Athens to Mykonos

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July 14 Friday
We got a late departure so I was able to sleep in an extra hour. Went down for breakfast and met up with a few members for my travel group. Breakfast was OK but they did have Bougasta. After asking about how their dinner went, I am glad I did not go. Their short 8 to 10 minute walk turned into 45 minutes because their local tour took them the long way around. Scott, our tour guide, felt so bad that he offered cab rides for those who did not want to walk all the way back to the hotel. Getting from the hotel to the port only took 30 minutes and it was very easy. The whole process of checking in at the port and getting our cards for the ship took no more than 30 minutes. We got to our ship, Celestyal Olympia. My cabin was 4019. We had about an hour to ourselves before we had to show up on deck with our life preservers on in 98° temperature. The only saving grace was that we were in the shade! After the 45 minute drill and then an 30 minute Trafalgar tour information, we had six hours to ourselves to explore or to rest up. I was able to schedule a spa for my feet and hands at 1 o'clock. However after I got there I found out the special I was given was only for my hands. For feet and hands it would've cost me €80 which is roughly $100. So I said no and just did my feet for €30. She didn't do a great job causing some pain so there is definitely no tipping. I went back to my room sorted some things out and then decided to take a nap before getting ready to leave the ship for first island.
We met at 5 o'clock but didn't actually leave the boat until 7 o'clock. On my way to the meeting spot on the boat I ran into Cameron and then as we stood there talking Scott went by up the stairs. Scott has always been dressed impeccably with nice trousers, jackets and shirts. Seeing him in a T-shirt and very short shorts was eye opening! Nice bum!
Mykonos is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island spans an area of 33.0 sq mi. and rises to an elevation of 1,119 feet at its highest point. There are 10,134 inhabitants (2011 census), most of whom live in the largest town, Mykonos, which lies on the west coast. The town is also known as Chora (i.e. the Town in Greek, following the common practice in Greece when the name of the island itself is the same as the name of the principal town). Mykonos' nickname is "The island of the winds." Mykonos is the most visited and the most expensive of the Greek Islands offering a combination of a friendly atmosphere, a sophisticated nightlife, total relaxation in the joy of life. The island has two main sizable villages, Chora (or Mykonos town and the capital) and Ano Mera village which is not visible from the sea.

Since our boat was too big we had to drop anchor out in the port and take a little boat taxis onto Mykonos. We had a Trafalgar tour guide take us around the island's capital of Chora for about 30 minutes. It's a small island village of about 10,000 people and 10,000 tourists. The narrow cobbled paths or "streets" as they were called were very narrow. The whitewashed buildings were gorgeous to photograph. They also have old windmills in a charming corner of Chora called Alefkanfra where many people went up to take pictures of. I think I walked around for about three hours taking hundreds of pictures. And the cats! I could not believe how many cats I saw. Now I know why I saw that sign a couple days ago that says "Welcome to Greece. Please take home a cat!" LOL! The sun began to set about 8:15, so I got into position by the windmills. There is way too many people up on top trying to take pictures of the sunset. I look down toward the shore and there was only two people. So I took the steep stairs down to sea level. A restaurant had many tables set up. White tables and white chairs in blue trim made it very pretty to look at. I took a few photos of the sun and the water. Then I noticed all the table settings had glasses and an unlit candle set in a large glass jar. Aha I thought! I wonder if I can get this to work. It did! So I was able to take a picture of the sunset over the candle that was inside the jar making the candle look lit with the sunset. I hope the pictures turn out well.
I headed back to the boat to grab me something to eat since it was pretty expensive on the shore. I stopped at one restaurant that had healthy gluten-free food and just a simple meal was going to run me about €15-€20. I took the first boat back and made it to the ship by 9:30 pm. I went directly to the dinner buffet and found Howard and Ann in the middle of their meal. After eating a very healthy meal for the first time in many weeks it was wonderful. I had no meat on my plate for the first time. After eating it was time for bed. As I was getting ready for bed, the ship pulled up the anchor and it sounded like it was just outside my wall. Luckily it only lasted 20 minutes.

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