Best of Greece and 7 Day Aegean Cruise
Day Eleven – 21 Sept 2009
Weather – Sunny, 26 with a windchill of 10 degrees C.
I slept for ten hours last night, waking around 8:30. I did some laundry, checked my email and sunbathed a little on the deck where I learned that there are simply some men who should NEVER wear Speedos.
After taking some pictures of the islands that we passed, I went to the Stars Lounge for George’s cocktail party and Mykonos briefing. The ship would dock in a port a short distance from the town with a good shuttle service to and from the town. It was only a short drive, but not one anyone would want to attempt. It was a narrow road with buses practically scraping a rock wall on one side and a sheer drop on the other. No sidewalks or shoulders to safely walk on. The shuttle was 8 Euro and the last one would depart at 11:15 with the ship scheduled to leave at 11:30 pm.
After the briefing, we went to lunch and watched our approach to Mykonos by 2:30 pm.
The announcements said the people on excursions would depart first at three, but we had all gathered at the third deck exit and were permitted to leave before early, so don’t sit in your cabins waiting for the announcement. (Though I doubt they’d permit this when tenders are used).
We boarded the first shuttle, and a few minutes later, it dropped us at the yacht club next to the town. George took the same shuttle and waited in the area to answer any questions that we had. He planned to remain there for an hour or so to help those heading to town.
We walked along the pier and discovered a small beach next to the road. I took off my sneakers and socks and walked the length of the short beach just so I could have my feet in the Aegean.
After I dusted the sand off my feet, I rejoined my group and we started walking through the narrow streets.
We walked in the direction of the windmills and shopped as we walked. We had a lot of time on our hands so we took our time.
The streets went everywhere, curving to the left and right and narrowing so much that we could touch both whitewashed walls with our arms outstretched.
This became a problem when someone wanted to window shop and then caused a traffic jam.
We bought some shirts and fridge magnets, and when we didn’t come across the windmills, I asked for directions until we finally came up behind them.
We took some pictures and I walked down to the beach to take a few shots then saw a staircase back up to the windmills.
As I got to the top, two security guards ushered me back to the first windmill. I had no idea what was going on until the others said there was a movie being filmed and we couldn’t go in front of the windmills.
We walked down to the shore under the windmills and checked out a restaurant that George had recommended for the view, but it was quite expensive. The cove next to the restaurant was right on the water, with the waves striking the wall below the houses and rolling back onto the next series of waves. It was beautiful.
We walked back through the narrow streets until we came to Niko’s restaurant. The wind in the narrow streets was quite cold without the sun and we choose this restaurant because it was in the sun (though we should have kept walking as the shore was quite close and those restaurants were sheltered).
I had the chicken souvlaki and it was excellent. As we finished the meal, one of the pelicans walked by. We paid for the meal and went looking for the bird which was standing in the street nipping at anyone that walked close to him.
One tourist next to me kept tapping the pelican’s beak to get its attention, which I thought it was bordering on abuse.
The others in my group were getting cold with the wind and wanted to return to the ship, so we waited until sunset so that I could get a few pictures then we found our shuttle bus.
A Louis rep was standing on the sidewalk with a Cristal sign and directed us to our bus and we were back on board by 7:30. If we had known about the very cold and very high winds in those streets, we would have wore jeans and took something a little heavier to wear because we could have stayed a little longer.
There was an optional to Delos, but we skipped it. It involved a boat ride to the island and George said it could be rough. There was more than enough to keep us busy in Mykonos, and if you dress (or bring along) something for the cooler evening, you can stay and enjoy this fabulous island for as long as possible.
Tomorrow we have an early morning with the tender for Patmos leaving at seven for excursions (and eight for those not on excursion). My wake up call was for 5:45.
Go to Day Twelve
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