Our most recent travels in September 2014 took us to the Mediterranean to explore four distinct yet exquisite locales: Istanbul, Turkey; Mykonos, Santorini, & Athens, Greece
September 10, 2014: The second leg of our journey took us to Mykonos, Greece, a small island with sandy beaches and quaint summer homes. Mykonos is known as the “party” island among locals as it is a fairly short ferry ride from Athens and surrounding islands making it the “Las Vegas” of the Agaean. Thank goodness we traveled during off season!
We stayed at The Grand Beach hotel just outside of Mykonos town (or Chora) as the locals call it. The hotel looked like what you picture most grecian summer vacations to feel like – pure white stucco, bright blues and greens, and a view looking over the sea. After watching the sunset just after we arrived, we were treated to a private dinner hosted by the hotel chef, a young Greek chef who had recently apprenticed in a castle in Germany. We started with a traditional greek salad: cucumbers, green bell peppers, garden tomatoes, red onions, kalamata olives, and large wedges of feta cheese sprinkled with greek spices and drizzled with house-pressed olive oil (no leafy greens in a greek salad). It is common for each family in to have their own olive tree and to press their own olive oil every year. We split a large pork tenderloin with mashed potatoes for dinner and finished with a rich, creamy chocolate mousse for dessert! It’s hard to top garden fresh vegetables and decadent chocolate in my book!
September 11, 2014:
Our first full day on the island, Mike and I spent the afternoon exploring; while there are cars and taxis on the island, the majority of transportation occurs on the backs of scooters or in our case, four-wheelers. The two most noted structures to visit include the Mykonos windmills and the abandoned light house. Both of these decrepit structures were interesting to see but were quite underwhelming compared to the vistas of Mykonos.
Our favorite discovery of the day was a hole-in-the-wall family owned restaurant called Mathio’s or Matthew’s Taverna. We only intended to stop for a light salad and glass of water but gave in to the recommendation of our waiter to indulge in the beef stew. We weren’t served a simple cup of beef stew, but rather a heaping plate of melt in your mouth, succulent beef roast served au jus with golden potatoes and hearty vegetables; I’m glad we only ordered one! That luncheon turned into a multi-course dining experience that I will likely never forget.
To cap off a very sun filled and relaxing day, we grabbed a bite “downtown” around the old port known as little venice. It’s quite a misnomer because there are only four or five little condos that line the water way and aren’t exactly accessible by boat… but it made for a nice picture. The beauty of Mykonos really came alive after the cruise ships and “tourists” were gone. Only a few non-natives lingered around the restaurants that evening and we were fortunate to enjoy a mile long shore line walk without other passersby.
September 12, 2014: Our last morning was quite an eventful one. The transport gave us about ten minutes to rush and pack up to catch the ferry because they wanted to take us with another couple who was leaving “RIGHT NOW!” No big deal, I can cram a suit case and run; except they dropped us off at the wrong port… kind of. In Mykonos there are two ports, the old port and the new port, approximately a ten minute drive apart. The unfortunate problem is that they only have a ticket stand at the old port… After standing around looking kind of lost, Mike found a “taxi driver” aka a local guy looking for a few bucks to take us over to the old port to pick up our tickets from will-call. We waited around another twenty minutes looking for our ferry only to find out we needed to pay another “taxi driver” to take us back to the new port again where the ferry was just arriving. I’m not normally a conspiracy type, but it seemed like these “taxi drivers” knew what was up and were totally fine with “helping” the lost island hoppers out. Oh well, here’s to the joy one can find amid chaos!
Here are a few shots I snapped before the insanity erupted. Mind you, I might have chosen different shoes had I known the excitement to unfold over the next hours.
The stress faded once we boarded because we remembered, next stop, Santorini!
Hike & Mighty Adventures 