At Sea - Kea, Mykonos, Delos & Paros

We spent Sunday on the sea. Probably the longest day of our trip in very rough seas for 8 hours as we sailed to Kea. Just stopping for lunch was a blessing for all of us, since we got out of the waves for a few minutes. Besides our mighty captain and his wife and a few of the crew who had tough stomachs--the rest of us studied the horizon quite intently that first day...with a few fish feedings. I'm proud to report neither of us lost it--but we were elated when we hit land that evening and ate a traditional Greek dinner.

Jared & Barry Jenkins setting the sails.

Here I am actually sailing the boat--okay, just steering it. This was a lot harder than it looks. This is not your little powerboat in the lake! The waves were big, the wind was strong and you had to use quite a bit of strength to hold it steady. After 30 mins. I told the captain I was done. We set sail for Mykonos Monday morning.

You can't visit Mykonos without seeing Petros the Pelican (I think he the 2nd, the 1st Petros is actually stuffed!) This guy wanders the island asking for free fish handouts and is welcomed everywhere. He's been the island's mascot over 50 years. He actually went inside the restaurant kitchen while we were there and snooped around.

Mykonos is known for its windmills. They are really beautiful. They were used to grind grain into flour and have made Mykonos famous since the 1600s.

The next day we went to the sacred island of Delos. We took a ferryboat over to it. Delos is an amazing island with incredible ruins. In Delos' prime, over 30,000 people inhabited the small island of Delos (abt 500-100 B.C.). Because of its central location, Delos was a major slave trade area, sometimes selling up to 10,000 people in one day. The homes in ancient days were large and spacious--maybe 3-4 stories high with large kitchen and running water toilets. They told us everyone from all over the known world at that time came to Delos to shop and trade.

Delos was also one of the 3 most important religious centers in Greece. It has a huge temple to worship Apollo since Greek mythology says this was his birthing place. In ancient Delos, people were not allowed to be born or die. They would ship them off to a neighboring island.

It also is home to the Terrace of the Lions. Huge lions built for Apollo. You probably recognize them. Delos eventually was taken over by the Romans and eventually became a Pirate Lair during the Ottoman period. Here are Lynn Wootton, Jared, and Barry Jenkins at the Lion Terrace.

After an afternoon at Delos, we rented scooters and explored the island of Mykonos. It reminded me of Wild Hogs in a way :) We went to Paradise Beach--the only non-nude beach on Mykonos. It's supposed to be this hugely popular beach that people come to from all over the place, but the sand was pebbly and hurt our feet. We weren't overly impressed. Hawaii and Cancun top this any day. We did swim in the Aegean Sea for the first time (kind of cold for Oct 7). It was pretty easy to float--pretty salty.


We ended up at this beautiful restaurant for dinner with live flowers hanging all over the ceiling. We celebrated Kevin Birrell's 51st birthday...they even played Happy Birthday for him over the speaker system. Here we all are again at this gorgeous restaurant. L-R: Barry & Sarah Jenkins, Steph & Jared, Kevin & Carolyn Birrell, Caren & Lynn Wootton, and Sue & Blaine Hales.

We left the next morning for a one day stop in Paros - one of the most popular European hotspots. Since we came off season, everything was much quieter. Paros is also known for its beautiful white Parian marble - used to sculpt the famous Venus de Milo found in Paris.

We also stopped and went scuba diving here. The Aegean Sea was pretty bare, not a lot of fish or seaweed, coral, etc. We did go through a pretty cool sea cave. The top of it was above sea level, and we were able to breathe on top of the water. There were also stalactites coming from the top of the cave. It kind of reminded me of our own Timpanogos Cave in American Fork Canyon. We spent the evening in Paros, where Steph ate a delicious ice cream waffle with the Jenkins. Then back to the boat for bed and a short sail in the morning to Santorini or Thera or Thira..the Greeks have lots of names for the same islands. We can't wait!