Ios, Greece

Just a short ferry ride away from Santorini is Ios, reputedly the young, fun island of the Aegean. Although high season hasn't yet hit in full, it lived up to its reputation. The night only starts to get going at ten usually with drinks at the hostel bar before the "welcome shot" of lemon juice (I think it was supposed to be a kamikaze) every night around eleven. At midnight they would lead us to the first bar and after that a random free for all of bar hopping would ensue, as all the bars are so close that neat things on most pubcrawls like order and forethought are forgotten. Plus, all the bars have more or less the same prices, clientele, and music, which both makes finding somewhere easy but meeting up with people somewhat harder. The last bar doesn't close until about 7:00am so when the sun starts to come out is when people start to go home. I did this more or less for three nights in a row, at which point I was so exhausted I just had to get out. I can't imagine staying there for more than that anyways; every night seemed exactly the same to me. "The Village," as the town of Hora is called, is the site of the party and I stayed at the edge of the town. It completely shuts down all day, until about four in the afternoon, I assume because nobody is awake to give the place business, or if they are, they are at the beach. But it is a nice area regardless with whitewashed walls, cobblestone streets, and a few churches. Ios also has a few great beaches with great sand and clear, cool, salty water. In fact, it's so salty that if you don't rinse off after getting out, your body will be covered with salt crystal streaks. By day, Ios is a nice charming place and by night, it is a wild party. The combination makes for an enjoyable, if exhausting place to stay. I ran out of sunscreen here, of all places. A small bottle of SPF 30 costs a whopping $25/18€ at every store I looked in. I couldn't believe it at the first store... then I saw the same price at every single other. I just stayed out of the sun for my second couple days instead of being willingly robbed. Here are the photos:

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Getting to Ios from Santorini is incredibly easy. There are several daily ferries. Mine left at 17:00 and got in at 17:30, costing me $21/15€. When arriving at Ios, if you have prebooked, you will see a guy with a sign for his accommodation at the port. If you haven't prebooked, there will be no shortage of places to stay. I would highly recommend the hostel I stayed at, Francesco's. It isn't perfect, but it is a great place for meeting people and having fun ($18/13€). Rooms are nice and the view is great. Internet is not free, though, and showers are a little outdated.