5 sleeps until Christmas! And 64 sleeps until my 21st! Don't forget to go say hi to my new sister Bo...
5 sleeps until Christmas! And 64 sleeps until my 21st! Don't forget to go say hi to my new sister Bollinger28!
Member since:07.11.2003
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I have finally recovered enough from my heartbreak upon leaving Kos almost 5 weeks ago now (a blow slightly lessened by the fact my boyfriend’s taking me to Majorca in just over a week!) to be able to write (or boast) about how beautiful it was and how it’s such a great holiday location.
Now in my book there’s not a lot I need for the perfect holiday, some sun, some hot weather and a bit of luxury does me fine – my boyfriend’s slightly different in that he can only sun bathe for a certain amount of time before he starts to fidget (and annoy the hell out of me whining like a 3 year old) and needs to have things to do to keep him occupied, just like a 3 year old once again!
So that’s how we found ourselves in our local First Choice back in early July time, praying we had enough money to go on holiday in July rather than waiting until September as we’d planned. AS usual we sat down oh so hopeful and wide eyed at the agents desk and as time went on we become more and more disheartened,
Me – Too lively, it’ll be full of drunken teenagers (god I’m getting old!).
Boyf – Nah it’s in the middle of no where, I’ll just die of boredom. Me – Yeah I know.
Me – Oh that one looks nice, but no air conditioning.
Boyf – Too out of budget, I mean who’d pay that price. Me – I think it’s quite reasonable. Boyf – Typical woman (Looks at me like I’ve got two heads).
Eventually we settled upon a mutual choice, a half board week in sunny Kardamena on the south side of Kos island – very reasonable price too for a 4* even if I do say so myself!
** Background on Kos **
Kos is traditionally known as the island of Hippocrates and over the past 10 years has become one of the most popular of the Dedecanese Islands cluster and the Aegean Sea also. It’s the third largest of the Greek islands (following Corfu and Rhodes) and as such its tourism potential has grown and grown. It’s just 8km from the Turkish peninsula and day trips to Bodrum are available all across the island, as are trips to the island of Rhodes. Flights to Kos from the UK take anything from 4 to 5 hours and fly all year round although tourism facilities do tend to shut down around October until the beginning of the next season.
** Main Towns on Island **
* Kos *
This is the major town on the island, the capital town also and perhaps the most varied one too. Once again there is a busy nightlife – with bars and clubs adorning the sea shore, the old harbour and also running further back in land. There’s a fantastic range of restaurants as well as many boutiques, craft shops and a long stretch of what can only be described as small market shops – selling leather,
jewellery, hand made crafts & clothes. The old harbour is a beautiful site with all the boats and it's lit up at night too!
Recommended for – Those wanting a mixed holiday, family, couples or young singles based.
* Mastihari *
A quiet little fishingvillage, ideal for those looking for a more relaxing holiday. There's loads of restaurants and the odd bar but nothing in the way of stimulating nightlife for the young. Fantastic beach though!
Recommended for – Those wanting a quite and relaxing holiday, with lazy days spent by the beach and quieter nights.
* Kardamena *
This is the resort in which we stayed, situated about half way along the south coast and arguably the liveliest resort on the island. As proof of this 18-30’s and 20’s holidays both have accommodation within the main town area and the streets are alive at night from the bars, discos and clubs. There's quite a nice sandy beach here too, a little overpacked in the centre of the town, but moving either towards the west or east about half a mile you'll find some lovely ones hidden away!
Recommended for – Younger families, couples and singles, definitely not a resort for the faint hearted – think of a smaller Magaluf or Kavos.
We didn’t get to visit this resort sadly, it’s located on the south-west side of the island and from pictures we saw looks very pretty indeed. The resort is said to be purpose made for tourists with plenty of cafes and restaurants along with a few much smaller clubs, ideal for those looking for a quieter holiday.
Recommended for – Everyone really, not so much young singles but families and couples alike, young or old, will find something here.
