Kos Day Trip

A Kos day trip is a one-day outing on Kos, the Greek island in the Dodecanese, to a castle, an ancient site or a village. It is one of the Greece tours that join old castles, Roman ruins and green hills.

What is a Kos day trip?

A Kos day trip is one day spent on the Greek island of Kos in the Dodecanese. The Dodecanese is a group of islands in Greece. Kos holds old stories of gods, poets and rulers from the ancient Greek world.

The past behind a Kos day trip includes war and foreign rule. Kos came under Achaemenid rule as the 6th century closed. That was rule by the Persian empire, and then Kos rebelled. Homer’s Iliad lists a group of Koans, people of Kos, among the Greek fighters in the Trojan War.

The Hellenistic age was a late period of ancient Greece. Hellenistic Kos built a theatre, a market with stoas and a temple to Apollo at Alisarna. Stoas are long, covered walkways held up by rows of columns. Kos was also the home of Philitas, a major poet and scholar of that same age.

Silk is another thread in the long story of Kos. Aristotle mentions silk weaving done by the women of the island. Kos had first access to imported silk thread because it lay close to the east. That silk story adds one more layer to the island’s past for any Kos day trip.

• Cathedral: Kos has one of the four Orthodox cathedrals, or bishop’s main churches, in the Dodecanese.
• Church: The Church of Kos answers to the Patriarchate, or head office, of Constantinople, not the Church of Greece.
• Rocks: Fossils of horses, hippopotami and elephants have been found in the Quaternary, the youngest rock layers of Kos.

Archaeological finds show a small shrine to Hemera and Helios, the gods of day and sun. A shrine is a sacred site made for a god. Beside the poets and rulers of the island, the shrine gives a Kos day trip a deeper story.

What does Neratzia Castle add to a Kos day trip?

A Kos day trip gains a castle named after a tree. Kos was densely planted with bitter orange trees, and these gave the fortress the name Nerantzia. The name links the castle’s stone walls to the island’s bitter orange planting.

A Kos day trip to this castle starts with its plan. A bailey is a walled yard inside a castle, and Nerantzia has two of them. The inner bailey has four corner towers, one at each corner of its walls. Its south-east tower is built right into the outer bailey wall.

The castle’s main gate has a frieze, or carved strip, over it. It is Hellenistic, from a late period of ancient Greece. It shows masks and garlands, ropes of leaves and flowers. Granite columns laid side by side roof the gates. They are thought to come from the harbour’s Early Christian basilica, a church hall.

On a Kos day trip, the oldest surviving part of the castle is a round tower. It bears the arms, or shield badges, of Grand Masters de Lastic and de Milly. Grand Masters were the leaders of the Hospitaller knights. Grand Master Pierre d’Aubusson began building the outer bailey around 1495.

• Outer bailey: Bulky bastions, which are strong projecting wall sections, stand on its four corners.
• Storehouse: A restored Hospitaller storehouse between the baileys now shelters ancient building parts of Kos.
• Explosion: On 17 March 1816 an accidental blast in a gunpowder store destroyed a large part of the castle.

Traces at the castle’s building site date back to the Mycenaean period, an early age of ancient Greece. The castle was declared a preserved historical monument in 1948, a status for sites worth keeping. A Kos day trip to Nerantzia therefore reaches far back.

What does the Asklepieion add to a Kos day trip?

A Kos day trip can include the Asklepieion, the foremost archaeological site on the island of Kos. The Asklepieion is a sanctuary, which means a sacred place from ancient times. It lies south-west of the modern island capital, just outside the town.

The Asklepieion stands on a cypress-wooded hill, just under 100 m above sea level. Cypress trees are tall, dark evergreen trees. The sanctuary served as a health centre until an earthquake destroyed it in AD 554. That history gives a Kos day trip a clear link to ancient medicine.

The sanctuary was built in levels called terraces, which are flat steps cut into a hillside. Diggers found two underground rooms on the lowest terrace. Colonnades, which are walkways lined with columns, led to rectangular rooms. Those rooms are thought to have lodged pilgrims, travellers who came to the sanctuary for cures.

Medical baths on the middle terrace were fed partly by a spring on Mount Dikeos. A spring is a place where water flows naturally out of the ground. Medical baths are baths used in treating sick patients. A Kos day trip to this site meets that detail of the middle terrace of the sanctuary.

• Top terrace: Its Doric temple, a plain Greek style, had 6 front columns and 11 on each long side.
• Excavations: Luciano Laurenzi and Luigi Morricone later continued the digs that Herzog and Zarraftis began.
• Niches: Arched niches, which are hollow spaces cut into a wall, are said to have held figures of gods.

The writer Pausanias tells a story about the start of the sanctuary. In it, the people of Kos received a sacred snake from Epidaurus, and the sanctuary arose after that. The story, set beside the ruins, gives a Kos day trip both history and legend.

What does the Casa Romana add to a Kos day trip?

A Kos day trip adds the Casa Romana, a Roman villa of the Pompeian type. That means a house built in the style of the Roman town of Pompeii. The villa dates from the late 2nd and early 3rd century AD.

