Greece

Part 2: Mykonos and the Ferry ride of Doom

         Mykonos was by far my favorite part of this trip, except for maybe the “getting there”.  We got up early in the morning to take a taxi to the port.  When we get there, it’s as if all of Athens is leaving the city.  Greece takes Easter very seriously, many Athenians have families on the islands, and so they leave the city to go spend the week-end with them.  We bought our tickets late so we were actually able to sit in business class, which has a bunch of couches and wasn’t AS crowded.  This turned out to be such a blessing.  Right as we leave the port, we can tell the water is a little rocky, but it was nothing compared to what the trip was like when we were in open waters.  Waves were hitting the windows, people couldn’t walk around, and they closed off the deck.  We were sitting next to a Canadian woman who travels a lot in these waters and she told us that this was the worst she had ever seen it, and she also warned us to not be frightened if people start getting sick and freaking out.  Not two minutes after she told us this, a woman in the corner broke down and began sobbing.  It was awful, people were throwing up, women were crying, babies were screaming.  Emily, Sandy and Coral all had to lay on the floor.  It wasn’t until the waters had calmed a bit that we realized the ferry gives out free dramomine!  When we got off the ferry, it was gorgeous: blue waters, green hills, and the friendliest of people.  We took a bus to our hostel (which turned out to be a resort) and were blown away.  You literally walk around a corner and are on the beach, the most popular beach in Mykonos.  Fortunately we got there the week before tourist season opens, so we had the beach essentially to ourselves.   

We ended up renting ATV's and taking them all over the island.  It is gorgeous there, I loved every second of it.  The people are friendly, the water is blue, and the gyros are delicious.  We spent our days riding around, laying on the beach, eating, day drinking, and just laughing.  We spent so much time laughing and bonding, it was absolutely fantastic.   

We were all sad to leave in part because we loved Mykonos so much, but also because we knew our trip was coming to and end which meant so any things for us all: The end of vacation, the return to the last part of our stay in Bordeaux, and the fact that Coral was leaving, she was not coming back to Bordeaux! We knew that our return to Athens and the two days spent there were going to have to be glorious.  

 Beach, Greek Salad, Corona, does life get any better?