The last full day of our week on Kos in November 2020 would by necessity be mostly spent around the swimming pool at the Blue Lagoon Resort where we were staying. That necessity was due to Greece implementing a national lockdown that would see all non-essential stores close and would restrict all tourists already in the country or on its islands to stay within the confines of their hotels, only being allowed out for exercise with written permission from the staff. There was not much chance of us requesting that. This also wasn’t that much of a hardship anyway as there wasn’t a lot going on on the island – it being after the end of what would be the normal tourist season already – and if you’re relaxing away from home for a short period in a year of virus-driven restrictions then an all-inclusive resort under blue skies is not the worst way in the world to do it.

We had our books, we had socially-distanced seating areas, we had easy access to the bar, and we had a slight reduction in the wind that had been coming in from the north all week long. Very pleasant, indeed.

As I’ve mentioned in previous entries in this Kos travelogue series, the swimming pool at the Blue Lagoon Resort is not heated. During a very hot summer this is probably absolutely fine but in a comparatively cooler and potentially windier November it took a very brave person to enter it. Or a stupid one. Feeling one of these things I did treat myself to twenty-or-so minutes of making frightened chimpanzee sounds as I waded and swam around trying to find shallower and marginally warmer spots of testicle-retracting-temperature water, and I wasn’t alone; over the course of the time spent at poolside we probably saw another dozen foolhardy guests making use of the facilities with faces as equally contorted with anguish as mine.

We spent the morning and into the early afternoon by the pool, and after lunch we headed back to our room where the sheltered balcony and view westwards would provide us with a lovely, warm sun trap to get some final rays.

The entry to the block where our garden-view room was located included an architectural connector between two buildings that I always liked looking at whenever we’d pass under it during the days at the resort. The changing angle of the sun lit up the colours of the blocks differently throughout the day and the combination of shades and angles against the deep blue of the sky was captivating and geometrically-pleasing.

Another thing we really liked about our time on Kos was spotting weird and wonderful bits of wildlife we wouldn’t normally see back home. We’d watched frogs hopping across the paths at night, seen lizards scurrying around the plants and rocks, encountered a mantis, and on this last day spotted a lovely Scarce Swallowtail Butterfly.

The next day saw us leaving the resort with a pickup due around midday. There was an option to pay and keep use of the room for longer but we saw no need for that and, after breakfast, simply packed up, checked out, stored our cases in the room for that purpose next to reception, then plonked ourselves down in seats to read a little more while we waited for the bus to arrive and take us off to the airport. This area by reception was large, airy, and had some attractive plantlike sculptures to admire.

I’m pleased to say that Kos airport wasn’t quite as horrendous as it had been when we’d arrived on the island at the start of the week (see: First 24 Hours At The Blue Lagoon Resort, Kos) but it still wasn’t ideal. The biggest problem was that the departure lounge is barely large enough to cater for all the people needing to use it under normal circumstances but when one in every three seats was then blocked off to enforce social distancing it then meant a significant number of people were left standing or resorting to sitting on the floor as we waited for the okay to get to the plane. South-facing windows and a lack of air conditioning didn’t help, either. Kos: good. Kos airport: dire.

Our week on Kos had been one that featured sunsets on every single day, and thanks to fewer hours in the day this late in the year we had time for one more on our late-afternoon flight back to the UK.

So, some final thoughts about our week at the Blue Lagoon Resort on Kos.

This wasn’t and wouldn’t be our first choice of holiday simply because we are cruisers first and foremost, and because our preference is for more far-flung destinations than a Greek island. But ignore all that because Kos is a lovely island, Greece is a fantastic country to visit, the Greek people are possibly the friendliest people to tourists in Europe, and if you are looking for an all-inclusive resort somewhere like this then it’s hard to find any faults with the Blue Lagoon Resort. Its staff were excellent, its facilities – with allowances for what was open and in use at this time of the year in this year of all years – were more than adequate, the accommodation was clean and spacious, precautions against Covid were enforced, and food and drinks were fine.

I’ve said before that the food wasn’t up to the quality that we’ve become used to but that’s just us; there was nothing wrong with it at all and we certainly wouldn’t be so petty or narrow-minded as to complain that the food prepared in a foreign environment to cater for as many varied tastes as you can imagine didn’t match that of a speciality restaurant on board a luxury ship.

Evening entertainment at the resort wasn’t to our tastes either but as with the food, that’s a subjective thing and it’s not a complaint. The people who watched and laughed and clapped and sang along with it all obviously enjoyed it and if you drink enough then you will too. The entertainers were hard-working and skilled and probably only needed better acoustics to make it more enjoyable to us; that domed tent at night during a pandemic with a wind whipping in didn’t make for the best environment so allowances must be made there.

The private beach of the resort was okay but couldn’t be appreciated during our stay because of that ever-present wind. Potentially, it’s a nice alternative to the pool during the summer, but impossible to really say from our time there. What I do think, though, is that the reasonably nearby Lambi beach to the east, and just north of Kos town, looked a more attractive option with finer, more golden sand if hitting the beach on Kos is high on your list of things to do.

Kos town is close enough to walk into each day and well worth doing if you’re staying at the resort. If you like historical sites and ancient Greek and Roman ruins then you’ll be falling over them when you get there. Read the posts in this Kos 2020 series where we explored the town for more detailed information. The town also features an array of food and drink places, of course, and if you like craft ales then read my recommendation for the best place to go and try locally-brewed drinks. Finally, Kos town is the place to head to if you want to consider the possibility of taking a boat trip, whether to do some fishing (if that’s your thing) or hit one of the nearby islands or even head across to Turkey for the day. That latter option would have been something we would have jumped at if we’d been able to but 2020 and all that stopped that from happening. Were we to return to Kos again and were Turkey open to tourists then we’d be over there like a shot.

This holiday on Kos was all arranged through TUI and all very last-minute for us (just three days before flying out). Absolutely no complaints there. We’ve previously cruised with them on Marella Discovery so knew that they were very good at customer service and sorting out all the details of the package. For us, and with it being very last-minute, the convenience of having one company arrange and manage all aspects of the trip including the flight and transfers was a big bonus, a huge stress-reducer, and we’ve no hesitation in recommending them.

So, that’s it for this series on the Blue Lagoon Resort, Kos. We’d go again, which is a ringing endorsement.

If you’ve read previous entries in this travelogue series (a forlorn hope) you’ll know that we were staying at the Blue Lagoon Resort outside the normal tourist season – extended because of that pandemic you might have got wind of in the paper, and the reason for there being a lack of activities in general – and that on the two previous occasions that we’d walked into the main town we’d taken the shoreline route first, then the more direct route second. For this third and final trek from the hotel we went all crazy and mixed those two routes up into an exciting mostly-direct but with a little bit of the east coast’s Lambi Beach walk thrown in for variety. More photos from the walks to and from Kos Town can be found in those other write-ups; on this day we were on a mission.

Our mission was simply to return to the best bar in Kos Town, Zero.

Now, best is a subjective term, of course, and our experiences of drinking in Kos were somewhat limited, but let me describe what makes it so good in my opinion. Firstly, it’s right in the heart of Kos. If you can find the harbour then you can probably see Zero. It has plenty of seating inside but it also has a small courtyard area and a large garden area in front of the building too. What really sets it apart from other places we passed by is that it’s not one of your typical “couple of local lagers and all the usual popular crap you can get everywhere else in the world” establishments. Zero is where you go when you want to try some craft ales – pale ales, golden ales, amber ales, ruby ales, porters, and stouts – that are either brewed on Kos, on one of the other Greek islands, or in Greece itself. If you’re a proper beer-drinker, a real ale fan, or just want to have something a little more local when you travel abroad then this, I assure you, is the bar you want to visit in Kos.

On top of that you can expect nibbles with your drinks. On top of that you might even get the occasional complimentary shot of ouzo. On top of that you might get paid a visit by one of the local cats. I mean, what more could you ask for?

As you can tell from the photos above, we had a few drinks. Mission accomplished. My wife managed to drink all the Septem brewery red ales in the bar while I jumped from drink to drink through the menu. The Athens brewery-brewed Mandy Black was an absolute joy to down and the stand-out ale for me.

With this being the end of the tourist season and the last few hours before lockdown we felt it was the right and proper thing to do, as responsible visitors from overseas, to help a local business owner run down his stock. You know, in case it went off, or something. This effort from us over our several visits during this week did not go unrewarded from Zero’s owner who gifted us with two glasses as we bade him farewell. We use them regularly.

