Greece Trip 201009 III – Mykonos

Exchange rate is S$1.76 to 1 Euro

Monday 6th Sept 2010 Athens –> Mykonos
Finally going to e islands!! Mykonos first! Haha… At first I still worried e ferry is a small one cuz its going to b a 3+hr ride. It’s not lo! Can fetch cars de!

Haha so e ride not bumpy. I can even watch It’s Complicated on board. Sidetrack, e show is funny!! Lol… Wonder if e guy opp me tink I’m mad anot; keep laughing n smiling.

This ferry departs from Piraeus, Athens and will stop at Syros and Tinos before reaching Mykonos! At the first stop, Syros, we went to the deck and take pictures. Their town… looks quite nice hor?

This vessel got 2 deck. 1 is for the commoners like me

And one is for the rich and privileged! See they no need to squeeze with e rest to take in the view. So gd…..

Finally, we are at Mykonos! After alighting the ferry, we waited at this place for e local guide and this is wat we saw!

Think its my first time see such clear, green seawaters! I wanna go in!!!!! OK I must control myself haha I still got my luggage w me. Not sure why this photo isnt very clear. Maybe cuz the wind was very strong so I could barely stand still or cuz the lens were not very clean due to e wind too haha…..

The local guide is named Apollo and he’s stick thin and rather burnt. haha His nose n shoulders are red like lobster so really have a very summer holiday feel. He gave quite detailed information like the buses la then how long it takes for e bus to go from hotel to town and e rental of cars must pay e insurance etc etc. Got the easy-going feel from him.

Out hotel! Pelican Bay!

Our rm

The balcony. That stretch only got 2 or 3 other rms so not many ppl will pass by e balcony. Quite a “ur place” feel cuz not alot of ppl will pass by ur corridor. Think tis is my fav hotel of e trip.

View from the balcony. The seas r calling out to me again!

okok the most impt thing before I can jump into e seas is…. I MUST BUY A BIKINI FIRST!! hahah… So off to the town we go! Walk frm the hotel to the “bus stop” is ard 7 minutes. During this walk, I realised our hotel quite distinctive: Its with green windows! bwhahha…. shades of green anyway. =p

We are supposed to buy the bus tickets from a minimart but think he ran out of e tix so in e end we gotta buy frm bus driver who wasnt very happy. lol… when he drove past the minimart, he passed a box of tix to the minimart cashier. lol…. From there to town cost 1.40 Euro and the ride is ard 15 minutes bah. not bery long.

During the meetup at the port, Apollo said,” Mykonos is a very beautiful town. Every corner u turn u will want to take a picture” I tot he was exaggerating. Then when I entered the town then I realise he’s not! hahaha….

First on the menu is my fav house! haha I LOVE e blue!

Followed by Little Venice.

Think Little Venice will require 2 visits – once in e day once in e evening as the sun is setting. Totally different view. Think my personal preference is the evening wan; quite like e orange glow in it. Tho the day wan photos turned out better.

This one is the famous Windmills of Mykonos. No longer in use but just that its the landmark of Mykonos so take pic lo! FL was very fascinated with the windmills so she took lots of pics here. haha… E one I m taking pic with is our tour lead. Hahah… She looks so much younger than her age!

The streets of Mykonos town. Yes all e shops r white-based too. The cobblestones are rather clean too but maybe not very frenly for heels so best to wear flats.

This is a pelican la hor? It was just waddling like that in the streets and it was moving determinedly towards me. I tot it was a mascot! hahah… The beak is very colourful; so pretty.

We actually came town to eat cuz we r bery hungry! Hahaha.. Then we wanted to eat in 1 of e restaurants along the Little Venice facing the sea side. Then in e end we settled for a cafe which actually mainly serves drinks. Cafe Veranda.  bwhaha.. So we only get to choose between crepes and sandwiches. hahah… shld hav chosen sandwich! cuz e neighbouring table had it and it was big! =p The crepe turned out rather small and it costs 9 Euro.

Hahah taste abit salty but guess we r paying for e view….. Tadah!

Then while sitting there, not to waste e view, I decided to take more photos. Then my spectacles are transition de so most of e times I viewed e seas etc thru my dark grey lenses. Then I start to wonder if its e dark grey lenses that make e things all look so beautiful! So I did an experiment! The left one is wat the camera captures then the right pic is taken with my spectacles placed in front of e camera lens. hahah… Ok looks similar. So I think grey is a gd colour for sunglasses since it doesnt really distort the colour. FL’s sunglass is brown de then she say she see everything w a yellow tinge. Then I was telling her e colours all look very vibrant to me lei.

