Tales from Mykonos (Day Two)

On Saturday morning, our second day in Greece, they had a buffet breakfast for us down by the pool. I was still pretty full from the previous night's dinner but I found room for some meat and yogurt. Real Greek yogurt is amazing!

After breakfast I took this shot from the restaurant:

The beach below was divided into three parts: hotel... nude... and gay.

There were lots of fun and interesting activities we could sign up for; on Saturday most people chose to visit the islands of Delos and Rineia. A bus took us down to the docks and there we climbed aboard a private ship.

This is the boat that took us on our Islands Tour! (Notice the clouds in the distance.)

After we set sail the clouds moved in pretty fast and we even saw a little rain. But after a brief squall the clouds parted and we had beautiful weather for the next three days. Mykonos is known for being pretty windy, but the weather Gods were smiling upon us and it didn't blow much while we were there!

It sprinkled rain for about fifteen minutes, but the storm left as quickly as it came.

As we approached the island of Delos an elderly gentleman on the boat asked a few of us if we wanted to know more about the island. Naturally, we said "yes". I later learned that this gentleman was an archaeologist who has lived and worked all over the world.

I noticed that our new guide was speaking to different people in Greek, French, English, and even Portuguese. I told him, "Wow! I'm struggling to learn a second language and you speak FOUR of them." He replied, a little sheepishly, "Actually, I speak 7 languages fluently and I can communicate pretty well in five more." I saw him again the next day and he added, "Oh, I forgot about Farsi. I speak that, too." If Dos Equis ever wants to find a new "Most Interesting Man in the World", I have a candidate for them.

We learned that the early Greeks believed Delos was the birthplace of Apollo. The inhabitants of the island built him a large temple at the top of the hill in this photo:

Delos was a major religious center and port during the 1st millennium B.C.

After piling off the boat we got into a line to tour the Delos ruins. There were two workers there and I had to smile when I realized that the first one was handing out our free tickets, and the second one was then taking the tickets and admitting us. Seemed like a rather inefficient system, but I didn't say anything.

A local expert told us about the history of the island as we explored the ruins. Being so windswept, and with very little shade, it was easy to see why so many of the buildings didn't come above waist height, but with a little imagination it was still possible to visualize an important bustling city of white marble grandeur set against the sapphire blue skies.

There was a well here. How the ancient Greeks dug holes through the rocky ground I have no idea...

Here you can see part of a Greek amphitheater. Look how well those stones fit together!

Most buildings and houses had marble entries. The early Greeks connected the stones by pouring metal into bowtie grooves.

The Terrace of the Lions, dedicated to Apollo by the people of Naxos shortly before 600 BCE.

We learned that all the neighboring islands used to bring money, art, and other tributes to Apollo and they would leave them in the temple on the hill. These treasures were never protected by soldiers because the island was so revered that no one dared tempt the wrath of the Gods.

After about an hour on Delos (not long enough) we jumped back on the boat and sailed off to nearby Rineia. 

I think the Activities Guide was in French, because I missed the part that said: "bring a swimsuit". Our ship slowed down as we neared the island and the captain invited everyone to dive into the water and swim for shore. Well, everyone with a swimsuit, anyway. <sigh>

Several brave souls dove off the top level of the ship, while others jumped from a bit lower down. The rest of us waited for a large rubber dinghy, which they used to shuttle people back and forth.

Lots of people dove off the side of our ship and swam to shore! (Yours truly didn't have his bathing suit.)

After everyone was on the beach we swam, snorkeled, soaked up rays, and explored the island.

Rineia island. The large blue cooler on the left was full of  ice cold "Mythos", a refreshing local beer!

This almost looks like a beach shot, but you're seeing through several feet of water. It was so clear!

Lunch was supposed to be served at a makeshift restaurant on the island, but apparently the owner wasn't feeling well. I'm not sure how the tour people pulled it off, but they arranged for everyone to have lunch back on the ship.

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much from that lunch, but they had grilled fish and squid for us and both were super good!

I'm not a big fish eater, but this was so fresh and flavorful!

After lunch a few people chose to go back to the island while the rest of us stayed on the ship. Then it was time to head back to Mykonos.

Here we are, arriving back at the island of Mykonos.

At the hotel I got cleaned up and then popped down to the bar to have a cocktail and watch the sun set over the ocean. I mentioned to a few people, "I know it's an ad campaign cliche, but seriously... life doesn't get any better than this!"

They had some very interesting cocktails at the hotel bar! This one was called "Beyond the Hurricane".

That night we loaded up the buses and drove into the town of Mykonos for dinner. It's a fascinating place, full of twisty windy passages. A guide informed us that it was purposely maze-like to discourage pirates, who menaced the island into the early 1900s.

The narrow streets are lined with shops and stores, and they twist and turn like a giant labyrinth.

We ate dinner near the water at a place called "Restaurant Alefkandra". This meal is probably my favorite memory of the whole trip. It was another buffet but the food was SO GOOOOD! And before we ate they brought us little glasses of the national drink: Ouzo, which put us all in a great mood.

The restaurant had an impressive spread of Greek delicacies

While everyone ate, and talked, and laughed, a trio of musicians played Greek music for us. I recorded some videos but... well... I don't have... uh... access to those. More on that later.

My favorite moment took place after dinner. One of the owners, and a waitress, performed a traditional island dance while a waiter threw bits of paper in the air, and another broke a plate on the ground.

The perfect complement to our Greek dinner: dancing!

I told people the next day that the dinner was, for me, the quintessential Greek experience. The food, the music, the dancing... Perfection!

And that was the end of Day Two on Mykonos.  Click HERE for Day Three.