Greece Trip - Day 5

June 30, 2009 – Syros to Mykonos

This morning we had to leave out little town of Possidonia on the island of Syros by ferry. The water was so smooth and such a deep blue. It was a short ferry ride to the wonderful Mykonos, only an hour. We had a private bus pick us up from the port and take us through narrow, winding, rock walled country roads to the main town of Mykonos. The streets of the town were full of people, scooters and cars and were very congested. Our accommodation is apartments near Little Venice and the Windmills, a perfect location. The buildings here are square, white-washed with blue doors, railings and shutters; and have narrow street ways going between them where both people walk and others ride scooters. I had a traditional Gyros for lunch – it is kebab style meat, with lettuce, tomato, onion, tzatziki and potato chips rolled in pita bread. We walked past a beautiful church – Paraportiani, on the corner of Little Venice that overlooks the sea and is known as the church of many angles. It is all white and is one of the most photographed churches in Greece, it was truly amazing and you have to see the photos to truly appreciate its beauty.

After our walk around the town, Donnal, Jo, Sheeba and I took the bus to the very popular party spot - Paradise Beach. The beach was full of thatch umbrellas and sun lounges right up to the water’s edge. The water was nice and cool (not too cold) and I was again amazed at how clear the water is around the Islands.
That night for dinner we went to a restaurant that had been recommended by two different people and it was definitely worth it – the food and service was fantastic.

Donnal had gone to a friendly restaurant one day in Athens for lunch and was given a little note with the name of the restaurant in Mykonos and also the name of a waiter – when she handed that to the waiter out the restaurant, he was so happy, he showed it to the other staff there and we were given two extra carafes of wine with dinner and also some watermelon for dessert. My meal was divine - I had sumptuous lamb cooked in the oven with rosemary and potatoes; it was so tender that it melted in my mouth.

After the meal a group of us went out to have a few drinks and enjoy the fun filled atmosphere of Mykonos. We went to the Veranda Bar which was set on the water in Little Venice and overlooked the Windmills. We found some new friends for the night there too, a brother and sister from Canada who are travelling together (I think they were glad to find some other company!), so we all went bar-hopping. The Scandinavian Bar was the best, if we had know, we would have stayed there because the other bars (like the Space Bar) looked great from the outside but were just boring and virtually empty inside.