This is one of e tables at the cafe. But tink it gets splashed by the waves so no one is sitting there. But I tot e setup against e waters looks very gd =D

After lunch, we start walking the streets to shop for bikini! Hahah…. there got quite a few accessories shops. A set (necklace and earrings) can be found for ard 17 Euro. Keep wandering into those. Their beach dresses can be rather ex; cheapest I saw was 25 Euro. Walk walk then we come out into this clearing with some churches and a great view of e seas! And there are seagulls!

So nice…..

It was here when I can barely stood firm on the grd. For once I m glad of my big butt! Keeps me firmly planted on e grd! bwhahhaha…. Taking picture w ur hair not in ur face is a skill here. N of which I hav none. hahah…. I look as if I  was trying to film Sadako there but the scenery is just too nice to carry it off.

After leaving the seagull place, we came upon another clearing that gives quite a gd view what w e small boats,  clear blue seas and white white small buildings. So pretty….

Next to this clearing is a church. hmmm.. Doesnt it look like some other kind of building?

After walking ard for a long time under the sunny hot sun, its perfect for…..

Icecream, not I scream =p Tried e watermelon sorbet and I love it! Its sweet!! Haha spore sorbet always sour de; very weird no matter wat fruit, they always can add sourness into it. Sure is a refreshing thirst quencher. Shiok!

While eating my ice cream, I came upon this shop w lotsa bikinis hanging outside.

Chose 2 to go in n try. 1 is pink and 1 is purple w bling bling haha… The shop owner was quite nice. She saw that I only had 2 sets and asked another shopper if she mind letting me try first since tat shopper has chosen quite a few n was still browsing. =D

Wanted to get e pink one since I dont have pink de but the purple was just much more striking! When I asked how much is the purple one, she said 35 Euro then I asked can cheaper? The she said 30 Euro then after that I was tinking somemore then she said 28 Euros. Just before I paid, I asked again can hav further discount and she said 25 Euros! Amazing hor? So its like ard S$45 and for something which the top and bottom can fit me! So happy! Normally in Spore I have to buy top and bottom separately since 1 is M then 1 is L. haha… Think the M there have a bigger bottom? =p haha….

After this we took a bus back to the hotel to check in cuz our rms werent ready for check in when we first arrived. It was a hot day so FL went to take a bath while I just nua in e rm till ard 6+pm then we went out for dinner at the town again!

On the bus ride there, we meet a Taiwanese couple who is based in US and came to Greece for holidays. At first, they still mistook me for Taiwanese cuz we were conversing in Chinese. haha… So we started chatting lo. Then she told me she prefer Santorini and she’s staying in the Mykonos town. Then I complimented on her dress which totally shows off her legs haha… Then she laughed and say its just a cloth. haha tink she wrap it very nicely so very beach feel. =D She seems to speak Chinese haltingly so I switched to English half way through. Upon knowing, we r going town for dinner, she recommended us to go Kounelas. haha But e town is a maze so hard to describe e location.

In e end, we ate at Alefkandra Restaurant which is just across the windmills and overlooks the sea. It was close to sunset then so there’s lots of ppl milling ard. This was taken from the seat in e restaurant.

The food that we ordered. the squid is kinda tuff. E rest was alright. Abit plain but I still enjoy it. Maybe cuz e past few days of heavily used cheese in quite a few dishes hav me craving for plainer tasting food :p

Here I tried Ouzo, a Greek alcohol which is kinda minty w a sweet aftertaste. I like! =D

Dinner was 90 Euro for 4 person. Then we gave tips of 10 Euro so total is 25 Euro per pax. Waiters at this restaurant r so cute !! Got boyish wan, man man wan, cool cool kind haha all sorts! Actually I tink Greece must hav e greatest congregation of cute guys! Got this humorous, boyish looking, blonde guy at tis souvenir shop at Plaka too~~~ aaahhh~~~ Lol.. while we sit there, drink ouzo n drool over e waiters, got this cute young boy came over n approach our tour lead haha…. Asked her where she going la then say he finishing at 2330 then wanna go for drinks after tat etc etc.  But poor guy got rejected. So poor thing….

After dinner, we shopped ard the town. Hmmm… shld b window-shopped since we didnt buy much. haha.. Mainly accessories, souvenirs and clothing shops. The clothings r rather ex so didnt buy any.

Finally, we decided to settle down for a drink at Katerina’s Bar. Saw a guy w e word mojito on his t-shirt in e afternoon so decided to heed e “omen”. (in ancient Greek way :p) but sad to say, e mojito used a different kind of mint so tink e HK wan still taste e best. haha.. Sit there, chit chat, enjoy e cool breeze along w great mambo kind of music haha… really relaxing… =D

Tuesday 7th Sept 2010 Mykonos Psarou Beach –> Paradise Beach –> Mykonos Town
Morning we woke up at 9am then we went down for breakfast and met the girls from Philippines! Hahah… Cuz e day before we got casually mentioned go beach hopping together mah. Cuz go beach, e more e merrier mah. 2 ppl go is kinda sianz. =p Then abit paisey to call them too since I dunno they party till what time e day before. =p

We set off ard 10+am and start walking towards Psarou beach. See we r all well-prepared with e towels from e hotel and those tan-conscious de brought their hats too! =D

Was rather glad that we took that walk to the Psarou Beach cuz along the way got quite nice sceneries. Saw this from e tour bus yday when we arrived haha .. was tinking that its kinda sad I cant go down to take pics …. =D

Sadly Portrait Enhancer mode seems to dull e colours abit. Compare the abv pic and the following pic.

