Day 11 - Mykonos

We sailed into the beautiful island of Mykonos, Greece.  This is a one of 220  islands in the Cyclades group, in the middle of the Aegean Sea, famous for its wind. They even have special names for the wind: some are "bell-ringer", chair-thrower", "unseater of horsemen".

Port View

We had no plans for the day, except to explore and find a beach. We disembarked and took the shuttle along the windy roads into the cute town of Hora with its blinding white buildings and cobblestone streets. Walking around the town and considering our options, we decided to rent an ATV to tour the island for the day (Jeff suggested scooters – I said NO!).  Jeff was excited. I was apprehensive. I said that he could not drive fast and had to be very careful on these narrow roads with its curves and other vehicles, not to mention the fact that we rarely, if ever, know where we are going in these new places. So off we went on this new adventure, with a less than detailed map!

Try to find us among the tourists

The island was very beautiful with most roads having beautiful views of the bluish-green Aegean Sea and white limestone buildings with blue roofs. The island has 400 little orthodox churches and only 1 Catholic church.

Hora

We saw a few cows, a couple of donkeys, and some sheep huddled along rock walls in the shade to cool themselves from the hot sun.

  

We visited the windmills set on a hill overlooking the town that once served the island grinding grain,built in 1710– very unique. Today they are used as homes and shops.

 We then set out in search of a beach.   Our first stop was Ornos Beach, nice enough, but we chose to keep searching.  We drove south to some of the more distant beaches.  We came to an intersection with a sign: right to Paradise Beach; left to Super Paradise Beach.  Jeff chose right. Oh well… We spent 3 hours and had lunch at Paradise Beach – one of the top 10 most well known beaches in the world, we later learned.  Good choice.  It was a gorgeous day!

Paradise Beach

Then we found our way back to town (amazingly) and walked around for a little bit before going back to the ship.  After dinner, at the suggestion of our new Australian friends Lara and Sean, we accompanied them to an art auction – a first for us – fascinating, but we did not buy anything.  But we did have a lot of fun.

Another day in paradise. God is good….all the time.

Kali nichta

PS. Jeff did a great job of driving!