Away With the Ferries
Trip Start
Dec 01, 2009
1
18
33
Trip End
Nov 08, 2010
Where I stayed
Mykonos Town, Cyclades, Greece
Monday, May 24, 2010
After arriving in Athens by air, we travelled to the nearby Piraeus (Athens main ferry port) and stayed overnight, boarding a ferry to the island of Mykonos the following morning. The next five days were spent exploring the islands fabled beaches, sampling traditional Greek cuisines such as Gyros, Tzatziki and Greek Salad while exploring the quaint, white-washed labyrinth of alleys that makes up Mykonos Town. Overall, the experience was much in line with our expectations – White buildings with blue doors, warm temperatures, sandy beaches and tasty food. It turned out to be a very relaxing way to start the 'Summer Edition' of our trip and a solid introduction to the Cyclades.
Perhaps the highlight of our time on Mykonos was hiring an ATV motorbike and exploring some of the lesser-known beaches. This is something that we would highly recommend to anyone that visits Mykonos as it provides visitors with the opportunity to reach more secluded and less crowded beaches, some of which are not even on the tourist maps. Our evenings turned out to be uncharacteristically low-key, despite the reputation that Mykonos has as the Party Capital of the Greek Islands. We visited a bar called ‘Down Under’ one evening (after being enticed by ‘free shots’) but the experience was an emphatic disappointment due to the terrible ‘RnB pop’ music and ridiculously inflated drink prices. To top things off, it became apparent that the bar owners had arranged a deal with a group of slappers who dance suggestively at the bar in exchange for free drinks – An attempt to ‘get the party started’. It just didn’t work.
Our intended four day stay in Mykonos was involuntarily extended to five after the Greek ferry companies decided to strike on Thursday. Admittedly, my knowledge of Greek Industrial Relations is limited, but I do feel that their behaviour is somewhat petulant in the face of the crisis that their country is facing. Someone has to take responsibility for the unbelievably poor mismanagement of their economy and unfortunately, as citizens living in the European Union, they are the victims. Deal with it.
<Pictures to follow>
