Category Archives: Mykonos

Seabourn day 3, Mykonos evening ctd.

There was one older Greek fellow with many missing teeth and a typical Greek hat who was playing the Greek version of bagpipes. He had a goat’s stomach with a flute attached to one side and a straw-like mouthpiece attached to the other. He filled the bladder with air and played the flute as the bladder deflated, but all the while keeping the bladder close to full. The sound was unmistakably Greek. I gave him $1e and took a photo or two.

While we were at the windmills, we walked the area. Two of the windmills have been converted into private homes. At one point my Tesla hat blew off my head and over a cliff. “Oh no you don’t” I practically shouted and went down the cliff to recover my hat. It had not dropped very far. It was a relatively easy scramble over ice plant and rocks to retrieve my hat. Ellen and I got separated, each searching for that perfect perspective for a photo. I waited at the “entrance” and waited and after a long while Ellen appeared. She was worried we might not find each other. This area was crowded, but not insanely so.

The streets of Mykonos are very narrow. The main streets are maybe ten feet wide and go down from there. Some of the streets we walked were maybe three feet wide. Still there is the occasional car or small truck going through making deliveries for restaurants or for sheet rock for renovation (which we saw). By the four windmills there is no waterfront walk. The houses are build right up to the water. There are restaurants and a walkway through the restaurants and behind the waterfront homes, that leads back to the main esplanade along the shore, now west of us.f

We made our way back to the water taxi dock, were we were dropped off and continued along until we actually found the Raya restaurant. Ellen had the chicken kabob special, I ordered two appetizers: tzatzikki and a cheese filled pastry with pine nuts and honey. Ellen’s chicken was very good, the tzatzikki was some of the best I’ve had, but the cheese pastry was out of this world. I had to asks our waitress if tipping was common in Greece. She said, not really. It is very unusual for a Greek to tip. Often Europeans do, but it is up to us. It’s not like in America where a tip is expected. We left a good tip for her. I enjoyed her honesty.

Getting back to the tender and back to the Odyssey was effortless. The seas were more choppy now, but the tender was driven slowly. We had to make it back aboard ship for my scheduled hair cut. Simone had cut Ellen’s hair the day before for the formal captain’s dinner. Ellen scheduled my for a haircut with Simone this afternoon. Simone is fun. After her scalp massage after the haircut, I had visions of taking her home with us.

We did not miss the champagne and caviar afternoon show which featured a classically trained vocalist who sang a brief operatic repertoire. This actually brought tears to my eyes, he was that good. This is the same fellow whom I thought had performed so mediocrely the evening before. Clearly opera is his forte. The champagne and caviar was good too… The Odyssey weighed anchor mid-way through the show, headed for Kusadasi, Turkey.

After a brief rest in our suite, we opted for an informal dinner tonight at the pool side bar and grill. Tonight was surf and turf: filet and jumbo shrimp. It was cold, but blankets were provided pool side and Ellen was reasonably warm. We opted to take the blueberry cheese cake back to our suite.

Tomorrow we take an excursion to Ephesus and the terrace houses. We’ll see the Celsus Library facade, the Grand Amphitheatre that held more than 25,000 people, the Temple of Hadrian, and pass the site of the Temple of Artemis, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Tomorrow evening Seabourn hosts an evening classical music performance at sunset in Ephesus.

We will try the colonnade restaurant sometime this week, but formal dining is far superior to pool side dining in the evening.

Ron

Seabourn Day 3, Mykonos Evening

We’ve enjoyed the past few days aboard ship so much that I actually had some qualms about going ashore this morning. The ship is a known quantity. I love adventure, but I was unsure what Mykonos would have in store.

We took the tender into Mykonos this morning around am and wondered the streets. We were not the first off ship and we did not have the town to ourselves. Still in the early morning there were relatively few tourists around and still fewer the further away we moved from the shore-side cafes.

The winds were quite strong, blowing sand in our faces as we walked the “main street” along the waterfront. Ellen found some stairs leading away from the wind and up we went. Mykonos is beautiful. Walking the stairs through the white houses with blue or yellow or red doors was fun. Finally we came upon a narrow two lane thoroughfare. There were motor scooters, vespas, ATVs, small trucks, large trucks and even a bus at one point, all going somewhere on this road. There was no sidewalk. We walked in the street dodging traffic or watching traffic dodge us as we walked down, back to the shore.

We arrived at the west end of Mykonos on the shore. There are public WCs there. One was clean with TP. The other not so much. We turned back toward the center of town, with the breeze at our backs snapping photos as we went.

