I  Ios.
Of all the places in the world I have been to so far, Ios is my favorite by a substantial margin. It's like Mykonos is many ways - the same bright white houses with blue roofs and windows, the same crystal clear ocean water and undrinkable tap water, the same dirt-cheap Gyros meals - but it's got a much more laid back feel, and is about half the price. Mykonos knows it's cool, Ios hasn't found out yet.
Our hostel, despite being up a 50 metre hill at about 50 degrees incline, was very comfortable, complete with a view of the town square and its big catholic church, a pool, and a hammock on which I am currently lying.
One of the things I prefer about the nightlife here to that in Mykonos is that it's more of a pub scene to a club scene, which is my style, and the nightlife starts late, but not stupidly late to the point that it's more early morning than late night. I only drank one night, because the eccentric motorbike-riding doctor who lives at his practice 24/7 during the summer season said that I still have bronchitis, and I'm now on a more hectic antibiotic than last time. For that reason the first night in Ios will be the one I recount in detail.
Keep in mind Ios is where alcoholics come to die.
Our night began at Orange Bar which featured a strange combination of alcoholic girly chocolate shots (twix, snickers, strawberry cheescake etc.) and heavy metal music. After a delicious shot and some headbanging to German metal band Ramstein we moved on to a bar which boasts the amazing deal of two shots and two cocktails for 5 euro. I loved it, because cocktails make me feel like a rich socialite from the roaring 20's (mainly because my favorite book is The Great Gatsby). One Singapore Sling and one Gin Rickey later, we decided to take one of the many drinking challenges offered by bars whereby one wins a teeshirt by drinking copious amounts of booze. Zac, Steve and I won Redbull and Jäger teeshirts respectively by downing 7 different shots each. Gavin attempted to break a record at Flamer Bar of 7 shots in 7 seconds. Had he succeeded he would have won the shots and a shirt for free, but he took 9 seconds (an amazing effort, my 7 elsewhere took 16), winning only the shirt for free. After mojitos made of "the finest rum", cheap vodka said to give nightmares, and an Australian dubstep bar we headed to the famous slammer bar. At slammer bar, if you order the tequila slammer (and we did) you put on a helmet, down your drink, and the barman hits you over the head with his choice of a crate, fire extinguisher, skateboard or hammer. All of us but the timid Arryn gave it a go, and it was an interesting experience. I love how the privilege of being slammed costs extra, when you'd think it should warrant some sort of discount. So ended our first night in Ios.
During our stay we picked up and dropped a game called 'say it' introduced by Arryn. If you say something about somebody nearby, and one of us says "say it" before you say "said it" you must say that thing to the person you spoke about. After telling a waitress that her mushrooms were s***, and Arryn telling a lady that her shiny bikini makes her look like a robot we decided the game was not funny at all, just embarrassing.
I forgot to mention the mystery of the sunflower seed in the bathroom, but I digress.
Off to Santorini to see the beach with black volcanic sand! Ios will be hard to top, but I have high expectation for the days, weeks and months ahead.