Kos

After a very smooth ferry ride we landed in Kos another Greek Island. The trip only took a couple of hours and we walked to  a cafe to grab a coffee and look over the map to find our accommodation. This time we were staying in a hotel with a pool which was good as the temp was higher than Rhodes. 

It also had a small kitchen which we could make some breakfast then we would head out for a coffee in the main part of town. This port like many others has a castle built by the knights in 14th century. In fact you can walk around Kos and see the ancient ruins along side modern houses. We also saw a cow in one of the sites. Kos is where Hippocrates, the father of medicine and the first GP was born and lived from 460 to 377 BC and we went to the Hippcrates Plane Tree under which Hippocrates is said to have taught his pupils. Maybe they kept replacing the tree when it would die as these trees don't live more than 200 years. 

We caught a bus up to Asklipieion which is a sacred site built on a pine covered hill 4ks out of town. It contains a religious sanctuary to Asklipieion, the god of healing, a healing centre and school of medicine. The training followed the teaching of Hippocrates who had a rational approach to diagnosing and treating illnesses. It felt very special being there peaceful and relaxing. I can imagine people would have felt calmer just being there. 

On our last night we decided to have dinner at a small restaurant advertising they did stuffed capsicums. It was run by an elderly couple who shook our hands and welcomed us with big smiles. With the recession small establishments like this that are off the main streets are really struggling so any foreign customers are very welcomed. We had a fantastic meal of fresh bread,  7 dolomades which were home made and the best I had ever tasted, stuffed capsicums and beef that melted in your mouth. The total cost with chips and house wine (which came in a tin mug) was about E30 (A$40) for two of us. Great value. At the end the couple thanked us again for coming and we left them wishing we had found the restaurant earlier. 

Having booked our ferry  to Bolrum we packed up once again and headed for the wharf. As we were travelling to Turkey we had to have our passports ready for customs when we landed. The trip from Kos to Bodrum is only 1 hr.