My-ko-GO

Tinos -> Mykonos

Wake up in the morning

Safe to say, Nick was the one who was the most excited about going to Mykonos. At his request, the 1-2 hour sail must be made promptly and immediately, preferably at dawn if possible. Well, safe to say we did not leave at dawn nor immediately as we had to explore the morning village and search for a bakery!

Unfortunately, I forgot my phone on the boat so I missed out on the pictures, but Tinos slowly turned into one of our favourites. Similar to Syros, the streets were made of marble and there were plenty of little cute shops. I found a great bakery and ordered my usual baked goods and Freddo expresso. Basically, an iced coffee! I found one picture of Tinos!

Onto Mykonos

Unfortunately, this would be the "highlight" of the trip as we had "wasted" too much time on Kythonos and the weather had not cooperated enough to make it to Santinoro. For the rest of us, Mykonos was a bucket list item that we could check off, but we knew we would be losing the cheap wine and food. However, we all were very excited to explore a new island!

From Tinos, it is a quick 1-2 hour sail to Mykonos. We learned that Mykonos has 2 marinas - old for the rich, and new for the tiny little boats (aka the "poor"!). We would be going to the new marina that would be a bit farther away from the main city. While sailing to this new port, we encountered even more ferries enroute to Mykonos. We attempted to race them, but ultimately failed. It was very exciting to see these racehorses literally run towards to Mykonos.

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Thankfully, we did not run into any ferries and had a realitvely smooth sail to Mykonos. When we arrived at the new port, it was crazy parking. Basically, they had underwater anchors which you had to "pick up" with a hook once the rear of the boat reached the dock. Then, I had to race to the front and pull the boat. The Captain and I played tug a war with the anchor and eventually "won!"

Exploring

Once we were ready to go, there is a very conventient sea taxi to the city center. It is usually used by the many cruise ships so we had to stand on this old rickety boat for now. For staying where we are, it is a good deal as it is two euros one way and leaves every 30 or so minutes. It ends at 11:45pm and we have heard there are limited taxis on the island!

When we reached the city centre, it was noon and it was a very, very hot day. We almost began walking around the town centre, but I pulled the group over and said we need to get in the shade! Ever since Kathryn and I’s walk through Athens at noon the first day, I am very wary of walking in the dead heat. We stopped at the first restaurant with people and cold drinks! Thankfully, we avoided the worst of the heat and planned for our next stop.

Little Venice

Mykonos Town has a great little section called Little Venice. It has amazing views of the sea, island, and the famous windmills. Moreover, the area has great little, tiny bars. Unsurprisingly, those bars are very empty at 1pm as most of the action happens at 1am!

We ended at Katherina's Bar for an expensive drink with a view! I had a lovely gin and tonic while admiring the view. Since it was only 1pm, we were the only attendees and we had the entire porch to ourselves. We gazed at the blue sea and the windmills.

Divide and Conquer

Since certain people, mainly Nick and MF, wanted to shop, while others, well, everyone else, wanted to explore, we decided to divide and conquer the island. The cool group, aka the one I was in, ventured to the windmills. We encountered spectacular and sweeping views of Mykonos.

We then explored more of Little Venice where the sea literally meets the restaurant. I see why people flock to Mykonos! As we wandered through the alleys, we were lost. Plain and simple! Back in the day, Mykonos was built in a maze to confuse the invaders. Well, as invaders, we were very confused. However, good things come to those who are lost… mainly in the form of yummy Greek desserts!!

Mainly to escape the baking heat, Kathryn, Sarah, and I went into this Grandma’s shop, Giora Wood Bakery, where we had so many lovely desserts. I mean I could eat this baklava all day long!! I could also sit in here all day long to avoid the sun.

To await the shopping heroes, we grabbed a beer in the port. Again, to avoid the heat. I cannot state enough that it is boiling in the town. Spend all the time on the beach!! Or boat, but hey we didn’t know!

The New Arrival

We went back to the boat to await the new arrival. Low and behold, we added the sixth and final member of the crew - Abbey! Fresh from Spain, she flew into Mykonos just to join our little sailing crew. I can’t imagine how that must feel…

As the official second mate, I had the joys of giving out the two rules and providing the yacht tour. FYI - the two rules are no toilet paper and no 15 minute showers. For every girl, I imagine those are really strict rules! For me, it never posed a problem!

Let's GO

In typical fashion, we did not plan or book any reservations. We didn’t even plan that well on the sunset! We saw it from the water taxi, but it just wasn’t the same. As we wandered the Old Town, we noticed the crowds were there. And these were not the cruise crowds so it was purely hoteliers and other visitors. This meant our preferred restaurant likely was full.. Big surprise - it was full!

In the end, we ended at Fato a Mano and we were very happy! We ate under the stars (light bulbs) and enjoyed the crisp cool air! It was a lovely, long dinner with loads of wine and pasta. I had the Toscani pasta which is bacon and mushroom in a tomato sauce. During the dinner, MF felt the need… the need to shop. She bought some really nice sunglasses! 

 

To prevent our mishap, we did a quick Google search for our late evening activities. Our first stop was a famous piano bar in Little Venice. When we walked in, we immediately realized and brought the average age… down. We felt really young! We had similar amazing views to this afternoon, but with the night lights and stars! Simply lovely!

 

To balance the evening, we went to a buzzing nightclub full of high schoolers. We easily brought up the age! However, it was super fun just pretending we were in high school and clubbing away! Unfortunately, certain people, namely Nick and MF, declined to experience their teen years again and sat outside drinking wine like an old married couple… Regardless, we were buzzing!