Our biggest hotel room key — ever — had to be the one that opened our studio at the Naxos Beach II hotel on a hillside in the Stelida district of Naxos.
The key was’t just big, but it was heavy, too. It nearly poked a hole in my shorts pocket, so we turned it in to reception every time we left the hotel.
Here I am wielding the big key after opening our studio’s split door
The golden sandy beach near Gialos Port on Ios
Hello Gialos: When I told a friend back in the spring that we would be going to Ios, she wondered why. “It’s ugly!” she scowled. “Every time the ferry stops there on our way to Santorini, I think the island looks like a giant lump of rock.” We had seen Ios several times from ferries, too, but never considered it “ugly.” It always looked, to us, like a typical Cycladic island: a rugged landscape of rocky, almost barren mountains dotted with whitewashed cube-shaped buildings; beautiful beaches on sun-soaked bays along the coast; and gorgeous blue waters of the Aegean Sea all around. When we finally stepped onto Ios soil for the first time ever back in May, the island appeared much nicer than we had expected. Given its notorious reputation as a non-stop summer party place for kids in their 20s, we had thought Ios would be somewhat scruffy and dumpy, but it was anything but. In fact, it looked rather pretty.
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Coco Beach Club‘s pool overlooks Super Paradise beach and bay
Beach view: Ask someone if they can name a “party beach” on Mykonos, and there’s a good chance they’ll mention Super Paradise. It’s not surprising, since Super Paradise has been one of the island’s most popular beaches for decades. But many people still think Super Paradise is a hedonistic destination primarily for gays and nudists, along with a smaller crowd of open-minded straights. Though it was the top Mykonos “gay” beach from the 1970s through the 1990s, times have changed and most of the gay scene has moved farther down the coast to Elia beach. Nowadays, Super Paradise draws a mainly straight crowd, but still sees its fair share of gay visitors — as well as beachgoers who love to frolic in the sun and sea au naturel.
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