Milos excursions: boat trips around Milos and to the Glaronissia islets and Polyaigos island

An excursion by boat from the port of Adamas is highly recommended. You can go by a catamaran (with many people) or a sailboat (normally up to 10 people) and the drinks and the food are included. We made such a trip in 2014 with the Oneiro boat. The cost was 50 euro and it was worth every euro. There was a captain and a cook on board. The captain gave a very nice explanation and was very enthousiastic. Later we understood from other people that he had the best tours, so you might want to remember that name: Oneiro. It is one of the first boats in the harbor of Adamas. After we sailed out of the large bay where Adamas is situated the boat goes westward along the coast. The first major landmark is Cape Vani in the north-west of Milos, where the remains of an old mine can be seen. Specifically the large rock that rises up here almost vertically from the sea and is 90 meters high is very beautiful. We sail along it slowly so you can see it well. Striking is the beautiful turquoise water that you can see in so many places in Milos.

The next stop is the Sykia Cave Beach which is located in the southwest of Milos. Because of the color of the water it is sometimes also called the Emerald Cave. The beach is accessible only by boat. (private or excursion boat). Sykia Cave is a cave whose roof has collapsed. You can sail into it with a small boat though an arch. It is a really beautiful place. The white pebble beach is surrounded by high white cliffs. Our boat makes a stop and the people go to it in a smaller rubber boat in order be able to sail into the cave. It is perfect for swimming and the water is pretty clear.

After Sykia Cave we sail around the corner of Milos to kleftiko, which is also located in the southwest of the island. Kleftiko consists of a number of beautiful white arches and rock formations in the sea, and several caves in beautiful blue water, where a lot of fish are swimming around. In the caves a special kind of red sponges can be seen. Kleftiko used to be the area of pirates. In a kind of channel where the boats were hidden you can still see that they have carved out some kind of balls in the rocks so they could tie their boats.

With the small rubber boat we made a tour through the area, under the arches, around the rock formations and into the caves and channels. Then we got the time for some swimming in the sea around Kleftiko. There was equipment on board for those who wanted to go snorkeling and take a better look at everything under the water. While we were at the swimming in the sea on board the cook was busy preparing the meal: spaghetti with mussels and shrimp and a Greek salad with a glass of wine: very good. Those who had some spaghetti left could feed it to the fish that came out in large numbers.

After everyone has finished eating the boat goes back and sails into the direction from where we came. We sail close to the coast towards the bay of Agios Ioannis whith a beautiful beach. Atop the hill stands a large abandoned monastery, the monastery of Agios Ioannis. For more information on this beach and the monastery look at the page of Milos Beaches. We go to another beach, a little further in the next bay. It's called Ammoudaraki Beach. Ammoudaraki Beach is located in the west of the island of Milos in the Bay of Triades. In the same bay are two other beaches, but with a kind of rocky ground if you want to go into the sea. Ammoudaraki means something like "just sand". The beach can be reached by car (via the village Ralaki) but the road is very bad (a dirt track), so you really need a very good car if you want to undertake this. You can also go to the beach by boat. Some tour boats make a short stop at the beach for a swimming. Very fanatic walkers can of course also hike to the beach. At the beach there are no facilities.

After our swim at this beach it is almost time to go home. We sail into the large bay where the port town of Adamas is also situated. First we make a stop and sail around some crazy rocks. One of them looks like a bear and if you sail away from it and you look back the same rock looks like a rabbit. With a little more imagination you can see other things in other rocks. We continue along the coast and see several villages with "syrma". These were originally storage places carved into the rocks where at the end of the summer the boats were stored. After World War II the people began to put another floor on them and use them as holiday houses. After the captain had painted his boat he usually had a lot of paint left and thus he painted his house in the same color. Hence all the houses in these villages have a different color, which makes it extra special. The last village with syrma that we pass is also the most beautiful. It is the former capital of the island, Klima. Directly net to the village in the rocks you can see catacombs that were made in the Roman period. (1st century AD). They started here with the first catacombs and later it continued just above Klima where it is now the second largest complex of catacombs in the world (see page Milos sights).

© Hans Huisman, https://www.angelfire.com/super2/greece/ 2014