It takes a grand total of 20 minutes in the air to fly from Athens (visit in previous post) to Mykonos. Other modes of arrival are by cruise ship or ferry from a neighboring island (most likely Santorini, our next stop) or via one’s yacht (sigh). But flying was the least amount of total time required and the ticket is very reasonable via Agean Air.
Anyone else wonder why every building on the island is white? Aesthetics? A means of keeping buildings cool in hot weather (yes, that’s a main factor). How about because it’s the law? Yes, every building is required to be painted white. Best part about that is touch-up’s are a cinch because your neighbors all have the same paint!
The island population is a mere 10,000, but approximately one million visitors experience Mykonos annually during “the season” — April through early November. Obviously the bulk visit during the true summer months which is precisely why a late September visit was ideal (for us, anyway). Mykonos town is a series of very narrow, pedestrian-only streets — more like pathways. It’s hard to imagine navigating during the height of the season when it’s really hot and really crowded.
I checked the weather from home and saw mid-70’s. When we arrived, however, the winds were really strong — gusts up to 35mph and the temp more like the high 60’s. Planes and ferries were canceled for two days due to the rough waters and winds. Sitting by the pool was out so that allowed for more time for pure relaxation which is the point of being on vacation. Fabulous massage, reading, walking to the nearby town for shopping, great food, people watching, etc. Then there was following the news at home — baseball and hearings. We didn’t leave the planet after all.
Fortunately, our scheduled ferry to our next and last destination, Santorini, was available, more or less as planned. The ferry itself was very nice with spacious seats on the top level. When we departed Mykonos it was quite rainy. But all that gave way to glorious sunshine upon arriving in Santorini. Hooray.
Alas, the sunshine was about the only good part of the arrival. Our luggage was stored in the ship’s lowest level, right next to where the cars park. Everyone was crowded together, gathering their bags, and tightly packed in waiting to exit. Curiously, they were boarding passengers at the same time we were exiting. Total chaos even before we all were on land searching for our respective transportation — either large groups finding buses, or individuals like us looking for our drivers. An absolute mass of travelers all trying to get out. Total travel time door-to-door: Seven hours! Most of that was spent on the Santorini end.
The traffic snafus as a result of the over-crowded ferries were remarkable. The line of vehicles to get their passengers was backed up probably a good two hours. There’s only one very steep road (think California’s Highway 1) to the ferry dock area with continuous hairpin curves, usually with two enormous buses passing simultaneously — one down and one up. We saw quite a few people obviously so concerned about missing their departing ferry that they gave up and WALKED down the road with their luggage. They deserve a lot of credit for that!
But we made it to a beautiful resort. My report on our Santorini stay in the next post.
Below — what I’ve read so far. Two wonderful books. Two wonderful love stories. Lots of tissue required.
