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Ios (Greek: Ίος) is an island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea.
Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides, situated halfway between Paros and Santorini. It is about 18 km (11 mi) long, 10 km (6 mi) wide, with an area of about 105 km² (41 mi²). Population was 1,100 in 1992 (down from 3,500 in the 19th century).
The main town is Ios, at the head of the Ormos harbor in the northwest. From there the bus or 15-minute walk up the stairy donkey path takes you to the village. This is a white and very pittoresque kykladic village, full of stairs and narrow walks, that makes it inaccessible for cars of any kind. Today, the main path through this village is completely taken over by tourism in terms of restaurants, boutiques, bars and discotheques. Apart from the port and the above located village, Ios has only a few small settlements, just a group of spread out houses in the background of major beaches (Theodoti, Kalamos, Manganari). Since the 1990s the island mayor Pusseos works on Ios development towards attracting also different and wealthier kinds of tourists.
Ios has left little impression on history. Ancient tradition said that Homer's mother was from Ios, and that he himself was buried there--and indeed the locals will show visitors the site of the ancient town of Plakatos at the northernmost end of the island, where the rocky entrance to a tomb may be seen. There is no physical evidence connecting this with Homer however. There are signs of Mycenaean settlement.
The north end of Ios also has a ruined Venetian castle from the 15th century. The island is said to have 150 churches and chapels.

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"Rockin' In The Free World"

There's colors on the street
Red, white and blue
People shufflin' their feet
People sleepin' in their shoes
But there's a warnin' sign
on the road ahead
There's a lot of people sayin'
we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan,
but I am to them
So I try to forget it,
any way I can.

Keep on rockin' in the free world.

I see a woman in the night
With a baby in her hand
Under an old street light
Near a garbage can
Now she puts the kid away,
and she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life,
and what she's done to it
There's one more kid
that will never go to school
Never get to fall in love,
never get to be cool.

Keep on rockin' in the free world.

We got a thousand points of light
For the homeless man
We got a kinder, gentler,
Machine gun hand
We got department stores
and toilet paper
Got styrofoam boxes
for the ozone layer
Got a man of the people,
says keep hope alive
Got fuel to burn,
got roads to drive.

Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.

By Neil Young

*Scanned image*