Sweat box in Mykonos—June 30–July 3, 2021

 We arrived at the new port of Mykonos which was a couple miles north the whitewashed town of Hora or Mykonos and they had a Seabus that took you to the central part of the village after stopping at a few other ports along the way.  They even painted the grout around the stepping stones white.  Most of the doors, shutters, and railings were painted blue as well as some other parts of the buildings like the domes.  A few outliers  used red paint.

There were a cluster of 4 windmills leftover from the days of milling grain into flour.  Some of the tourist postcards show these windmills with white sails , but now they are gone or just have some remnants of the sails  left.  Throughout the village there were other windmills that were missing the spokes of the windmills as well.

Again moored in port were many big boats registered in the Cayman  Islands and other offshore tax havens.

The restaurants that skirted the promenade looked like it was peopled by many wealthy and several models.  Throughout the village, I saw professional photographers having some of the models pose in this beautiful setting.

After lunch, I caught the bus that runs hourly to the Paraga Beach Hostel where I was staying for three nights.  It was just about 4 km from town, the the narrow one lane road with frequent turnouts for passing traffic seemed much longer as we wove our way up, down and back and forth along rock wall lined road.  

I had booked a 8 bed dorm and I was the only one there.  My big mistake was that I forgot to make sure it had A/C so it was a pretty warm stay so I used a wet towel and cranked up the fan to stay cool through the night.

Only 70 people were booked here and their capacity accommodated a 1,000.  There were 4 long rows of dorm rooms along with a central bathroom and showers.

The bay was beautiful along with a small but pleasant pool.  If there were 1,000 people here like pre COVID, it would have been party central.

The staff was very pleasant and helpful and they kept the place immaculate.

Other resorts in the area like the Paradise Beach Resort was also like a ghost town.

On one of the days, I returned to the village of Mykonos and took a boat ride out to Delos Island from 10 am to 1:30 pm.  It was the mythical birthplace of twins Apollo and Artemis and is one of the most important archeological sites in Greece.  Of course it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

In 478 BC it established a treasury here during its alliance with Athens.  The Romans made it a duty free port which increased its importance and they managed a slave market that sold up to 10,000 people a day.  

As other places became trading centers, Delos declined and was a small settlement for Christians and was a hideout for pirates who also plundered some of the antiquities.

Greece is in the process of restoring the large pavilion, but it is slow going.

Other notable sites there include the Terrace of the Lions and the Sanctuary of the Foreign Gods.

Some of the mosaic tile on the floor remains today, but the museum is closed for renovation—most likely the roof needed repair.

On Saturday, the 3rd of July I took the 12:40 pm SeaJet Ferry to Santorini, my third Greek island.  This time I made sure to get a room with A/C—no more sweat boxes at night for me.

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