Mykonos, Greece

Our last few days in Istanbul we began watching the news intently.  The number one story at that time was the civil unrest in Athens, Greece due to an impending parliamentary vote on austerity measures stemming from their sovereign debt crisis. Riot police had been called in, unions were striking and there was general anarchy taking place... or so the media would have you believe. 

This was all happening a mere two days before we were to depart Istanbul.  Our original plan was to fly from Istanbul to Athens, take a cab from the airport to the seaport and catch an express ferry from the port of Piraeus to our next destination:  Mykonos. 

Luckily, we had a few friends from Columbia Business School that were already in Athens as part of their summer travels.  A quick email to them and we found that the reported unrest was far overblown and Athens was generally peaceful so long as you stayed away from the national parliament (which isn't exactly on the tourist agenda anyway).  While this gave us some assurance and comfort, Chris was still concerned about the workers on strike.  A CNN article detailing stranded vacationers in Piraeus Port due to ferry workers on strike was the final straw and we emailed our travel agent back in NYC, Sophie, to find out how much a flight from Athens to Mykonos would cost... no Athenian sailor was going to keep us from getting to our hotel and the beaches of Mykonos (and the thought of spending the night in a hot and humid Greek port was simply too much to bear). 

For the bargain price of $400 we guaranteed our on-time arrival and a warm bed in an air conditioned room next to the turquoise waters of Mykonos.

We spent four relaxing days in Mykonos, mostly laying on the picturesque beaches during the day and enjoying the quaint island town at night. Mykonos has truly fantastic beaches, some of the most beautiful water and a culture all its own.

Mykonos City

We really liked where we stayed, the Artemis Hotel.  It was a small, family run hotel that was right on the beach.  The price was extremely reasonable, the staff was so nice, breakfast and internet was included in the price of the room, and the public bus stopped right in front the hotel. There's a limited number of cabs on the island so it was great to have easy access to public transportation to take us to and from town for 2 Euros.

Morning pot of coffee on our balcony at our hotel

View from our hotel room

View from our hotel room

Our future boat.

And then there was the food. Oh dear God, the food was amazing. The fish jump right out of the ocean onto the grill and cook themselves making it the freshest seafood you can get if you're not a shark. If you haven't had the opportunity to eat seafood in the Greek isles, stop what you are doing right now and go try it.

Seafood salad.

MMMMmmmmmm.  I'm going to eat you.

The beach in front of our hotel.

Beach in front of our hotel.

View in the evening.

Mykonos Town Center

Having dinner with a view of the town

The crab with risotto and a Greek salad

Celebrating the 4th of July with a glass of Jack Daniels.

Here fishy fishy...

Chris had been looking forward to some Greek baklava... and getting a tan.

If you haven't been to the Greek islands yet, please go!  We'll be back for sure.  There are some Greek beaches that are more of a party scene and some are more relaxed or family oriented.  We hit up both. The Greek islands are way up there with Hawaii as the most beautiful beaches and oceans in the world.