Saturday May 2, 2015
We are heading to Greece for a 25th anniversary
trip and will visit Mykonos, Santorini, and Athens. We are flying through New York, to Athens and
then to Mykonos. Our flights were on
time and the transfers were easy. When I got my Coke on the flight to Athens, the can said Adventurer--how appropriate.
It is a private
property with multiple apartments or villas that are rented out. It is built on the side of the mountain and had
a nice overlook, which is the roof of the unit below. LeAnn booked through Air*bnb. The taxi dropped us off at the bottom of the
driveway and we walked up about 40 steps to get to the landing
We went to check in and meet with the owner/manager
Zoe. She showed us to the villa and it
was beautiful. We cleaned up after all
the flying and then headed down to the old port to explore. It was about a 5 minute walk to the port. It was filled with fishing boats, tour boats
and cruise ship tenders.
We started to check out some of the restaurants and food
offerings. The area around the port is
ringed with restaurants and shops and they extend up from the water for many
blocks in a crisscrossing tangle of streets barely wide enough to walk, yet
cars and vehicles wind their way through.
It seems like there was less than 4” clearance on each side of the car
as they drove through
We ate some traditional Greek foods and found they are
prepared a little different than we are used to. Gyros are in pita bread, but rather served with
cut up pitas. The kebabs are like
sausage and don’t come on the sticks.
Souvlaki is more like the shish kebab we are used to. However, not matter how it was served, the
seasoning and food were delicious and a joy to eat. 
One area of town is known as Little Venice due to it being
built right up to the water’s edge.
There are no canals or gondolas though.
There are many little bars and restaurants here overlooking the Aegean
Sea and the famous windmills up on the hill beside Little Venice.
One last stop for gelato after a full afternoon and evening
exploring and it was back to our home for the next few days overlooking the
town and port of Mykonos
Sunday May 3, 2015
Our first full day in Greece and woke up to a clear, sunny
morning. Since we had explored the old
port yesterday, we walked down to the new port today. We had seen a cruise ship that had come in
early in the morning, so thought there could be some activity down there. Well, when we go there we found very little
around the area. There is still a lot of
construction in the port, but not sure how new the port is. Rather than walking back, we took the water
taxi which goes between the old and new port every half hour or so. For €2 each way, it is a very good
transportation alternative.
On the east side of the new port is an archaeological museum
which houses some relics from Delos island.
In the 4th century BC, the island was cleansed and all items were moved
to the adjacent island of Rhenia and destroyed. The remains have been discovered and some pieced back to together to understand how the island functioned in the early days. At one time, over 10,000 people lived on the island. We planned on taking a trip over to Delos on
Monday to explore the island itself.
With history going back millenniums in this part of the world, there are
archaeological museums in every town it seems like. The museums are relatively inexpensive to
enter, with many only €2 or €3 to enter.
With the currently favorable exchange rate with the dollar, Europe and
Greece are good tourist values for Americans.
In the afternoon we talked to Zoe about which beaches would
be good to go to. She recommended the
Ornos Beach. It is on the southern side
of the island and is in a very large bay.
It was far enough we had to take a taxi, but got dropped off beach-side. Someone had mentioned that
there are only 30 taxis on Mykonos, and can charge very high rates for trips to
places they don’t feel they can get a fare back. That made sense since we saw some of the same
cab drivers many times.
There were some restaurants and cafes lining the beach, and
most of those had sun chairs for use with shade umbrellas. It cost €6 to rent each chair, and that
included water. It was well worth the
cost to have some shade. Ray ended up
getting some sunburn on his ankles as they hung out beyond the shade of the
umbrella. We had a few beers, walked the
beach and waded out a little ways, but the water was still pretty cold, and not
comfortable for long times or swimming.
We ate dinner at another restaurant beach-side before grabbing a cab back
to the old port.
When we got back, we stopped again for some gelato at the
Geleteria
We watched a beautiful sunset from above the old port as we
walked home. We bought a local bottle of
wine to cap off the night at the villa, sitting out on the deck.
Monday May 4, 2015
We planned on a boat tour to Delos Island to view the ruins
of the ancient civilization. It sat uninhabited for centuries after the cleansing. It has been excavated in the last century and it has given a lot of
insight into how people lived in those early years. There were many large rooms with multiple
stories, a temple area, a market place and amphitheater. It is amazing how they could build such large
structures, work the stone and marble and put it into place without the large
equipment we have today. Wood was very
scarce on the island, and it was used very sparingly. Much was imported onto the island besides
wood, and they were very tied to the sea.
After returning to Mykonos in the afternoon, we stopped in a
local bar, Katrinas, near little Venice for a couple of local beers. We usually got Mythos beer, one of the local
brands. It was very refreshing after
spending a good part of the day on the island of Delos. We then walked around and explored the
streets and alleyways further up from the port.
We had asked Zoe for some suggestions for dinner. One of the places she recommended was Koursaros. It was difficult to find, but we finally did. It was well worth it. Ray had a shrimp dish and LeAnn had souvlaki. Another evening stroll through town before heading back to the villa
Tuesday May 5, 2015
Another beach day today, this time at Psarou Beach. This beach is also on the south side of the
island, and is very much a high end location with some shopping and fancy
restaurants right on the beach. We went
to Nammos on the beach and once again rented sun chairs and umbrella. This time it was €15 for each chair, a little
more than we expected. But in the end,
it was a great place to hang out for the afternoon and enjoy the beautiful
Aegean Sea and white sands. 
The day before as we were walking around the town, we had
seen a place called Pasta Fresca Barkia, which was making their noodles right out in
front of the restaurant. We had decided
we wanted to eat there while on the island, and this was the night. We got a table right on the street and loved
watching everyone walk by discussing where and what to eat. The pasta was very good, but the atmosphere
was the key. 
A very relaxing day on the island. These are the types of days people dream about and bring you back to places.
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