FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: Mykonos

Flour mills of Mykonos

Island crawl had officially begun. We survived the organised chaos that was the Greek ferries. Our ferry was actually quite nice, and we somehow scored amazing seats right at the front with legroom aplenty. We reached Mykonos crossing the Aegean Sea that was as flat as tack. We later discovered that luck was very much on our side as it was usually windy and choppy. We came on a day with no winds AND no cruise ships in town! Getting off the ferry was like cattle being let out of the pen. The built in ramp was lowered while the ferry was still turning and manoeuvring into position. Once stopped, the final lower saw people rush out like shoppers on Boxing day sales. Somehow cars also drove off at the same time. We were at the back safe from the stampede watching with disbelief, amusement and awe all at the same time...

Our guide for the day Angelo, was waiting for us at the port. It was a wonder that we saw him at all. Perhaps it was fortunate that he was very tall...Mykonos was not a particularly good looking island. Brown landscape scattered with rocks would be the best description. Amongst the dry rocky slopes were areas of white-washed buildings with a few concentrated strips of restaurants, shops and hotels. There were many beaches but from an Australian's perspective, they were not particularly beautiful. What was beautiful though, was the colour and temperature of the water which made swimming wonderfully refreshing.

The 0700 ferry to take us from Piraeus (Athens) to Mykonos

Yup we just put our bags in the marked areas and hoped they were still there when we got off!

Seats 1A, 2A and 3A! Look at the leg room!

The rest of the passenger area

Very flat seas

Angelo clearly loved his island. He drove us around the whole island which included a walk about the old town, swimming stops, a coffee and dessert excursion, a wine tasting stop as well as a meal at a beach club. Angelo was hilarious and at times bordered on being inappropriate. It seemed like he had dated half the island and was related to the other half. The fact that he didn't take himself too seriously added a dimension of fun to the day. We were, however, glad to be able to check into our apartment after 8 hours. Despite being driven around we still managed to clock over 12,000 steps!

Unfortunately, with Jonah experiencing an episode of migraine, we had to abandon plans to dine at one of the water front restaurants. Mal and I wandered the streets in the evening by ourselves and bought ourselves dinner to eat back at the apartment, which fortunately was in a prime location for people watching! The apartment was also spacious and comfortable. The only minor issue was that it had an odd smell (like canal water) which was also prevalent in the shop below.