Just off the bay at Kefalos is an island that, as long as you are a confident swimmer, you can swim across to. The biggest challenge is not to swallow the seawater as the waves splash up in your face.
A less confident swimmer might not find the swim quite as enjoyable.
Barefoot I clambered up the rock to the little church that sits up there. The area around the church is scattered with gravel. If you’ve got thick feet, like mine, this isn’t much of a problem. If your feet never step on anything rougher than a carpet, then you might hobble around a bit and complain bitterly. It’s a pretty church from the outside, but it’s not particularly pretty inside. Rather plain actually, it houses stacks of plastic chairs.
This is also a point where being able to see comes as a huge advantage. If, perhaps, you’re eyesight isn’t as good as mine and you left your glasses tucked in your shoe on the beach so that you wouldn’t lose them in the sea, then you might risk falling over a peacock or stray rock.
I climbed up along the narrow path upwards, towards the seagulls hovering above. Although half an hour earlier there had been a wedding party, and after that – we met them swimming across the sea – a couple of young men had paid the island a visit DeepThought and I were the only people on the island. He remained close to the church while I adventured.
Once we were safely back on Kos, DeepThought declared that to celebrate having survived the ordeal he was going to have a cocktail. I looked back at the island, quietly wishing that there were more times in life you could run barefoot, climbing rocks and exploring.
How tough are your feet?
Details:
The island is Kastri Island, you can also get there by hiring a boat from one of the many vendors along the beach. There’s an area marked out with buoys to keep swimmers separate from these boats. The foreground of the picture is an early Christian Basillica of Agios Stefanos which I visited multiple times as it’s freely accessible, and just part of the beach.
clarepooley33
Sunday 2 August 2015I’ve got fairly tough feet – the knack is to relax, I find – as I spent all of my teenage years and half of my twenties when not at school/college/work with bare feet. I am an un-confident swimmer so would have taken the boat to your island
Kate Happenence
Friday 7 August 2015Most of my pottering about in the garden is done barefoot, especially in the summer.
Deep Thought
Monday 3 August 2015“A less confident swimmer might not find the swim quite as enjoyable.”
That is of course purely hypothetical 🙂
Kate Happenence
Monday 3 August 2015Obviously. The waves do get a little choppy at times. :p