Beach Hopping at Last!!!

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We woke up early Sunday morning to enjoy some sun by the pool before heading to Mykonos. This time our ferry did come and it was time to officially say goodbye to Santorini. Another stop complete filled with memories that I believe the “fabulous four” will never forget.
Mykonos
The gusty winds that cancelled our ferry finally tired of blowing and left us with a brilliant sunny day. With no winds, the water was still, glistening, and postcard perfect teal. We stepped off the ferry from Santorini and were greeted by Andreas- owner of Kymata Hostel. “Be careful your head,” almost obsessively Andreas warned as we entered his van or apartment. At Kymata, we had two beautiful rooms in a classic white/blue Greek city. Mykonos town was a winding maze of stone streets lined with shops of all sorts. When in Mykonos, all travelers have an obligation to rent a scooter and beach hop. (All four of us were itching to get on the beach.) Even though we were all about the scooter tradition, we opted for ATVs for the safety factor. Definitely no let down. My most vivid memory of Mykonos will be flying around the beautiful island on the orange four wheeler with Lauren holding on tightly to my torso. With the breeze on our faces and sunshine on our backs, we spent our first day driving to Kalmari Beach. Recommended by our renter, the tiny beach was everything you picture of the Greek Islands- surrounded by rolling hills with the bluest/greenest water I’ve ever seen. Topping off a great day, the sunset that night may have been the best of the trip. The sun set into a rich pink orb and lit up the sky with orange, purple, and red.
We woke up itching for more beach time. Unfortunately, the wind from Santorini followed us over. We hopped from beach to beach trying to escape the gusts. With massive yellow lounge chairs, our desires were met at Paradise Beach- go figure. Sheltered from the wind in our comfy chairs, we spent the rest of our beach time there. Once again, we spent the evening watching a fantastic sunset. With the whole gang armed with cameras, we set off to the beach hoping for an encore presentation from the night before. Unfortunately, the colors were not quite as vivid on night one.
Mykonos holds a legendary reputation as a party city. After getting ready for a night on the town, we followed the thumping music from club to club. Clarification- from empty club to empty club. For better or worse, we had a private dance party at each stop.
A large part of our Mykonos experience was gyro pita. A cheap and delicious Greek sandwich, we ate our fill of this chicken, tomato, onion, tzatziki, and French fry goodness. French fries in the pita, what an ingenious idea.
We were all enjoying Mykonos so much we opted for a 7 pm ferry back to the Greek mainland. After zooming around on our ATVs and catching our last rays, we stopped for gelato and one last pita- so good. As mentioned before you can’t control the weather. The winds didn’t exactly shout beach weather at times, but we always made the most of it. The islands were everything I expected- a combination of white buildings with blue trim and stunning beaches. However the landscape of the islands were far from what I pictured, rolling and rocky hills dominated the terrain. Red, yellow, and purple wild flowers covered a lot of the hillside with tall grass covering the open space. Far more arid than tropical paradise, the Greek Islands were every bit as beautiful and picturesque as you expect, just in a different way. It was tough packing up from Mykonos. Not only did we have to leave behind our ATV and the beach, but we were faced with the prospect that only one more stop remained. For our grand finale, on to Athens!

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