Mykonos

There are two islands that when I remember seeing pictures of Greece, they always stood out as where I wanted to visit one day. We visited the first one today...Mykonos. The Cyclades island towns are known for their maze of alleyways and white cubic shaped homes. They were built this way so that from the sea, the houses would be mistaken for clouds by pirates. The narrow alleyways would be so that pirates would have difficulty finding their way around the town.

Today was our prettiest day so far! It started out with 2 sunrises. We saw one and as the ship changed direction, saw another coming up behind the island. By about 9 am, there was not a cloud in the sky & it was definitely the dark blue you see in the pictures. All the churches & chapels on the island have red roofs....and there are over 1000! Most were built by families for personal use &/or thanksgiving for safe trips, celebrations, etc. One of the guidebooks describes the houses as dazzling white & they are with the sun reflecting off them. The banisters & doors are rainbow bright colors of red, blues & varying shades of green.

We just missed seeing Petros the Pelican. He had gone into a restaurant to get his lunch. Petros is the island's mascot.

At one time there were 30 windmills used for grinding corn. We saw several that still exist although none were operating today. Two other famous sights are Little Venice and Panagia Paraportiani which is made up of 5 different chapels. In Little Venice, the houses have balconies that jut out over the sea. Evidently pirates use to deliver stolen goods to the ground floor doors at night so the owners could sell the goods the next day as legitimate.

We also went to a 400 year old bakery that still bakes its bread in wood burning ovens where we tried cinnamon cookies. Also went to an outside cafe to have a light lunch of ouzo, bread, spinach phyllo pie, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives & yogurt cucumber spread.