Mykonos Town
Trip Start
Aug 09, 2008
1
25
34
Trip End
Sep 16, 2008
Mykonos,
Greece
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Today has started off rather cloudy. I was just going to go down to the beach, but I've changed my mind, and decided to take the bus into Mykonos Town, about 4kms away north from my hotel in Plati Gialos. I thought I was in Psarou, but that is another bay near my hotel. I glad I found that out. It could have been embarrassing on the way back.
Mykonos Town is the Main Port. It is full of shops, restaurants, cafes, and had been famous for it's windmills since the 16th Century. Of course, it more famous for beaches now, and for 7 months of the year tourists flock to them.
The bus trip takes about 20mins as it picks up passengers along its route. I got on at the beginning of the route so got a seat on the 42-seat bus. It was packed right from the start. When the bus arrived at Fabrica Square on the outskirts of Mykonos Town, it was like grand central station. The square is not very big, and buses from other bays also arrive and depart from here, in addition to the continuous stream of small three wheeled trucks, motor cycles, quad bikes, and foot traffic, it looks like a recipe for disaster
Mykonos Town
. Nevertheless, it seems to all run smoothly, until a tourist on their hired bike, makes a wrong turn, and everything grinds to a halt. Damn tourists!From the square, there are three streets leading down to the waterfront, and as you walk down the streets you notice how narrow they are, and are curved, not straight, with many short (and also curved) streets leading off them. Later on, a local told me that piracy was a big problem in the area centuries ago, so when the town was built, it was designed to confuse the pirates as they came ashore to loot. In effect they would get lost and eventually left when they found their way out empty handed. I could imagine that this planned didn't work out every time, but it's interesting to note that the design of the street is still there.
Like I said, the streets are very narrow. I could jump from one side of the street to the other without touching the road. When a vehicle came down the street, everyone just found room to get out of the way of the vehicle. Obviously, not all the streets are like this, but in the old port, they definite are.
I wandered around for a bit, looked at various shops, even bought a Pork Gyros, that was quite delicious with big pieces of pork in it. The Gyros, is basically, meat, tomatoes, and anything else you want, with a mayonnaise sauce wrapped in a pita wrap. For 1.50 euros I wasn't complaining so I asked for everything. The beer I had to wash it down actually cost more.
Bit more looking around and I found the five of the last remaining Windmills overlooking the port, and in the bay below was the area known as little Venice
windmill
. Why? Because, the houses were built right up to the water with the balconies hanging out over the water below.A bit more a look around and I've notice the clouds have cleared, and it's about 1:30pm, so I head back to Fabrica Square to catch the correct bus back to my hotel, and from there I head down to the beach for some more sun, and reading. Don't get the wrong idea here. I was reading. ;oP. Well, at about 7pm, it had cooled down, and I headed back to the hotel to change and headed back to one of the restaurants on the beach, where I've been told, and given a 10% discount from the manager, that it cooks the best fish in Mykonos. I had the shrimp cocktail, which was truly delicious, and the Perch, grilled with lemon and rice. He was right that the fish was delicious. As for his claim about the best fish? I have no idea, but it was good.