We headed back to the hotel as the sun started to dip in the sky. It wasn’t that late in the day – this was November, remember, when the days are shorter everywhere in the northern hemisphere – but with the lateness in the year and Kos being somewhat susceptible to strong winds (somewhat of an understatement) it could get a little chilly in the evening and we wanted to get back in time to freshen up before grabbing some food.

As we reached the boundary of the sprawling resort complex we spotted a group of guys playing cricket on a section of waste ground by the side of the road. Not a sport we ever thought we’d see being played on a Greek island if I’m being brutally honest here, but the suspicion is that these were likely hotel employees originating from India. They didn’t seem to mind us standing around for five minutes and firing off some shots, and I resisted the urge to ask if I could join in which doubtlessly was much appreciated by my wife as she’s seen just how terrible my bowling skills are.

We arrived back at the Blue Lagoon Resort at that time just before dinner started being served when the complex felt eerily empty; around the pool was practically deserted and we didn’t bump into a single person on the walk through to our room.

From our garden-view room balcony we had another lovely sunset in the western sky to admire before freshening up and making our way to the buffet restaurant where food was as expected – good, not fantastic – and desserts were numerous and ridiculously sweet.

The next day would be the final full day spent in Kos, and with lockdown coming into force on the island we would have to spend it around the swimming pool and enjoying what the all-inclusive resort could provide in terms of food and drink. That, and details of the last few hours before leaving to fly back to the UK on the day after will be covered in the last of these Kos 2020 break posts.

This turned out to be the Altar of Dionysus (or Temple of Dionysus), a public space that you’re free to wander around and through.

The original site dates from several centuries prior to the nearby villa – second and third centuries BCE – and explains the Greek name for the deity in use here as opposed to the Roman name of Bacchus that you might expect in later construction. As you might know, this is the God of Wine (amongst other things; your average god back then liked to branch out and try different things), but while post-classical representations of Bacchus or Dionysus emphasise a certain debauched and drunken slant the cults that worshipped Dionysus at this time would have practiced a more moderate approach to drinking, teaching the correct way to drink to release inhibitions without excess. Well, each to their own.

The Altar of Dionysus was in use for several hundred years but it suffered significant damage in a large earthquake in 142 CE and a few centuries later saw the rise of the Byzantine Empire which brought preferential status to Christian worship as the divine, political means of population-control, leading to substantially reduced need for the site.

The once-religious site existed in some reasonable form for another millennium until the Knights Hospitaller arrived on the island of Kos. During the construction of the castle that can be seen on the town’s waterfront they used stone and marble from the Altar of Dionysus as well as a long frieze depicting a battle with Amazons.

The site isn’t overly large, as you can see from the photos, and you can simply walk through from one end to the other in a couple of minutes. There are some nice ruins to see and because it’s located in a depression there’s protection from external noise and wind which lends the spot a sense of tranquility in addition to forming a lovely sun-trap if you fancy baking yourself. I was quite pleased to see some Greek wildlife in the forms of a dragonfly and a grasshopper. I was also pleased that they stayed still long enough for me to photograph as there’s nothing worse than cursing while your wife convulses with laughter nearby.

Directly north of the area we’d just looked around there were some more unearthed excavations to cast eyes over, although we couldn’t see a way down into them to look any closer.

With our interest in archaeology sated for the day we continued on our miniature quest to sate that need for liquid refreshment too. Our walk back towards Kos Harbour took us through the open space of Eleftherias Square once more and past the picturesque White Steps of Kos.

So, at last, drinks. We returned to Zero because we’d had such a lovely time there a couple of days earlier (see Exploring Kos Town for more historical sites and our account of the joys of this bar). My wife stuck with the local Greek ale she knew she liked while I proceeded with Mission Try Everything and, as before, drinks were accompanied by bowls of nibbles and a complimentary shot of ouzo after our second drink. It was so good to find a place that promoted and sold ales brewed in Greece and on the islands rather than just a national lager and the same old stuff you’d find all over the world that we’d expected before flying out. If you like craft or real ales then this is the place to visit if you find yourself on Kos.

Chatting with the owner of the bar we explained that our plan was to spend the following day around the hotel once again before coming back into Kos Town the day after (the last full day of our holiday) where we’d see what else we could drink. That’s when we learnt that this plan needed adjusting. We’d flown out to Kos just before the UK entered another of its string of lockdowns but there had been no restrictions on the Greek island thanks to its low infection rates other than to enforce mask-wearing in public spaces. A national announcement that we’d been sheltered from in the hotel meant that was about to change with all non-essential places ordered to close two days from this point in our holiday, and tourists would not be permitted to leave their hotels except for exercise and with written permission of the hotel. “Well, we’ll just have to come back here tomorrow instead,” I said, and that’s precisely what we would do.

We limited ourselves to three drinks because we had evening plans. The sun was getting lower in the sky and a thin layer of cloud was dropping the ambient temperature a couple of degrees as we left Zero and started on the walk back to the hotel.

The building below is an important landmark if you’re staying at the Blue Lagoon Resort and want to walk into or back from Kos Town. On our first wander in during this week abroad we’d taken the shoreline route into Kos which had lovely views of the sea across to Turkey but was slightly longer than the more direct route we’d taken on subsequent trips. Whichever way you go, if you stay on the road you first pick then you will almost certainly end up at this junction. North from the shopping mall building is the way towards the north shore which then curves around towards the hotel; east takes you to a long stretch of golden sand beach; south is the way to the centre of town and the harbour, and the direction we’d just come from; west is the way to walk to get to the hotel in the shortest amount of time, and west is the direction in which we turned now.

Low sunlight in the early evening gives everything a warm glow.

At the entrances to the hotel resort we’d seen a lot of cacti, one of the few plants I’ve got any time for since they seem like they’d do well to survive my inevitable lack of care for them should I have one. I think these were a type of Echinocactus.

We arrived back at our room in the Blue Lagoon Resort in time for another spectacular sunset. I’ve heard someone say that once you’ve seen one sunset you’ve seen them all. That’s clearly not true. Those photons of light that have been emitted from the surface of the sun where they’ve been bubbling up from the centre of it for countless years just to hurtle off through the vacuum of space, refract through the atmosphere of the planet, absorb and reflect spectra of the elements they pass, just to splat against the back of your eyeballs are yours and yours alone. If you don’t take the time to gaze out at a sunset then those photons are going to be lost against the brick wall you should be standing in front of. That’s no life for a photon. We never tire of watching sunsets just like we never tire of looking out at the sea from the cruises we take.

The Blue Lagoon Resort is an all-inclusive hotel on the north coast of Kos. Food is generally pretty basic buffet fare – good, varied, different from home, but nothing spectacular, and that’s to be expected for a place catering for the number of people staying there – but there are opportunities to get something a little different too. A number of speciality restaurants are also attached to the resort – a Greek, an Italian, and a Chinese – and while the meals there are still included in the price of your stay, because they’re smaller they require reservations to be made. Advice here is to book as soon as you possibly can. We did it on the day we arrived and still had to wait four days to get a table.

The restaurant we dined at in the resort was the Golden Sun Chinese Restaurant. If we’d had a choice then we’d have probably selected the Greek or Italian options because their cuisines are more to our tastes but this was November, after the resort usually closes for the season, with reduced capacity all over, and only one option if you wanted something special.

The day before, we’d reconnoitred the area to find out just where the restaurant was and how long it would take to walk there from our room (see: A Windy Day At The Blue Lagoon Resort) so we arrived pretty much dead on time and were shown immediately to our table in the orange, black, and white-decorated building.

It’s worth remembering that drinks in the hotel are free (there are premium, additional-cost options too) but in the speciality restaurants you have to pay for them. We decided to continue with our theme of the day of trying locally-produced drinks and selected a bottle of red wine. The price was reasonable; the quality was okay but a little sweet for us. For our waitress for the evening it was the first time she’d ever uncorked a bottle for guests so she was quite excited.

The food was perfectly fine although my wife’s intolerance for spicy food led to us swapping main courses when we determined that mine had far less heat in it. Neither of us like spicy food – we’ve always felt there’s more pleasure to be had in eating food that doesn’t inflict pain on you – but I have a higher threshold for discomfort as I’m a man and us men are obliged to act manly, boasting about our testosterone and how tough it makes us at all times even when – and especially if – we’re sobbing inside and wishing we could just be open and honest with the world.

Desserts were interesting. Just like in the main resort and with the wine, it seems like Greek people really like sweet stuff.

It was like no Chinese meal we’ve had back home (or in China for that matter) but that’s to be expected and it was good to see the Greek take on Asian food; all part of the reason to travel. If you’re planning a stay at the Blue Lagoon Resort then there’s no reason not to book a table at one or more of their speciality restaurants if you can because the worst case scenario is you don’t like it, you head back to the hotel, you grab something to eat there, and all for no cost.

