Mykonos to Syros

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Tuesday 7th June 2011

We left the apartment at 7 o'clock and went to the Point cafe just across the road.

We had a drink and did some blogging and surfing then ordered some food. Pat had the Special #1 and I had the special #2. Special # 1 was Greek salad and fresh fish and chips with a glass of wine, Special #2 was Greek Salad, Tzatsiki, kebab, pitta bread and a glass of wine both at €10. We both enjoyed our meals and thought it good value.

We are near the bus station at the top end of Mykonos and as Pat has said eating anywhere near a bus station turns out to be very good value from our recent experiences on several different islands.

This cafe is also a good place to watch the people and traffic. There is a council guy with a whistle trying to keep traffic clear around the buses and some of the conundrums the traffic gets into is absolutely amazing. Think of motorbikes, quad bikes, hire cars, buses, taxi's, local cars and pedestrians all in one little area and you can only just begin to imagine the snarl ups that occur. I can hear the guy's whistle outside as I am typing this now.

We took a stroll down towards Little Venice as it is called and stood at the five windmills watching the sunset. Not a good one tonight, a bit hazy.

Then a take away coffee in a fancy ice cream shop and back for an early night.

Some other observations on the Greek lifestyle whilst writing; if you are around any Greek men then you will start to hear this little clicking sound, which is them constantly flicking the worry beads. Pat at one time thought it might be an idea to buy me some, then realised that she would very quickly get fed up with the noise.

The other biggy is of course the smoking and whatever laws they may have introduced into this country the reality on the ground is that a large percentage of the population smoke. They also have no courtesy in their smoking and no real care that you may not like them smoking right next to them when you are eating your dinner.

The island of Delos is supposed to be a no smoking area and the very staff who would police that were themselves smoking inside the museum!

When we arrived in Mykonos and spoke to someone from the hotel she advised that there was a pedestrian area in Mykonos town, I nearly laughed then, with my small amount of knowledge and experience of Greece and traffic. The Greek idea of a pedestrian area is not what you would normally expect and in Mykonos you are under constant threat of being run over by whatever is the largest vehicle that will happen to fit in the street you are in at the time. Sometimes that's only the width of two people but then they have these dinky little vehicles with three wheels that fit through that so you are never safe.

Wednesday 8th June, 2011

We were up about 0915 and getting ready to leave Mykonos today. We left the room at 1030 and went across the road for some breakfast at the Point cafe. We moved from there and took a slow walk through to the Mykonos port trundling our cases.

At the port we watched the world for a while and took special interest in a little cabin cruiser trying to berth in a side wind and making a total shambles of it. It was fun to watch. Then a quick beer and a coke in a cafe and the final stretch of walk to the Old Port bus station.

We arrived at 1245 and caught the 1300 hrs bus for the 2.5 kilometres to the New Port which was €1.60 each.

The Blue Star Ithaki was just arriving as we got to the port and the usual chaos was going on with the hotel touts trying to sell rooms as the freight and passengers were departing. We got on board and the ship sailed on time at 1415.

The ships first port of call was Tinos and we were in and out fairly quickly and then on to Syros.

We arrived around four o'clock and joined the melee leaving the vessel and headed left out of the Port.

We managed to find the accommodation straight away this time and with not a single wrong step, we must be getting good at this.

The hotel is called Aiolia and approx 450 meters from the Port. First impressions of the hotel are much more of a guest house than a holiday place, with a delightful lady at reception.

We took a walk back to the port area after settling in to the room and showering.

Our thoughts were to get our bearings and find somewhere to eat. Ermoupolis is the name of the town, which is the capital of Syros and also the Cyclades. It is much more of an ordinary town rather than a tourist resort.

We walked along the harbour front and found a restaurant we liked the look of but they weren't serving food until later, so we moved into the town and found a little grill house down a side street, and had a lovely meal of Greek salad and pork chops. Loads of bread, loads of feta, loads of pork ( not a Cyprus pork chop but still good) with drinks €29.50.

Then a stroll through some of the town and back to the room.

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