Wild On Mykonos

Well here we are in Mykonos and this place is great and so different to Athens. Whereas Athens is all about the ancient past of Greece, Mykonos is very much here for the present and is a tourism mecca, especially for young people. Think "Wild On" from the E! Channel and you get the idea - the Greek Ibiza if you like. Apparently scenes from the Bourne Identity were shot here too.

Yesterday morning we took a fast catamaran ferry from Athens (Pireaus) to Mykonos, including stopovers at two other islands on the way, Styros and Tinos. At the time we booked I had to repeat my name and spell it out at least twice but the guy still booked me as My Feltser - must have a stronger Nuu Zullan axsent than I thought. The trip was great with blue skies and even bluer seas (it is totally different from the green sea we have in NZ) and we arrived mid-morning to the unique blend of tourist fever, traffic chaos and island village quaintness that is Mykonos. As you can gather from some of these photos there is some sort of buildng code here that requires every building to be painted white with brightly coloured trim (usually bright blue) and the effect is awesome to behold. Good sunnies are a definite must or the sheer whiteness of the place would blind you by lunchtime.

Instead of the stifling heat of Athens, Mykonos has this ever present sea breeze which keeps you cool all day to make the hot greek sun more bearable! The water here is dodgy so we carry bottled water with us everywhere to stay alive. My trusty Kiwi stubby holder has
come up trumps by keeping my water bottles nice and chilled, so all of those who have taken the piss in the past should stand corrected!

And then there are the motorbikes that fly around everywhere, even down the narrow alleyways. You can hire them to get around and see the island and heaps of people do so, taking their life in their own hands as the greeks don't believe in road rules, different lanes or bike helmets. It staggers me that I haven't seen anyone killed since we were here, although I've seen a heap of close calls and massive arguments. Unfortunately our efforts to join in on the road carnage have been thwarted so far as they are heavily booked out in advance - perhaps we will have more luck on Santorini getting some wheels.

We spent most of yesterday afternoon checking out the main town where we are staying and ended up in a bar which sold cheap drinks which was a welcome reprieve. This morning, after spending an hour or so trying in vain to source some wheels, we decided to head to one of the superb beaches that they have here - Kalafatis. It is on the otherside of the island so we took a bus through the centre to get there. The island itself is hellishly dry and arid with pretty much no trees and this sparse tussocky grass, but when it comes to golden sand beaches this place turns it on. Kalafatis isn't one of the main beaches (they are the aptly named Paradise and Super Paradise) but it has the Contiki resort right beside it so the beach was full of Aussies and Italians. I managed to begin ridding myself of my Wellington whiteness and can now report that I am a nice shade of pink which will either brown up or burn with my money on the latter.

Mykonos is pretty pricey compared to Athens but there are so many restaurants and bars here that they price each other down. Tonight I had a random chicken souvlaki which had french fries wrapped up in it among other things, and while unorthodox it was mighty tasty. Kind of like a chip sandwich with pita bread and chicken. I'm taking a liking to the local lager beer too (Mythos) and at 2,50 Euros a pint it isn't priced too bad either, even when you factor in the 2-1 Kiwi dollars.

Thanks for all the messages from home and abroad too. Its good to know my online rants aren't too much of an effort to get through!

[This is now being posted a few days late as the internet connection kept blowing out! Told you I would get there in the end].

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