Advertisement
Published: September 26th 2011
Edit Blog Post
Mykonos - Just Amazing
Looking back across the harbour to the white wash buildings that are so synonymous with the island GREEK ISLANDS
Our Athens hotel was on the same side of the city as the Port so we didn’t have to leave for our Greek Island cruise until 9.30am. The day got off to a good start when by accident we wandered into the ‘executive’ breakfast room. No one was on duty to check our room number when we went in and we just assumed it was our breakfast room. Another couple from our tour slipped through so we sat with them and enjoyed a very nice breakfast – which included smoked salmon.
We were warned that things would be a little chaotic from the time we reached the port until we were on board the ship. The port we sailed from is one of the busiest passenger terminals in the world –largely as a result of the number of cruise ships heading around the Greek Islands. We were also warned that Greeks didn’t ‘do queues’ and we would have to be on our guard against people constantly pushing in. The procedure was a bit strange; we had to surrender our Passports (which I think you are not really supposed to do). This is because we visit Turkey and
Louis Majesty
Our home for 3 nights as we cuise the fabulous Greek Islands it is the only practical way to get 1200 passengers off the boat into Turkey and back in the time we have. We were each given a plastic card that becomes our passport and credit card on the boat –all purchases are charged to the card and then it is debited against your credit card – the good ship Louis Majesty is a cashless society!
LOUIS MAJESTY
Considering everything the boarding process went fairly smoothly and it wasn’t long before we were sitting in our cabins. I think largely as a result of the accommodation cock up at Dubrovnik we had our cabins upgraded. We are on Deck 8 (there are 10 Decks in total) and have a room with a rectangular window. Apparently in Cruising terms the pecking order is from worst to best: no window (inside cabin), round window, square window, rectangle window, large window – so we are well up the ‘window scale’. Our room is a good size with plenty of room to move around.
Originally it was set up as a twin room so we juggled things to put the two beds were together. When we returned from our excursion to Mykonos the
Windmills
The famous windmills of Mykonos bed had been remade as a double – very thoughtful of Sami our cabin attendant.
Not long after getting on board we had a lifeboat drill, a bit tedious but necessary and then had a group meeting with our Insight Cruise Director. For the Cruise Brendan has a rest and we are looked after by Bill – an Irishman living in Greece. We decided to do just two of the excursions offered: Ancient Ephesus and Turkish Bazaar – including ‘Flying Carpet Shop’ and Santorini Island Tour featuring the spectacular hilltop village of Oia. Those were the two ‘must do’ options and it will give us plenty of time to relax and recharge. We will still go to the other islands we stop at but just wander around with some of the other guys from our tour.
We had a good look around the ship; it’s small by Cruise Ship standards and just does trips around the Greek islands. But to us it’s pretty awesome, there’s swimming and spa pools, indoor and outdoor cafe/restaurants, a casino, a room for live shows duty free shopping – probably half a dozen other stores on board. The idea is to give us
Mykonos
Lots of narrow paved streets to expore - some really interesting shops and restaurants to all an introduction to Cruising in the hope we will like it so much we will book longer tours.
MYKONOS
At 5pm we got organised for our first port of call Mykonos. We arrived at eh island about 45 minutes before sunset so we had the chance to have a look around the waterfront and then watch the sunset which as you would expect was spectacular.
Bill had given us a map of Mykonos and a suggested route to walk to make the most of our time – this was very useful. We followed the path around the waterfront to the famous windmills and back through the retail streets. Mykonos is famous for its white buildings and narrow maze streets which are paved by stones. We had a great time wandering around, the reason the streets are designed as they are was to confuse pirates so they would become lost in the maze-it’s very easy to see how this could happen.
After having a good look around we settled at a waterfront restaurant and ordered calamari and a couple of drinks. Sitting there watching the lights of the harbour eating fantastic seafood was another trip highlight for us – one of many!
To finish off a perfect day we returned to the ship for cake and coffee before retiring for the night.
White houses narrow paved streets, sunset, windmills bought cap and sall cuip. Had calamari for tea sitting at beach front restaurant overlooking harbour. Had a look around the shops – streets designed to confuse pirates and break the wind –a real maze.
Back on ship for coffee and cake with Don and Sue who we had spent most of the day with and what a fantastic day it was.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.173s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 7; qc: 44; dbt: 0.1364s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb