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| Our travels so far on the "Greece portion" of this trip. Took a ferry to Mykonos |
Boy, we had a hard night! It started with gun-fire nearby, and followed with very loud motorcycles racing by the street what seemed like every few minutes. It would wake up the dead! It sure woke most of the group (except those with hearing aids that get removed at night). We had set the alarm clock for 5AM so we could all leave at 6 to catch the ferry boat for a 5 hour ride to Mykonos Island.
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| What a view from our room! |
We had lovely seats reserved for us on the ferry that were very similar to “first class” on a plane. Except without the flight attendant, food and drink. Or movies. Well, perhaps it wasn’t like first class at all, now that I think of it! The seats were big and comfortable, and I enjoyed the ride, and hey – the view was better than the mere clouds of a plane. It would be a bad sign if we saw a dolphin while flying!
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| An island we briefly stopped at on the ferry to Mykonos. |
We have all become very familiar with one another by now so the teasing and joking has become a lot of fun. Maybe we are just “punch-drunk” from lack of sleep! I think the tour leader doesn’t know what to make of us!
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| It has to be 5 o'clock somewhere! ( Actually, it was - here! ) |
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| The driver of this van has lost a few battles |
We arrived at the ferry terminal and were immediately picked up by a bus that miraculously managed to squeeze his way through the narrowest two-way streets (with tall rock walls on either side) I have ever seen! At one point several cars had to back down the road to let us pass. Biggest vehicle “wins” in Mykonos! When it is car against car, the craziest, most aggressive driver wins it seems!
When the bus driver pulled up in front of the hotel he was obviously blocking a woman trying to get out. She jumped out of the car and started waving her arms, screaming in Greek at the bus driver, and if hand gestures are an international language, told him “No! NO! I was here first, and was backing down the drive when you drove up! I have to go! “He just shrugged and ignored her as he unloaded our luggage. It was pretty hysterical. What a place! Such drama!
Mykonos is located 93 miles east of Athens in the Aegean Sea, rising 1,119 feet above sea level at its highest point. It is comprised mostly of granite with areas eroded by the high winds and because it is blessed with sunshine 300 days a year, vegetation is sparse.
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| Mykonos has narrow little alleys between houses and shops |
Norm and I were shown to our room way up on the hillside. Way up. 120 steps up, to be exact! By the time we huffed and puffed to the door, we turned around and saw the incredible view of the town, wharf and giant cruise ships docked in the distance, below. Wow!
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| Our room was way up the hill out of sight to the right |
One thing that is very notable in Greece are the wild cats- they are everywhere, and obviously accepted. I think there were a couple of kittens that were “assigned” to our room. They were so cute sitting right in front of our door!
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| This little kitty was keeping guard of our room. So cute! |
The tour group met below after a half hour or so and we were walked downtown so we could take in the sights (and shops) and then we meet for dinner at a lovely Greek restaurant. After dinner we trudged our way back up the hillside and after a nightcap with our friends, dragged our bodies up the stairs to bed. It had been a long day.
Monday, October 5th, 2015
Norm and I woke up after a good night’s sleep to a gorgeous day. Blue skies and temperatures in the high 70’s. The sun was quite intense.
Our hotel provided a terrific buffet breakfast with every homemade pastry imaginable (nothing gluten free, which was a terrible disappointment for me). There were eggs, bacon, fruit and juices. All were extremely delicious. ( I cheated a little ).
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| Buffet breakfast was provided |
We didn’t have to check out of the hotel until noon so we had a few hours to explore the island a little more. Considering the way people drive around here we were too nervous to rent a car, and too self-preserving to get on a scooter or ATV ( no helmets ). The fact that we only had a couple of hours also influenced our decision to be “grown-ups” or perhaps it was just an excuse to be “old-farts”? Either way, no broken bones or blood was shed.
What did we do? Norm had to be “Norm” and wanted to check out a castle that was – you guessed it – UP! Yes, UP! Thing was, after we got to the very top of the hillside, there really was no castle. Just perimeter stone walls remained. Oh well.
Going down was easy, so we made our way back to the shops to get our Christmas ornament memento. By the time we left, my pedometer said we walked up 52 flights of stairs!
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| A popular landmark are these working windmills that grind grain. |
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| This pink pelican is quite famous in Mykonos. He is seen on a lot of souvenirs and post cards. He/she? is accepted like the cats all over the island. Here the pelican walks into a bakery like he owns the place. |
At 1:00 we met the bus, headed back to the ferry for the 5 hour return ferry trip back to Athens. I took advantage of the fabulously fast internet and worked on my blog the entire time.
