Mykonos, Greece


	Greece has about as many island chains as the South Pacific - we picked the Cyclades for no other reason than the pictures looked great. Whitewashed houses gleaming in the sun, beautiful blue water, and ancient monuments to wander about in when you weren't laying on the beach or swimming. Sounds pretty good, eh?


	With so many islands to choose from it was difficult to plan an itinerary. Or, since we weren't really planning much of anything, to just pick one to start with. Mykonos came to mind for three reasons - it was "famous" to some degree, we'd heard of it before, it had one of the largest number of ferry runs to it, and it was the most convenient jumping off point to Delos.


	When the ferry docked at Mykonos we discovered something that was to prove very useful for the rest of the trip. Meeting every ferry were a group of people we came to call the "hotel vultures" - hotel owners and managers who would line up at the side of the exitway from the ferries waving signs and shouting to catch your attention - hoping you'd stay with them. .




	Hotel vultures - look out!


	We don't know if this frenzy happens this way all the time, we were travelling in the end of September and thus just into the "off" season so perhaps they were hurting for business. We didn't mind, since it became a great way to negotiate a good room rate




	Agios Ionnis Hotel

Arriving at Mykonos we did the negotiating with the hotel vultures and ended up staying a bit out of the main town at the Agios Ionnis beach area, in a hotel run by a woman named Debbie - a transplant from New York, married to a Greek. It was a nice, clean place and we had a balcony facing the island of Delos (and the sunset.) If you've ever seen the movie "Shirley Valentine", you'd recognize the place a bit -the beach out front has a prominent role in the end of the movie.

We had a great time there. It was a quick bus ride (or cab ride in one of the islands few cabs) into town, and meanwhile we had fun hanging out in the restaurant with the host and a few other "locals" of sorts. The water was clear and warm off the beach - although I have to warn you the water in Greece is not tremendously clean. I was surprised at the amount of garbage you see floating in the water while riding in the ferries or snorkelling along..

There actually isn't a whole lot to do in Mykonos itself but relax, eat, and shop... It's easy to get lost wandering the winding streets of the city while doing all the above. The story is that the Cyclades were periodically invaded by pirates in the 1400's and so they built their towns to be confusing to strangers, on purpose. They certainly are, but it adds a bit of charm to be wandering around thinking you're getting somewhere and all of a sudden recognize a building you've passed by before. We did that. Many times...




		Streets of Mykonos


	The main attraction beyond this is a day trip to the island of Delos. You get there by joining a tour in Mykonos town - leaving on a boat early in the morning and arriving back late in the afternoon. No one is allowed to stay overnight on Delos, so don't spend a lot of time trying to find accommodations there!

If you want the complete story of Delos, go here for that. My short version is this...

Greek mythology has it that Apollo and Artemis were born of Leto here, at the top of Mt. Kynthos (where they sprang from her head, actually - a rather unusual form of Cesarean...) For many centuries after this the Greeks held Delos as sacred, and didn't allow any permanent establishments there that weren't religious in nature. The fact that Delos also happens to be very centrally located in the Cyclades probably had something to do with that also.

Although Delos was used for other purposes in more modern times (including slave trading in the Middle Ages), one good side effect of this earlier religious focus is that the island is full of religious monuments and shrines, and most of them are in fairly good shape since they haven't been tampered with much. It's an excellent place to see a great concentration of ancient Greek artifacts. Here's a sampling of pictures from the island.




	Cruise ship parked off Delos




	Tiled floor




	Theater




	Delian Lions




	Delos, from the top of Mt. Kynthos


	House of Cleopatra and Dioscurides



		View from the top of Mt. Kynthos

Anyone into real photography might be interested to know they consider anyone carrying a tripod to be a "professional" and will want to charge you several arms and legs to let you in with it. Since this is the Mediterranean and the sun is very, very bright there that isn' t much of a problem so I'd recommend just leaving yours on Mykonos - I had to check mine at the gate...

After returning from Delos, we decided it was time to move on. Checking the maps and the ferry schedules, we decided to hop a ferry to Santorini. Click here if you want to join us!

If you'd like more information on Mykonos, here's a link for you.