On the way back to the hotel at the conclusion of our meal (it took us a while to finish the wine off) we passed by the shop that’s part of the complex. We have a thing for buying soap when we travel and the weirder and more wonderful it is the better. If you’re looking at the photo below and thinking “Yeah, no shit!” then well done, you.

We finished off the evening listening to the entertainment in the domed tent from our balcony. The clouds that had helped to decorate the sunset of earlier had disappeared with the sun itself leaving a crystal clear sky filled with stars to gaze up on. Looking at the stars is something else we never get tired of but I’ll spare you the lengthy description of the journey of photons of light from the distant reaches of the galaxy avoiding interstellar dust just to splat on your eyeballs this time around.

Yes, alternating days: one day around the pool (like the day at the hotel resort prior to this post’s account of events) and one day walking into town (like you’re just going to read, or skim past and look at the pretty pictures); and the reason for this type of holiday was just because there wasn’t a lot else to do – there’s a pandemic, people! – and we had escaped primarily to stop us going even more insane and killing even more people in another one of our classic machete mania episodes. Relaxation with occasional forays into culture was the order of the day.

After a pleasant enough breakfast we headed out of the resort with just a few distractions courtesy of one cat – there were plenty of them around the hotel – and one butterfly, which I think is a Danaus chrysippus, a relative of the Monarch butterfly that we’d more commonly see over here. Tremble at my power to educate you without you wanting me to.

We took the short route towards town. If you’ve read the previous accounts of walking into Kos from the Blue Lagoon Resort and returning back after exploring Kos Town then you’ll know that there is a longer, coastal route and a more direct route. The more direct route is perhaps not as attractive unless you prefer flat and exposed landscapes with occasional trees to the sight of the sea, but it shaves a few handfuls of minutes off the trek and it’s not without its pleasing views too. It’s also a bit more sheltered from the wind which in November had quite a bite to it.

In Kos Town we walked along the harbour front, bypassing the bar we’d been in previously only because we knew we’d be spending more time in it after some historical sights had been appreciated this day.

One sight of interest to the Instagram generation are the White Stairs of Kos, a set of stone steps leading from the harbour area towards the old town and decorated with thick white risers. Timing might be important to get the sunshine on this Kos attraction if this is the sort of place you’re thinking you absolutely must head to in order to get someone to take a photo of your back as you look away with head tilted up, touching the hat on your head with one hand and playfully tugging at your light dress with the other.

Up those steps and along a bit further brought us to Eleftherias Square, an open space with an interesting array of buildings around its sides – an indoor market and a mosque being just two – and an abundance of cats. We thought we’d seen a lot of cats in Kotor but we hadn’t seen quite so many in one place at the same time as here. As we’re cat people – smart people are, after all – this pleased us a lot.

Opposite the market was the Archaeological Museum of Kos. We are fond of a museum so we headed in. We were the only visitors which was understandable because this was outside the main tourist season even if this had been a normal year and our appearance startled the four or five members of staff who’d been busy talking and rushed to affix facemasks as we entered.

You will find no photos inside the museum here but that’s not because it wasn’t nice. Far from it, in fact; it’s a fascinating place set over two floors and packed with loads of artifacts – mostly Roman but a lot that are older too – alongside descriptions and translations that we spent ages looking over and reading. Sculptures, statues, mosaics, stone engravings, and more in a building constructed by the Italians in 1935 during their occupation and with elements of fascistic architecture in its design, seen above.

No, the reason I didn’t take any photos was because it wasn’t a particularly welcoming space. We were followed from room-to-room by one of the staff and not in that I’m-just-here-to-help-you-if-you-need-it way but more in that I’m-just-here-to-scream-at-you-if-you-think-of-touching-anything way. To be fair, I don’t have the friendliest of looks around strangers at the best of times while my wife’s resting bitch face is the sort of stuff they used to write sagas about so we might just have found a kindred spirit on the island of Kos, but there was an air of distrust that didn’t encourage seeing if I could take some snaps so I didn’t. A shame.

Despite the menace in the atmosphere I would still recommend visiting the museum when we return to The Normal Times because it is worth a good look around, and if you’re keen enough to have found this page after looking for Casa Romana information then one of the mosaic floors from it is on display and it’s a beauty.

Beyond the market hall was one more photographic feast in the form of the church, Agia Paraskevi. We didn’t go in – that fear of bursting into flames is ever-present – but it was a lovely example of orthodox design and I particularly liked the shade of blue used for the building’s domes.

A minute’s walk south from there at last brought us to the main attraction for our brains on this day in Kos Town, the Roman villa of Casa Romana. While not much to look at from outside – a fence around some bits of walls and columns outside a large, nondescript building – inside it’s a different matter.

During the Italian occupation of Kos there was a huge earthquake in 1933 that caused an immense amount of destruction. In addition to giving the Italians an excuse to redesign the layout of Kos Town and construct some new buildings to show off their own skills they undertook a series of archaeological excavations, one of which ended up unearthing this impressive villa. What you see is a recreation on the site of its original form with objects on display in situ.

Casa Romana was likely built in the second century CE but once you’re inside the vast majority of imagery and artifacts come from probably a century later. It’s all fantastic but the completeness and quality of many of the mosaic floors in particular is stunning when compared to other historical Roman and Greek sites we’ve visited over the years.

The layout of the villa is typical for the era, comprising rooms around central courtyard spaces that would provide for shelter from the sun and wind (especially the wind on Kos) as well as facilitate air flow throughout the building. Each courtyard mostly follows the same form of tiled spaces with a central water feature, and those tiled floors, again, are incredible. You can expect to see big cats and geometric patterns in surprisingly vivid colours given their age. This was a place constructed for important and wealthy people.

There’s pretty much a single route to take you through Casa Romana and following it soon brings you to the largest of the courtyards. Here, on three sides, there are two levels of the building to visit but we decided to stick just to the lower part initially, heading in one direction around the open arcade with views through the pillars into the centre of the space and a number of rooms off the area to look inside.

The rooms that we could enter were fairly spartan but each had some part of the original wall around its base and each housed at least one item of interest, whether that was a decorative piece of stone or a tiled floor or painted artwork still visible on the wall or a statue or sculpture of some description.

One ancient artifact on display in Casa Romana really stood out because of the fine detail work in the unusual red stone and the odd vertical form of it along with the serious expression on the facial features.

No, just kidding. It’s because the shadow it cast looked like a penis. I am a man-child.

Staying on the ground level of this reconstructed ancient Roman site we headed outside the villa. Here there was plenty of evidence of the original old walls and more ruins of columns and floor tiles. Inside the building it had actually been quite warm and, of course, we’d needed to wear masks, but outside it was fresher and we could breathe more easily for a bit. In addition there were toilets in a small building which one of us needed to use. There wasn’t a lot to see but it was a lovely day to simply spend around history.

We headed back into the villa and climbed the stairs to the first level of the building. In addition to some lovely views down into the atrium and a good feel for what it would have been like to live here there were a few more objects dotted around and a history of Kos and Casa Romana along one wall that was actually really interesting to read.

Whereas we’d been followed like hawks at the museum in town, here in Casa Romana we were more casually observed from a distance but there was still a small amount of keeping an eye on us that spoke volumes about trust issues. Perhaps they have a history of people misbehaving.

We left the way we came, having spent roughly half an hour exploring the historical site. The cost of entry was only a few Euros and well worth the admission price just to see the artistry in some of those tiled mosaics up close. The reconstructed main building incorporating elements of the original walls and decoration where possible was done in a very good, very sympathetic style, and the overgrown nature and dilapidated state of some areas lent it an age it didn’t technically have but which added to the whole experience.

In the next part of this Kos travelogue series I’ll cover what we got up to for the rest of the day; that’ll be spotting a couple more archaeological sites on the walk to that bar I mentioned bypassing earlier in this post, the walk back to the Blue Lagoon hotel, and some speciality dining at the Chinese restaurant at the resort complex to finish off the evening.

We took a slightly more circuitous route to breakfast which meant we got to see a view of the resort’s swimming pool from a new angle. Well, you’ve got to add to that experiential count any which way you can. It had been fairly windy every day so far and this was already shaping up to be the windiest of all.

After breakfast we took a walk outside the resort and across the wide but generally empty road to the north in order to see the sea from the ostensibly private beach belonging to the Blue Lagoon.

