Ios and Mikonos

Left Santorini for Ios, eating at sea, and arriving at the tiny island around 7:30PM, only to be followed in to port by an enormous ferry which docked a few feet away and began unloading hundreds of passengers and several semi-trailers.  We stayed aboard while half our crew of young, blond, blue-eyed Ukrainian girls went off to party, enjoined by the Captain to be sure to return by 4AM for departure.  Nice to be young.

Woke up the next morning to the strange sensation of steaming along on a completely calm sea.  The Chief Steward was amazed.  We were approaching Mikonos which has the reputation of being the Windy Island with stiff breezes 350 days a year.  When we pulled in (skirting uninhabited Delos) the town was baking under a 29C sun without a puff of air.  A large cruise ship was already in town and the shadeless streets swarmed with sweaty tourists.  After a half-hour, we gave up trying to reach the tourist office when we ran into the Cruise Director who informed us that really, the town was all there was to see on the island and that it was famous for being a party town.  No parties being in evidence at 11AM, we wandered back to the ship where Reggie went for a quick dip at a small nearby beach while Paul repaired aboard to nurse his head cold.  In the shade.

While we ate lunch on deck, a small boat pulled up adjacent to us at the same pier and began unloading a herd of goats.  The goats ambled nonchalantly down the pier to a waiting pickup-truck, got in and were driven off!  The Cruise Director explained that they were often taken to another island to graze and then returned home in the afternoon.  Commuting goats!

We’ll revisit nearby Delos later.

Entering Ios harbour

Ios in the evening

Mikonos in the morning

Windless windmills on the Windy Island

Windmill and church