Favorite Picture of Blue Domes…

Out of hundreds…

Map of Blue Domes

Someone asked for this. Click on it to make it bigger. The main building is to the right, the beach to the left.

A few more pics…

A week after we left, I still miss Blue Domes! Posted a few shots to a site where you can see them in higher resolution. Once you select a picture, click on the magnifying glass to see a larger version.

Click here to see them.

The journey ends…

Today is the 5th of June and I sit in the Kos airport thinking about the wonderful vacation we just had. Not sure what else I can say except that I don’t think I would change anything about our trip. If you’re headed to Blue Domes, prepare yourself for a wonderful vacation. If not, why not? :)

Rude Ruskies? Jerky Germans?

As we were researching the resort prior to getting here, we read plenty of accounts of people observing poor behavior from folks, often identifying them by their nationality. As I’ve been known to have a short fuse from time to time, getting into a confrontation over the type of behavior I read about was one of my biggest personal concerns. After spending 10 days here, I can share our experience: We didn’t see any over-the-top acts of complete rudeness or aggression. We did see some of the embarrassing behavior one can expect almost any time several hundred people congregate, especially people from different cultures.
A few tips/observations that will be obvious to the well-mannered among us and utterly lost on some:

• Don’t “hover” over people who are eating (especially in the theme restaurants) while waiting for a table
• Don’t allow your kids to run berserk during the evening performances
• Don’t stand up and walk out of the evening performance while someone is on stage performing
• Wait in line for a table on the patio at breakfast time. As hard as it is for some to believe, none of us is more important than the others
• When you approach a bar, take note of people that were in line before you and defer to them before ordering your drinks
• Don’t “reserve” a lounge chair by leaving your towel on it for hours during prime pool time (and try to use as few as possible as these chairs are scarce)
• Treat resort employees with respect, e.g., people at the front desk, restaurant wait staff. They are working extremely hard under trying conditions that they don’t necessarily control.

Slip slide’n away…

Today we went to one of the Mitsis hotels next door so the kids could play on the huge slides they have there. They had a blast until my youngest came down head first and bumped her head (no biggie, but she has a robin’s egg on her forehead).Although it’s a perfectly fine hotel, going over there really makes you appreciate Blue Domes.

This just about does it…

I think we’ve tried just about every dish at all the theme restaurants. The wife had risotto with truffles for lunch at the Italian place; I had risotto with chicken.

Tex-Mex in the land of Ouzo…

We had dinner for the second time in the Mexican-themed restaurant. We liked it (again!). In order: carne assada, pork fajitas, chicken.

Gratuitous video…

Shot some video today standing in the water at the beach and then from the paddleboats. These images will haunt me when I get back to work next week…

Shopping in Mitsis City

Hannah, of the animation team, told me today that the locals refer to the cluster of Mitsis hotels here as “Mitsis City”. I haven’t really looked for shopping opportunities, but not too many of these get by the Mrs.

Across the street from the entrance of Blue Domes is a cluster of small shops. The convenience store has most of the stuff you would expect: cold drinks; snacks; toiletries and some stuff you might not, like top shelf liquor at reasonable prices. They also have beach toys, flip flops etc.   There is also a jewelry store and a fur store. My wife pried a few Euros out of me yesterday to buy a necklace (a two-sided Turkish eye made of {tiny!} diamonds and sapphires) and a bracelet. The owner of the store and his son couldn’t have been nicer. By the way, I realize men all over the world are cursing me for mentioning this, but why should I suffer alone? (The picture is mainly for the women in my wife’s family, all admitted jewelry addicts).

Just behind the kiddy “Wonder Land”, you’ll find the entrance to another Mitsis hotel and a super market, that is packed with all kinds of stuff, including simple souvenirs. However, both my wife and I have noticed a distinct lack of desire to leave the resort. Walking through the other hotel reminded me of how lucky we are to be staying in this one.

The upshot is that within a minute or two of the resort grounds, you can buy just about any of the practical things you might have forgotten or that you run out of while here. I think there’s even a church.

Pedal power…

This morning was unusually calm so we finally took a paddle boat out for sea trials (a couple of hundred yards) in front of the hotel. You can borrow them right beside the beach bar (30€ deposit required) starting at 11:00. You can also rent wave runners, 40€ or so for 15 minutes I think. The view from out there is quite nice. I’m not sure how deep the water was, but I would guess tens of feet and we could still see the bottom (including fish). Here’s a panoramic I took standing in the water.Here’s another shot showing how clear the water is.

Still night…

Tonight was unusually still so I took a few long exposures while the wife and kids attended the evening show. Hard to say whether this place is more beautiful by day or night.

Asian dinner…

We went back to the Asian-themed restaurant tonight. The appetizer with noodles is a full meal for the kids. The crispy pork appetizer is one of the best I’ve had anywhere. I had the duck with Asian pancakes for the main course. My wife had salmon. My son had chicken wok. I’ve been trying for some time to get a good shot of the restaurants with the sun setting behind them. I had to dip deep into my bag of photographic tricks, but I finally got the shot I wanted. It’s one of the best pictures I’ve ever taken (and I’ve taken a lot of pictures).This one is nice too.

Leaving the bubble…

Today we decided to venture out to the nearby city of Kardamena. You can catch a bus right outside the hotel, but a taxi is only 9€ (the bus, which stops at a bunch of other hotels, would have only saved us 1€ as there are 5 of us). We walked around a bit and found mostly small shops selling souvenirs and tons of small bars that hadn’t opened yet. The city has a nice harbor with charming fishing boats. There are also a lot of excursions that leave from there. We seriously considered doing one Friday, but decided we’re enjoying the resort so much we’ll stay put. The consensus seems to be that Kardamena is quaint, but the city of Kos is where the action is. You can also take a bus. A taxi runs around 35 € one way.