Hahah w 5 girls in e group, our walk was rather leisurely cuz we joke la, stop and take pic of each other, got lost etc etc. haha… So fun… We finally came across this very tall wooden fencing and it wrote Psarou. We were so excited! hahah But we cant open e gate =( Then this car drove up and got a few ppl came out all dressed for e beach. So we went up to them to ask if they know how to go to e beach. They gave us a weird look and say go thru that gate. Then we said its locked so they went over to try and it opened for them! They got magic! bwhahah….. =D

We finally reached!!! It is beautiful!! E water is clear and in shades of green and blue! Hahha… I cant wait to go into the waters but tink shld suntan first. haha… Cuz we reached rather early (close to 11am bah) so there wasnt much ppl ard. So we just whack some sunbeds to lie on. Took some pics but tink i was in bikini in most of them so the only non-bikini pic is….. tadah! hahhah…… my bootifully pedicured foot.…. =D

Tan for a while and its finally time to go into the waters! hahahahah….. me n 2 of e Philippines girls, Janice and Wena, went down first. Then the water was like freezing!!! even tho its close to noon and its a sunny day! We are just like knee-deep in e waters and I feel like turning back le. And I normally dun bathe w hot water de so u can imagine how cold that is. hahah…. in end, 3 of us decided to 1,2,3 and just sit into e water! haha… tadah! n it actually feels quite shiok. Since hot sun and cool waters =D

Shortly after, FL came down to join us and she found it freezing too! Her teeth were like chattering. Hahah we 2 r really gd frenz: 1 is scared of cold wind; 1 is scared of cold waters. haha… Shortly after, e last girl, Joy, also came into the waters. Joy brought a DSLR and she left it on e beach just like that. hahah… Daring hor?

Then Wena was telling me that in e seas, its very easy to dog paddle. hahah… I tried and it really works! but super tiring la. The only minus pt abt e waters is that the seabed is rocky de not sandy so e feet may hurt when u accidentally put it down heavily. The 3 girls are telling me that Philippines Boracay (pronounced as Bora-kai) beach is similar to this beach too and the seabed is sandy de but waters not as clear. Ok! Thats another one of e places-to-go.

After frolicking in the waters for some time, we left the waters and went back to e sunbeds. Wah! nothing was stolen; not even the DSLR. And just in time cuz apparently e sunbeds we were lying on belong to some hotel. And the hotel staff were chasing us off cuz the hotel’s sunbeds are running out le since more n more guests are coming out. haha… Just nice that we r moving off to e next beach le =D

We asked the hotel staff how to go to Platys Gialos beach cuz we are going to take water taxi from there. The hotel staff still kindly directed us to a scenic route. =)

This is taken along the route. As u can see my hair is still wet haha… we just towel dry, wore our dress and moved off! No sticky sticky feeling de. Not like spore beach where even e wind feels sticky =p haha… I really wonder if we r in a lake anot; waters so clear n clean….

Below is my favourite shot of e trip bah. Its taken by me using my Fujifilm F70 camera! hahah….

I’m really not exaggerating abt the clear-ness of e waters! This was like taken 1 storey abv e waters.

Diamonds are a girl’s best friend right? See the following sparkling “diamonds” across e sea? Now u know y I love the Greece seas so much!

Along the way to take water taxi, we passed by the “bus stop” close to our hotel. Then FL saw and said she’s going back to hotel first since I got company to go to the next beach le =( She dun really like e sun I guess…

At Platys Gialos, we got our water taxi tickets. Ticket to Paradise just cost us 5 Euros only!!! haha….

This is the small boat that’s bringing us to Paradise. haha… yeah… Travelling to Paradise is an exclusive thingy so only 10+ ppl on a boat. *lame* Some of the ang mohs actually climbed onto the left hand platform to sit on lol….

Setting off!

