Tuesday morning, we flew to the island of Ikaria on a small "prop job". It was a short, yet beautiful flight. We did not climb much more than 5000' so the view was amazing. Ikaria is a small island, smaller than Andros. It sits in the eastern part of the Aegean Sea, closer to Turkey than Greece. There is one plane that flies from Athens to Ikaria once a day. If you choose not to take that one available flight, it is roughly a ten hour ferry ride. We stayed in a tiny, seaside town of Armenistes. It is a difficult town to get to. The road from the airport to Armenistes covers about 50 kms, but driving more than 40 mph is putting your life in your hands. The road winds along high cliffs overlooking the sea. Hairpin turns occur frequently. This fact does not seem to concern the Ikarians, who speed along and pass slower drivers on straight aways (rare) or hairpins (often) alike. The beaches are stunning. The waves break 20-30 feet from shore in sets of 3 or more. As soon as you recover from one wave, another one is instantly upon you.
We came to Ikaria with a specific purpose. Niko's family owns about 5 acres of land here. It has become a requirement to register land ownership in Greece recently. Until now, landowners simply pass on land to relatives or whatever, with a written or verbal agreement. Disagreements or protests were often handled by the parties involved. We had to walk the property with Niko's second cousin, a man named Spiro. With a can of red spray paint, he marked the edge of the property. Niko's dad (John) will then meet with a surveyor to make a map. The land is beautiful. It is hilly and covered with tall pine trees. Below, the torquiose sea shimmers.
It is here that we meet the only other Niko Yanouzas in the world! It is his cousin, Niko Yenouziz. (See photo above!)
We head back to Athens on Thursday. Saturday, we wil take an early morning flight to Rome. There, we will do a speed tour of Rome. We will have less than 24 hours. On Sunday, we head home.
