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Published: September 11th 2008
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The trail to Paradise Beach
Just arrived in Mykonos - we had no idea of what was in store. Days 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16- Mykonos and Paros.
So, the title this week describes the sunburn I have, and the fact that Mykonos is a party island. Did not get the sunburn from partying though, but visiting the island of Delos to see some more ruins and the birthplace of the greek gods Apollo and Artemis. Serves me right for trying to get some culture in the Greek islands, what was I thinking?
So we got into Mykonos on a Saturday. We originally thought our hotel was in the middle of nowhere as it felt like the cab driver just kept going. After getting to the hotel and getting a map, we find out we are walking distance to 3 beaches, 2 of which are the most popular beaches on the island. One of them was called Paradise beach, and it was about a 5 minute walk down a dirt trail from our hotel. This beach is the party beach on Mykonos, so of course we decided to check it out, considering it was a Saturday. It was a cool beach, we probably got there around 4, there were lots of people, but it wasn’t packed,
Paradise Beach
Before the party begins. they had food shacks, and beach shops, but it was a pretty small beach. We laid down amidst people from all over the world (at this point I am useless trying to figure out where people are from by their accents or the language they are speaking- there’s too many languages I’ve never heard before). At about 6 or so, the techno music came on from one of the bars, a DJ gets up on this makeshift stage and 2 dancing girls start their thing. The party has begun. We figure in a few hours everyone there will be dancing. In about 15 minutes a good number had already started. Welcome to Mykonos.
We watch for a while, then decide to go into town to get dinner. We ask the receptionist how to get into town, he says there’s a bus that picks up down the street every hour that takes you into town. We ask where does it drop you off (meaning what part of town) and he replies Mykonos town. Sometimes you can’t fight the language barrier. So we walk down the street (a 2 minute walk the other way) and discover another beach, Paranga. This one
Paradise Beach
The party has started. seemed much calmer, had a few nice restaurants on it, some lounges, it was chill. Sure enough the bus came on time, there was a good amount of people getting on to go into town. Well this bus has 2 main stops, the one we got on, then it goes to Paradise beach before going into town. We pull up to Paradise and there’s 40 people waiting. The bus gets so crowded that one girl tries to climb in through a window. This is now officially worse then the drunk bus at Madison. It was a mess.
We pull into Mykonos town, sure enough there’s only one stop and everyone gets off, and we just follow people into the white washed stone streets. The town of Mykonos was built like a maze so that pirates couldn’t find their way out. It also keeps tourists from finding their way anywhere. We just kind of strolled through, looking at shops, restaurants, people, cafes, etc. After a while we found a place to grab dinner, all the restaurants serve the same thing here- Greek traditional food like souvlaki, Greek salads, moussaka, tsaziki, and pasta. I never thought I would be tired of
Paradise Beach
But they recycle! Greek food, but the pasta was a nice welcome change.
It’s been a long day; we make our way slowly out of the Mykonos maze. Tonight it doesn’t seem so hard, the next night in town though we walk in circles to try to find a fish taverna. Literally in circles and we keep running into the island’s pelican- Mykonos has some sort of large pelican as its mascot and all the fish tavernas feed it. It’s a little bit of a shock to come across this huge bird while walking down these narrow streets.
Day two we go to Delos and forget to put sunscreen on, oops. But it’s turning into a tan. I forget that I don’t have hair to cover the back of my neck! Anyways, won’t write too much about Delos, as we’ve already written enough about ruins. I’ll tell the myth instead. Zeus had gotten this mortal woman pregnant (Ledo) and his wife didn’t much care for that. So she bans the woman from the giving birth on land. So this woman walks all over the Greek islands trying to find somewhere she can give birth. All the islands refuse her because of
Mykonos hotel pool
Cold, saltwater, windy and in the shade. Perfect. Hera’s ban. She gets to Delos as she’s on her last breath, and Delos was different because it was a floating island. Because it wasn’t fixed onto the earth and floated on the sea, she was able to give birth there, and she had the Greek gods Apollo and Artemis. After that the island put down roots so that the birthplace could be found and worshipped.
By the way, Mykonos is windy. Real windy. If there were winds like this at home, school would be called off. The same level of winds as during hurricane Isabelle. We asked the driver when we got picked up if it was always this windy, and he laughed and said last week was windy, this is nice for Mykonos! I bring that up because we climbed to the top of this hill on Delos and I actually feared we might be blown off.
So that was Delos, we get on the boat to go back, arrive in Mykonos town, buy the next ferry ticket (we decide on going to Paros for a couple days) grab something to eat, go back to the hotel, chill by the pool and eat at a beach
restaurant for dinner. I like the fish tavernas here, they bring over a cooler containing the fish they have that evening and you pick out which one you want.
Next day we decide to go to the other popular beach we’ve heard of. It’s a 10 minute walk past Paranga beach (where the bus picks us up). This was officially Lazy Beach Day (LBD I). And there’s nothing to write about because all we did was lay on the beach.
We went back into Mykonos town for dinner, a little later this time. Last time we ate around 8 and most of the restaurants were relatively empty. By the time we got out at 10, they were full. People in Greece eat late here, we keep forgetting that. We prefer it, as in DC we’re usually the last ones out of the restaurants, as no one eats late in DC. So this time, we go in around 9 or so to eat with everyone else.
The next day after a lazy morning on the beach, we head over to the port to pick up our ferry to Paros. It’s an hour late, and it’s a scene as
Petey the pelican
Scared the c--- out of me! 800 people are getting off, and 800 people are getting on. Turns out this ferry is also headed to Santorini and Crete. Good thing we’re getting off in 45 minutes for Paros.
Paros is slow. And chill. Not much to report on, we’re located in Noaussa, a small fishing village, and have eaten some nice fish for dinner. The Chatham of Paros. We rented a scooter and drove to some beaches around the island. You can tell this place is probably happening during the summer, but now it’s off season, so it’s quiet. Today we’re off to Ios!
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Jenn and Genevieve
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Loving the stories!!
Hey kids - Genevieve and I just finished reading the latest post over coffee and a bottle. Genevieve particularly liked the picture of the octopus. We're enjoying reading about your traveling adventures and learning all about greek mythology. I really must have missed those classes in school but am making up for it now thanks to your posts! Safe travels!