As we are in our last year of living in Europe, we are trying to check off as many bucket-list destinations as possible. I have had the opportunity to visit mainland Greece twice, the second time with Jon during our Athens marathon in 2009. We enjoyed the city of Athens immensely, the mild weather and of course the delicious Greek food. However, since moving to Europe in 2007, we have been dreaming of a trip to the Greek Cyclades, and finally made that dream a reality during the last week in August. Though we would have loved to spend several weeks touring the many gorgeous islands in the Cyclades region, with limited vacation time, we decided to focus on three islands, spending two days a piece on each. We couldn't wait to visit these renown islands, with their cubist architecture, and white and blue color schemes. Although each of the three islands are a part of the similar Cycladic tradition, we chose three scenically unique islands to spend our time.
We began our journey with an early morning arrival on the island of Mykonos. With its iconic thatched windmills and famous party scene, Mykonos proved to be a great jumping off point for our adventure.
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| Mykonos Hora |
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| Iconic Mykonos Windmill |
After checking into our hotel and strolling around the main port town, Hora, we quickly realized the reputation of this being a big destination for gays still very much exists. We later found out that there was a conference taking place during the exact time we were there, which would make sense why we (a hetero couple) seemed to be in the minority. Our first morning we also had the pleasure of meeting the honorary Mayor of Mykonos. We ended up having the pleasure of seeing this pelican several times during our two-day stay. He was quite the crowd-pleaser and especially liked to roam around the outdoor restaurant tables looking for handouts.
We had made an agreement that this trip would be purely a vacation/recreational trip, devoid of any history or cultural sites. But, this is Greece after all, and you can't swing a cat without coming across some ruins of some kind. So, we decided to sacrifice our first afternoon to visiting the nearby island of Delos. This small, sacred island is one of the most important archaeological sites in Greece, first inhabited in the 3rd millennium B.C. Despite the intense afternoon heat that day, we were grateful we took the short ferry trip here as it was astounding to see these ruins of once grand terraces, mansions and sacred temples.
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| Delos |
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| Hiking up Mt. Kythos overlooking the ruins of Delos |
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| Terrace of the Lions, Delos |
The next day, we rented a scooter with the plan to seek out as many secluded, off-the-beaten-path beaches as possible. As we were traveling during the busy season of August, we wanted to avoid the crowds at the beaches near the towns. Luckily, the islands are small with beaches-a-plenty, so it wasn't too difficult to find some with few people. The first beach we visited was Fokos beach. The water was a beautiful brilliant turquoise blue, and I couldn't wait to bask in the sun on the soft sand. Jon was able to do that for about 5 minutes before getting bored and taking off on his own adventure. This consisted of climbing the rock wall that surrounds the beach and bay to his destination of the furthest rock out in the water. This endeavor provided great entertainment for me and a group of older Italians.
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| Fokos Beach |
Every beach has a taverna that serves traditional and fresh Greek dishes. We ate a fantastic lunch before embarking to the opposite side of the island to Lia Beach. This was much more of an established beach with chairs, umbrellas and a few different restaurants. On the far right side of the beach, we ended up finding some large flat rocks where we could be a bit more secluded and have a great jumping off point into beautiful and clear deep water.
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| Lia Beach |
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| Lia Beach |
We adored our hotel in Mykonos - our favorite of the three. The traditional design was beautiful and we loved evening cocktails at the pool bar.
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| Poseidon Hotel |
Everything happens on a much later schedule in Greece. Dinner isn't normally until 10 or 11 (or later), and the shops stay open until 2 or 3 in the morning. I loved this, because I didn't feel the pressure to do any shopping during the day but could browse the stores between dinner and drinks. Mykonos was absolutely magnificent and I only hoped the other two islands could live up to our experiences we've had thus far.
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| Pre-dinner drinks in Hora's "Little Venice" |
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| Hora by night |
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| Perusing the shops of Hora |
Our third morning, we hopped a 1.5 hour ferry to Naxos; the largest of the Cyclades island, and also one of the less-touristed. It was halfway between Mykonos and Santorini, and seemed to be a good break between the hustle and bustle of these two very touristed-islands. We immediately discovered that Naxos was a great deal cheaper than the other two and is the most fertile, which was a nice break from the sparseness of most Cycladic islands. It is also the most self-sufficient island with a large local population throughout the year, unlike some of the other islands. We are so grateful we traveled here in order to get a taste of authentic Greek island life.
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| The unfinished Temple of Apollo in Chora, Naxos |
After dropping our bags at our pension and a delicious (and cheap!) lunch, we explored the streets of the Kastro, or castle district. This had a much more serene, calm atmosphere than the bustling streets of Mykonos.
We scooter-ed up to the base of Mt. Zeus, where we followed the steep and rocky 3km path to the summit. This 3,300 foot mountain is the highest in the Cyclades and provides breathtaking views of Naxos and other surrounding islands.
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| Path to the summit of Mt. Zeus |
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| A the top, channeling my inner-Rocky pose |
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| Jon's signature pose |
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| Posing for a pic on our descent |
After our strenuous hike (well, strenuous for me), we made our way to our favorite beach yet, Mikri Vigla, and were rewarded with a fantastic lunch at the beach taverna.
This beach had at all, endless smooth white sand, beautiful turquoise waters, an outcropping of rocks to swim and snorkel around, and the perfect view of the sun slipping into the sea. If we had had an extra day in Naxos, I know we would have been happy to spend the entire day at this beautiful spot.
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| Mikri Vigla |
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| Mikri Vigla |
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| Can you spot him? |
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| Mikri Vigla |
That evening, we attended a concert of traditional music and dancing at the 13th century Venetian castle in the Chora. The tickets came with complimentary local wines made on the island. At the end of the performance, they moved aside the chairs and showed the audience how to Greek dance. Later that night, we stumbled upon a restaurant playing live music with only a few patrons. We decided to watch for a bit, but after awhile, we were pulled up on stage by some of the locals and got to put into practice what we learned earlier that evening. Dancing around Zorba-style with our new Greek friends was an absolute highlight of the trip.
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| Folk music and dance performance |
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| Dancing Zorba-style |
The scenic finale of our trip was hands down, Santorini. I had heard that every picture taken here is like a postcard, and after visiting there, I must agree (that's why I have so many pics for this section!). Yes, it's the most touristed and overpriced island with very little that seems authentically local, but there's no doubt that the scenery make up for any shortcomings. We took a 2.5 hour ferry from Naxos to Santorini and made our way to the outdoor terrace for the magnificent sheer cliff views coming into the harbor.
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| Ferry to Santorini |
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| Views of Santorini |
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| Santorini Fira Harbor |
After a late lunch and some pool time at our hotel, we headed out for a night of exploring the main village of Fira. Set atop a sheer cliff, there are many steep winding paths and stairs used to navigate the village. There are also donkeys that you can hitch a ride with from the port to the village center. We enjoyed seeing them numerous times during our stay.
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| Fira |
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| Donkeys patrolling by our restaurant at dinner |
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| Fira by night |
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| Oia |
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| Oia |
