Manganari

Another lazy day loomed ahead of us, for this Thursday we had a boat trip planned. Already yesterday we had made our way to the port only to discover that the boat was leaving merely three times a week. Off-season has also some drawbacks.

The boat has twice per week a tour to Piri Nera beach, a sandy cove with no facilities, and then goes further on to Manganari Beach, which looked at the map like a small settlement. Once a week it goes to Sikinos which to us looked more like sightseeing and less sun and fun.

We bought our tickets and the boat left a couple of minutes later in the direction of Piri Nera. C started talking to a girl next to him who turned out to be here with a larger group of eight persons. They had chartered a catamaran from Mykonos and were on their way to Santorini.

Piri Nera surprised with intense turquoise water so clear that the bottom of the sea appeared to be no less than a meter from the surface. Which was not the case, because we had anchored a bit away from the beach and the captain told us it was safe to jump in from all sides.

With a loud splash C went first and I right after. Pat took her time, rounded the boat twice and then jumped from the lower deck. Piri Nera has three little sandy beaches, the one to the left was already occupied by a smaller boat, so we settled on swimming to the middle one, it being the nearest as well.

Which was a good call since just ten minutes later a party boat anchored at the left beach and unloaded its cargo. The small beach looked crowded after that.
We stayed for 20 minutes and then swam back to the boat, which left shortly after but not before we had jumped again into the sea! The idea of a cruise seems like a good one all of a sudden. I really like the jumping part.

Just a bit further now and then we saw Manganari, a wide-stretched sandy beach also with intense turquoise water and very shallow to walk in, almost like in the Caribbean. The mooring of the boat took a bit longer due to the mini ‘port’ but was done with precision and we could exit the boat.

The couple of dots on the map that we figured to be a small village emerged as exactly two tavernas, a beach club which was closed and some B&Bs. Not one tree was insight so we decided on having lunch first and swimming later. Since we Austrians have our own Anton aus Tirol we settled on the Anton on Ios.

The rest of the day was spent lounging on the beach and getting to know the group of eight which we met on the boat before. They turned out to be part American, part Brazilian with one lone Lebanese in-between. This group of friends lives on different continents but manages to go on a boat trip once a year. Sounds like a lot of fun to me. Eventually around 5:30 we had to get back to the boat to make the return trip.

We arrived at Ios port and got a lovely view of the harbor.

Meanwhile we were invited to join the others for drinks at Pathos which was great since they had already organized a transport.

Although we were all ready to leave for dinner, the magic of the place kept us in its thrall and we ordered another round of cocktails. Finally a bit later we all piled again in the shuttle (C and I in the trunk) and went to Lord Byron for dinner. Personally I think this was the worst tourist trap I have so far encountered in Greece. The others of course didn’t mind and devoured it all. It was also the most expensive place.

After dinner we split in two groups. Four of the eight headed back to their ship while the rest wanted to taste Cucumber delight (again) at Katogi. After a round of these we seven made our way in the direction of the stairs to stop for another one for the road at Ios Club. In the end we all made it down the stairs, grateful for having enjoyed such a wonderful day in great company.
Yours, Pollybert