Day #5
With big plans set for the day, we woke up early and set out to grab breakfast before our first boat excursion of the trip. We settled on a little cafe on the water where we enjoyed a simple breakfast of yogurt and honey, bread and jam, coffee and orange juice. While I paid the bill, Julie made her way over to the port kiosk to get us our tickets for our day trip to the island of Delos. Home to one of the largest and most significant archaeological sites in Greece, Delos is probably best known as be birthplace of Apollo and Artemis in Greek mythology.
Starting to explore Delos
We took a small tour boat over to the island, and immediately game-planned to blitz our way to the front of the group making their way into the ruins, ensuring we wouldn't get caught up in the tour groups. We were in it to explore on our own time, so with the island brochure, we set off in the opposite direction as everyone else. The ruins were absolutely stunning, covering an entire island with remains of old buildings, statues, columns, temples and arches. We explored all around, finding cats and lizards and frogs having made their homes in the tiny crevices and ruins on this isolated island.
There was a huge archway well off in the distance on a huge mountain, and we saw that there was a hiking path, so we set our sights on reaching the top. We were both amazed by the extensiveness of the ruins, and soon enough we found ourselves wandering well off the path and through a small excavation site (not sure if we were supposed to be there or not). We discovered this huge temple, and as we entered it, I noticed a small stairway. I took the staircase and somehow found my way all the way to the top of the temple, looking down on Julie in the middle of it!
After finding a not-so-direct route back to the path, we made our way to the top and, wow, what a view! We had a 360-degree view of the surrounding islands, as well as some really intense wind! We took the time to take some great shots overlooking the ruins from above, and then descended the hill and made our way back to the boat to get back to Mykonos. Definitely my #1 suggestion for anyone traveling to Mykonos - go to Delos!
Enjoying the ruins
There was a huge archway well off in the distance on a huge mountain, and we saw that there was a hiking path, so we set our sights on reaching the top. We were both amazed by the extensiveness of the ruins, and soon enough we found ourselves wandering well off the path and through a small excavation site (not sure if we were supposed to be there or not). We discovered this huge temple, and as we entered it, I noticed a small stairway. I took the staircase and somehow found my way all the way to the top of the temple, looking down on Julie in the middle of it!
Our hidden temple
After finding a not-so-direct route back to the path, we made our way to the top and, wow, what a view! We had a 360-degree view of the surrounding islands, as well as some really intense wind! We took the time to take some great shots overlooking the ruins from above, and then descended the hill and made our way back to the boat to get back to Mykonos. Definitely my #1 suggestion for anyone traveling to Mykonos - go to Delos!
Lion statues on Delos
When we got back to the island, we made our way to another Lonely Planet-recommended lunch place called Piccolo. I had been craving this place ever since I read some of the specialty sandwiches it featured, including a balsamic, tomato, mozzarella and arugula sandwich...yum! We grabbed some sandwiches and went back to the port and ate on a seawall, taking in all the sites (including the daily appearance of The Pelican) and planned our next adventure of the day - Paradise Beach!
Known as one of the most popular beaches on all of Mykonos, Paradise Beach (about a 45-minute bus ride) boasts crystal clear water, a large reef, a hot sandy beach covered in chairs and umbrellas (which, like every beach in Greece, come at a small charge to enjoy), and a young crowd with absolutely no reservations or concerns about showing some skin. I mean, sure, there were a couple women who took advantage of the nude beach, but we were even more surprised by the people who thought what they were wearing qualified as swimwear. We're talking boobs galore! I thought women in San Diego wore skimpy bathing suits, but they look like they are wearing turtlenecks compared to the women in Greece! Julie and I had yet another field day people-watching as the young crowd patrolled the beach.
Paradise Beach
Known as one of the most popular beaches on all of Mykonos, Paradise Beach (about a 45-minute bus ride) boasts crystal clear water, a large reef, a hot sandy beach covered in chairs and umbrellas (which, like every beach in Greece, come at a small charge to enjoy), and a young crowd with absolutely no reservations or concerns about showing some skin. I mean, sure, there were a couple women who took advantage of the nude beach, but we were even more surprised by the people who thought what they were wearing qualified as swimwear. We're talking boobs galore! I thought women in San Diego wore skimpy bathing suits, but they look like they are wearing turtlenecks compared to the women in Greece! Julie and I had yet another field day people-watching as the young crowd patrolled the beach.
After spending a long time at the beach swimming, reading, resting, and gawking at scantily-clad women, we finally pulled ourselves off our lounge chairs and took the bus back to Hora to shower up and get ready for our next dinner extravaganza!
We set out to have another sunset cocktail in Little Venice, and this time chose Veranda Bar, a beautiful old building converted into a downstairs restaurant and upstairs balcony bar. We got there early enough to snag one of five tables out on the balcony, and once again soaked in the amazing sights of Mykonos, including the windmills, beautiful buildings, and gorgeous ocean. We spent a couple hours at the bar, then decided it was time to gorge ourselves at a dinner place Julie had her eyes on from the day we arrived in Mykonos...Kaunelas!
Drinks at Veranda
We had actually stopped by before our sunset drinks to check the place out, and the staff was incredibly nice, and set us up with a reservation, and showed us around to their outside grill, where they were cooking up some fresh fish and octopus. When we arrived later for our reservation, they set us up with a nice quiet table, and while I checked out the menu, Julie went with our server to go select the fish she wanted them to grill up for her. She came back with a huge grin as she explained that she picked out a nice sea bass, and watched them take it off the ice and get it ready for the grill. On the recommendation of the server, I selected the spaghetti and pesto (a common Italian dish in Greece), and we decided to get an appetizer of grilled octopus. We were obsessed with octopus this trip, no doubt about it.
Our meals were both incredible, with me destroying my spaghetti, and Julie picking her sea bass clear from the bone. But she wasn't done there. In true Sawyer fashion, she looked at me with this devious look on her face and said, "Do you dare me to eat this fish eyeball?!" Yes, she was daring herself to eat an eyeball, and of course I wanted to see it, so she went ahead and threw it in her mouth and swallowed it in less than a second. I'm not gonna lie, at first I thought she threw it over her shoulder and made it look like she ate it, but then I gave in knowing she did it, and then my suspicion just turned into love. Only I would choose a girl to marry me that swallows fish eyeballs on self-dares. So hot.
As if the evening couldn't have got any weirder/better, our server then came out with a dark brown post-meal liquor, and upon further examination, we found that it came in a glass bottle shaped like a phallus. We were just relieved when he also brought shot glasses, so we didn't have to drink straight from the...bottle. It was an odd, sweet flavored liqueur, and after a shot each, we both decided that we had drank enough from the phallus.
Completely stuffed (and slightly weirded out), we left Kaunelas and decided to make a short stop over at Aroma again to see the nightlife one more time. We saw quite a few more crazily-dressed people ready for a night on the town, but we soon grew tired and made our way back to the hotel, as the next day we would spend half a day in Mykonos and then hop to our next island on the trip.
Penis Drink!
What to do with this...?
*Up Next* - a windy morning in Mykonos, a long travel day, a delayed ferry, winding roads with buses and ATV's, and our arrival in SANTORINI!
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