April 28 - Delos, Mykonos, then on to Athens

It is hard to believe that onloy yesterday we were on a ferry arriving in Mykonos, and today we are in Athens!  We went to the island of Delos today, and were thrilled to see the richly historic island, even though it ended with a sprint not to miss the last boat of the day!  We arrived in Mykonos with half an hour left to see the archeological museum there, then had a meal near the harbour, and climbed the cliff back up to our hotel.  We were delivered to the airport, had an uneventful 35 minute flight, and were met at the airport.  Ian complained that on our tour visit to Athens, we spent 40 minutes on the Acropolis, and and hour in the gift shop below.  Ironically, our hotel is a block from the gift shop he has so reviled!  After we checked in, we went for a walk and saw the Acropolis Museum -- less than a block away, and the Parthenon lit up and glowing above us.

Ian part way down the stairs and roads to the harbour.  It took about 10 minutes to go down -- and about 20 to climb back up!

Delos was inhabited since 3000 BCE, and has always been a religious site.  Apollo was said to have been born on Delos.   It was the centre of the Delian League, founded in 478 BCE, a group of city states under the general leadership of Athens, who worked together to defeat the Persians.  Eventually, other city states stopped sending men and boats, and started paying the Athenians to provide the navy.  The treasury became very large, until 454 BC when Pericles removed it to Athens and used the money, as well as other resources, to fund the Parthenon in Athens.  One thing I found interesting was that the island was purified by having all of the bodies removed from their graves and shipped to another island for reburial.  After this "purification", nobody was allowed to die on Delos.

There was a stiff chop to the water as we set out at 10:00 on the Margarita.  It took us about 45 minutes to get there, and I was glad to have my jacket with me.  As we got on to the island, the crew told us to be ready to go at either 12:00 or 1:30.

Ian and I followed the arrows that led around the site, but were disappointed that there was nowhere to buy a guide, and the buildings were inconsistently explained in signs.  As a result, some of the pictures below don't have captions. (Part of this is a tantrum I'm having because I always have to do the pictures, even when Ian writes the text.  He has promised to caption them "in the morning".  We'll see. . .)

Ian was especially happy to get some great shots of lizards, which didn't seem too worried about running away.

We enjoyed seeing the museum, which has many of the artifacts from Delos right there,  which is more unusual than you would think!

 

Then we decided to climb the hill that gives a view of the entire island.  We had only an hour left, so we decided to go up until five to one, and then hurry back to the boat, downhill, and hopefully have time to spare. 

We got three-quarters of the way up, and decided that we would rather see the theatre and remaining buildings than the panorama, and headed down to where a group of about ten people were admiring the ruins.  Imagine our horror, when, with ten minutes until the boat left, we discovered there was no way down to the beach, and we needed to climb back up the hill and over to the other side.  This had taken us about half an hour, and the fact that we weren’t alone didn’t make us feel any better!  We had a wild sprint down to the boat, and arrived with shaky legs, but not dead last.  With a lack of seats on the top deck, and lots of smokers on the inside deck, Ian rode back to Mykonos standing at the rail, while plumes of spray swept over the entire boat, making the college girls scream.  

We arrived in time to get into the Archeological Museum of Mykonos, where the curator, who spent five years in Toronto and has duel citizenship, gave us a personal tour.

We went for a lovely slow meal near the harbour, where I had a lamb casserole and Ian had moussaka.  Each realized that the pink colour of the other partner, caused by the stress of running for the boat, was not fading, so we went off to buy some sunscreen, and I bought myself a pair of ridiculous earrings.  I also discovered that my hair was full of salt spray and had dried in little points, which Ian did NOT think to mention to me, and I met so many people today, and had so many conversations.  Not cool, Ian!

We climbed the hill back to the hotel, and spent an hour reading in rather luxurious surroundings before the hotel chauffered us to the airport.  A brief 35 minute flight later, we were in Athens, where we were picked up and whisked right into the heart of Athens, passing the Olympic Stadium, the Temple of Zeus, the Lord Byron Memorial, and then arriving at our hotel at the foot of the Parthenon.

We hope to get an early start tomorrow!