The Pleasures of Kos Town

Sooooooo, we made it to Kos Town via a forty minute or so coach ride ......

..... hoping against hope, it was really worth giving up a whole day on our precious  beach time for.

On arrival it certainly was bustling, with our first port of call being The Church of Agia Paraskevi .....

It would have been lovely to have visited the Kos Cathedral, but it's no longer safe to enter since the great earthquake of 2017, something we forget Greece is very easily prone to.

However, the church was breathtakingly beautiful ......

...... with our traditional holiday candles finally lit, remembering holidays past and the loved ones who are no longer able to share such times with us.

Then, it was off to the market, which, if we are honest was a bit of a let down. For us it was more like a huge gift shop with added fruit and vegetables. It was hot and very, very crowded, with, it seemed, people wandering around in what we call  holiday brain fog. Perhaps we didn't give it a proper chance, but on the day, it wasn't for us. 

On the other hand, lunch was beyond expectations, with Darrell wondering out aloud why old, empty oil cans just wouldn't make such wonderfully romantic plant containers back at home ......

...... and my rustic Greek bruschetta which I ate slowly because I didn't want it to end, was a triumph,

Next, we slowly meandered to the ancient ruins ......

...... it was a little hard, without a map or guide to tell us what everything was and its significance in bygone times, to take it all in, but we decided to hug a few columns instead, in an attempt to absorb just a little of their history.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, on to the pleasures of the old town.......

...... again very busy, full of touristy shops catering for all size of wallet, from luxury, designer items to tourist tat, where Darrell made a considered purchase of two packs of blue and yellow salt.  One thing we have really noticed this year is the proliferation of novelty socks and sock shops, something we haven't seen before, they really were everywhere. Something to take home perhaps, as it is certainly too hot to be wearing them in Greece at the moment, open sandals or not, never a good look in Darrell's eyes. 

With, by then, hot, throbbing feet (just thinking of socks), we headed for the harbour for light refreshment and found ourselves right in front of the famous white steps of Kos.

Never have we seen so much pouting, posing and posturing, on what is essentially is a man made set of steps with a blue table and chairs half way up. It could have been mildly romantic, if it wasn't for the huge, rather horrid placards on the wall, advertising the Fish House restaurant further up the hill  We didn't get it and were in no way tempted to take our own pictures sat sitting there, preferring instead to watch all the "influencers" and "normal" people PP&P to their hearts content, never has so much hair been flicked and flounced a la Miss Piggy .......

...... and share Nigel's Greek yoghurt ice cream, with cream, walnuts and honey, it was ..... to die for!

There was a bit of a let down on Nigel's part when he discovered that he'd somehow missed the Yellow Submarine glass bottomed boat (with real life mermaid), a  mahooooooooooosive long felt want of his, but by then we had no time to squeeze in even the shortest of voyages

We'd also missed out on the "Noddy" train, which might have saved our aching feet....... but our final hurrah to Kos Town came in the guise of an Albanian(?) dhalle, enjoyed in a small cafe as we waited for our return bus to arrive 

We didn't have a clue what we were ordering, but our spirit of adventure for exotic quaffables, certainly did not disappoint!  Woo hooo, Bottoms up!