Greek Orthodox Church on Mykonos

Street in Mykonos

Waiting for the ferry to Mykonos.

Wednesday September 25, 2019

MYKONOS, Greece – If it’s Wednesday, it’s another travel day.

This time, we’re off to Myknons, the party island and a music beat which never stops. That’s on Paradise beach, and we’ll hit that on Thursday.

We managed to crawl out of bed around 7:30 on Wednesday morning and began to pack. I had a backpack worth of stuff to place and my suitcase. Waynette packed her bag and the cooler. We actually had about 30 minutes to spare and ready by 8:30. When I went outside to place the garbage in a canister, the property owner saw me, and said, “you ready?” I shook my head and she helped us load her small Nissan with our myriad of treasures.

Over the past few days, we talked a great deal of coming back to Naxos next summer. The price for August is outrageous and that’s because all of Europe is on vacation. As we piled stuff in her car, I said we’re interested in renting the property for the month of September next year and offered 1,500 euros, or about 50 dollars US a night. She seemed to agree and wanted to do business with us and not go through air-bnb, where we originally found her property. We settled on the price again and exchanged e-mail domains. Promised we would be in touch and she said she would clear the property for us.

So, looks like next summer in Naxos … at least, part of next summer.

We arrived at the port early and finally boarded the 10:40 ferry for Mykonos. The journey from Naxos is short, just under one hour and we grabbed a cab at the port. The landlord for the property told us it’s a short, 7 euro cab ride to the property but as usual, it was double the price. The cabbie demanded 15 and we paid. Is there any other choice?

Our small apartment is tucked away in a complex of small apartments and once we settled in, we pulled out a map to ascertain the distance to the center of town, or to the port.

Turns out, we’re about a 15-minute walk through a terrible maze of streets. Myknonos is one confusing alley and several are just wide enough for one person to squeeze against a wall. Nonetheless, our first order of business was to secure ferry passage to Delos, an uninhabited island but dotted with archaeological treasures. Since we’re checking out Paradise beach on Thursday, we picked up ferry tickets for Friday. At this point, we’ll hit another beach on Saturday and then leave for Samos on Sunday. That’s our last stop in Greece before arriving in Turkey.

So, we started through this labyrinth of white-splashed structures and blue-painted balconies. We made our way down the port and picked up the Delos tickets Then, we wandered through the streets and up and down small passage ways. We came upon a series of windmills and up the street from there, we met a retired couple from Cleveland having an afternoon ice cream snack. We chatted for several minutes and then found the bus station. The price is 3 euros, 15 for the bus to Paradise, so that’s our transportation out the beach.

We managed a lunch of chicken gyros, our staple, and a bowl of fried potatoes …. that’s what the Greeks call french fries. Since we have a pool in our complex, we returned around 4, Waynette jumped into the pool and I caught up on two days worth of blogging.

For tonight, we’ll wander the maze of streets and hope to wind up at the ice cream shop, “I scream.” where we spoke to the couple from Cleveland.

WEATHER – sunny, around 80

PICTURES – Star ferry to Mykonos, street images from Mykonos

Community center where we saw “Zorba, the Greek.”!

Street scene in Naxos. These guys held court each time we passed. This cafe is about a 3-minute walk from our apartment.

The “nun” working the tourist trade.

The Tower of Sanoudos, dates to 1207

Ruins at the Temple of Apollo on Naxos.

The Portara gateway to the Temple of Apollo