Synchala

Mykonos

A view from a height

Picasa Album: Mykonos

Today was our first day in port (aside from the embarkation in Rome of course). The Galaxy (our Celebrity cruise ship) made port in Mykonos, Greece at around 1:45-2:00pm today. This of course means we had the morning to ourselves and I used that time to get my rest in. It’s truly amazing how easy it is to oversleep in complete darkness. The absence of any light but that of my computer’s charging cord meant that even though my brother got up at 6:30am for a run and a massage appointment I was able to fall instantly back to sleep and stay there until 9:30 when my alarm went off.

Feeling much refreshed after the previous days relaxation in transit and the full nights sleep, I embarked upon a quest. A quest for lunch. Yea, verily I went unto the omelet station and tasted of a mushroom, onion, and white cheddar omelet. It was nigh delicious. Perhaps a little too much cheese, though seriously, can you have too much cheese?

Upon sating my hunger I went in search of my family and lo, there they were lounging around the pool. Yes, I realize that right about now all of you working the two weeks I’m away are just about starting to hate me for all this talk of relaxing, but hey, we all get our turn, right? We lounged about until the cruise weighed anchor, at which point we made our way down to the tenders to get onto the first Greek soil our feet have ever touched.

I suppose I should describe it. Mykonos is a small island off the cost of Greece. My “Port Explorer” sheet from Celebrity tells me that the island is just 33 square miles and is thus one of the smallest in the Cyclades group. It has a population of 5000, which is pretty decent for a bare 33 sq mile island when you consider how “barren” the land is. It’s a very dry little island, balmy sea breezes notwithstanding. The population is dwarfed by the incredible 900,000 tourists and visitors that the island hosts each year. Clearly this is no small farming island, its pure tourism to it’s core.

The island is administered from Mykonos Town, also known as Chora. This is a really neat town from a historical perspective because of the layout of the town. Most modern towns and cities are planned very carefully for maximum people flow. Not Chora. This place was designed from the beginning to resist invasion, though not in the typical way. While many European towns are practically fortresses in their own right, Chora is open to the world. Pretty much any invader could get in if they wanted to. The problem then would of course be getting out. You see, Chora is designed as a trap. The narrow, twisting streets have no signs and no decipherable pattern. The only people who actually seem to be able to navigate the place reliably are the true natives, those born there.

We can certainly attest to the efficacy of this plan. We were trying to find a certain particular store for an hour or two, but apparently just kept on barely missing it. Apparently my family managed to walk from one side of Chora to another before we finally found it after coming halfway back. After that crazy walk we decided to head to a small café and grab some ice cream to cool off. Oh, did I not mention the heat? Good lord it was hot. It was supposed to reach a high of 78f and have a nice breeze coming in off the harbor. No dice. Zero wind and it felt like 100f in the sun. Fortunately it wasn’t too humid, only 80-90%. So anyway, back to the narrative. We stopped at this little café on the water and went up to the second floor balcony to enjoy some delicious strawberry ice cream. Yum yum.

After the ice cream it was most definitely time to head back to the ship. While we had originally planned to eat in a restaurant on the water at sunset, we were still a couple hours from said dropping of the solar sphere and didn’t really have much left to do. Chora is definitely a shopping and relaxing town. Not a lot in the way of historical sites or fun activities besides beach lounging.

All in all, I’d recommend it for anyone who wants to get in some solid relaxation. There are dozens of small cafés, restaurants, bars and shops to wander through in a visit and the beaches, while small, face out on a beautiful view.

Tonight we’re going to do some more relaxing, maybe hit the bar tonight. It’s actually fairly hoppin’, though there aren’t nearly enough people my age. Even those few people about my age aren’t really available to hang out with because they’re either on their honeymoon, or with a large group of friends and family. Cést la vîe. I say that phrase a lot lately. Oh well. I think I’ll manage to enjoy myself nonetheless.

P.S. Tomorrow we’ll be going to Rhodes, Greece, which I was just handed the info packet for by our stateroom attendant. How serendipitous!

P.P.S I realize I’m kinda skipping over the first few days of the trip with this first full-length post, but I’ll get around to writing that soon.

P.P.P.S My family and I were just sitting at the dinner table on deck at around 9:45pm when something amazing happened. So we had all sat down for dinner a few hours ago and have been lounging at our table on desk after dinner waiting for the disembarkation party for our next stop Rhodes. We’ve all had a bit to drink and we’re having fun. So someone behind my Dad starts to get up and he starts to stand up, turn, and pull back his chair at the same time. This twists the chair legs and he falls back into the chair which immediately starts to break. He fell in what I swear was ultra slow motion, grabbing for my brother sitting next to him, the table, anything at all to stop his fall. Of course this was witnessed by the other 300 people on deck. A sizeable contingent around us start laughing and clapping as my Dad struggles to his feet. To add insult to injury (and a great deal more amusement to our evening) a fellow walks up behind Dad and gives him a doubled up seat. Then another guy walks up with a sturdy wooden deck chair. All in all, it was immensely amusing.