On this misty foggy day I thought I'd take you and me back to
our 20th anniversary cruise for some sunshine! (
I really enjoy going back to visit the photos and memories of our trip. I hope those of you following enjoy the posts, too.)
We had gray and rain in Istanbul, but the first morning on our Oceania cruise we awoke to sunshine! Brilliant mostly clear bright azure skies and what appeared to be dry bare islands dot the calm seas. We're in the Aegean Sea and will be exploring Mykonos, my first Greek Isle!! The timing of the good weather couldn't have been better and I thanked Zeus and Poseidon for their assistance.
Windmills of the Chora neighborhood
The trademark windmills you can see from almost any vantage point on this small island. Most of them were built by the Venetians in the 16th century and were used to grind wheat and other farm products into the 20th century. This allowed the people living here to live a good life before today's tourism. Something I didn't know about the Isles until we visited them is that they are rather windy. I'm not fond of wind, as it seems to always give me sinus, but this particular day had just a slight breeze.
Chora is the capital of Mykonos and where our cruise ship let us out to explore. Although we started out with a self-paced audio tour we had such difficulty in seeing the screen in the bright sunlight (let alone that we both need magnifiers to see anything that small!) that we gave up and actually probably had more fun just walking the narrow alley ways, stopping in shops, sipping on cocktails and watching the people.
An aside... last summer, anticipating our trip, I designed a couple pairs of earrings. I was thinking that my imagination met reality with this Isle Plunder pair, don't you think?!
There are 250 churches on Mykonos which sounds like a lot, which it is for an island that is only 41 square miles (105.183 km2 ), but many are just small chapels no bigger than your living room. The population is about 11,000 permanent, but during the summer months the island swells to 50,000 with visitors! Fortunately we were visiting in mid-October after the season was over. The photos show how quiet it was for us.
Agios Nikolaos - for the fishermen
Panagia Paraportiani
The most photographed church in Mykonos is the one above. It's actually made up of 4 very small churches. From every angle one gets a magnificent shot.
I wanted a frou frou drink, but I didn't recognize any of the concoctions listed on the menu, so my hubby told me to order a blue drink. Yummm! Would you look at that view?! It was in mid 70's and I think we'd still be sitting there if other ports of call weren't calling.
