Experiences

Things worth getting up for

Four of them, run by four people we know, none of whom works for us.

We take no commission and add nothing to the price, which is why there are four rather than forty. Each one is booked at reception the day before, or with your room.

None of them runs in bad weather and all of them are refunded in full when they do not. The island is small enough that we will know by seven in the morning.

An infinity pool edge against the open sea

Kleftiko by caique

Seven hours, lunch on board, €140 per person

The sea caves at Kleftiko are reachable only by boat, and the boat that goes from here is Nikos's, built in Syros in 1974.

Waves breaking on the volcanic rock of the east coast

Sulphur mines walk

Three hours, morning, €60 per person

Milos was mined for sulphur until 1958, and Yannis worked the last shift of it. He is eighty-four and walks faster than most of our guests.

A corner of a whitewashed workshop in afternoon light

Pottery at Tripiti

Half a day, afternoons, €90 per person

Half a day at the wheel in a workshop above the catacombs, with clay dug from the island and a kiln older than the potter.

The terrace at dusk, the light going off the water

Night fishing

Five hours, from dusk, €70 per person

Out at dusk with Stelios, who has fished this coast every night the weather allows since he was eleven. Lamps, nets, and four hours of quiet.

A curve of sand and turquoise water with nobody on it

The honest version: two of these are early, one is long, and one of them you will either love or want to end after an hour. We would rather say so now than have you book the wrong one.

Booking, weather, and getting out of it

Everything is booked through reception, paid on your bill at the end, and cancellable up to the evening before without charge. After that we charge half, because the boat has bought the food.

Weather cancellations are decided at seven in the morning by the person taking you out, not by us, and are refunded in full. In May and October about one trip in six goes this way.