When the Seabourn Odyssey arrived at Mykonos, there was one large cruise ship at the port some distance from town. It was a huge ships, though I could not make out its name or country of origin. The Odyssey anchored offshore and used its four tenders to bring travelers ashore. While we walked up the steps to the thoroughfare, another massive cruise ship arrived and anchored quite close to the Odyssey. That ship dwarfed the Odyssey. Two things crossed my mind: how nice to have booked with a small intimate cruise line and Oh crap, we’ll be inundated in the nest few hours with hoards of tourists walking streets of Mykonos.

There was absolutely nothing we could do, the die was cast. As we walked closer to the town center, the crowds grew. Ellen saw steps heading up-hill and motioned me back as I had gone ahead. She was standing beside a shop that sold only white garments. The shop’s name: “Pure White”. The steps just to the left of this shop lead up, but not so steeply, to a view overlooking Mykonos and to a single windmill. Also near the windmill is one of the most beautiful hotels on the island or at least in Mykonos proper. The “Boutique Hotel” has views to die for. We stopped in to ask the room rates which run from budget at $50 US per night to high at $320 per night. The expensive rooms have expansive views overlooking Mykonos. We asked to see a room, but they were busy and could not or would not show a room. The hotel has a website showing each room category, we were referred to the web site. We asked if they served lunch. With their view and limited clientele, it would be a perfect place to eat a bite. No, no lunch. They did server breakfast for hotel guests. The reservation desk did recommend that we go to Raya for lunch if we wanted authentic Greek cuisine.

The views from the hotel and from the lone windmill were stunning. Any reservations I had had about Mykonos vanished. There were very few people at either the hotel or the single windmill. The modest climb up the stairs dissuaded most tourists; there were very few people around. I highly recommend the walk should you find yourself in Mykonos. We took photos of the “famous” four windmills at the east side of Mykonos and agreed that we did not need to walk there to see them.

As we walked back down the hill, we found an increasing number of tourists. Not necessarily a bad thing, after all we are tourists too. However, when we can we like to avoid crowds. Rather than making our way down to the waterfront, we took a left, a few streets behind the waterfront esplanade.

We found ourselves in a very high end shopping area. Versache, Sophia, YSL, an seemingly never ending stream of very high end shops. I heard one clearly American woman complain that the prices here were much too high. Of note, I had not packed a belt and purchased one on board. As we often do, we started a conversation with the sales gal, who suggested that we AVOID shopping in Mykonos as Kusadasi has very much the same things but at much lower prices. Mykonos is one of the jet set’s favorite hangouts. Kusadasi is relatively unknown and prices reflect that.

Anyway, we walked well behind the seaside thinking we would turn in to find Raya for a bite. We took photos of things we found interesting as we walked and lost track of where we were going. After some time enjoying our walk, we discovered we had walked to the four windmills at the other side of town. Mykonos is a very small town. There was one older Greek fellow with many missing teeth and a typical Greek hat who was playing the Greek version (continued…)

Seabourn day 3, Mykonos Am

Three tenders were lowered into the water moments ago. We are anchored off Mykonos harbor. We had our morning cappuccino and walked the windy deck. There are whitecaps further out, but we are somewhat sheltered anchored just outside the harbor jetty.

People are disembarking now. We will head off shortly.

Janos, our breakfast waiter, took good care of me this morning. We went to the windy side of the boat and found a sheltered table just out of the wind. Janos setup the table and ordered an arugula parma omlette with bacon, sausage, and another cappuccino. It was very filling.

I would have worked out in the gym this morning, but we’ll be walking enough today. We’ll have to return to the ship for my haircut at 16:45.

If booking on Seabourn, I recommend suites just forward of the main spiral staircase and suggest deck 6. The theater/stage is on deck 6 making for a very short walk “home” after a show. Deck 6 is just below the dining room on deck 7. Since the theater opens in the evening,, deck 6 is very quiet. Actually all decks are very quiet.

We proped our veranda door open last night for the sea breeze and the sound of the sea. It was idyllic and tranquil. We slept very well.

Off to Mykonos town…

Ron

Seabourn Day 2, cruising to Mykonos

Tonight is this weeks formal Captain’s dinner. Dress to the 9s and meet our captain. Dinner may be unusually scrumptious this evening.

The weather is warming up as we head south from Myrna/Limnos to Mykonos. I’m told there are no cars on Mykonos as the “streets” are one person wide, a method devised centuries ago to protect the city from pirates. I’m also told the streets are a labyrinth and we should expect to get lost, but locals are very happy to guide us “home”.

This afternoon guest services delivered our tickets to the evening classical performance at sunset in Kusadasi, Turkey after dinner on Wednesday. This is a complementary “excursion” that requires registration, something we almost missed!

Tomorrow we have no excursion and plan to simply wander around Mykonos, as we did Rome and Istanbul. It’s great to be aboard ship, but still more wonderful meeting new people and exploring the “unknown”.

Ellen is almost ready. We’re off to dinner!

Ron