The Casa Romana rests on older ground. Over the remains of a Hellenistic house in Kos, builders raised the villa. Hellenistic means belonging to the later ancient Greek period. The Roman house is both large and richly decorated. These traits suggest that it once belonged to a wealthy official of the island of Kos.

The Roman house has 36 rooms and 3 open spaces called atriums. The whole house is organised around these atriums. Two of them form Rhodian-type peristyles, which are courtyards ringed by columns in the style of Rhodes. That plan suits a Kos day trip with a focus on Roman history.

The atriums are decorated with exquisite mosaic floors. Small stone pieces set together form a picture, and that picture is a mosaic. The first courtyard holds a water tank and a mosaic floor of a panther devouring a deer. These floors turn the Casa Romana into a place of art for a Kos day trip.

• Drainage: The house has an outstanding drainage system, meaning a way to carry water away.
• Museum: The seabed mosaic from the house is now on display in the Archaeological Museum of Kos.
• Restoration: The Italian administration finished a complete restoration of the house in 1940.

Laurenzio Laurenzi, an Italian archaeologist who studies ancient remains, excavated the Roman house in 1933. To excavate means to dig out a site and study it. The Casa Romana story on a Kos day trip includes that dig.

What does the Ancient Agora of Kos add to a Kos day trip?

A Kos day trip gains depth from the Ancient Agora, the old marketplace of ancient Kos. Agora is the Greek word for a market. In the third and second centuries BC, Kos built a new market with multiple stoas. Stoas were covered walkways with rows of columns.

Kos hit a high point of its prosperity during the Hellenistic period, an age of Greek history. That wealth sets the background for a Kos day trip. Ancient Kos also became a production centre for unrefined silk, oars and amphorae. Amphorae are clay storage jars, and unrefined silk is raw silk.

The market had a monumental entrance on its northern side, meaning a grand gateway. Archaeologists later uncovered Roman-era coins, treasures and copper statues at the market site. Scientists called archaeologists learn about earlier times from the objects people left behind. Roman-era means from the Roman period of history.

When the Peloponnesian War ended, Alcibiades first fortified the city of Kos. That war was fought between Greek city-states. To fortify means to add strong walls. Ptolemy the First, called Soter, captured Kos from Antigonus the First, called Monophthalmus. These events belong to the history behind a Kos day trip.

• Justice: From the late fourth century BC, Kos had a strong reputation for fair treatment under the law.
• Funding: Herod, king of Judaea, ensured funding for the gymnasiarch office, the official post tied to the gymnasium.
• League: Kos belonged to the Dorian Pentapolis, a league, or joined group, of Dorian cities.

Antoninus Pius rebuilt the city of Kos after an earthquake had destroyed it. An earthquake means that the ground shakes all at once, which can wreck buildings and walls. That chapter adds one more layer to the story behind a Kos day trip.

What does Kamari Bay add to a Kos day trip?

A Kos day trip gains a clear waterfront setting at Kamari Bay. A promenade, which is a walkway beside the water, runs from Kamari harbour eastwards down to the sea. Eastwards means in the direction of the rising sun.

Mount Zini is a geologically recent structure, formed in the Quaternary Period. Geologically recent means young by the measure of rock. The Quaternary Period is the latest stretch of Earth’s history. A sandy beach separates Mount Zini from the harbour. Together they set the scene for a Kos day trip to the bay.

Nisyros, a volcanic island, sits south of the bay, and Pergoussa and Pachia lie west of it. A volcanic island is land built up by the eruptions of a volcano. Those three names help place the sea around Kamari Bay. Anyone planning a Kos day trip can use them to read the map.

Anglers are fishers who catch fish with a rod and line. They fish especially in the deep water of the Kamari harbour area. Kamari Bay is home to an expatriate population. Expatriates are people who live outside the country where they were born. Fishing and settled residents both add everyday life to the waterfront.

• Produce: Local island produce includes bakery products, meats, honey, fruit and vegetables.
• Restaurants: Kamari Bay restaurants offer European, Italian, Indian and Chinese dishes beside traditional Greek tavernas, which are casual eateries.
• Rentals: Rental firms in the bay area provide cars, motorbikes, scooters, four-wheeled quad-bikes and bicycles.

Dutch, Italian, German and Russian visitors also choose Kamari Bay as a holiday destination. A holiday destination is simply a place chosen for time away from home. So a Kos day trip to this bay adds a seaside stop with international visitors.

What does Platani add to a Kos day trip?

A Kos day trip has a cultural side in the village of Platani, which is also called Kermentes. The village lies near Kos town. It has a significant Turkish population. Its Gazi Hasan Pasha Mosque is a place where Muslims pray.

The Gazi Hasan Pasha Mosque was completed in the 18th century. That date places it in the Ottoman era, the time of the Ottoman Empire. The Algerian Gazi Hasan Pasha built the mosque in the village of Platani. Pasha was a high rank in Ottoman service, and the builder carried that title.

The 1933 earthquake heavily damaged the mosque in Platani. Its minaret, a tall and slim tower standing next to the mosque, was hit particularly hard. The Italians, who held Kos at the time, repaired the mosque after that earthquake. That repair gives a Kos day trip a dated event to place on the mosque’s timeline.

