Stu is up early this morning to take some shots of the town before most people are up and about.

 

 

Even Greg’s Place is quiet 🙂

 

 

 

Today we have arranged to rent a car from Luka’s. 10 Euro cheaper than anywhere else we checked. We have a Fiat Panda. We think we had a Panda in France in 2007. They haven’t changed much.

We get the instructions on how to drive in Greece. Since there are a lot of Brits, be careful of them driving on the wrong side of the road because they forget. Good to know!!  He also tells us that in Greece the driver on the right ALWAYS has the right of way. Even if you are in a traffic circle and someone comes up on the right, they have the right of way. At home, if you are already in the circle you have the right of way. Not here!!

We head toward Kos town as that is where the ferry we will be taking to Leros tomorrow is leaving from. We park where Kosta (who runs Luka’s I know it is confusing) tells us to park. From there we make our way down to the port. We find the Blue Star ticket kiosk and inquire about ferry times tomorrow. They are at 11 and 2 and are 1.5 hours duration. We say “can we just buy the tickets tomorrow?” We are told “No, TODAY. There are no more seats left for today” it is 10:45, 15 minutes to the first sailing. ooohhh Okay then. We buy the tickets for the 11AM sailing tomorrow.

From the Blue Star kiosk we decide to walk along the sea wall next the the Castle Ruins. We knew that migrants were landing in Kos Town, but now we see the evidence. The inflatable boats, some not so inflated any longer.

 

 

The life jackets floating alone in the water and the tents set up in the blazing sun along the base of the castle. Oh boy, this is not just a news flash!

 

We are seeing this first hand. Families with little children. So disturbing. These people are on the east side of the castle walls.  At this time of day and probably most of the day they are in the blazing sun.

 

I see people (aid workers I assume) talking to families, taking down information. I hope that they will be helped soon.

We see people walking in the direction of Kos Town. Caring luggage and wearing long sleeves and long pants. Very different from the tourists in shorts and t-shirts that they are passing. We assume that they have recently landed and are heading to the town in order to plan their next steps.

 

 

We go back to our car and drive a bit further south looking for a restaurant at “agios Fukos”  recommended by Jim Beck (Joan Carlyle’s brother).  We did not find it, but we did find a much different world.  Behind me is a very fancy resort.  Feels quite odd after what we have just seen.

 

 

We head back in the direction of Kardamena the town we are staying in. There are a couple of beach towns on the north side of the island. We decide to check them out and stop for lunch if it appeals. The first town is a huge resort town. Lot’s of beach clubs all with different colour scheme umbrellas. It is too busy for us.

 

We carry on to Marmaris and find a spot to park. The first spot we come to is Biggys on the beach.  Their greeter greets us and we sit in a shady spot order 2 beers and 2 gyros. Very nice.

 

We are directly across the street from the beach. Again colour co-ordination. We assume it is a pay beach, again 5 or 6 Euros for a couple lounge chairs and an umbrella. They seem to have showers as well.

 

I overhear an Australian woman, who I assume from the conversation, owns Biggys by the Beach. She is very concerned about the migrant situation. It is hurting her business greatly. As I mentioned before, Kos has been hit in the pocket book by people avoiding the island due to the economy and now the migrant crisis. She says (I have not checked any other sources, so this is just hearsay 😉 ) that there are only 8 police officers on the island normally. Now they are beefed up with military personnel and she says “the bloody Scotland Yard” Again not sure if this is true, but she is very concerned that her season has been affected negatively by all of the recent events. Hard not to sympathize with her and very hard not to sympathize with the Syrian people fleeing terror in their country.

Back we go to return our car to Luka’s. They close for a few hours in the afternoon, but we see a young man going into the office as we arrive. He gets a beer from the fridge inside ;). We ask when the shop will be open again. He says 5, I think. I will go ask, Kosta is my father-inlaw he says.

 

Next thing we know Kosta is leaning down from the roof top terrace. Asking if we are done with the car and if we filled it with gas. Yes and Yes we say. He laughs and then sends down a blue plastic bag on a rope for us to put the key into.

 

 

 

 

He says “the elevator is coming down” Haha. We pop the car keys in the bag and he pulls it back up. Cool!!

Off to Chris’s for a beer and a couple swims.