Mykonos, Greece

Delos island and bright white Mykonos

Delos island

I don’t know why an ancient city would choose to locate on an island. Limited fresh water, limited square acreage to me means limited food resources. Yet this island colony became a major city in the 2nd and 1st cent BCE. It was also considered to be the birthplace of Apollo, which might explain the above. Delos can be split into two parts-the residential section on the right and the spiritual on the left. Delos was made duty free by the Romans, making it an attractive place for investors and businessmen.

Our guided group cruise ship tour was pretty mediocre. With the wind blowing it was hard to hear our guide much of the time.

Imagine being a scientist tasked with putting together the fallen stones of this place, like a giant 3-D puzzle

Here’s where their visiting scholars stay. Or this could be security. Most historical sites have 24 hr surveillance.

I think this was a wealthy person’s home. Used to have a second story. Note the mosaic floor, which doubled as a water catchment system. The water drained into an underground well.

The (replica) Terrace of the Lions that guard this place have eroded and now resemble seals,

This is the museum, currently undergoing renovation. Some of the original lions might be there:

After we gathered up and jumped on the ferry, we headed back to Mykonos, where we were supposed to go see another beach and a monastery. Supposed to.

Mykonos

Here’s where our tour kind of fell apart. From the get go even though people asked, we were never really told what our overall itineary was to be. Then after we got back to Mykonos our group lost communication and then we got separated. As we wandered down the blue and white touristy streets, I couldn’t help but think how fun it would be to explore so we decided to return our ear pieces and go off on our own.

Although we forfeited a monastery and beach on the other side of the island, we instead opted for gelato, Fredo cappuccino(?), the flour mills, fresh ‘opihi and a bunch of selfies. Controlling your destiny? Lose a couple of bucks? Worth it.

There are several churches in the area…