Always Ask The Locals… — Alexandra Matteo

*Views from our ATV on our drive to the Western side of Milos, Greece*

I am a woman who loves to research. One of the joys of planning a trip for me is scouring the internet for the best food, hotels and hikes around. My husband on the other hand, is one who just shows up (sometimes without a car rental or a place to stay) and…figures it out. Over the years we’ve come to find we are a perfect little travel duo.

We really lucked out on our sailing day. After stumbling upon Fotis readying the Kirki one morning, we arranged to come back the following day to explore the crystal blue waters of Milos and the surrounding islands. He discouraged us from going to the more touristy stops and instead took us on a locals guided tour from sun up to sun down. It was incredible.

While out at sea, Marco started questioning Fotis (our captain) about the most beautiful part of the island….and boy am I glad he did. After pointing to a spot on the map that read Κάτεργο Παραλία we book marked it and planned to adventure there the following day.

Getting to Κάτεργο Παραλία was an uphill battle….quite literally. We had noticed the previous day that our ATV’s get up and go seemed to have got up and went. We decided about 20 minutes into our journey to head back to town and switch her out before heading west. And thank goodness we did, because even with our new ATV it was still touch and go a few times.

The western part of Milos is the wildest part of the island, and only accessible by ATV or boat. There are no villages here, only a few settlements and some old mines. Almost all of western Milos belongs to the Natura 2000 Network (a network of protected areas covering Europe's most valuable and threatened species and habitats).

*Secluded beach on the Western side of Milos*

*Exploring the completely secluded beach*

A steep 15 minute walk down from where we parked, we stumbled upon a very special and secluded little stretch of crystal clear ocean. There were little abandoned buildings in this small cove and plenty of caves to climb and explore. Here, it’s easy to believe we had the entire island to ourself.

After exploring this pristine stretch of coastline, we hopped back on our ATV and headed back in the direction of our hotel stopping when the spirit and scenery moved us.