** Climate on Kos **
This is one of the main attractions to holiday goers worldwide, the oh so favourable climate – one of the main things that sold Kos to me if I’m honest! Kos is lucky enough to be blessed with hot, dry summer and fairly mild winters too. Summertime temperatures reign between 28 and 34 degrees, with almost no rainfall making it a great place to holiday! In winter temperatures rarely drop below about 12 degrees although showers can be expected – this March they even had a dusting of snow! The landscape on Kos did surprise me quite a lot – it’s very rural and pastoral like for most of it (obviously minus the towns) and quite mountainous in parts too.
** Beaches on Kos **
Kos really does have superb beaches - sandy and most of them are very clean, with crystal blue water that lets you see the sea bed even when you're a few feet out. Beaches around the main resort towns do get very crowded and as the beaches are quite narrow it's often hard to find a space! Paradise Beach, Agios Stefanos and Kamari are by far the best beaches - although the resort town beaches are equally nice but often just busy! The south tip of the island, past Kefalos has some of the most deserted beaches which are a pure joy to visit, you will need a car or bike to get there though! Steer clear of the beaches on the east side of the island as the majority of these do have the cursed dark (black) sand that Tenerife is often famous for.
** Accommodation on Kos **
I'm a bit of a "newbie" to Greek Islands, having never been to one before this summer and was warned to expect rather primitive and basic accommodation - now here's my mum's favourite saying "you get what you pay for!" And in the case of Kos I'd say that's correct, we stayed in a 4* hotel which was quite luxuorious, with marble flooring throughout the main area, a fully equipped room with television, air con, shower, bathroom, toilet (you could flush the toilet), hair drying, phone access - BUT we also visited another apartment, in Kos (some of our friends were there at the same time), now they'd paid much less than us and it was rather primitive with a small cooking area in the main room, a bedroom with a bed (nothing more) and a toilet and shower in a little tiny room.
Kos does however offer a wide range of choice when it comes to accommodation - there are hotels ranging from B&B to half board and all inclusive as well as apartments and villas everywhere you go - there really is something to suit everyone’s tastes!
** Industry on Kos **
The majority of industry is admittedly catered around the tourism field, with hotels, bars and entertainment making up at least 70% of their annual income. Other tourism includes building work as well as car garages (for such a small population we were shocked by how many car garages we saw selling brand new cars!).
** Culture/Sight Seeing on Kos **
There’s plenty of culture to be gained from the island of Kos – from the fabulous Greek food and way of life to the more subdued ruins of the Romans amphitheatre and baths lying towards Kos town. Also in Kos Town is the 15th century Castle of the Knights, an 18th century Turkish Mosque as well as an Archaeological Museum. Further southward in Kefalos there's a Hellenistic temple and also
Pictures of Kos (Greece)
The Aegean Village Resort
a theatre and at Agios Stefanos there are 2 early Byzantine churches with the most beautiful mosaic floors - well worth a look!
** Nightlife on Kos **
What can I say, it has something for everyone - from those of you looking for a more subdued, less "in your face" kind of night life Kefalos or one of the smaller towns is best for you. But if there is a party animal in your just waiting to get out then try Kos Town or Kardamena, there's a load of bars, clubs and tavernas for you to choose from! The great thing about the island is that after midnight all bars have to shut their doors which instantly sound proofs them - you can walk down Bar Street in Kardamena at 1 in the morning and it's quite odd, you can see all these people sweating and dancing but it's silent on the street! The larger hotels and complexes often have hotel based activities and entertainment too.
** Food on Kos **
Depending where you stay you’ll find a great mixture of food on Kos – we sampled steaks, pizzas, omelettes and seafood - practically everything while we were there! As for drinks Ouzo in the Greek drink – a very strong and very high in alcohol content as well, drunk as a shot! As well as that typical spirits are available, present in much larger quantities than at home in drinks too!
** Transport on Kos **
* Taxis *
As ever there's taxis galore in all the main and larger towns, prices are quite similar to those in England we found with a 2 mile trip costing about 4 Euros (£3) - not the most careful drivers so be warned!
* Buses *
There's a bus service that runs from Kos Town all over the island which we didn't actually use, there's regular buses running along all the coastlines and we found for 3 Euros we could buy a day pass and get on and off as we chose!
