We arrived at Mykonos under crystal blue skies shortly before 8:00 a.m. The sea had been smooth as glass and we enjoyed a lovely breakfast at our usual spot on the port side of Deck 6, near the TOY. Sean took care of us in his usual splendid fashion. Today we took the Mykonos Contrasts – Monasteries &Beaches that was offered by Sea Dream. We met at the gangway at 9:30 so we had some time early this morning to enjoy the ship. It was nice as a lot of people had gone to Delos and they left before we did.
We met our guide ashore our guide Amaryllis was excellent. Her story is straight out of Mama Mia, except as she told us - her mama knew who her father was from day 1. Her mother is English, came over in the 70s, married a handsome dark Greek man, and you know the rest of the story. We walked around the harbor to our bus. Amazingly the walk was longer than expected, but it was good to get a nice walk in. This gave us another opportunity to enjoy the small church, the fish market, and the farmers market.
Our first stop after leaving port was Agios Yannis Beach on the west side of the island and facing Delos. The relatively small and picturesque beach offers white sands and a collection of small coves catering to the general public. Famous as the location for the award winning motion picture "Shirley Valentine", many appreciate this setting for its calm and relaxed atmosphere.
After a short stop for pictures we reboarded the bus and headed for Kalafatis Beach. One of the earliest established beaches, this beautiful bay and long sweeping beach has become famous to wind surfers who enjoy a good offshore breeze. FT found this one to be beautiful, and was disappointed that it was too rough to get into the water. After a short stop at the local café we got back on the bus and head up in the hills to the village of Ano Mera near the center of Mykonos Island.
The village has the most traditional atmosphere on the island, with a fresh-produce market on the main square selling excellent local cheeses, and it's the island's place of choice for Sunday brunch.
Located on the edge of town the Monastery of Panagia Tourliani dates from the 18th century. The architecture of the monastery is rather impressive, with a whitewashed exterior and a colored dome. A beautiful marble fountain is found in the yard outside the church. It has a marble bell tower with intricate folk carvings. Originally founded in 1580, the monastery is dedicated to the protectoress of Mykonos. Inside the church there is an iconostasis (altar screen), with icons of apostles and saints on the iconostasis as well as scenes from the New Testament. The screen is decorated with green, red and golden flowers. At the top are carved figures of the apostles and large icons depicting New Testament scenes.
The hanging incense holders with silver molded dragons holding red eggs in their mouths show an Eastern influence. In the hall of the monastery, an interesting museum displays embroideries, liturgical vestments, and wood carvings. The church was the most ornate we've seen on this whole trip. One of the monks in residence came out and said a few words to me, which would have not in the US and then gave me his blessing.
After visiting the monastery we walked across the street to a lovely tavern where we enjoyed ouzo and mezas, to you Americans that is hors d’oeuvres. It was a very nice light snack. We then headed back to town and the yacht.
When we got back to town I went looking for icons, because I had found an artist last week hand painting some. I ended up finding the shop and buying two lovely icons. We also got to see teh famous Mykonos pelican Petros. FT and I spent the afternoon resting on the yacht and went ashore for dinner. The crew had the water sports platform down and lots of people enjoyed the water toys.
Around 6:00 we went ashore for a different dinner. We found a lovely little restaurant, up the hill from the taxi square. We sat outside under a lattice trellis' covered with pink bougainvillea. We were surrounded by white tables and chairs, with pink cushions. According to FT one waitress was a young blond Julia Roberts look alike. For dinner we enjoyed fresh grilled calamari, octopus, mussels, huge shrimp, and a whole grilled fish that the waitress beheaded and filleted tableside. The sides included cold marinated vegetables, rice and bread with a creamy yogurt spread. It was peaceful until the tenders from the large ships started disgorging the hordes. Then it felt like we were eating in a fishbowl. We had to escape the chaos that Mykonos town turned into with the thousands of cruise ship visitors. Four ships had joined us this afternoon creating chaos. By time we got back to the yacht Little Venice looked like it had been invaded by little bugs. After dinner we got the tender back in time for the end of cocktail hour.
Tonight was the past guest party which we elected to skip. Form what I heard around the ship we were not the only ones to skip it this week. The food ashore was so nice a lot of people at dinner in town.
Tonight’s menu on the ship included:
Starters
Spicy Thai Beef Salad with Fresh Mango
Salad of Shrimp, Tomato and Avacado
Vol au Vent
Soups
Veloute of Broccoli
Chilled Peach
Salads
Iceberg Wedges with Thousand Island Dressing
Deep Fried Goat Cheese
Chef’s Main Dishes
Grilled Fillet of Halibut on Vegetables Julienne with White Asparagus
Herbs de Provence Marinated Pork Tenderloin on Boulangere Potato
Turkey Breast Roulade wrapped in Prosciutto Ham
Desserts
Sea Dream Noir
Queen’s of Pudding with Pistachio Ice Cream
Malakoff Cake with Raspberry Sauce
After dinner we headed back to the cabin. Our “treat” tonight was white chocolate dipped strawberries, which I enjoyed immensely, since FT could not partake of due to her strawberry allergy. After dinner a DVD was shown in the main salon – Elaine Page Celebrating 40 Years on Stage.
Sailing tonight was a bit testy as winds whipped up to over 50kts, and we remained at anchor until almost sunrise before we began the short journey to our next port, Noussa, Paros, Greece, a distance of 21 nautical miles.
More pictures are available on my flickr page by clicking HERE
The author of this blog is not compensated by Sea Dream Yacht Club in any manner.
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