The 2017 Aegean Sea earthquake damaged the mosque again. Plans for extensive restoration followed. Restoration means careful repair of an old building. A plan names work to be done, and it does not say the work is finished. Anyone reading about a Kos day trip to Platani can keep that in mind.

• Upper floor: The upper floor holds the women’s cloister, a set-apart space that a staircase reaches.
• Courtyard: A marble fountain stands in the courtyard area of the mosque.
• Prayer use: It is one of two Ottoman mosques on Kos that still stay open for prayers.

Today the Turkish community on Kos is estimated at 2,000 people. That figure is an estimate, not an exact count of the people. Anyone shaping a Kos day trip around the island’s cultural story can use that number as a reference.

What does Marmari add to a Kos day trip?

A Kos day trip gains a chapter of wartime history at Marmari, a place in north central Kos. Marmari and Tingachi saw the principal landings of the Battle of Kos. Principal means main, so these two were the chief landing sites.

On 3 October the Germans made landings on Kos under the code name Operation Polar Bear. The landings were amphibious and airborne, meaning they came from the sea and from the air. German troops went ashore at three locations on the island. Readers planning a Kos day trip can use this as background.

The main German convoy held an estimated three destroyers, seven landing craft and seven transports. Transports are ships that carry soldiers. Landing craft are small boats that put them on a beach. Destroyers are fast warships. An estimate is a careful guess, so the exact numbers of vessels stay uncertain.

Paratroops are soldiers who land by parachute from aircraft. German paratroops were dropped west and south of Antimachia. A small paratroop landing from the Brandenburg Division came down in the centre of the island. Anyone planning a Kos day trip can read these air drops beside the landings at Marmari.

• Airstrip: Defenders picked Lambia as the site for a second airstrip, a strip of ground where planes land.
• Tigaki: Of 148 officers, 103 were shot near the Tigaki salt lake, called Alyki.
• Linopotis: In February 1945, 66 bodies were dug up from eight shared graves near Linopotis.

The ground forces defending Kos, meaning the soldiers on land, surrendered on 4 October. To surrender is to give up the fight. Marmari also brings the whole Battle of Kos story into a Kos day trip. That story runs from the landings to the surrender.

What does Asfendiou add to a Kos day trip?

A Kos day trip gains a farming village in Asfendiou, which has two main activities. Those activities are vine growing and the production of olive oil. Vines grow grapes, and olive oil is pressed from the fruit of olive trees.

The old village of Asfendiou flourished between 1850 and 1940. To flourish is to do well. That period gives a Kos day trip a clear stretch of local history. In a census, officials count every person who lives in a place. The 2011 census counted 84 residents in the Asfendiou settlement.

Asfendiou holds great architectural importance because it keeps its historic modern Greek character. Architecture is the art of designing buildings, so the village matters for how its buildings look. Its special feature is a large number of towers, built like fortresses. A fortress is a strong building built for defending a place.

Asfendiou still has the remains of St Paul’s early Christian basilica. Basilica is the word for a large church from early times. Later decades brought small population growth to lowland neighbours of Asfendiou, such as Zipari. Lowland means low, flat ground. Early history and later change both belong to the story of a Kos day trip here.

• Setting: Agios Dimitrios is a semi-mountain settlement, meaning partly hilly, in south-west Kos at 270 metres altitude.
• Position: The settlement of Agios Dimitrios lies 3 km west of the village of Asfendiou.
• Old name: Until 1950 the settlement now named Agios Dimitrios was called Haichoutes.

Agios Dimitrios is a typical farming settlement of 1840, with a church and a traditional café. A café is a small place where people drink coffee and talk. In short, these small village details add local farming life to a Kos day trip.

Which questions arise about a Kos day trip?

A Kos day trip starts at Kos International Airport, which charter airlines serve. The island belongs to the Kos regional unit, a local government area, inside the Dodecanese island group. The Kos Sewage Plant station records far less average rainfall in June than in November.

Which airport serves a Kos day trip?

Kos International Airport mainly serves charter airlines, the carriers that bring holidaymakers to the island. Flights at the airport peak in summer, with German and British airlines flying in to the island. The airport’s terminal building, where passengers enter and leave, was renovated and expanded in 1997.

Which season suits a Kos day trip?

At the Kos Sewage Plant station, June rainfall averages 13.8 millimetres. At the same station, the August average high is 31 °C. Averaging the daily top temperatures gives the average high. At the Kos Sewage Plant station, November rainfall averages 106 millimetres.

Which regional unit holds a Kos day trip?

Local government in this region works through the Kos regional unit, one administrative area. The unit spans the islands of Kos, Nisyros and smaller islands in the Aegean Sea. It is subdivided into 2 municipalities, which are local councils. Part of the former Dodecanese Prefecture became this unit through the 2011 Kallikratis reform.

Which island group holds a Kos day trip?

Turkey lies east of the Dodecanese, with Crete to the southwest and the Cyclades to the west. Italy occupied the present-day Dodecanese islands except for Kastellorizo. A census is a count of residents. The 1936 Italian census gave the Dodecanese islands a total population of 129,135.