As with every destination these days hiring your own transport is often preferable and also the most practical thing to do. As neither of us were 21 we hired a moped for the day (cost between 15 and 25 Euros which we had from 10 am until 8 am the following morning) and could use it to our hearts content - cost 3 Euros for a tank of petrol which did us 80 miles, bargain!
** Money on Kos **
Kos in a member of the EU and so therefore trades in Euros, although many places do accept Sterling (and often charge less than the Euro equivalent too). Typical prices are as follows: -
3 Course Meal - £12 Bottle of Wine - £4 Alcoholic Cocktail - £2.50 Shots – 30p Fake LV goods (went a bit mad!) – purses from £6, bags from £15
** My Experience **
> We arrived at the only airport on the island on a Wednesday and had a successful and short transfer to our accommodation with First Choice (Kardamena is only about 15 minutes from the airport). In my opinion the airport was absolutely fine upon arrival (we were the only flight that morning) but leaving was another thing - see below!
> Our accommodation was called the Aegean Village Hotel and was an absolute delight, situated about a mile and a half outside the bustling resort of Kardamena it was pure luxury! I would recommend this hotel to anyone, information can be found at www.aegeanvillage.com, it's really nice and quite reasonably priced too if you go half board.
> Our room was cleaned daily and the amenities provided within it were first class, breakfast & evening meal were included as it was half board, both severed in a large dining room on a help yourself basis! At dinner there was always soup, plenty of fresh salads, at least 1 cooked meat and fish, choices of vegetables/rice/potatoes, fresh bread and ample amounts of desert! The pool was lovely, with free sun beds provided for all.
> A short stroll across a fairly quiet road led us to the beach, an absolute gem - we found there was only ever about 30 people on it at once time and also the opportunity to hire a pedalo, speed boat, etc. - kept my fella in his element!
> As for Kardamena itself it is rather commercialized as already discussed above, with 2 rows of bars and shops, in total I'd say about 40 bars and 2 main night clubs - all playing an array of music with alcohol on offer very cheaply! Expect to pay about 3 Euros for a cocktail (about 50% alcohol) and in most places you got 3 free shots of Ouzo (very strong) or flavoured Vodkas with that - bargain once again! Shopping in Kardamena was quite relaxed with an array of shops selling mainly crafts, jewellry and leather goods.
> During our stay we hired a moped for a couple of days and went off exploring the island. We spotted multiple monuments to Hippocrates (the Greek God of medicine), as well as visiting the early churches with the beautiful mosaic floors - all made up of tiny particles of coloured glass, really have to see it as it's so beautiful! We also saw the Roman baths and the old ampitheatre ruins which was great too. In the small, inland village of Platini we discovered the Asklepion - an ancient "sanatorium" to the Greek God Hippocrates - fabulous views across to Turkey from here and I'm afraid that's all the culture I managed to see!
> And as for the Greek way of life I adore it! Everyone out there was so friendly, from the hotel staff to the locals we met while shopping. They're way of life is fairly laid back, no one even seems to be rushing about like over here. One word of warning - beware of the little street children trying to sell you things, they won't leave you alone!
> The only downside was when we returned home and the airport queues - very small airport with 4 flights going within 2 hours so huge queues to check in, ended up queuing outside in the midday sun for an hour!
** Conclusion **
Kos is a fantastic island with something to suit everyone; during our time there the temperature never fell below 26 degrees during the day and about 16 degrees at night with constant sunshine all day – ideal! Prices are quite reasonable, a little cheaper than England so it’s okay money wise too! Would I recommend Kos – definitely, there’s something there for every holiday trooper!
** Best Moments **
Hiring a pedalo, the steering wheel sticking and floasting out towards the Turkish coast with my fella having a fit about us drowning or ending up stuck in the Iraq war (luckily we were saved before we made it to Iraq)!
Getting so drunk on Ouzo one night in Kos Town we slept on sun beds on the beach, then pretended we were non Latin, Spanish, German, English, Greek, etc. speakers so we didn’t have to pay the charge for the sun beds!
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Aug 26th, 2004
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