For our final morning on Mykonos, we enjoyed our hotel’s continental breakfast (excellent), packed up our stuff and got ready for our early afternoon transfer to the port and ferry over to Naxos, a quick 45-minute trip.
After our goodbye’s with Roy and Garry, we spent our morning in Mykonos town shopping and walking in the breezy sunshine. The weather is not as warm as had been earlier on our trip AND we are not complaining. So we’ve lived in our sweatshirts! Who cares… we’re in Greece!
On Friday night, Garry (AKA tour guide), invited us along to his favorite beach, Agrari. We accepted since we really had no plans and had not yet decided if we would rent a scooter or “bus it” to a beach. Even though Mykonos is one of the busiest islands, the beach was almost empty (I think there were 2 people sunbathing at the other end of the beach, but we couldn’t tell for sure). We laid on the beach and enjoyed the peace and quiet for a couple of hours. There was one bar/restaurant and the manager, Demetri, is a good friend of Garry’s so he sat around and chatted with us for a while longer. After we got our fill of sun and conversation, we drove back to Mykonos town and went exploring some more. We tried to see the sunset from an area known as “Little Venice”, but there was too much cloud cover and we couldn’t see anything. We did get some nice pictures of the windmills and some more of the town. The long night before in combination with all the sun left us drained so we decided to find our “favorite”, Gyro pita and head back to the room for an early night. I think it was the first time we went to sleep before 10pm…I guess we needed it!
Andrea set out with her camera before dawn to Oia in search of the “perfect shot.” This morning was absolutely beautiful from the terrace and the rain and wind from the day before was long gone. We had to rush the breakfast a little in order to return the car and get to the bus station in time for our ride to the port. The ferry to Mykonos was delayed for an hour so we just enjoyed a “Nescafe” while looking back up to where we were just staying and looking forward to the next island adventure. Two nights was a short stay, but since it is such an expensive and tourist-y island, we both agreed that it was long enough for us.
What sounded like someone taking a shower in a nearby room was actually the pouring rain that got me up at 5:30am. I (Andrea) had big plans to go to Oia (pronounced “Ee-a” as in my nickname) and take some of the beautiful pictures I keep thinking about. Instead I went back to sleep for nearly an hour and headed out a little late. It was still overcast and the clouds loomed, but I got a few nice shots and, more importantly, familiar with the surroundings for future pictures before the rain started again. We decided to make the best of our time in spite of the rain and went exploring. The winds were high so we did mostly a “car tour” of Santorini. We did see “Red Beach,” the lighthouse on the end of the island and Parissa Beach. The weather had cooperated long enough for a stroll and a little beach-sitting in Parissa—which was a nice little village without any tourists. We caught some other sights quickly like Akrotiki (closed indefinitely, but we still drove through the village), the monastery high on the hill (where we walked around but were nearly blown off the mountain), and a short trip through the wine roads (I thought of you many times mom). All in all, we had a great day—even if it was spent in the car.
Ok, we have switched drivers for a moment…it’s Andrea behind the keyboard today.
I have to start by saying what an AMAZING time I am having on this trip (even all the small hiccups have been exciting and fun to the Sagittarius in me…)!! I am so very happy that I decided to make an island hopping adventure of it as each island (3 thus far) has been so immensely different and has each added its own little bit of pleasure to “my Greek vacation.” I am trying my best to capture the “feel” of each island, but I know that photos can only show so much–I just have to remember to move from behind the camera and take in every moment, every memory and every breath-taking view!
Have I mentioned the steps in Greece? There must be millions of them… closely followed in number only by churches. Steps and steeples. It’s wonderful and at the same time, my body is sore from climbing, walking and on days where we change islands, we each lug 40 lbs. of luggage also!
We chatted with a four-some from Wisconsin in the internet cafe on Sifnos and they asked us what we were doing for “nightlife.” Andrea and I both joked about it later. We are too tired to even think about nightlife. Since dinner usually begins after 8pm, we are lucky to make it through our meal.
Andrea rose early to capture sunrise from our room’s veranda. We intended to both rise and capture a short video however, sleep was more important to this Taurus author when 6 a.m. rolled around. Anyone who knows me… is chuckling. Breakfast consisted of Chamomile tea, the second half of yesterday’s ham & cheese croissant-like thingy, some soft cheese on half a croissant (bread: breakfast of champions!)
Today was very windy and much more chilly, with lots of clouds rolling through the blue skies. We grabbed sweatshirts (our official Greek uniforms) and headed into town for some Greek coffee at a cantina called “Veranda” that over looks the bay where the sun rose only hours before. We sat and enjoyed the coffee, wrapping our legs in beach towels to keep warm.
Rose around 7am for a stunning sunrise from our veranda. Ate a small breakfast consisting of tea, orange juice, soft cheese, croissant. Got dressed and headed to a beautiful beach called Vathi by bus but not before bumping into our Netherlander friends touring Apolonia in the morning sunshine. Sifnos has an excellent bus system… 1.2 euro pp one way, running every two-three hours. Perfect for an afternoon in the sunshine.
We rose early and started packing for our ferry to Sifnos. Later, in the port of Adamas, we were joined by our host Yonas for coffee and great conversation, comparing our cultures. He had a lot of questions about Americans for which Andrea and I both basically said the biggest contrast is that in America, everyone does everything at hyperspeed. Everything!
We returned our scooter and finished packing up and captured some photos of Yonas’ other Studio unit, promising to email them to him for his website. Yonas works in Athens teaching Mechanical Engineering, has a beautiful greek wife and two small children (the children we did not meet but we did see pictures).
We first traveled by moped to Paleochouri, an active volcanic beach where food is roasted in lava rock (see video clip). We collected beautiful natural stones from the shoreline and took pictures. We both were nervous because our little moped seemed to drink more gas than we hoped and yet we still made it back to town although the gas indicator seemed to get brighter red as we sped (4o mph) down the narrow highway.
After gassing up, we headed to town to split a quick beer and then set out for Polonia (approx 10 K from Adamas or 20-minutes by moped). Polonia a sleepy fishing village on the northern tip of Milos. Here we saw a local fisherman mending his nets and octopi drying in the sun.
