Greece Part II: Mykonos and a Moped

Thursday 10 April

Today we head to Mykonos. We finished off most of our goody basket and had coffee in the sun enjoying the last views from our porch.

Dimitrius drove us to town with hugs goodbye.  We will miss his laugh, which Preston has come to impersonate quite well. It has really been an inspiration to meet him.

We waited a while in the warm sun before the ferry arrived. Again, it was a total circus to board. This ferry was MUCH nicer than the overnight ferry we had taken. As Dimitrius had said…this was a ship, whereas the other ferry was a boat :P The ferry to Mykonos was nice and modern.

The ride from Syros-Mykonos was beautiful. I just cannot get over the water here. I could stare at it all day…it glitters just as a jewel would.

We arrived in Mykonos and after some confusion; we were picked up by Yannis and his small son. They own the hotel where we were staying.

Mykonos is very rocky with rolling hills. We arrived at our hotel and met Yanni’s wife Emy. Everyone was very friendly.

We rested a bit in our quaint room and in the hot sun on the balcony. After getting our bearings, we walked down the busy road into the town or ‘chora’.

We had a Greek coffee on the corner (it was very strong) and then wound around to the famous windmills. There was a cruise ship in port, so the town is VERY busy. We walked along the waterfront of “Little Venice” (named so, b/c the buildings go down into the sea) and into the maze of white washed buildings. It is truly a labyrinth full of twists and turns.

Little Venice

We walked around to another busy waterfront. I finally put my hands in the chilly Mediterranean (or technically the Aegean) Sea. We decided to have a drink in one of the crowded restaurants facing the sea.

In the maze

We ordered a 200ml bottle of ouzo and some cheese. 200ml is a lot of ouzo :P The waitress insisted to bring us some bread-I think because she thought we didn’t know what we were getting into with the ouzo. It tasted like the Turkish raki and became cloudy when put over ice. It did make us quite lightheaded(in a good way), but the cheese and bread were yummy.

We wandered more through the streets and upstairs to finally come out overlooking the town.

We found the coffee shop again where we had started, which helped us get oriented. We got chicken gyros nearby for dinner.

We walked back up the hill to our hotel to read, work on the blog, and watch “Game of Thrones” (Yay).

Friday 11 April

Today we slept in a bit…and then returned to the coffee shop from yesterday.

We had cappuccinos and toasted sandwiches. The waiter kindly gave us both little bracelets for no reason at all :)

We decided to rent a moped for the day to explore the island. We walked across the street and were able to rent one for 15 euro…which was pretty steep after Bali!!

We set off into the rocky hills in search of the beaches. Mostly, we drove along narrow roads-barely one lane-through rocky farmland. The roads were bordered by stone walls.

Reminiscent of Bali…the beaches were NOT easy to find. Often we’d see one sign, but there would be no follow up sign. We drove up some really steep hills and saw great views of the island. There were wildflowers everywhere. It was quite lovely.

After many wrong turns, we finally found “Super Paradise Beach”. Unfortunately, we could see it but not reach it. We decided not to brave the rocky road that we think (?) led down towards the beach as it was mostly dirt and full of potholes. We took some pictures of the incredible views. It was much chillier today than it had been yesterday, but the sun was still warm. We were FREEZING on the bike in the cool air.

Don't be fooled by my lack of jacket. It was removed for the photo:P

We turned back and sought out another beach…”Paradise Beach”. We did find it, but since there was some sort of resort there…we didn’t stay. Much of the beach was either being dug up by bulldozers or filled with chairs from the resort. Somehow the picture does not portray this at all.

Awesome

We continued on to Paraga Beach. It was small, but the water, as with everywhere, was sparkling and beautiful.

We had lunch at a restaurant there-Nickolas’. Our waiter was the grandson of the owner and today was their first day open for the season. He was very accommodating.

We shared a carafe of delicious house (white) wine, an AMAZING feta dip with fresh baked bread, and a Greek salad with unbelievably fresh ingredients and tasty vegetables. We were also served a complimentary dessert :D

Some sort of dough drizzled in honey. YUM.

We sat in the warm sun and looked out over the sparkling sea. It was perfect and of course, we fed the local cat.

After lunch, we continued on our way through more winding hills and back to town. We drove through the town and out the other side up onto the hill overlooking the town and harbor.

By this point, our bums were pretttty sore from all the driving we had done, so we headed back. We stopped at Starbucks and got delicious lattes. We sat in the sun there and read for a while. 

We returned to the hotel and sat awhile there on the balcony before taking the bike back.

We had a glass of wine and watched the sun set in Little Venice amongst the throngs of cruise boat passengers. We strolled through the beautifully lit streets after dark and had more yummy chicken gyros before returning to the hotel.

 Tomorrow we take another ferry to Santorini.