There was nothing preventing anyone not from the hotel complex getting onto this area of land but there was not a lot else in terms of construction nearby either, and there is plenty of public beach either side. The beach here was accessed down a plastic/wooden walkway partly-sheltered by trees to one side. Portable toilets were present should they be needed and the beach itself contained fixed loungers and parasols for close to a hundred guests along with some floating platforms that looked like a lot of fun as they were buffeted by the waves. The wind was coming directly off the sea into our faces and had a chilled edge to it so we didn’t stay too long.

We spent the morning beside the pool. I tried to play around with the gimbal I’d bought along for my phone but had managed to de-calibrate it at some point and couldn’t remember how to re-calibrate it. I eventually gave up.

As for venturing into the pool… no chance. Across the few hours we were there we perhaps saw three adults get in and only then briefly. Kids seemed to tolerate the temperature better but they were on the far side of the pool in the main. The swimming pool at the Blue Lagoon Resort in Kos is very large and very attractive with a depth that varies from around waist-height to shoulder-height, but it’s not heated because of the volume of water involved and the need to have a Tokamak fusion reactor to do that cost-effectively. Take away that wind and raise that ambient temperature several degrees and you’d have a very pleasant place to swim indeed but early November in something occasionally approaching a gale didn’t quite come together to form the right conditions. We made do with reading in the sunshine in the company of each other and some soft drinks and beers.

The Blue Lagoon Resort is all-inclusive and in addition to the buffet dining for breakfast, lunch, and evening meal there are also options for included speciality dining. The number of restaurants available for booking during our quickly-extended off-season stay was down to one; that being one specialising in Asian cuisine. You have to book the restaurant using an app (you can probably do so at reception as well) and we’d tried to book as soon as we’d arrived but could only get a table for the fourth day. With that being the day after this one we thought it would be sensible for us to hunt this down since the complex was fairly large in order to know how far away it was and just when we’d have to set off for it on the following evening, so we headed off in the early afternoon to scope it out.

Reaching the restaurant was very easy. Simply stepping out onto the road beside reception we walked away from the direction of the beach for about five minutes and found it with no problem. On the way we passed well-tended greenery and clean walkways.

This part of the resort was also where some additional activities could be located, including mini-golf and a small aquapark. I imagine the latter would be very popular in the summer with the younger visitors to this part of Kos.

Our curiosity sated as to where we’d need to be the next day we made our way back. On the way to the main part of the hotel we passed a small church or chapel so if you absolutely must get in your fix of Greek orthodoxy (I guess) when you’re abroad then you’ll be fine here.

The view had been pleasant around the pool but the cold wind had been something we’d not enjoyed quite so much, but with our room having been made up by now we spent the afternoon alternating between the balcony – which was sheltered from the breeze and a regular sun-trap – and the air-conditioned room to watch some TV with just the occasional short venture down to a bar to grab something to drink and take back.

As you can see from these photos of the balcony it’s a good size. Comparing it to cruise ships – because that’s the sort of thing I do – then it doesn’t stack up well against Grand-class ships but it excels against the Royal-class design. You’ll notice that there is an ashtray on the table because smoking is permitted. We never used it, of course, because it’s a filthy, stinking habit, and I’m happy to report that we weren’t affected by anyone else doing so either. That strong wind possibly took any diseased smoke shooting across the Greek island before it could get anywhere near our nostrils.

Because of the time of year sunset was pretty early in the evening and we had another lovely view of it from our room. The day’s end also saw a reduction in the wind speed which you can see in the video below showing how strong it was early in the afternoon looking east compared to the slightly reduced strength as dusk approached.

To finish this windy day at the Blue Lagoon Resort on Kos here are a few photos of dessert for the evening and the entertainments tent (that domed structure you can see from our balcony photos). While the food in general in the buffet was okay – not brilliant; not awful – the desserts were an absolute treat every evening. It was far too easy to eat far too many of the many choices available. Entertainment at night was typically song and dance numbers and it was of a good quality if you like that sort of thing, only marginally let down by the sound system and general acoustics in the venue. Again, though, another one of those areas that are possibly far more enjoyable with more people present in warmer and more inebriated conditions. If you’re visiting in the summer with friends or family then you’ll have a good time, I’m sure. For us the entertainment was secondary to simply extending the evening out and trying some of the cocktails before retiring to bed.

In the next part of this travelogue series I’ll cover our second visit to Kos Town and a look around some more ancient ruins that we’d been unable to see on the first trip.

We knew that Kos had an abundance of ancient Greek and Roman ruins dotted around so our general plan was to see if we could find a few then check out a bar that had come to our attention during the very brief bit of research into the town. However, by the time we’d reached the town one of us needed to use the toilet. We could see that there was a public toilet right in front of the bar we’d been interested in but this turned out to be locked (and possibly would have required coins we didn’t have on us to use as well, as I recall) so the only sensible option was to use the toilets in the bar instead, and since it would be rude to do that and not have a drink we were compelled to alter our general plan accordingly.

The bar in Kos Town that we stopped in – and the first visit of many to it – was Zero Café-Bar and if you’ve read any other travelogues on this site where we’ve hunted down pubs then you might understand why after a quick look at the beer list there (if it’s open) or the gallery of images of previous beers they’ve sold. We are extremely fond of real and craft ales and ciders, and when we travel we like to try anything locally-produced if possible. Many times this turns out to be lager because lager is popular around the world. People and their tastes, eh? However, Zero specialised in proper Greek ales: pale ales, golden ales, ambers, rubies, porters, and stouts from Kos or other Greek islands or the mainland. If you are fond of local craft ales and you’re visiting Kos then Zero is a must-visit bar. Drinks were served with complimentary (and lovely) nibbles.

We only had the one drink each but we promised the owner we’d be back after we’d explored a little of the streets of Kos Town and cast our eyes over some of its historical ruins.

Zero Café-Bar is directly opposite the harbour and set back from the main road along the front. Allowing for the road layout we headed away from the water and due south from the bar as the map indicated that the main place we wanted to look at was in this rough direction.

Those ancient ruins that you can find on Kos were immediately visible. It was hard to walk down a street or two and not glance across into a field to see old columns or parts of a wall. With Kos being a Greek island it would be easy to think that what we were seeing was all ancient Greek – and in a way, of course, it would be – but the style of the columns where some had been reconstructed looked to have decidedly Roman capitals on them. In fact you’ll find a mix of periods and styles and the reason for that and for the general ruinous state is simply that Kos has had its fair share of earthquakes over the centuries. When the Romans were at the height of their power in this region they would have needed to restore or build anew what might have fallen.

The Western Excavations archaeological zone that we came upon reminded us a little of Herculaneum with the ruins of the ancient site surrounded on all sides by modern buildings. Sadly, we couldn’t see a way into it and didn’t look too hard because it was clear from our vantage point that nobody was exploring it. I assume it was closed on the day we visited.

The closed archaeological site hadn’t been where we were intending to visit, thankfully, so we proceeded through the attractive streets of Kos Town.

Our walking route then brought us to the Eski Cami Mosque Minaret. The Bab-Gedid mosque was built in Kos in 1586 and stood in the Muslim quarter of Kos Town until the early 1930s when an earthquake treated it with as much respect as buildings of the Greeks and Romans had been treated. Since 1912 Kos had been under Italian rule so they used this earthquake and its widespread destruction as a reason to redesign much of the town. What remained of the mosque was torn down with the exception of the minaret that had been on the holy building’s northwest corner, and this was relocated to this spot.

A set of shallow, stone steps led in the direction we wanted so we continued on our way south.

We never get lost when we’re travelling. Instead, we take surprise scenic routes. We ended up taking a surprise scenic route to where we needed to get to when we picked the first of two possible roads that would apparently take us towards the historic site we most wanted to see. We saw more ruins and some wildlife – I’m not sure if cats and cows really count, to be honest – before finding ourselves at the locked gates of what turned out to be a Catholic Church on Kos. The tall, narrow, arched gateway mirrored the shape of the entrance to the church we could see beyond but this wasn’t what we were after.

We backtracked and selected the second road.

So, this was what we most wanted to see. The Roman Odeon dates from the second century C.E. and the reason we wanted to see it was because of its architectural similarities to theatres or amphitheatres which we’re fond of seeing when we hop around the world. An odeon (or odium) can be thought of as a smaller scale theatre and one that would originally have had a roof over it as its primary purpose was for singing rather than acting, for which the roof made for better acoustics. There’s no entrance fee and you’re free to clamber about and sit on the steps so we did.

The side entrances to the stage of the odeon were lined with decorative mosaics and in Kos you can see one of these by following the walls to the left of the rows of seats as you look at them. To see the mosaic tiling outside, only protected from the elements by a sheet, was quite surprising.

