Delos Island

You catch the ferry to Delos at Ornos Harbor breakwater on Mykonos and it leaves at 9 AM.

This is Jane's panorama of the Ornos Harbos as we left Mykonos.

 You come to the ferry dock at Delos thru this channel.

The ferry docks on that Pier and you get off to meet your guide and are given this Map:

Click on it to enlarge it and read the items available fore viewing. No one lives on Delos anymore (not since it was sacked in 83 BC), but it was a hub of commerce during Greece's Golden Age. The Myths say that Diana and Apollo were born here.

Our guide was very informative, and explained that when you say "Mythology" you are referring to the Religion of that time. That is her on the left.

And this is Jane and Marilyn listening to her, along with the rest of us.

This is a postcard of some of the many artifacts left on Delos. I think they chose the one lion with a replaced leg to emphasize their efforts to repair items that could be repaired. The Romans, Venitians, Turks and even the British destroyed some of these, and took much of it home. The British Museum has a lot, and the Lion of Venice was origionally here on Delos.

The remaining 3 lions are on this street.

It must have been a sight to see during its glory days.

This postcard shows the amphitheater where locals went for entertainment. You can also see that the pier has room for boats, but it is restricted today.

The is called the Temple of Isis not because that is what the ancient ones called it, but because they (the modern Greeks) name these temples after what is found inside them.

Not sure what was going on here. Ask Jane :)

The Meltimi was blowing this day, and you can see the white caps in the channel. It didn't bother our ferry, but some bareboaters were dragging anchor when we left. They weren't supposed to anchor in the channel anyway.

And you have to mention the mosiacs. Some are still in their houses, and others have been removed to Museums

Mykonos

Mykonos was next (also spelled Mikonos) and we stayed two full days, and on the second day went to the neighboring island of Delos, which is in the lower right of the postcard above (but we'll save that for another post).

We were warned not to stay in the main harbor because of the noise (the Greeks don't sleep at night, they party loudly) crowds, etc. So we went to the south of the city of Ornos (the city is on a narrow isthmus with a harbor on both sides).

In high season there are many more boats off of Psarou Beach and many more people under the umbrellas as this postcard shows.

But for us in May 1997, no worries.

Ornos is the bay to the west of Psarou.

But we liked Psarou. Then we went exploring. You could take a taxi to main city of Ornos (north of the isthmus) or you could rent a scooter. We did both.

This is looking east on the waterfront. There were tavernas all along the water.

Closer to the breakwater was this bit of sand.

Guess we picked this one for lunch.

This breakwater is to the west.

The 'streets' are not made for automobiles, in fact, this place pre-dates cars and public utilities (and that's all I'm gonna say about that).

And because they are narrow, they stay in the shade, for the benefit of all.

The famous windmills of Mykonos. This Veranda is in an area known as Little Venice.

Little Venice is also much photographed. The sunset is the thing to plan dinner for. You want to pick a spot with a good view to the west, and a balcony is ideal. But to have to set up early if you want to be out there when the sun sets.

We picked Katerina's and it was a good choice. The drinks were cool, and the food was excellent.

And this is what you want to see.

And this is Jane, seeing it! You can see the sunset in her shades!

On the second day we ate in the open again, but in a square.

 I'm a little sun burned, because we went to Delos this day. The next morning went left for Naxos.

And the wildlife, well, it just can't be described. Yes, it's a real pelican, and very large.

Kithnos

We should have stayed in Syphnos at Seros, but didn't as we were worried that the meltemi (what the French call a Mistral) wind would make us uncomfortable. We hadn't had a blow up since we left Mikonos.

But we went to Kithnos at Merikos Harbor. Our notes say it wasn't a good place to stay (very commercial), so we moved to Loutra on the other side of Kithnos.

Loutra was not only beautiful but very likely the most pleasant location of the trip.

We Med-tied Arethoussa and put down the 2x8 that was our way ashore.

The fishing fleet has its own reserved parking area, and us transients, had ours.

Fishing nets were drying by their boats.

This is on the other side of the harbor looking back at the quay and our boat.

Loutra is famous for its mineral baths, but they didn't appear to be in use anymore. But there was a tour and information about all the people who had visited Loutra in the past.

We always had meetings to discuss what to do next.

The local Greek Orthodox church was closed, but there was an opening in the door, and I stuck my Pentax inside for this photo.

Dinner this night included fresh Moussaka and it was delicious.

You can see the sailing photos on the wall, and this spot was a favorite of other bareboat charters, as they'd left their burgees on the wall.

So we added a TTPYC burgee. We had heard that another member was going to charter in Greece, so we hoped he'd see it. But Frank never mentioned it.

One of Jane's panoramas of the entrance to Loutra.

This panorama shows the harbor from the mineral baths.

This taverna was up a little hill to the east. Good food and cold beer and local kids!

And the view was pretty cool, too.

From here we returned to Kalamaki Marina near Athens via the Temple of Poseidon.

That is Kea in the distance, where we spent the first night 10 days ago.