Our last port of call on our cruise is the island of Mykonos. Mykonos is the very picture of the perfect Greek island town; a humble seafront village crouched behind a sandy harbor, thickly layered with blinding-white stucco, bright-blue trim, and bursting-purple, red, and pink bougainvilleas. It is not a craggy mountain island like Santorini, but rather a rolling hill island. There are clusters of white houses dotting the hillsides. I loved it even before we got off the ship.
Our excursion on Mykonos was a mosaic workshop. It was rather over-sold in the excursion booklet so we were somewhat disappointed. It was billed as learning about the history of mosaic art while being in a garden and then being taught how to create our own mosaic. Unfortunately, there was no garden in sight. Twenty-four of us crammed into a narrow studio where we sat down at a long table. In front of each of us was a 10 x 10 inch frame containing a white plaster-type goop. This became the base for our mosaic. With no instruction, we were directed to create a design by using a stick to drawn a design outline in the plaster, and then use tweezers to pick up small pieces of colored marble and fill in our design. It took us a while to come up with our designs, me especially. I don’t feel very creative or artistic. Christine wanted to do a spiral and she asked one of the instructors for help drawing the spiral. Once that was done, Christine went to work placing lots and lots of marble pieces in her spiral. I came up with a rather minimalist design of nothing in particular. Once I got started though, it was kind of fun to place the marble pieces. All of the participants seemed to be serious about their creations because there wasn’t much talking going on as we each carefully picked up marble pieces with our tweezers and set them into the plaster. When we were done, we then had a somewhat heavy 10 x 10 inch mosaic piece that we had to hold flat like a plate of food. It would take several hours for the plaster to dry so it had to remain flat so the marble pieces would stay in place. And then, of course, we each would have a 5 to 10-pound mosaic, depending on how densely your marble pieces were placed, to pack in our luggage and take home. We all decided we needed to take the tender back to the ship in order to rid ourselves of holding our mosaics for the rest of the afternoon.
After lunch on the ship, Christine and I returned to the island for a few hours of strolling through Chora, which is the name the Greeks call the main town of Mykonos. Mykonos’s nickname is “The Island of the Winds,” and it certainly was windy. But the sea, the wind, the birds, and the weather-beaten little whitewashed churches all combine to give the town a vibrant allure. The core of town is literally a maze, designed by the Mykonians centuries ago to discourage would-be invaders from finding their way. It certainly works for getting lost, but there are few places where getting lost is so enjoyable. Chora is thoroughly charming and a delightful place to stroll. Even though many of the main passageways are lined with shops, the feeling is very different from Santorini. Mykonos just seems classier, more beautiful and very laid back. Again, I’ll say we loved it.
We ambled along the seafront through a section called Little Venice. The Venetians did rule Mykonos for a few centuries. This area is where rows of fishing houses line the waterfront with their balconies hanging over the sea. The first of these was constructed in the mid-18th century. They originally belonged to rich merchants or captains and the little basement doors that provided direct access to the sea and underground storage areas led people to believe that the owners were secretly pirates. Some of the houses have now been converted into bars and cafes and little shops and galleries. Little Venice is considered one of the most romantic spots on the island and many people gather there to watch the sunset. The area attracts many artists who come to paint the picturesque coastline.
We were in search of the famous Venetian windmills. The windmills are a defining feature of the Mykonian landscape. There are many dotted around the island, but most are concentrated in Chora. The famous “Kato Mili” in Chora (Greek for lower mills), stand in a row on a hill overlooking the sea to harness the strong northern winds. Capped with wood and straw, the windmills were built by the Venetians in the 16th century to mill flour and remained in use until the early 20th century.
From the windmills, we just walked through the maze of streets drinking in the beautiful passageways and discovering what was down the next little alley. It was lots of fun and I even enjoyed looking in some of the shops. It was just an entirely different feeling, not the overwhelming kitschy souvenir joints I saw in most other ports we visited. Sure, there were some of these places, but overall, all the shops seemed more authentic. I definitely would come back to Mykonos. It is a lovely place.
Having walked around for quite some time, we found our way back to the tender station and returned to the Azamara. On the way back, with the wind kicking up waves, the tender went up in the air over a wave and when it came back down, it hit hard and sent a whole lot of sea water through the door drenching the poor women who were by the open doorway. We were so happy to be sitting in a row ahead of the open doorway.
This is our last full day on the cruise. I can’t believe the week is coming to an end. We will need to pack our suitcases and have our luggage outside our cabins by 11:00 p.m. tonight. We will be disembarking early Saturday for our next adventure, 5 days in Athens. Eve will be joining us Saturday evening. Can’t wait to see her.