Milos!

After a bit of indecision we made it to our second Greek Island, Milos. It's claim to fame is the Venus de Milo, discovered in 1820 and battled over by the French and the Prince of Moldavia. Eventually the French won out and purchased it under considerable pressure. The Greeks say that the arms were broken off in a scuffle with the French. The French claim it was already that way. Who's to say? Ah! That rhymed!

Regardless, the French have it now in the Louvre and have sent Milos a copy for their cultural memory. There are several gift shops on the island who's specialty are "re-imagining" the Venus, which usually just involves painting small figurines of the Venus with brightly colored patterns.

The English are another story. The Lord Elgin Marbles, sculptures found on the Acropolis, were sent back to London by way of a controversial permission by the Ottoman Empire who, in 1800, ruled Greece. They are all currently on display in the British Museum in London. There is a huge push by the Greeks to get the British to return the sculptures, but according to one of my couch surfing hosts, no one really expects them to be returned; because then they would have to reckon with the Persians and the Italians, and no one wants to open that can of worms.

There are 74 beaches on Milos, some of the best are on the secluded and undeveloped western end. Only problem is how to get there; all of the 5 bus routes run solely on the eastern end of the island. They have several scooter rentals in the main port, but as we were informed back on Agistri, it used to be that anyone could drive a scooter, but now that they were "European" well, now you have to have a scooter licence.

We took the bus down south to Palechori and hiked west till we found a small secluded beach that we've taken to calling "our beach" despite the other couple that ventures down every day around the same time that we decide to explore and head into town. By the time we come back to have dinner and sleep, they are on their way out. It's a nice dynamic. We haven't seen anyone else camping on any of the beaches, but with our wild Texan mentalities, we figured that we would just wing it. The first night the waves got so loud that we were both wakened with the fear that we would get submerged by the encroaching tide, but no such thing happened. Now I have to say that camping on the beach is entirely the way to go.