Opposite the entrance to the Roman Odeon there were more ruins on show but we headed along the road towards the shore in an easterly direction instead as not too far from the ancient site was another one that sounded interesting.

Casa Romana, a Roman villa, was what we’d seen on the map but this too turned out to be closed when we arrived. With our travelling taking place in 2020 and most of the world sensibly employing some form of pandemic precautions we were a little disappointed but weren’t too surprised that the opening hours shown on the phone weren’t accurate, but a sign on the gate did seem to indicate that temporary rules in place meant it was only shut on the day we were there. Since we already expected to make return trips into Kos Town during our week on the island we figured we would try again on another day. A spoiler here: we did try again and were successful, we can definitely recommend it, and that will be covered in a later post in this Kos travelogue series.

Since we were heading east we continued in that direction with our new plan to simply be a walk to the coastline then following the road as much as possible back in to the harbour area where we’d make for the bar again and grab another drink or two. Or more than two. It really depended on whether we’d see anything else on the walk that caused us to stop for long but we’d made up our mind that we’d be coming back to check out more of the ruins on another day so we were mostly just thinking about having a drink. We had been out for many hours by this point, most of it on our feet, it was warm, we’d finished the water we’d brought with us some time ago, and throughout the town area we’d been masked up like the majority of people so we were getting a little uncomfortable by now anyway. That’s my excuse and it’s the one I demand you accept.

There were still plenty of sights to see, as it turned out. First up was a statue of a man on a horse. This was a memorial to Theodoros Kolokotronis, a prominent leader and hero of Greece’s 1821-1829 War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire. He isn’t specifically connected with Kos, though, and similar statues can be found in other locations around Greece and its islands.

I do like my architecture and frequent earthquakes on Kos means you can get to see a wide variety of styles depending on when something fell over and needed rebuilding. You can clearly guess that the somewhat unlooked-after Costel Hotel in the photos below was probably built by the Italians after the 1933 quake on the island thanks to its Art Deco design elements.

As we reached the seafront, outside the main town walls and turning towards the castle on the southern and eastern side of the harbour, I heard someone shouting from across the road. Ordinarily, I’d ignore this sort of thing but the shouting was in English and it included the sentences “Hello! You with the camera!” and “Hey, camera man!” and “Across the road! You with the professional camera!” which sounded frighteningly like it might be directed at me on account of me being a man with a professional camera who was across the road from the noise. I made sure to ignore this even more than normal because my experiences with people shouting about me and my camera to date hasn’t been entirely a good one. Some people really don’t like the idea that things that are in public view are not protected from photography and I’ve adapted my approach from raising a middle finger and swearing in response to a more moderate just pretending they’re not there over the years. However, my wife wasn’t really aware of this and just assumed that my tinnitus was preventing me from engaging with a local man so she ensured I stopped and looked across the road. Thankfully, as it turned out, it was just the proprietor of the Amaryllis Restaurant who wanted to have some photos taken. I don’t get many requests like this but I was happy to oblige without crossing the street. We didn’t go in the restaurant but the reviews are good and the owner seems friendly so it might be worth a visit if you’re in Kos and fancy a bite to eat.

Along the road and past a pier (that we skipped walking along for once thanks to the wind that was whipping in) a prominent building in white and cream with crenellations and a tower and arched facades felt like it should be something more than the police station. Around this area too, according to the map, was the Tree of Hippocrates, a plane tree said to have been planted by the fourth and fifth century B.C.E. physician. We didn’t know what a plane tree looked like so took photos of any trees in general but it turns out that none of these are them and you need to get behind the building to see it. Also behind this building is the Ancient Agora which we completely missed when looking for things to see so that’s two points of interest in close proximity to take a look at should we ever return to Kos. I never claimed that this exploration of Kos Town would actually be a comprehensive or even moderately good one.

The next area we walked through was an incredibly picturesque part of Kos and, indeed, when we looked up photos of Kos Town before flying out to the island it’s shots from here that featured a lot. The castle around the harbour entrance was built in 1315 by the Roman Catholic military order of the Knights Hospitaller. It originally had a ditch around it over which a bridge ran connecting the inner and outer walls, and this bridge, known as the Fortress of Neratzia Bridge, still stands, albeit over a road now. The combination of this old, stone bridge, the fortress walls on one side, and the road lined with palm trees makes for some very attractive photography possibilities.

We didn’t dawdle along the harbour front as that already-mentioned wind was nipping at the exposed flesh on our arms but it forms another pleasant area of Kos Town that I can easily imagine is a joy to spend time in during summer months when viruses aren’t running rampant across the globe. There were some interesting-looking boats moored up, many of which would normally be available for trips out to various islands or hiring for fishing if that’s your thing.

Back to Zero we arrived and this time we opted to sit in the large garden area in front of the bar rather than the sheltered courtyard at its entrance. While my wife felt safer sticking to the one type of Greek ale she’d already had and knew she liked – a red ale from Septem – I proceeded with Operation Try Everything On The Menu. Just not all at once. Because the heat of the day was fast-disappearing we ended up having just another two drinks each, both with accompanying nibbles again, and with a complimentary ouzo each too. How can you not like this place? We knew we’d be popping back here when we returned to the town to check out more of its archaeological history later in the week.

All that remained for us to do at the end of some drinking under some lightly-clouding-over skies was to head back to the hotel.

The initial part of our walk took us from the harbour front along the main road heading north-northwest from the dolphin-decorated fountain in the centre of a roundabout. This walk back would be along all new roads for us as we’d come into town on a more scenic, shoreline route in the morning so I took the opportunity to snap a few shots of buildings on the way when they were interesting enough to do so. Some of the architectural mouldings and the paint finish on a mostly-white building gave it the appearance of being formed from plastic, and another building’s colour scheme of pea green and pale orange shades felt fabulously 1970s.

If you’ve read the previous part of this series where I covered the walk into Kos then you’ll possibly remember the significance of reaching the Konstantinos Shopping Mall/Supermarket building. We’d reached this junction from the north in the morning and had then turned east towards Lambi beach. Now we had reached it from the south and turned west because this was the shortest route back to the hotel. On repeat walks into Kos Town during the week it was this short route that we would take heading both in and out.

The road you’ll most likely walk along between the town and the Blue Lagoon Resort Hotel if you’re staying there too is Olympias and it’s lined for the most part with open fields and not so many buildings to break up the expanse. What buildings there were, though, were a complete mix of types, with some appearing old and dilapidated while others looked frighteningly huge, new, and expensive. One of the nicer things about walking this road was that because it was quiet and not built-up there was no reason to keep our masks on so we could enjoy the walk towards the western horizon in a little more comfort. Without the light cloud cover this would have been a gorgeous time to see the sun setting on a lovely day of ancient history-viewing and modern beer-consuming.

In the next post in this travelogue series describing our week in Kos I’ll cover a second full day spent around the hotel complex with a little more exploration of it in order to scope out the location of the speciality dining restaurant we’d booked.

There was an obvious place to head towards: Kos Town; obvious, because Kos is a small island with not a huge amount to do, and in terms of things within walking distance of the hotel, this was pretty much Option One in a list containing a single item. We had no complaints here because this was a different sort of holiday in a different sort of year for us. Our primary reason for getting away for this week of late-autumn, Mediterranean sunshine was just to get away, and if we’d had to spend it around the pool or on our balcony all day, every day we might still have gone simply to have had a break from work and an escape from the UK for a short period.

There are effectively two walking routes into town from the resort, differing in terms of length and attractiveness of the first part of each, and we took the longer, more scenic, shoreline walk. The total length of this walk was around four kilometres and took around an hour and a quarter because one of us – no names – likes to take lots of photos and videos, and two of us – no names – don’t like to get too hot so really take our time when we move anywhere. This travelogue post will be primarily photos from that walk into the town while the next post will cover what we saw there and where we ended up drinking, so consider this an appetite-whetter for the more important information to come.

The first thing we did was make for the private stretch of beach to the north of the hotel. It was bright, it was sunny, it was still very windy, and it was another chance to take some photos, and I never pass them up. The view from the beach looks out over the Mediterranean Sea. Okay, technically, it’s the South Aegean Sea but I’m fairly certain that most people wouldn’t be able to point at a map and tell you where the boundary of that is.

Do you want a geography lesson? No? Well, you’ve come to the wrong place then because now you’re going to get a short geography lesson.

Leave the Blue Lagoon Resort, cross the wide road, and walk down the boards to the beach until you come to the water’s edge. Turn slightly to your left and you’ll see an island. This is Pserimos and if you’re the sort of person who thinks a holiday is improved by putting in more effort than is needed then this could be worth a visit.

