Milos - Pollonia - 11 - 14/10/2025

Kalispera from Pollonia on the NE tip of Milos.

We bid Maria adieu and jumped in the Corsa for the 20-minute windy road trip to Pollonia.

The old town on the beach at Pollonia was just fishing villages, but are all now villas. We stayed right in the heart of the restaurant district above a café that served breaky to us in the morning. Our host, George, was a hospitable young dude and helped me carry our bags from the public carpark a few hundred metres away to our room. He told me that his family had been in Pollonia for generations, and they all owned or operated a little slice of the empire. He was in charge of our cool room and the café.

The restaurant across the road with obligatory hanging octopi!

We settled in nicely and had a great little walk around town; checked out the restaurants, obligatory white and blue church, secret beach and some great little foodie joints.

We stocked up on the essentials at the supermarket across the street before we drove to the very cool beach of Saranikio – or Moon Beach. The landscape (moonscape) of this joint was so cool. Grey sandstone surrounds aqua water, and the supermodels of Milos were all perched on their rocks. Obviously, we fit in... Over the ridge was a high jump rock and many young – and not so young – jumpers headed off into the blue. This place was one of the recommended places for any traveller to Milos, and it did not disappoint. Check out the otherworldly pics below!

That night, we had dinner at another “don’t miss” joint, the traditional restaurant “Arotiki.” This was their last night after a long season, and the place was only a third full. We got seats right at the water’s edge on the sand and had a yarn with two young Aussies from Adelaide. We tried a few wines, had our Greek Salad and then tried the baked lamb with veg… This lamb was as delicious as the one in Adamas, but without all of the fat. The rosemary and garlic were infused perfectly, and I actually wanted to order a second portion.

Instead of that we headed over to an upstairs bar called “Deck” where we had dessert of chocolate lava cake and ice cream. Jen also had an espresso martini, whereas I settled for a regular old espresso.

Strangely enough, I crashed straight out when we got home, but Jen was awake for hours, hopped up on sugar and caffeine, probably planning holidays for 2032.

The next day – birthday eve – dawned bright, and we went downstairs to the café for our included breakfast. There were a number of set breakfasts that were on offer, but we went for freshly squeezed OJ, coffee, omelettes and bread. Not bad except for the 20 or so Greek blokes around us punching endless durries as they shouted to each other over their industrial-strength breakfast coffees.

After breaky, the wind had come up a heap and it was too blowy for a swim where we were, so we drove back to Adamantas for a swim in the little beach area near our last hotel. We sunbaked in the gentle Greek sun, which has none of the UV or intensity of our Aussie sun, swam in the calm, azure Mediterranean and had a pretty average burger for lunch.

After returning for “the quiet time” and a snooze, we were showered and walking the short distance to Kostantakis Wine Cave for a wine tasting at the only winery on Milos.

Our host Petrov told us that we would be joined by another couple and then they arrived: two best friends from Canada – the Italian Nonna’s Gaye and Mirella. These two besties reminded us of our Cruzers from 2015 – Liz and Christie – and we hit it off immediately.

The next two hours saw us walking around the (scant) vineyards and learning about the history and challenges of growing grapes in this arid region. Hats off to these guys for trying and making an incredible place in the middle of rocky, dry hills - including watering vines with seawater!!

We tried about 8 wines, but they were, unfortunately, all pretty average. The best thing about the night was the company, and the girls ended up walking back into town with us, and we had dinner at one of the cute eateries on the shore, Nama.

We had a great meal. We started with calamari and an “Earth salad” for the table. The earth salad was great and included greens, capers, apple, pomegranate jewels, onions and cheese. The squid was fried to perfection, and the draught beer was cold and delish. Jen-Jen had prawns for her main, while I had lamb. The cutlets and chops were deep fried and came with a mountain of fries, which again the table shared.

The best was yet to come, though. Unbeknownst to us, Gaye had told the staff that it was my birthday, and they bought out an orange cake with ice cream, sparklers, candles and spoons. We’d known these chicks for two hours, and they got me cake!! Legends.

They got a taxi back to Adamantas, and we promised to meet up with them on the trail again someday. Ahh, the life of a traveller.

The next day was… wait for it… Grandude’s birthday!!! Yay.

After multiple messages from Oz – 8 hours ahead of us – we went back down to Durrie Town for breaky and then had a nice walk around the town to explore the coastal region and the cool new villas. Very impressive, but no shops or cafés there, so we knew that we had picked the best area in town.

We then jumped back in the Corsa and drove to the Insta-famous town of Mandrakia. We got numerous piccies and vids of this colourful, tiny fishing village before we had birthday lunch at the famous Medusa restaurant. This place is mega famous, and the wall was covered with celebs who have eaten here over the years. Tom Hanks has a house near here, and his mug was on the wall, as was Bieber and his Baldwin Misso, a few Greek celebs that I didn’t know, and then some grey spud that looked kinda familiar. I nearly spat out my water when I realised it was Mr.-Piss-Off-to-Hawaii-in-the-middle-of-a-national-Emergency, himself. Our former PM, Scroto.

I nearly spat my water onto his pic but managed to contain myself now that I am a statesman in his 50’s...

Anyway, our Greek Salad and vinegar-roasted octopus were sensational, and we left pretty happy.

We then drove over the bluff on bloody windier roads to an equally gorgeous village – Firopotamus. We lay in the sun, swam, took pics, and generally behaved like two people on holiday who have nowhere to be and all the time in the world to get there!

We eventually made our way home, had cocktails at a Japanese bar before we ate across the road. The vegetable salad and moussaka were incredible, but I reckon the lamb and potatoes were a supermarket job…

We then crashed out without The Dude having any major mental breakdowns about turning Fiddy!

The next day, we returned the car in Adamas, did some laundry, Jen-Jen got a massage and then we jumped on the 5 hour ferry to Paros for the next leg of the journey.

Pollonia was great. Don’t know if we’ll be back but it was a great spot to turn a milestone.

P.S. We also went back and had the same dessert at Deck on birthday night. Hey, you’re only Fiddy once, right?

Cheers, The Dude Formerly Known as Being in His Forties!