PARADISE LOST

Today was the last day of my seven-day Greek island-hopping jaunt.  And it was pretty much a bust.  I arrived on the island of Milos after midnight and awoke at about seven to the pitter patter of rain outside my window.  I went back to sleep with hopes that it would pass over, but at nine, there was no sign of a let-up.  I went to get some coffee and watched BBC News, read and answered email, took a shower, and then packed my suitcase, because I had to check out at noon, rain or not.  I was filling my water bottle because you can't drink the tap water on any of the islands I visited, and the bottle slipped from my hand and fell into my open purse......certainly not an aupicious beginning to the day.  It's a cloth purse, so other than it getting all wet, there didn't seem to be anything in it that was ruined.  

I left my bags in the lobby and went out into the rain to get some lunch and at least take a look at the town.  I choose a nice-looking internet cafe on the harbor and discovered that, while they had an extensive menu, they were only serving toast and club sandwiches.  They don't start serving their full menu until next week.  I was comfortably settled on a sofa and didn't feel like moving, so I ordered the club sandwich.  While I was waiting, I decided to pass the time by playing a favorite game on my phone.  After about a minute, it froze.  So I did what I always do, I "rebooted", i.e., turned the phone off and on again.  The same thing happened.  I took it out of its case, and that's when the dripping began.  The phone had been in a pocket of my purse and hadn't seemed wet when I pulled everything out, but water had penetrated it, and when I took off the back, more water dripped out.  Oy vey!  I googled "wet phone" and followed the instructions on what to do as best I could considering what I had available to me, e.g., I didn't have a vacuum cleaner to suck out any of the water.  I won't know until tomorrow if the phone will work when it's dried out.  

After lunch, I walked around town a bit in the rain, but after not too long, my feet felt wet inside my shoes.  I went back to the hotel lobby, where the owner said I could wait out the rain, and sure enough, my socks were wet.  So I guess I have finally worn out my favorite walking shoes...they're leaking!  And my other pair of closed shoes are in the big bag I put in a storage locker so I could travel lightly around the islands.

It rained until around seven.  I used my hair dryer to dry the inside of my shoes and my cloth bag and puddle-hopped my way to have dinner before my ferry left at nine.  It was very chilly because the wind was blowing.

So Milos was a bust.  There are some beautiful mineral rock formations here that I hoped to see, but there aren't any interesting museums or even many shops here in the port of Adamas, population 1,000.  

 I took a few photos of the harbor, but that's all I have to show for my day here.

When you travel this long, you're bound to have a crappy day now and then.  I've had a few, but there's usually at least one bright spot to offset the bad stuff.  The highlight of this day was Eleni, the very warm and gracious owner of my hotel, who let me hang out in her lobby all day, kept me company when she wasn't busy with other guests, and supplied with hot tea and cookies.  

She is a real gem and has a smile that lights up the room and lifted my damp spirits.