Mykonos is like Santorini's younger and hipper sibling. Whatever Mykonos lacks in sunset views it makes up for its beaches and the party vibe to lure the monied and the beautiful and also us - the commoners.Our trip to the island of Delos to get a dose of archeology and history was a bonus!
We took the ferry from Santorini to Mykonos. They have these fast and comfortable high speed ferries that can haul hundreds of passengers. This is probably the cheaper way to travel between islands instead of flying from one island to another.
Just like in paintings depicting the Mediterranean - blue skies, azure sea, bleached white houses, and sun kissed lands. I wish I could save the breathtaking views of the Aegean Sea in a bottle and take it home with me. I can never get tired looking at this scenery.
The ferry made its first stop at the island of Ios. Many of people got off, more tourists got on. The humble looking port was an instant hit to me. It made me want to step out and check out the island a bit. It made me want to visit someday.
An hour later, the ferry made its second stop at the island of Paros. The modest looks of the port and the gentle movement of the locals I could see from afar made the island seem even more charming. After the passengers disembarked and others got on, it was time for our ferry to leave. It was a weird feeling to feel nostalgic bidding farewell to a place I had never been and only seen from afar.
We finally got to Mykonos island and then to our hotel. Despotiko Hotel is a small charming hotel and is just a short walk to the Old Town. The trade off is that it is not close to any of the popular beach resorts like Paradise, Agios Ioannis, Psarou, Ornos, and Super Paradise.
The Old Town, Little Venice and the Old Port are all next to each other. So Mijo and I didn't waste any time and went to walk around the area right after checking in at the hotel.
The town has this laid back feel to it. I love it even more because it was not inundated with tourists. I also think that the tourist season was over by the time we got there.
The town was windy but the choppy waters made the sea look lively and inviting. You'll probably remember this view from the last scene of the movie Bourne Identity when Jason found Marie's bike rental place.
Since the town is naturally windy, the locals used to grind grains using the power generated from these windmills. The windmills are no longer used to grind these days but they have become one of the landmarks in the island.
A few yards from the windmills are the seaside restaurants and cafes of Little Venice. In fact, this view can be found from one of the cafes there.
Later that day, we were going to get lost in Little Venice, exactly the way we got lost in the maze of narrow streets and alleys in Venice (the real one in Italy) years ago.
This part of Mykonos is posh and rustic at the same time. I love what they did to the streets that snake through the area. At this point, I was not sure if we were in Little Venice or Old Town or Old Port. I honestly do not know where each one ends and the other one starts. I also don't know if locals in Mykonos just walk around the street wearing a flowing purple gown.
Here's a closer look at the street details. See, another local wearing a purple dress that flows with the wind.
It is not all glamour in Old Town. They have delivery trucks running along the streets of Old Town. Good driver!
We got lost and walked around in circles and somehow we got to this old church called Parapotiani.
White on blue, or blue on white, never gets old here.
We got out of the maze of streets somehow but don't ask me how we did it. The view of the picturesque blue sea and the Old Port came to view. To sit on this bench was exactly what I had in mind and they beat us to it.
We noticed a big group of tourists coming from the other side of the port. I can only assume that they were from the big cruise ship docked a few miles off shore. A lot of the cruise lines dock in Mykonos and then leave either that same evening or the following day.
This statue is called Manto Mavrogenous and is one of the landmarks in Old Port. I wonder if there is a local nickname for this landmark? Mav, perhaps?
We decided to get a late lunch at one of the restaurants with a view dotting the Old Port. Seafood rules here and, of course, paired with a local beer called Alpha. By this time, it was almost automatic for us to get Alpha when we order for a beer.
After the sumptuous lunch, we decided to take a stroll around the Old Port. I don't know how locals call the custom of afternoon stroll like passeggiatta for Italians. Here is a picture of local island produce for sale at the market.
Here's an old table locals used to clean fish caught from the sea.
Most local churches we've seen have a blue dome. This was the first time I saw a red domed church. We will learn later in this trip that the colors mean something. Blue means that the income of the family who owns the church has something to do with the sea or fishing. Red means the family income comes from the soil or earth like farming.
We walked all the way to the other side of the Old Port to see the entire length of the bay. It is truly beautiful.
The sunset is stunning and creates this wonderful orange hue on the horizon. This was taken behind Mav, the landmark statue.
A different facet of the beauty of Old Town comes out at night. I love how the town's color palette looks great during the day and at night.
There was a bakery in Old Town that Mijo and I went to a couple of times during our stay in the island. It is called Gioras Wood Bakery. We chanced upon this bakery after dinner on our first day in the island. We bought an assortment of almond cookies and a small coffee to wash down the savory dinner taste. We loved the cookies but we thought we wouldn't see the bakery again since we didn't really know how we got there in the first place.
Luckily, we would be finding our way back again to the bakery during our last day in the island. We got there in the morning when they had a lot of freshly baked goodies. The entire bakery was a pastries heaven! We were able to check out the entire bakery, including their dining area at the back and their giant wood oven. We also got a couple of spinach filled pastries that we brought with us to the ferry ride from Mykonos to Athens later that day. If you are in the island, I totally recommend getting something sweet or savory from this place.
As if this trip has not been relaxing enough, we set aside the next day to be our beach day. To get to Paradise beach from our hotel, we had to catch a bus from Old Town to Paradise beach.
The trip was around 20 to 30 minutes of picturesque arid and rocky landscape dotted with white stone houses and churches. This was the first time that we ventured out of Old Town so seeing these landscapes was a tour in its own. Unlike Santorini, I did not see any signs of vineyards during the ride to the beach.
The bus stops near Paradise beach and everyone on the bus got off. The gate to the beach was about 5 mins walk from the bus terminal. I could hear a faint pop music playing from a distance.
