Mykonos

Our extremely spontaneous, last-minute decision to go to Mykonos with Brittany and Danielle was truly an adventure of spontaneous proportions. Upon arrival at the docks, we took the advice of my boss (Dimitris, who is from Thessaloniki and gave me tips on Greece and the islands beforehand) and just let all the people waiting for boats to arrive with visitors to swarm us with offers to stay at their rental property. It was absolutely insane! We hardly had a second to think before someone else came over to try and sell us a room at their place. Prices were all very competitive and cheap, but we finally decided upon a place near a popular beach (Ornos Beach) about a 15 minute drive from the main town.

After settling in, the four of us walked just down the street about 5 minutes to Ornos Beach and got some sunshine and gyros. It was pretty windy, but not nearly as windy as other parts of the island. Turns out, Mykonos is known as the windy island amongst all Greek isles, but we didn't find this out until after our decision to stay for two nights. Still, it was a great first stop on our island hopping tour.

That first night, we went out to dinner at a fantastic restaurant near the water in the main town, called Alefkandra. We had such a wonderful time together that night, toasting to our holiday and our own openness to sharing such an adventure with perfectly friendly strangers. And of course, the food was awesome; definitely one of the best of the trip thus far. Our waiter, Ilias, was outstanding as well. He was so helpful with our order--both wine and food--and he brought us some after dinner drinks, called Mextica, on the house. It was a great start to our Aegean excursion.

The next day, we all went running (at various times, not all together) and then met up at the beach for more sunshine and gyros. After soaking up a sufficient amount of sunshine, we showered up for the evening out and went to dinner in the main town once again, this time further into the old town's winding cobblestone streets at a place called Nikos Taverna. It was particularly neat to have wandered through the town to find the place, and although it was no Alefkandra we were glad we came.

On the way back to catching a bus to Paradise Club for a night out at the most famous club on the biggest party island in Greece, we stopped into a place called Scandinavian Bar for a few drinks--which turned out to be shots instead. The bartenders were glad to chat with us, especially the three girls!

We said our farewells to our bartender buddies and caught the next bus to the club. It was a decent night out for a Sunday, but not nearly as crowded or crazy as I had expected. Being September and just past peak season, there were probably fewer tourists around. But the ambiance seemed good and we danced and drank a couple overpriced drinks before catching a cab back to our little place by the beach.

The next day, we packed our things and left for the southern port on the island (toward Ios, Santorini, and Crete), not knowing for sure which island we'd choose next. When we got to the port, we found out that our best bet would be to visit Santorini next. Although all four of us got on the same boat, we opted to part ways since the girls wanted to stay there longer, and we had decided to try to see a third island (Crete) before catching a flight to Rome that Friday. After about an hour delay, we waved goodbye to windy Mykonos and continued south through the Aegean to breathtakingly beautiful Santorini.