My Big Fat Greek Holiday (Mykonos)

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Kalimera – good morning!

The length of this slide show reminds me of my dad.  Back in the olden days when W would start setting up his projector to show everyone pictures of our life in the Arctic, my dad, in anticipation of being bored to death, always fell asleep before the first picture made it on to the screen.  I’m hoping you won’t do that, because these are not pictures of snow.

We spent four days on the island of Mykonos and it’s hard to condense all that glorious scenery and sunshine into one blog post.  This is the Greece we anticipated with hot windy weather, stone steps and walkways, marble floors, blue and white everywhere.  The plan for the 14th of May was to be in the hotel lobby in Athens at 5:30 a.m. to collect a boxed breakfast and depart for the ferry at six.  Except for a bunch of bleary eyed tourists showing up on time, none of that happened.  Thanasis wandered in at 6:30 surprised that no one at the hotel had passed the message on to us the night before about high winds and changing to a later ferry.  We did not get our boxed breakfast.  What the hell could possibly be good about a boxed breakfast at five in the morning anyway?  However, one lady took particular exception to this, extremely miffed that breakfast in a box was now out of the question.  We ran into her and her husband several times over the course of our holiday, and referred to her forever after as the breakfast lady.

We were bussed to a different, speedier ferry, whipped across the sea to Mykonos, bussed to the Kamari Hotel and given a complimentary late breakfast there.  Our little rooms and balconies were delightful, the staff was wonderful.  Birds and cats and gorgeous trees, great restaurants, cooing doves (those got to be not so delightful after a while as they absolutely never shut up….)

We spent a relaxing pool day, walked down to the beach to the Tasos Taverna for more wonderful Greek food, and signed up for a Jeep tour of the island the next day.

We thought because it was called a Jeep tour that we would all be riding around in Jeeps.  We thought we would have guides driving the Jeeps with three passengers in each one.  It was another day for things not going exactly as planned.  Too many people, not enough Jeeps, and only two guides.  So Andy got to drive an actual Jeep with his mom and cousins as passengers.  A lovely couple from Calcutta on their honeymoon got to share a car with my sister and me.  Just what every newlywed couple wishes for – two strangers who speak a different language tagging along in the backseat on a day long tour.  They were disappointed of course that the car was not a jeep, he was used to driving on the other side of the road, the roads were narrow, rocky, twisting, steep and rough.  I know how to drive a standard, so trust me when I tell you he wasn’t an expert at changing gears or staying far enough behind the car in front so that you don’t have to brake on a hill and stall and roll back to get going again.

I think I got whiplash.  I had a stiff neck for two days after that.  But they were such sweet people and we did make a lot of stops so it wasn’t a day of complete unending terror.  Sometimes the roads were bordered by rock walls, but often they weren’t.  Sometimes we had to stop for oncoming traffic.  Sometimes we risked having our side mirrors lopped off.  There were wonderful views, amazing beaches, horses, cows, goats.  Rocks.  Lots and lots of rocks.  Stop signs in Mykonos are just a suggestion. No one takes them seriously.

On the 16th we rented a car and went to see Little Venice.  It’s a long row of shops along the waterfront.  I have no pictures of it because, come on,  SHOPPING!   Who has time for a camera when there are euros to be spent.  We also went to Ornos Beach.  On one of these days I drank an entire bottle of red wine all by myself.  My notes aren’t all that clear.  On the 17th Andy rented a scooter and went touring all over the island on his own.  Ann did some laundry.  Jo relaxed on a lounge chair and read.  The girls got lots of sun by the pool.  I watched a pair of doves build a nest under a pool umbrella.  So really, who had the most exciting last day in Mykonos??  Hard to decide, I know.

Mykonos is absolutely beautiful.  The people are friendly and helpful and incredibly nice.  Although a few of them could use some driver ed.  We’re off to Paros in the morning.  It’s pronounced PAW – Rose, and does not rhyme with Paris.  Duh.

Efcharisto – thank you.  Kalinikta – goodnight.