Greece - Korina Miller [336]
In Hora the main landmark is the big cathedral opposite the bus stop, on the other side of the dusty car park and play area. Plateia Valeta is the central square.
There are public toilets uphill behind the main square.
The road straight ahead from the bus stop leads to Mylopotas Beach.
Information
There’s an ATM right by the information kiosks at the ferry quay. In Hora, the National Bank of Greece, behind the church, and the Commercial Bank, nearby, both have ATMs.
The post office in Hora is a block behind the main road (town-hall side).
Acteon Travel ( 22860 91343; www.acteon.gr) On the square near the quay, and in Hora and Mylopotas. Internet is €4 per hour.
Doubleclick Internet ( 22860 92155; Hora; per hr €4) A well-equipped place with good connection.
Hospital ( 22860 91227) On the way to Gialos, 250m northwest of the quay; there are several doctors in Hora.
Plakiotis Travel Agency ( 22860 91221; plaktr2@otenet.gr) On the Ormos waterfront.
Port police ( 22860 91264) At the southern end of the Ormos waterfront, just before Ios Camping.
Sights
Hora is a lovely Cycladic village with a labyrinth of narrow lanes and cubist houses. It’s at its most charming during daylight hours when the bars are shut and it recaptures the atmosphere of other island towns.
Ios can rightly celebrate a cultural triumph in its award-winning archaeological site of Skarkos (the Snail). This early-to-late Bronze Age settlement crowns a low hill in the plain just to the north of Hora. The site was not yet open to the public at the time of writing but was scheduled to open mid-summer 2009. There is likely to be an entrance fee. Walled terraces surrounding the settlement have been restored and the low ruins of several Cycladic-style buildings of the period are exposed. A visitor centre is part of the development. The site lies on the lower ground to the north of Hora.
Finds from Skarkos are displayed at the excellent archaeological museum (Hora; admission €2, EU students free; 8.30am-3pm Tue-Sun) in the town hall by the bus stop in Hora. There are also exhibits from island excavations in general.
At the time of writing a remarkable art gallery was under construction on the summit of the highest hill behind Hora. It’s being built to house the works of the radical artist Yiannis Gaitis, who had a house on Ios, and his wife, the sculptor Gabriella Simosi. The works of other artists will also be exhibited. The building comprises several huge gallery spaces worthy of European capitals. Fingers crossed it will be completed soon.
Activities
Banana rides (€12), canoe hire (per hour €15) and mountain-bike hire (per day €15) are all available at Yialos Watersports ( 22860 92463, 6944926625; ralfburgstahler@hotmail.com; Gialos Beach). You can also hire windsurfing equipment (per half-day €30) or take a tube ride (€14 to €17).
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HOMER’S GRAVE RIDDLE
Homer is said to have died on the island of Ios because of the distress brought on by his inability to solve a riddle posed by fishermen that ‘what they caught they discarded and what they could not catch, they kept’. Ios has long laid claim to being the site of ‘Homer’s Grave’ although Homer would have puzzled himself to death over why a major surfaced road (for Ios) should now wind its way through empty hills for 12km to end a few hundred metres from his – alleged – last resting place, a rather forlorn little mausoleum that looks decidely post-Homeric. The views are worth it, however. Sikinos, Naxos, Iraklia and Schinousa make for a nicely balanced crescent of islands across the sea. Homer would have appreciated the symmetry (if not the fishermen’s fleas…).
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Mylopotas Water Sports Center ( 22860 91622; www.ios-sports.gr; Mylopotas) has snorkelling and windsurfing gear, pedal boats (per hour €15) and canoes (single/double per hour €15/20) for hire. Waterskiing (per 15 minutes €30), banana rides (€12 to €15) and sailing (per hour/day €25/70) are also available. Beach volleyball and soccer rental is from €3 to €15.