Milos is the island where my mother spent her childhood. Her father, Emmanouil, was working in Plaka, and staying in the tallest house on the hill under the castle, overlooking three sides of the island, and surrounded by fig trees.
Milos is also the island of the white rocks, vertical cliffs, and underground holes. You can find a beach entirely made of chalk-like stones, creating an apocalyptic moon-like surface, and shapes reminiscent of the grand canyon in miniature. Ancient commerce was shipping rock from Milos all the way to Egypt and the middle east, and a thriving culture produced such masterpieces as the Aphrodite of Milos, the beautiful Venus housed as a centerpiece in the Louvre.
A boat tour to Kleftiko took us to the hideouts of pirates of the last centuries, sailing through a sea-side meteora with their vertical rocks, and swimming under caverns as long as hundreds of meters under the hills, and as majestic as underwater cathedrals made of white stone covering the transparent blue waters.
Finally, the people of Milos are one more reason for the visit. Extremely welcoming, remembering well my grandfather and his family, and dancing to Greek music till dawn for the end-of-summer festival in Tripiti.
