April 27, 2012 – Iraklio to Mykonos

Today was another travel day.  We took the Ferry from Heraklion to Mykonos – 5 hours on Hellenic Seaways’ Flyingcat 4.  It was a smooth and uneventful trip.  We stopped in at Santorini, Ios and Paros on the way, but the ferry only puts in long enough to unload and load passengers.  One disadvantage of these conveniently fast ferries is they have no outside deck. Our hotel, the Alkyon, is located on the hill behind the town with beautiful views down on the town and out to Delos and beyond.

We had no problem booking a seat on the ferry at a travel agent, and there were any number of these near the port.  Some were agents for specific ferry lines, like Blue Star, but most sold tickets for all the ferry lines.  When we left Heraklion the ferry was fairly full, but most passengers got off on Santorini where only a comparative handful got on.

When we arrived at the ferry terminal in Mykonos a driver from the hotel picked us up and drove us to the hotel up the hill.  The entire hotel is very elegantly decorated in silver, blue, and dazzling white, the colours of Mykonos itself.  After we got our room we walked down the hill and the long flight of stairs to the waterfront.  We bought our tickets for the boat to Delos tomorrow at 10: 00 AM and then did some shopping and street wandering.  The streets of Mykonos are full of twists and turns, some say to deter pirates, and others say to cheat the wind.  We don’t know about pirates, but we certainly noticed how windy it was down at the water.

 We attempted to see the folk museum, but although the signs said it opened again from 5:30 – 8:30, it never opened.  

We did some more shopping, saw the Pelican waiting for a phone call at the pay phones and had dinner.

 

Then we trudged back up the hill to sit on the deck off our room to watch the glorious sunset from our deck.

 Tomorrow we go to Delos, the sacred island that was the original site of the treasury of the Delian League – later the Athenian Empire of the 5^th C. BC (you know, Pericles, the Persian Wars, and the Peloponnesian War, and all that).  After Delos we fly to Athens for our last stop before meeting family in Venice.