Someone with a lot of sense of humor must have painted these wall art.
There is a cover to go inside. This is on top of the cost to rent the umbrellas and beach beds. At first, the scene was a little overwhelming seeing lots of beautiful and sexy people. This is Mykonos and Paradise Beach, after all.
We finally settled in and we were going to stay here for the entire day. The beach scene is actually relaxing despite the party atmosphere a few yards away from us. The sand is golden in color and fine in texture.
Based on my experience in Santorini beaches earlier in the trip, I knew that the water was going to be quite cool but not cold like in Northern California. The cool water was actually refreshing after a while. The weather was on the hot side but not very hot.
Swim, snack, Mythos beer, nap, talk, people watch, repeat.
Mijo and I even had time to walk up and down the beach to check out the hill west of the beach. The beach didn't look long at all but it still took us a few minutes to walk from one side to the other. From there, the view of the Aegean is stunning.
I wonder how many Greeks venture to Paradise beach? I asked because I only heard languages I am familiar with like Italian, French, Portuguese, Spanish and English. I heard other languages, a few German and Swedish but I didn't think I heard any Greek at all. If they don't go there, I wonder if there is a beach where locals go? I want to go there too, next time.
The sun was setting, the crowd was slowly changing to a party crowd and the music volume was starting to get louder as well. In short, it was starting to get a little too noisy for us. Mijo and I took that as our cue and decided to call it a day. We didn't bring any nice clothes in our beach bag anyway plus we didn't want to take the bus in the dark. All in all, it was such a relaxing day. We took the bus back to the Old Town and to our hotel.
The next day, we decided to take a tour of the island. The island has other points of interest and we learned that the bus don't go to all of them. If they did go, it would take us the whole day riding and waiting for the bus and still not see all of them.
We went with a group of tourists and our tour guide was an older British expat woman who has lived in Mykonos for a long time. She knows the island really well and speaks Greek fluently. Our first destination was Ano Mera.
Ano Mera is a village in the middle of the island. We went to see a monastery called Panagia Tourliani. The church is beautiful and well preserved.
The interior is exquisite containing icons housed in wooden frames, grand chandeliers, silver lamps and well preserved frescoes on the church's dome.
The tour took us next to one of the highest points in the island but with a view of the western part of Mykonos. This is a view of Old Town and Little Venice.
This is a view of another windmill called Boni's windmill. The breeze was very relaxing and perfect of a little nap.
Our next destination was another picturesque coastal town called Agios Ioannis. By this time, I've seen enough Mykonos landscape to notice that there are not a lot of vegetation in the island. The topography seems more rocky and arid compared to Santorini.
There was lot of traffic coming into town. We later learned that there was a wedding currently going on at the local church called San Giovanni.
Here's a view of San Giovanni from the outside. Because of the wedding, we couldn't go inside the church.
Our tour's last destination was a relaxing trip to Elia beach. This is my kind of beach. Relaxing. No loud music blaring out of huge speakers and no party atmosphere. Perfect for lounging. The beach is pretty and sand is fine.
I decided to get a non-alcoholic cocktail called the Nicolas Blend which is a blend of refreshing fruits like watermelon, banana, pineapple, strawberry, melon and papaya.
We had arranged for a tour of the ruins of Delos island the following day. Delos is a small island near Mykonos and it is the mythological birthplace of the god Apollo.
Picturesque views of deserted lands with a white stone church and a house as focal points were absolutely stunning. The ride itself was pure relaxation for me. The smell of sea and surf was calming.
We got there in less than an hour. We were told that the island is a protected area of antiquity and nobody lives in the island. The island reached its peak around 167 BC where rich merchants from all over the world settled there. The island suffered attacks from the enemies of Rome and gradually fell into decline. Excavation started from 1872 and they are still in progress today. From afar, I can see lots of old structures are still intact. Mijo and I came here to see the famous Naxian lions. We were told that the Naxian Lions outside are replicas. The original ones are housed inside the Delos Museum. The hike was ok for me but it was hot and the tour was long.
Here are original Naxian lions which are housed inside the Delos Museum. The museum is also housing lots of remains excavated from the site. The tour outside was long so we only had 15 minutes to go through all the collections in the museum, which was unfortunate because I wanted to see more of the museum's collection.
I recommend bringing a bottle of water, wear comfortable shoes for a light hiking, a hat and put on sunscreen if you are planning to visit Delos.
The for our last full day in Mykonos, we decided to spend it at Super Paradise. Yes, it is a different beach resort from Paradise. Judging from the word 'super', this one had a promise to be a lot more overwhelming and the party mode a step up. To get there, we took a shuttle van from Old Town. The terminal is just next to the coffee shop next to the bus terminal and in front of the produce stores.
We got there just in time before the more crowd arrived. The music was amazing, the crowd seems to be more subdued. It must be because the cost to rent the day bed is a bit more expensive compared to Paradise? Even with the music in the background, our stay there felt relaxing. Same routine - swim, snack, Alpha beer, nap, talk, people watch, repeat.
Another beach resort called Jackie O is nearby.
The restaurant was serving food. We decided to get a Greek green beans dish and fried anchovies.
We left Super Paradise right before the sunset. I was sorry that I severely judged Super Paradise as a super party tacky place. At the end of the day, I realized I was clearly wrong. I absolutely enjoyed the relaxing time we had at Super Paradise.
On departure day from the island, we had time to roam around the Old Town for a few hours before our ferry departed for Athens. During our walk back to the hotel, we found the Mayor of Mykonos! Lucky!
Our stay in Mykonos was super relaxing and our experience was absolutely memorable. I'll definitely miss all the beautiful sceneries, the delicious food, and the relaxing beach scenes. I hope to be back in this island someday.
~rl
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