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Published: July 17th 2011
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Mykonos 01
open shops. open houses. no humans. Have you ever been to an island where you are the only human? I have.
Have you ever been to an island where the only other living creatures are plants, three cats and two pelicans? I have.
Have you ever been to Mykonos? I have.
Four and a half hour ferry ride from Athens takes you to Mykonos. An island known for its wild and never-ending night life. An island known for its beautiful beaches and gorgeous architecture. An Island known for its conviviality and warmth.
If only you are not the only human on it.
I had not booked a hotel online and in Athens when the travel agent showed me the only hotel available with rooms, it was a bit below my ‘standards’ which have gone considerably high because of business traveling.
‘I’d find a hotel when I get there.’ I had told myself. ‘At worst it would be this hotel. If not, I would get a better one there.’
“Is it even worth going there?” I had asked the travel agent in Athens who had issued me the ferry tickets.
“If you ask me, No.” he had told me. “There
Mykonos 02
Little Venice will be nobody there.”
I did not take his advice and boarded the ferry. Ferry ride itself was a fine experience but it’s what followed made the whole trip even more exhilarating. The ferry landed at Mykonos at ten thirty in the night and by that time the temperature had gone below zero degrees.
There were only two taxis at the port and every one rushed to them. I was quick enough to reach one first. The cab driver put my luggage in the trunk, me in the back seat and two other guys in the taxi before moving on. Nobody asked me where I was supposed to go. Not that I knew really.
He drove for ten minutes in narrow streets along the beach which would look beautiful in the day time. He stopped the cab at a dark secluded place surrounded by miniature buildings and said something in Greek. Everyone got off the cab and before I could realize, my luggage was out of the trunk.
“I need to go to a hotel.” I tried explaining to him.
He pointed to an even narrower street on the left, sat in the car and
Mykonos 03
windmills of my mind drove off. I looked back and there I was, standing all alone. All alone in an unknown place, with three bags, without a place to spend the night and the temperature well below the freezing point. I had no working communication device either. No international roaming, no internet.
Very casually and confidently I started walking on that road dragging my luggage with me appearing as if I had been walking on those streets all my life. I took a complete round of the street and weighed my options. I had none really. Other than going on the street which the taxi driver had shown even if it looked narrow, dark and scary.
I came back to that street and started walking. It was a labyrinth. A complete maze of narrow streets, each giving birth to more branches. The level of intrigue increased. I could not see a single human being on the island. There were houses, cathedrals, banks, cafes and shops but no humans.
Several times I had to face the decision of which road to take, I decided on instincts and kept moving. I realized that I was climbing uphill. I crossed a wider road and
Mykonos 04
an overdose of white. serene beautiful and lonely took a few breaths. It was getting colder and darker. I could go back to the port but there was no point in spending the night at the port. I walked more and finally saw a board for a hotel. I would skip the name of the hotel for certain reasons.
I have never been happier to see a hotel more than that night. I rushed to it, opened the main gate and entered the hotel. The reception was empty. The computer on the reception was working although the monitor was turned off. There was a credit card machine, a register and a telephone next to it. There was no receptionist.
I put my luggage aside and knocked on the table. There was no response. I knocked a few more times. I shouted ‘anybody home?’ several times. I kicked the floor hard. There was no response.
There were stairs going up and there were stairs going down. I walked towards the stairs going up and took a step up. I screamed from the stairs again only to hear my own breath. I could not find the courage to go upstairs. I saw a door next to the
Mykonos 05
One of the 4 lives in mykonos besides me, plants and cats. stairs with a room number on it. I tried the door hesitantly. It was not locked. I opened the door.
The bed was ready. The Air-conditioner working heating the room. I stood there for a while. I could leave the hotel and look for another one but that would be unlikely to find one. I took a deep breath, picked my luggage and entered the room. In other words, I checked myself in.
The fridge was empty but the TV was working. There were no soaps in the toilet but towels were there. Water was cold because probably the heater was not working. I did not try hard enough to check for it. Fifteen minutes later I stepped out of the hotel and walked on the streets again.
It was an unreal feeling. I have been adventurous in my life. I have climbed the Killer Mountain, I have crossed thousands feet high broken hanging bridges, I have swam in the Arctic Circle but that night in Mykonos was a totally different experience.
I don’t plan my travel. I don’t make prior bookings. But I have never been to a place where I am the only human.
Mykonos 06
all the branded stores... but no buyers and no sellers Yet I was there. I did not know anyone. I did not know the place. I had nowhere to go. I began to get familiar with the streets. I went up and down the hill a few times and became a veteran. I could easily find the way to ‘My’ hotel again and again. I came back to the hotel at two in the morning and dozed off.
There was no chainsaw murderer and there were no zombies. The island was not haunted. It was only void of human life in the part where I was.
I slept like a baby. I woke up at ten in the morning and checked myself out of the hotel. My apologies to the hotel management that I did not pay anything to anyone. I did not swipe my credit card in their machine. The morning was not any different from the night. I saw the white painted streets in daylight, saw the beautiful Little Venice at the edge of water, saw the windmills at the Paradise beach and savored in the moment. I walked to the port in the afternoon and took the ferry back to Athens.
It was a surreal experience which cannot be explained in words.
When I was in Antalya, I slept on a bench in Centrum but even that feeling of being anonymous was no way near this feeling of being the only human on an entire island. Cast-away of a sort.
My readers often say that when they visit the places I have visited and have written about, they don’t see those things. They might not be alone on Mykonos Island either.
But I was.
Tomorrow someone might show me internet photos of Mykonos with big crowds and ask me about the veracity of this post and I will not say anything. I will only close my eyes and go back to the Mykonos I saw. I will always walk alone on the streets of Mykonos like I did on March 6, 2011.
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Josevich
Josevich
lol!
thats crazy! you got to stay at a hotel for free. im glad i found your blog. its refreshing to read a travel blog from someone from Pakistan. i like your sense of adventure