Yes, we went to Kos too. Lovely place. Those typically Greek buildings and those fabulous, white churches. Great little beaches. Love being beside the sea, and it’s fantastic for some stunning sunrises and sunsets. We liked the remoteness of it all, the way you can walk off into the countryside and hike around without seeing a soul for ages then suddenly stumble on a group of buildings. Tell me, did you walk into Kos Town and take the boat to Pserimos off the north coast? Oh you should have! Bumpy ride on account of the wind; felt a little seasick to be honest. Still, so worth it once we got there. Lovely place. Those typically Greek buildings and those fabulous, white churches. Great little beaches. Love being beside the sea, and it’s fantastic for some stunning sunrises and sunsets. We liked the remoteness of it all, the way you can walk off into the countryside and hike around without seeing a soul for ages then suddenly stumble on a group of buildings. Personally, I don’t really think you’ve been to Kos at all if you’ve not visited Pserimos.

We didn’t visit Pserimos during our stay on Kos.

Now turn to the right. That’s no island you’re now looking at. That’s Turkey. There was a global pandemic and travelling more than necessary was frowned upon and subsequently more difficult to do so we didn’t visit Turkey while we stayed at Kos but if it had been possible to hop on a boat there then we would have because it’s a country we’ve not visited yet. In normal times there is a regular service between Kos Town and Bodrum.

The Blue Lagoon Resort beach is mostly sandy but there are some pebbles along the tidemark. You’ll find plenty of loungers under fixed parasols for lying under the sun and partial shade while being battered by the wind, and there are some nearby portaloos for those who don’t want to traipse back to the hotel or make it obvious to everyone what they’re doing when they wander waist-deep into the sea, stand still for thirty seconds, breathe a deep sigh of relief, then stroll back to their spot on the sand.

Mark, I cannot believe we’ve got this far into this post and you’ve not even started your shoreline walk to Kos Town.

Ah, you’re new here.

We left the beach and headed back for the main road, alongside which there is a separated lane for pedestrians and cyclists to use in safety, not that we saw a whole lot of traffic on our walk anyway. The wide road had the distinct feel of something that had expected to be used more or, perhaps, and knowing how the construction industry and local governments work, anticipated growth on the island hadn’t quite reached the forecasted levels when the inflated contracts for the work were being decided over drinks somewhere.

There’s a reason I take a lot of photographs. Actually, there are many reasons I take lots of photographs. One reason is that my camera and lenses are expensive and you’ve got to justify that sort of expenditure somehow. Another reason is that I work in a job that involves no artistry – a lot of skill, and the right sort of brain, but not a lot of scope to go crazy – and my writing and my photos are an outlet for that part of me that’s always been a bit imaginative, so the more stressful and intense my job gets the more I need to vent through art. No, I’m not saying what I write or take photos of is in any way actual art. The reason for taking a lot of photos I was originally getting at is because I don’t pay a lot of attention sometimes so need visual reminders of what I’ve seen when I’m writing up about them often months later. And sometimes, I spot something I didn’t notice at all at the time, like in this following photo.

I do try to look out for compositions when taking photos. Rule of thirds, diagonals into corners, that sort of thing. I also try to look out for wildlife. I never know what it is at the time. “Bird! Cow! Bird on a cow!” I’ll exclaim. In this instance I thought I saw a cricket on a sawn-off part of a tree we were passing so I fired off a shot almost without stopping and carried on. I didn’t want to get too close because although it looked big I did just think it was a cricket and I didn’t want it to jump off the tree in fright into my face as nobody likes to hear a grown man scream.

When I was processing the photo, though, I suddenly spotted the shadow of the insect and took a closer look. I’ve mentioned before in our travelogues that we love spotting unusual creatures when we travel so now I can check off Preying Mantis from the list. I wish I’d realised at the time.

For the first part of this walk along the northern coastline of Kos towards the main town on the island we were some way back from the water; able to see it and hear the waves crashing on the beach, but with plenty of scrubland and grass and trees in the way. One other sight that cropped up on a few occasions was that of abandoned World War II bunkers. The main sort of history we were interested in on Kos was a lot older, but the middle of the twentieth century naturally saw some military action for this Greek island thanks to its strategic position in the Aegean. If you’re interested in wartime history and a little bit of urban exploration then there’s plenty of opportunity to see some remnants up close on this walk and I imagine the same is true across the island. For more information on the fighting that took place please read about the Battle of Kos.

Buildings along the walk were an interesting mix of old ones, daubed with graffiti and clearly abandoned, crumbling and potentially damaged in fighting or earthquakes or through shoddy construction techniques, as well as new ones, bright, clean, with modern architectural styles taking advantage of the fabulous sea views in this quiet location not far from the town.

We’d been walking in a roughly easterly direction all this time and were now approaching the point at which the shoreline road would turn southwards towards the town. Here, the scrubland and beach mostly vanished, leaving the road a lot closer to the water, and the effects of coastal erosion were clear to see. If we had harboured any doubts that the wind and waves were a constant force of nature on this side of the island then this mostly put them to rest. A military pillbox had slid to one side; the pavement was cracked, exposing cables; and what we thought was a cute, scale model of Durdle Door turned out to be all that remained of what had been a concrete pipe.

Not many photos taken along this stretch of road because it wasn’t anywhere near as attractive and because we were now walking directly towards the sun, but a couple of places did stand out on the other side of the road, and since I am an amateur fan of architecture I’ll mention them. Both are modern hotels, but both are very different. First up is the Aqua Blu hotel with some great use of separation and open spaces in the square-edged blocks of material that makes it all look like a puzzle composed of interlocking rectangles you need to twist and slide in just the right way to untangle. More photos and more about the design by Liakos and Associates can be found here: Aqua Blu Hotel.

The second piece of design to catch my eye was the Apollon and the reason was simply that we instantly recognised the ancient Minoan style of architecture of the Palace of Knossos on Crete in use here. We had not been too impressed with Knossos, although we’d been glad to see it, and it was great to see the obvious influence but with some modern touches in this construction, such as the tapered column shapes.

If you’re walking from the Blue Lagoon Resort into Kos Town then the landmark you’ll want to keep an eye out for if you’re not simply relying on your phone for directions is the Konstantinos Shopping Mall/Supermarket building. It’s easily recognisable as it’s got the words “Konstantinos” on one side, “Supermarket” on another, and “Shopping Mall” on the corner atop which is a dome or, possibly, a climbing frame. I can’t comment on how Greek adults approach health and safety when it comes to letting their children play. This building stands on a crossroads.

We’d been approaching this from the north and were we to continue south we’d end up in the town centre eventually. To the west was Olympias and following this road eventually takes you to the Blue Lagoon Resort; indeed, of those two walking routes to take into Kos, if you want the shortest way then this is the road you’ll walk along (and would be the road we’d head back along when returning to the hotel later in the day). The final option is to head east along Antigonis which provides a slightly longer way into town as it takes the walker along Lambi Beach. As we were after the most picturesque way to get into town and we’re more fond of beach and sea views than we are of tourist shops that’s the way we went.

The road to the beach was a short one and there was more evidence of probable war-related buildings along its length.

Lambi Beach, on the northeast edge of Kos and just above Kos Town, is a more golden, sandy beach than those we’d walked alongside to get to this point of the stroll. There are some pebbles but they’re few and far between, and even though there was hardly anyone around with this being November we could tell this would be a popular spot for holidaymakers and locals in the height of a virus-free summer. The sea looked reasonably calm as the wind was blowing across it rather than driving it towards the shore, and it even looked inviting following our quite warm walk, but we knew from dipping toes in the pool at the hotel the day before that the temperature would induce some shrieking so we didn’t venture any closer than the promenade.

I’m going to finish this coverage of our walk from the Blue Lagoon Resort hotel along the coast and into Kos Town with some pictures leading from Lambi Beach down to and into the harbour area. This was where we would sit for a few minutes to take the weight off our feet, have a look at the boats in the sheltered bay of water and the fortifications opposite us, and take stock of what our plan was now we’d reached the town. You can certainly get to Kos Town faster than we did but if you’re staying at the same hotel or one nearby then it’s worth doing this walk at least once despite the additional time and risk of seeing dead fish on the ground or the increasing likelihood that some of the road will be washed out into the Mediterranean at some point in the near future, possibly while you’re on it taking a photo of a cricket that might be a mantis.

This wouldn’t be the only day we’d walk into the town during our week on this Greek island and in the next post in this Kos 2020 travelogue series I’ll go over what we saw in town on this first occasion (spoiler: ruins) and what we did (no surprise: found a bar), which turns out to be shockingly similar to the other occasions too. We know what we like.

