Syros and Mykonos

Two of my roommates (Katie and Kelly) and I decided to go on an abbreviated island adventure. We started our excursion with a night on Syros and ended it with two nights on Mykonos with a short trip to the Island of Delos. This was one of my favorite trips this semester. The islands have a certain personality that cannot be replicated on the mainland and they are extremely beautiful to boot.

Syros offers some amazing architecture that is great to observe as you walk around the small town. There is some good shopping and a very large town hall/courthouse building in the center. We did not spend too much time there, but we were there just long enough to appreciate its beauty and just short enough that we did not get bored. Our hotel was quaint and run by a friendly mother and daughter. The overall experience was a welcome one and a relaxing one that energized us for our time to follow on Mykonos.

Of all the places I have visited in Greece, only two have struck me as places I would absolutely want to live (thus far anyway). The first is Nafplio which I visited during orientation this semester and again a couple of weeks later. The second is Mykonos. It is a beautiful island that seems to be just the right size, not too big or too small. The beaches are beautiful, the people friendly, and the pelicans pink. The famous windmills are easy to find and small pedestrian walks easy to get lost in. For what is known as a major “party island” there is a real sense of community as you walk through the streets and shop owners call to their friends as they pass by on the streets. In the middle of the touristy shopping area is an elementary school with children running around everywhere and the narrow streets breed a sort of intimacy you cannot get other places.

Our hotel was an experience that made the island even more enjoyable. When we first arrived at the New Port, we realized that we were not expecting to arrive so far away from the main port. Suddenly our plans to walk to our hotel were not plausible and we had failed to make arrangements to get picked up. A woman was kind enough to try and help us find a cab, but when our attempts failed, she very subtly and politely offered to take us to her hotel since we had not already paid for our other reservations. She had a car at port already and told us her place was only minutes walk from the main city, plus it would be less expensive. So we accepted her offer and got in the car. Her husband joined us, Bobby, and he started talking to us about where we were from and told us a lot about the island. It turns out he used to live in Boston and knew a lot about the United States. He was extremely helpful and told us if we needed anything to come and find him and recommended we rent ATVs to get around the island which he would also help us do. He kept his word and when we were ready to rent our ATVs to tour the beaches of Mykonos he had a guy come and pick us up from our room and take us to the place to rent them at a good price. He also gave us a ride back to the hotel when we were walking back one night from dinner and he passed us on the road. Both him and his wife were very warm and made our stay extremely pleasant and he was always good for a laugh. When I asked Bobby how long he had lived on Mykonos his reply was “In 1978 I came for a weekend… it’s not over yet” and upon our departure from him he told us “You be sure to stay with us again when you come back… and you will come back”. Clearly he, as well as many other people we met, have a real love for the island, a love that I believe I have developed a little bit of myself.

The island is extremely diverse in terms of both animals and people. While there, I saw fish, goats, cows, yaks, chickens, cats, dogs, ostriches, and, of course, the pink pelicans. These birds are massive and just sleep out by the tavernas. They let you take pictures of them and even let you pet them (I know from experience). The reason they are pink is the same reason flamingos are pink, because of the food they eat. And the people, they are just as unique and diverse. In one night my roommates and I met people from Greece, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. The evening entailed a plethora of accents and a lot of interesting personalities. It was great seeing so many people from different places all come together on this one small island just to have a good time and relax. They were all very friendly and spoke English which is always a plus.

The Island of Delos is an island that is nothing but an archaeological site. No one lives there. It is a vast expanse of ancient rocks, old temples, and relatively well-preserved statues. Sadly the island is not well mapped out for visitors and few signs explain exactly what you’re looking at, but its sheer size was impressive enough. The weather was less than pleasant as it was cold and windy (so windy my camera, which was set up to take a picture of us, got knocked down and tumbled down a column and some rocks… my screen and zoom no longer work). We made the best of it though and saw a good portion of the island before heading back to the small boat that taxied us back and forth from Mykonos.

My parents were doing an island cruise at the same time that I was on Mykonos, so they were able to join us for a couple of hours and take a tour as well as do some shopping, a nice interjection into my stay there. The following day, our last day there, it was beautiful, warm, and sunny so we took our ATVs to the beach and laid out for about an hour and a half. Waiters came around and asked if we wanted drinks as we lay on the long beach chairs provided to the public and the slight breeze off the water kept us from getting to hot. It was really the perfect day and a great way to end a fabulous stay on an amazing island. We dropped off our ATVs and got on our ferry to head back to Athens. We were tired, but contented, and even the huge influx of loud and obnoxious Greek high school students on the ferry after a stop could spoil our satisfaction with the weekend.

When I return to Greece, I will definitely be going back to Mykonos, there is no doubt.