Hi everyone,
We checked out four more Greek Islands before heading to the mainland for moussaka and protests:
Mykonos
I have always wanted to go to Mykonos because the chorus of one of my favourite songs by the Fleet Foxes goes like this:
“And you can go to Mykonos,
With a vision of a gentle coast
And a sun to maybe dissipate
Shadows of the mess you’ve made”
This does not even come close to an accurate description of Mykonos. It is more like this:
“And you can go to Mykonos
Where you’ll drink until you’re comatose
And spend all your money in one day
Oh what a mess you’ll make”
We weren’t enamoured with Mykonos because there wasn’t much to see or do there other than drink yourself poor at 6 euro a beer and buy t-shirts that say ‘Mykonos’.
Delos
According to Ancient Greek mythology Delos was the birthplace of the twin gods Apollo and Artemis, and for this reason it was incredibly sacred. Rulers and powerful citizens from all over the Greek Empire built lavish temples on Delos to honour the twins, which was really just an excuse show off their wealth and the masonry skills of their craftsmen. Nowadays the island is uninhabited so we took a day trip to check it out and were hugely impressed by the craftsmanship of the Ancient Greeks and also by how many lizards could live in one place.
After a packed, rainy boat ride... the captain squeezed us onto the docks of Delos
Lizards are my new squirrels... and just as hard to photograph.
Santorini
We arrived in Santorini intending to spend 2 nights and ended up staying for a week – we just couldn’t resist the surreal beauty, varied volcanic beaches, steaming volcano with gale force winds, antiquated villages in white sitting atop sheer volcanic cliffs, decorated donkeys, vineyards galore with delectable white wine, cactus juice, stunning views in whichever direction we happened to turn our heads and sunsets that looked like they were drawn by Monet.
It is one of those rare places that has something to please everyone.
Some of the local produce.. we didn't waste any time getting to work sampling it all. Even found some locally made cactus juice (no, not the fun stuff) which set us back a cool 10 euro a glass! Mental note... always check price before buying stuff, even drinks
We sampled some of the local wines too, after finding a beautiful old vinyard in an old traditional Santorini town. The vinyard had two styles of producing wine, one being your modern technique: fresh grapes fermented in stainless steel temperature controlled vats, and then aged in the barrels on the top row. The second was the age old Santorini way of first sun-drying the grapes for a week or so, then squashing them with their feet in the chamber at the back of the second picture. The juice would drip through into the front chamber where the sediments were filtered by a basket... awesome. It is then fermented and left to age in the 100 year old barrels on the bottom row. Because of the drying process they have to use four times the number of grapes, as a result the flavour was strong and sweet, and even has a slight raisin-y-ness to it. As you can see, I have become quite the pro wine taster.
Even the donkeys in Santorini are beautiful.
Less beaches that we expected. But this one... fittingly called Red Beach, was a treat.
Milos
By the time that we reached little Milos the tourist season was drawing to an end and aside from being lovely it was quiet... too quiet. There were signs of life everywhere – cars parked in front of houses, washing on washing lines, open windows and so on, but we hardly ever saw anyone. It was completely idyllic but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the children of the grapes were lurking just around the corner (they’re the Greek equivalent of the children of the corn).
So we just explored the landscapes...
...found ship-wrecks, and grew elephant legs.
We checked out four more Greek Islands before heading to the mainland for moussaka and protests:
Mykonos
I have always wanted to go to Mykonos because the chorus of one of my favourite songs by the Fleet Foxes goes like this:
“And you can go to Mykonos,
With a vision of a gentle coast
And a sun to maybe dissipate
Shadows of the mess you’ve made”
This does not even come close to an accurate description of Mykonos. It is more like this:
“And you can go to Mykonos
Where you’ll drink until you’re comatose
And spend all your money in one day
Oh what a mess you’ll make”
We weren’t enamoured with Mykonos because there wasn’t much to see or do there other than drink yourself poor at 6 euro a beer and buy t-shirts that say ‘Mykonos’.
Delos
According to Ancient Greek mythology Delos was the birthplace of the twin gods Apollo and Artemis, and for this reason it was incredibly sacred. Rulers and powerful citizens from all over the Greek Empire built lavish temples on Delos to honour the twins, which was really just an excuse show off their wealth and the masonry skills of their craftsmen. Nowadays the island is uninhabited so we took a day trip to check it out and were hugely impressed by the craftsmanship of the Ancient Greeks and also by how many lizards could live in one place.
After a packed, rainy boat ride... the captain squeezed us onto the docks of Delos
Lizards are my new squirrels... and just as hard to photograph.
Santorini
We arrived in Santorini intending to spend 2 nights and ended up staying for a week – we just couldn’t resist the surreal beauty, varied volcanic beaches, steaming volcano with gale force winds, antiquated villages in white sitting atop sheer volcanic cliffs, decorated donkeys, vineyards galore with delectable white wine, cactus juice, stunning views in whichever direction we happened to turn our heads and sunsets that looked like they were drawn by Monet.
It is one of those rare places that has something to please everyone.
Some of the local produce.. we didn't waste any time getting to work sampling it all. Even found some locally made cactus juice (no, not the fun stuff) which set us back a cool 10 euro a glass! Mental note... always check price before buying stuff, even drinks
We sampled some of the local wines too, after finding a beautiful old vinyard in an old traditional Santorini town. The vinyard had two styles of producing wine, one being your modern technique: fresh grapes fermented in stainless steel temperature controlled vats, and then aged in the barrels on the top row. The second was the age old Santorini way of first sun-drying the grapes for a week or so, then squashing them with their feet in the chamber at the back of the second picture. The juice would drip through into the front chamber where the sediments were filtered by a basket... awesome. It is then fermented and left to age in the 100 year old barrels on the bottom row. Because of the drying process they have to use four times the number of grapes, as a result the flavour was strong and sweet, and even has a slight raisin-y-ness to it. As you can see, I have become quite the pro wine taster.
Even the donkeys in Santorini are beautiful.
Less beaches that we expected. But this one... fittingly called Red Beach, was a treat.
Milos
By the time that we reached little Milos the tourist season was drawing to an end and aside from being lovely it was quiet... too quiet. There were signs of life everywhere – cars parked in front of houses, washing on washing lines, open windows and so on, but we hardly ever saw anyone. It was completely idyllic but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the children of the grapes were lurking just around the corner (they’re the Greek equivalent of the children of the corn).
So we just explored the landscapes...
...found ship-wrecks, and grew elephant legs.
I love that you went to Mykonos! I heard that song the other day and it reminded me of you Soph, because I remember you saying how you wanted to go there :)
ReplyDeleteBonnie