There were no cruise options for the simple fact that mismanagement of huge disasters and the selling of online advertising space for the increasingly lazy press requires someone to produce an ornate key to unlock an imposing gate and to shout “Release the Scapegoat!“

Thus it was that I started looking over package holidays for the first time in a very long time. I also started pondering booking everything myself but quickly realised that whatever almost impossibly small amount of cover there might be for cancellations of booked trips during a pandemic against government advice would vanish in a puff of smoke if I didn’t get some kind of operator involved. Also, I’m lazy. My conditions for booking something were:

• it had to be good value,
• it had to be soon so that cancellations were almost impossible,
• it had to be somewhere with lower infection rates than at home (rather easy to achieve, thankfully),
• and it had to not require us to pay additional money to a private company to get a test within a few days of departure (because adding the stress of wondering if the results would come back in time was not something we wanted to entertain)

Just three days before departing (and one day before the UK announced a new lockdown would kick in while we were away) I ended up booking a week’s holiday in an all-inclusive resort on the Greek island of Kos through TUI. Entry requirements to Kos were that we had to pre-register online to say where we’d be staying and we’d receive a QR code by email on the night before the flight that would needed to be shown at the airport. Lovely. We had no qualms with booking with TUI either as they’d looked after us splendidly just the year before – ah, the year before, when people could travel freely! – on our Marella Discovery cruise to Jordan. It would be a TUI flight, TUI transfer, and there’d be a TUI rep at the hotel to take care of all the worries, and TUI’s cancellation and Covid policies covered things that would be otherwise nullified on our travel insurance. The hotel in question normally finished its season the day before we’d arrive but had extended it for a few weeks in order to make up some lost revenue from fewer bookings during the year and because there’d been a rush of interest from people in the UK especially looking to take advantage of international travel for holidays while it was briefly allowed between lockdowns.

I booked parking at Gatwick airport and the hotel at the airport as close as possible to the terminal (North Terminal, a first for us, and where all flights were coming in and out of at this time); a little more expensive than what we’d normally do but we wanted stress-free and convenient for this spur-of-the-moment sunshine break. The morning of the flight saw us waking up, grabbing our bags, walking across the road to the terminal, masking up, checking in, and passing through security all inside about twenty minutes. The perfect start to a holiday.

I guess it’s time for a traditional breakfast and drink.

Ah. About that…

Oh God! What!? They haven’t closed the pub because of Covid, have they?

Worse than that. Much, much worse than that.

No. Oh no. Please say it isn’t so.

Once upon a time there was a land at peace with its neighbours and filled to overflowing with public houses serving ales from across the country at excellent prices to people enjoying what the land produced. But one day a sickness of the mind hit the land and ruddy-faced figures walked around spreading lies about the neighbouring countries, saying that they were thieves not partners and that they were trying to take over, that the land should build a wall around itself, should stop the friendly neighbours from stealing its fish, and that everyone would be richer if this was done. The people of the land were divided between those who could see the lies and those who were racist and had been hiding it, but the owner of the biggest, most popular public houses – Tim the Potatogre; half-man, half-spud; cursed with a tiny face on a huge head – came out of the shadows and said he believed the ruddy-faced lies and that people who wanted drinks in his buildings should have to read about the evil neighbours. The public houses changed from places of enjoyment to dens of dim-witted despair, and the sickness of the mind spread faster; the enjoyment stopped; the ruddy-faced liars got richer and the land withered, and Tim the Potatogre kept saying how good it all was.

Wetherspoons? A fucking Wetherspoons?

Sorry. Only option at the moment. We could skip it but…

Urgh! What a horrible position to be in.

If it helps, since it’s after security at the airport, we could pretend it’s on international land and therefore not a real pub, but one of those knock-off things they have for tourists in countries with poor trademark protection.

Like that Hard Rock Café we once saw down that alley somewhere that was smaller than a burger van.

Exactly.

We can do this. Just don’t tell anyone and don’t write about it on the site.

You can count on it.

For tradition’s sake we suffered a breakfast and a pint before the flight which was mostly notable for the sudden screaming and shouting somewhere high over southern Europe. Not from us. We’re old school, reserved Brits. A young woman started yelling “Get off me!” and “Leave me alone!” at the top of her lungs causing several people to stand up and stare pointedly. The shouting went on for a few minutes and I’d like to tell you why it started and what caused it to stop but I’ve no idea as to the former and perhaps pointed staring eventually wears a person’s resolve down given enough time in the latter’s case.

Kos Airport was not without incident either.

It began on the bus ride from the plane to the terminal. A fellow passenger – male, early twenties, slight build, caucasian, I must stop watching police dramas, I’ll stop now – boarded, mask around his chin, and started talking animatedly and loudly about being on holiday. People ignored him. His companion nodded and answered him. Then he caught sight of me and stiffened. He backed away a step and slowly pulled his mask over his mouth and nose, then remained silent while staring at me. I stared back. Odd behaviour, but an acceptable outcome.

Off the bus and we all had to queue outside the terminal because Kos Airport is, it transpires, bloody tiny, and when they’ve got a grand total of one person checking passports and those QR codes, and that one person is the most fastidious person on the entire island, the queue just wouldn’t move. It was hot outside the terminal and we were all still wearing masks and the queue disintegrated into a bunched-up and definitely not socially-distanced ball once an airport employee came over and insisted we couldn’t form a single line the way we’d been trying. Someone got close to my backpack. I am acutely aware of who’s close to me because of the cameras I carry so I glanced back to see a woman who had nearly backed into me while talking to her male companion. No big deal. The male companion was the same guy from the bus. His eyes widened as he saw me and he pulled his friend away from me then stepped back into the people behind him to move further away. Really odd behaviour, but I was definitely beginning to like this power a lot.

Twenty or more minutes passed and we were inside the building and in a snaking and only occasionally shuffling line towards passport control. Suddenly, there was more shouting from behind us. An armed security guard pushed through to see what was happening. And wouldn’t you know it, but it was only Mr Bus and Mr Queue himself refusing to wear his mask and threatening the guard that he’d sue him if he laid a finger on him and that he couldn’t make him wear a mask and who knows what else. Drugs or mental illness were clearly involved, and that was the last we saw of him. The main thing I took from this whole series of events, however, was that I’m scarier than a Greek man with a sidearm. I might even put that on business cards.

Just one more thing to mention from this excruciatingly long period spent in the airport at Kos and that was the Covid test. During the pre-flight online registration with the Greek government to receive the QR code it was mentioned that some people would be taken aside for quick swab-testing on arrival at the airport with any positive Covid results notified within 24 hours and further instructions to quarantine to occur then. In actuality it was every person who was the lead person on a booking – since you only needed to register once per family – who was sent down to have the QR code scanned, assigned to a test swab, then have that swab sent to explore the deepest recesses of the throat. In our case this was me, and while it wasn’t particularly nice it was quick, done with a smile, and ultimately confirmed that we were likely not infected as we heard no more about it.

And so, finally, a lot later than expected, after the luggage carousel jammed for ten minutes just before our case came out just for the fun of it, and after finding the TUI person and finding the right bus, and enjoying the views of the Greek island on a half hour drive through the countryside, we arrived at the resort.

The Blue Lagoon Resort is on the north coast of Kos and it’s the first resort we’ve ever been to. We’ve been to hotels before but this was the first time visiting a place where after checking in you’re whisked away on a golf cart to find the building where your room is because it’s all spread out over such a distance. In fact, once we’d got our bearings after a few days we realised that a lot of it is closer than first thought but our initial thoughts were along the likes of “Oh crap, we are so going to get lost around here.” This, of course, was not helped by the sun already dipping as we’d arrived and the need for the golf cart to take the route around the complex wide enough to support it; there was no use trying to think “Well, we took two lefts, a right, bypassed two turn-offs, one more left, then two rights after the crossroads, so we should be able to reverse those directions to get back to reception if we need to” and there was little point paying much attention to our driver pointing out things in the twilight that we clearly wouldn’t recognise in the light of the days to come.

Our room was big – very large compared to the sort of rooms we’re used to on cruise ships – but perhaps a little spartan given its size, and potentially lacking in storage space if you were planning on staying for longer than a week. Obligatory photos of the room and bathroom are now provided for your viewing pleasure.

I’d booked what the Blue Lagoon Resort refers to as a Garden View room. This is actually the cheapest type of accommodation they have, with others having views of the pool or the sea or being more secluded and close to the resort’s spa. We had absolutely no complaints with the room or its location – two or three minutes’ walk to all the things you’ll probably want to get to – and with our room facing west we were treated to a fantastic scene of sunset over Kos as soon as we stepped out onto our balcony.