Just like this shot with e boulders in e waters. During the boat ride, I was commenting that the seas very nice hor? Then Joy they all immediately asked if wanna help me take pic hahah… I must have been taking alot of pics w e seas during the morning. =p

When we reached Paradise, our first stop is to find lunch! Wasnt very hungry so I just grabbed a gyros which cost 2.50 Euros. The Fanta Lemonade costs 1.50 Euros. So ok la not very ex.  I like gyros! Inside got fries and tomatoes de! =D

Oh ya! 1 thing I noticed abt e beaches was that even though the waters are very clear and beautiful, there are hardly any activities or advertisements for the various water sports. The only thing I saw was this thing and its 1 of its kind somemore. Its very different from Asian beaches where there will be snorkelling, banana boats, parachute tied behind speed boats etc etc. haha Maybe thats how the Greek beaches remained so pristine?

After lunch its suntanning time! It was like ard 2pm then and Janice n I went to grab a sunbed each while Joy and Wena remained in the shades, The sun was really kinda hot now and I can feel my skin burning so I keep flipping myself like grilling satay like that! haha… Halfway thru suntanning, there’s this person coming to collect money for using e sunbed. It costs 4 Euros per use and he issued a receipt to us. Guess its in case he come n collect from us again since there’s no marking to say which sun bed has been paid and which has not. =p

Grilled for 1hr or so then Wena came n jio to go into the waters le! Yeah! Skin hot hot go into cold cold waters shiok! haha… Wena likes e waters but dun like getting tan haha tats why she only join us for e waters. Joy continued to remain in e shades. E waters now are even colder than in e morning. Weird hor? haha… There are some quite big rocks further out so some ppl swam out to it and stood on it. Hav e walking on water feel since the rocks just skimmed the waters so cant really see them. Haha… At first I was still wondering how come ppl can sit and drink beer so far out into the seas. =p When ppl started standing up then I realised. =p

Over at this beach, saw quite a few young ang moh girls took off their tops. Some of e girls r not fat and yet their assets are melon-sized de! amazing…. Ok there’s a pt of contention here. FL tot a nude beach means take off everything meaning including e bottom. Then when she asked me if Paradise is really a nude beach then I say got ppl take off top so I guess it is lo. Then she say then not considered le mah since Platys Gialos also got ppl taking off e top le. Hmmm… dunno lei…

Time passes fast when u r in Paradise… very soon, its time to go back. While waiting for the water taxi, I took a pic to show how clear e waters r AGAIN! hahaha… Yes I m fascinated by e clear waters.

During the wait, saw this young sun-kissed boy being the lifeguard and having fun w e beach go-ers there. haha He must hav quite a gd job since he can look at boobs during his worktime and frolic ard hahah….

On the ride back , saw this guy sunbathin at e rocks, then I was wondering his butt not pain arh sit on e rocks.

Then this grp even better. Climbed so far up to sunbathe then have to go so far to reach e waters!!! where got fun?!?! I tot the whole fun of sunbathing is tan till hot hot then jump into waters n enjoy e coolness! haha….

Paradise ended our beach hopping. We reached back Platys Gialos at 4+pm so I went back to hotel to check on FL and shun bian bathe then go out for dinner haha… When I walked into e rm, I was kinda stunned to see FL lie across e bed but not sleeping haha… Apparently she just finished a pizza by herself so she’s very full. lol…

We left for town ard 6+pm and e first thing we did was to go buy ice cream. Hahah… yes its very wrong order… Had peach sorbet and some hazelnut flavour. The hazelnut flavour is just something which I can get in spore so nothing to rave abt. But the peach sorbet is awesome cuz its sweet too! haha… N its e peachy taste not e fake colouring taste =p

Was trying to take pic of e cute guy but sadly… didnt succeed in capturing him at his best. There were quite a few ppl ard so guess he’s kinda stressed? =p

We strolled towards e windmills there to watch the sunset. And its very very windy and some of e girls’ ice cream flew onto them. Nvr knew having ice cream when itswindy can be such a mess =p

I flew 11+ hrs and take a 3+hr ferry to go there see sunset. This granny can just pull a chair out of her house and see the show EVERYDAY.

Can I add another favourite pic of e trip? haha… Captured this shot outside Caprice restaurant. Totally unblocked view cuz there werent many people there haha…

A closer-up shot of e sun when its halfway home… My only regret was that I didnt take a photo w e sunset using my camera….

Actually sunset is very very fast de. No wonder e line of 夕阳无限好，只惜近黄昏。There are ppl clapping after sunset is over. Guess sunset is a show that Mother Nature put up for us to enjoy so e clapping is apt.

Dinner was at Nikos Tavern. I was lured in by the chips which turned out to b great! E lamb is nice too :p The mixed seafood got those shishamo-sized fishes but without e eggs. :p wonder if these fishes r fished out of e surrounding seas. Saw quite a few schools of these small fishes in e seas when we were at e harbor. Dinner was a total of 51 Euro for 3 pax n we had beer n soup.

E food is good but the waiters are rather fierce haha… Maybe cuz there are many ppl bah

Zzzz hit the word limit of Windows Live again liao… Last bit of Mykonos hav to be in next blog le