MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE 2015 - MYKONOS, GREECE

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6th, 2015

We had a nice, leisurely start to the day as we were not arriving at Mykonos until 1pm.  We had a lovely breakfast on deck and then found a sun lounger to read for a bit until it started getting too warm to be in direct sun, which we found fabulous because at home we would be starting to bundle up as the temps dropped for fall.

We had to go pick up tender tickets in the morning.  The tickets for the tenders spread out the debarkation times so everyone was not standing in the stairways and hallways 'en masse' waiting to depart the ship.  Our group number was not called until 1:45pm and then we made our way to the disembarkation deck and on to the tender.  

We were on Mykonos by 2pm and had no major plans.  The ship did not leave until 9pm so we did not have to be in a rush.  We decided to just ramble our way through the narrow lanes of Chora aka Mykonos Town aka Old Town.  We headed in the direction of Little Venice, a scenic stretch of colorful buildings not far from the famous windmills.

Our first stop was the Church of Panagia Paraportiani (say that five times, real fast!) which is one of the most photographed buildings on the island.  It is a typical Greek white, stucco building with hits of color on windows and doors.  We made sure to come back at sunset to catch some incredible photos of the church with the sun setting in the background.

We absolutely loved all of the little lanes paved with grey stones, separated with whitewashed filling between them.  Our cameras got quite a workout as we came across brilliantly colored steps, doors and windows exceeded only by the stunning colours of bougainvillea cascading over the edge of railings and rooftops.  There were lots of jewel tones of blue, green and cranberry but we also saw some purples and teals…gorgeous!! 

  

We just went wherever we spotted something that bore a closer look and periodically adjusted our path to head in what we thought was the direction of the windmills.  We had Rick Steves’ guide to Mykonos, which included a decent map that was a big help in navigating.

Eventually, we came to the famous five windmills and spent some time getting photos from all angles and enjoying the incredible view of Little Italy and the water.  

We then headed back into the laneways in the general direction of the bus ‘terminal’.  We made a stop for gelato/sorbet at I Scream and got some free wi-fi before continuing our walk.  Gelato/sorbet was a theme throughout our trip.  We never missed the opportunity (or two) to grab a tasty treat.  Soooo good!

At the bus ‘terminal’(really just a small ticket booth hut in a parking area where the buses gathered) we bought bus tickets to Agios Ioannis beach for €1,80 per person each way.  The bus left at 4:30pm and took about 20 minutes to reach the top of the road that led down to the beach.  It was about a five minute walk down the hill to the beach.  Even though the air was still quite warm, the water was chilly…even by our Canadian standards.  Our British friend put us all to shame by going for a swim while we laid on the beach and cheered her on!

We had quite a hike back up the hill to catch the 5:40pm bus.  It picked us up where we had been dropped off but went further down the road to another spot to turn around and then headed back to Old Town.  We spent another hour and half wandering through some new lanes and doing some shopping and then headed back to the church to get some lovely shots of the sun setting behind our ship.

We caught the tender and were back on the ship by 7:15pm.  There was quite a line of people at the tender pickup and you could tell that local boats had been called into action to handle the return traffic so we had a lovely ride on a well-used passenger boat with lots of wood accents and salt-spattered windows.  The temperature was dropping quickly and we all had put on sweaters or wrapped scarves around us to minimize the chill.

 

We had definitely worked up an appetite with all of the walking that we had done and did not want to take the time to get all cleaned up and dressed properly for the dining room so we chose to go to the buffet for supper.  Everything tasted delicious!!

Mykonos was a very active, but unhurried, stop.  We loved that we had lots of time to meander and see the sights and colours without any time constraints or responsibilities on our agenda.  It was everything that we had seen in travel photos with the bright white buildings and jewel-toned pops of colour all set against a brilliant blue sky.  Some of my favorite photos were taken this day and we will have those memories for years to come!