There are north-facing rooms in the resort, including any sea view ones, and I’d be a little wary of booking them at the time of year we visited if the wind that prevailed throughout our stay is a common occurrence. In the heat of summer, maybe quite welcome. With the dropping (but very pleasant for us) temperatures of the late autumn that wind had quite a bite to it that we were thankfully sheltered from with our room allocation.

We unpacked, installed an app that would allow us to book a complimentary meal in one of the resort’s speciality dining options (only the Chinese restaurant was available, and that was booked out for the first four days so worth checking that early if you’re staying at this hotel), tried to align the supplied map with where we thought we were based on what we could see and where we thought the golf cart had taken us, then headed off to see about getting some dinner. Naturally, we headed in the wrong direction but this did bring us to one side of the main and very large swimming pool at the Blue Lagoon Resort. We knew we could circle this and get to the buffet restaurant.

Covid precautions were in place at the buffet and they were well-adhered-to and well-enforced by the staff. These involved being handed a disposable glove upon entry which was used to select food. Masks had to be worn when out of the seat and I was very happy to see a waiter run across and stop a woman who’d stepped up to get some desserts without hers on one evening. In terms of range of food available there was a varied choice that changed every day with a few ever-presents among them. Can’t fault the quantity and range at all, and while the quality sometimes fell a bit short that may have had something to do with our more refined tastes and expectations after years of cruising. It was perfectly acceptable fare and I doubt most people would have much of an issue. Ignore the star rating and assume you’re going to get basic grub and basic drinks and all you could want of either of them, and you’ll have a good time.

Speaking of drinks…

The buffet restaurant was self-service but waiters floated around to clean and lay tables and to provide wine, beer, or juice for anyone who wanted some with their meals. Other drinks could be got outside. We’d no sooner sat down with our plates of food, removed the gloves, and taken off our masks when a shadow fell across the table. This was Drini, a waiter, and the man mostly responsible for us doing absolutely nothing the following day. During the course of our meal on this first evening we had chats with him about all manner of things when he’d turn up to bring us glasses of red wine. It was house wine, Greek, likely local, and not terribly nice but better than anything red that comes out of France because, let’s face it, everything is. Sometimes the wine would appear because he’d point at the nearly empty glasses and question us; sometimes they’d just appear for no reason. In terms of great waiting staff we’ve known on our travels around the world Drini ranks right up there with the best of them, and the service from all the staff was generally excellent and very friendly throughout our stay. We were still at our table almost ninety minutes after we’d finished eating and the restaurant was mostly empty. We, of course, were quite blitzed at this point. I dread to think how much we had but it was around a bottle each, and potentially far more than that.

Final memories of this first evening at the Blue Lagoon Resort in Kos were of us finding the entertainments dome, getting a cocktail from the free bar (to the left as you look at the stage; there’s also a premium, additional cost bar to the right as you look at the stage), taking a few sips, then deciding we’d better find our room. Quite how we found our room while out of our faces in the dark is another matter, especially given we got lost leaving it to head to the restaurant before that. I woke up in my bed and that’s all I can say, while my wife has one more memory that merely involves projectile vomiting into the toilet at some unknown hour of the morning.

We were delicate the following day. We mostly blame Drini but we partly blame the giddiness of being out of the country and somewhere new in 2020.

We did encounter a lizard outside our room on the way down to a very late breakfast, which was nice.

So, our first full day in Kos was spent either around the swimming pool or on our balcony, reading, and not drinking anything stronger than Sprite. The pool area was busy with people in most available loungers – every other pair of loungers were marked not to be used or removed entirely in order to keep some form of social distancing in place – but the pool itself was empty and when I dipped a toe in the water I realised that it being unheated, the sun being not as strong as in the summer months, and that wind whipping across the surface had conspired to make one very large test of bravery and endurance that almost everyone was avoiding.

We didn’t fancy heading far – and, indeed, we were supposed to stay around the resort for the first 24 hours in Kos anyway in case the government got in touch to notify us to go into isolation – but we did explore the area to work out where everything was in daylight and we headed out of the main entrance and crossed the road to the beach attached to the Blue Lagoon to see what that was like. Sandy with some pebbles, plenty of loungers out, and views to the island of Pserimos to the northwest and to mainland Turkey to the northeast. It was quite weird to think we were that close to a country we’d never been to before. It’s possible to take boat trips across normally but these weren’t running during our stay. Mostly, we took away the fact that it was ridiculously windy on the beach and there was no chance we were going to see what the water was like.

Another fantastic dusk sky could be seen from our hotel room balcony in the early evening. Dinner after that was a far quieter affair drinks-wise than the previous day despite valiant attempts from Drini once again. We had some, but we showed some restraint, and we went for a walk back down towards the beach after night fell just to see what sort of stars we might be able to see, only to realise there was a bright full moon obliterating a huge chunk of the sky and patchy cloud over much of the rest. I can imagine that a clear sky at night in summer from those beach loungers without our planet’s natural satellite to contend with would make for a staggeringly good astronomical experience.

The next day would see us walk into nearby Kos Town to see some ancient ruins and find a craft ale bar that would become our second home during our week’s stay at the Blue Lagoon Resort, and is covered in the next post in this travelogue series.

Thus began a week or so with five of us flying out to Greece, there picking up regular ferries to hop around five Greek islands before returning to Athens and flying home. We took backpacks but no tents and spent the entire time sleeping outdoors in dedicated sites. It never rained, fortunately.

I knew two of the other four people who went on the trip: Jason Roberts (who organised most of it) and Matthew Kopinski. The other two were friends of Jason’s but their names escape me.

Travelling outside the country without parents was exciting, from the flight there to picking up the various ferries jumping between island and island and finding the correct buses to get us to camp sites. Ferry travel was very memorable for the uniformly dreadful conditions of the toilets on board and the extreme tilt most of them had when battered by the wind.

One memory from one of the ferry trips was finding ourselves seated behind what appeared to be gorgeous Greek women, trying to encourage each other to approach them, only to have one turn around and us all catch sight of a pretty thick moustache.

The five islands we hit were Ios, Naxos, Paros, Syros, and Mykonos.

The island featured in the image below holds a special memory for me as one evening before heading out to the nearby bars and clubs we experienced an earthquake. It’s the only earthquake I’ve ever felt and the best way I’ve got to describe it is like a juggernaut thundering past your room only in complete silence; there were vibrations and a feeling of swaying from side to side but no noise at all. It was interesting to see how many other people in the camp site suddenly looked around at each other with the same expression of “Was that a…?” on their faces.

Other memories of the Greek islands holiday:

• Waking up with a rash on my leg one morning I had to visit the local hospital as it was Sunday and there was nothing else available. There, in a room with the door open to other people in the waiting room and in front of a group of three doctors, all smoking, I was gestured to drop my trousers and then given a prescription without a word. I took my pills. I went out drinking. Later that night I don’t remember very much at all other than being told to get off the bar I was laying on by a barman and walking back to the camp site on my own, pausing for a while on the beach to stare at the Milky Way. On my return to England my doctor informed me that I’d been prescribed strong tranquiliser. For insect bites.
• One morning I awoke to find a woman undressing directly in front of me. I pretended to be still asleep but caught the eye of one of my trip companions who smiled at me as we secretly enjoyed the strip show.
• On one of the islands our camping area backed onto a stone wall and we discovered at night that it was home to a large number of rats. One of my companions tried to block up the holes in the wall with containers of jam which the rats took great pleasure in removing.
• We met up with a pair of American doctors at one point who persuaded us to engage in some special dance moves in an otherwise Greek-filled club; most moves were ignored – the fly fishing dance, for instance – but when we all pretended to be Raymond Burr getting shot at the beginning of Ironside and all fell down to the ground as one we found ourselves the centre of a ring of very puzzled-looking people.
• We got boisterous in a bar and started dragging other people up onto the dance floor. I have a vivid memory of dancing to Don’t You Forget About Me by Simple Minds with two Danish girls. I also was thanked profusely by a man who’d wanted to dance, and wanted to dance with one of the girls in particular, but hadn’t worked up the courage until I dragged them up together.
• We walked off the beaten path into a local bar at one point where everyone turned to look at us as we entered. Not wanting to appear scared and back away we asked for drinks from a surly, silent barman – Bacardi and Coke was popular with us – where we discovered local Greek measures away from the tourist areas leaned towards the 20:1 ratio in favour of alcohol. We got very, very drunk.

We finished our trip with a few hours in Athens before flying home.