We walked over to the restaurant row which is as picturesque as any ambiguous Mediterranean café setting. A cobblestone path leads you into a small square where candles light the streets, tables and chairs are only found outside, all door ways are open and 3 piece music floats through effortlessly with no origin. The small number of restaurants offers a variety of cuisine but strangely, it all tastes the same.
Because we are waiting for the arrival of my new “girlfriend” and her friends I feel this is as good a time as any to bring this up. Something happens to time when you arrive on Ios – it disappears. Life becomes a flow not measured or scheduled by “half hours”, “quarters ‘tils” or “on the dots”. No one is held accountable or asked to be punctual. It’s understood and accepted. It’s something I never experienced before Ios and have never come across since.
After they arrived, we spent the next three hours rehashing old memories of earlier that day. There were other dining parties equally as animated: hugging, laughing, teasing, kissing. Like our group, you would suspect them to be life long friends and or lovers. And like us, they were probably all on different continents only days earlier.
Near midnight, it was everyone for themselves. I was pleasantly taken for the evening but others less tethered were free to explore the plethora of night clubs. It was only a matter of two drinks before I lost contact with my travel mates. The rest of the night became one glowing flash after another; memories illuminated by the random glare of a laser light. One such moment that supersedes all others took place at the center of the dance floor; sandwiched against my lover in a peaceful mosh pit, she mesmerized me with her drowned-out karaoke of the most magnificent House music I’ve ever heard. It was that moment when Ios enslaved me. We said good bye as the sun rose and shortly there after my friends and I packed our bags and ruefully boarded the morning ship out. The dream to go back is as strong today as it was that first nautical mile.
The rest of my journey through Eastern Europe was inspiring to be sure but paled in comparison to what Ios gave me. For in all of those other cities, there was always something familiar, something I could relate to or that was redundant. Ios was Ios.
Like a movie that’s good but is spoiled by an over zealous review, I worry about setting expectations to high. Regardless, for anyone who makes it as far as Greece, the extra effort to get to Ios is a must. When I last left the island, it was a place where you could lose or find yourself, it was Pleasure Island; a place where real boys and girls could become toys. It provided the perfect combination of freedom, lack of responsibility and good will. The island is an experience unique to everyone but the results are the same, Bliss. - Curtis Daly
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