Aegean is known for.
We finally found our starting point, however, since we still had a bit of time we decided to have a drink. No, not alcohol, but Hellenic coffee for me and hot chocolate for April. It was amazing. Her hot chocolate, that is. Oh don’t get me wrong, my coffee was good. But her hot chocolate was everything-you-could-ever-want-in-a-cup hot chocolate. It was thick and dark and smacked you around a little. This was definitely not your watered down, overly sugary hot chocolate that caused me to not really like hot chocolate.
And it was at this moment that time stood still. Sitting outside, basking in the sun, watching people amble by, listen to locals laughing and enjoying life, looking out on the sparkling blue water. In that instant, I fell in love with this lifestyle and this landscape. And when my reverie was finally broken by our waiter asking if we’d like anything else, we did the only thing we could: ordered another round–this time, all chocolate.
The Epicurious Texan 