6/1/2015 – Mykonos

Today we woke up just before the sun came up over the hills of Mykonos and we watched the boat dock in the harbor. You could see all of the white houses and hotels dotting the hills above the water and the beautiful blue water.

Mykonos

Mykonos

Mykonos

The Pilot boat pulled up along side and the harbor pilot came aboard to assist in the docking of the boat.

Pilot Boat

The captain up in the wheel house docking the boat

We left the ship and took a short shuttle bus ride into the town of Hora which is right on the water. Here’s a view of our ship looking back from the edge of town, it’s a huge ship and dwarfs most of the buildings in the ports where we pull in.

Celebrity Reflection looking back from the beach in the city of Hora

Closer view of the Celebrity Reflection

In the harbor at the edge of the town there were a number of huge yachts including this one called DRAD which is owned by a croatian shipping magnate. It’s a 50 million dollar yacht which had been named aifos – for his wife Sofia but after a nasty divorce he renamed it DRAD. We’re not sure what that stands for but we think maybe it’s short for – thank goodness for Pre-Nups.

DRAD

Once we walked into town there were churches everywhere. All of the buildings are white but they have colorful highlights like red or blue roofs or doors or porches. Here are a few pictures of the buildings and churches around town.

Church in Hora

Church in Hora

We turned the corner and right in front of the public restrooms was this 4 foot tall Pink Pelican. He was very tame and posed for pictures not at all bothered by people. We later learned that his name is Peter, and he is one of 3 pelicans that live full time on the island and are cared for by the residents. He is so famous that he has his own Wikipedia page.

Peter (Petros) the Pelican)

Next we came upon the Paraportiani church, one of the most famous architectural structures in Greece.

Paraportiani Church

We walked through an area called Little Venice which had narrow alley ways and shops. Also a number of buildings were built right on the water, we assume that’s where the name little Venice came from. Some of the buildings were so small that the doorways were shorter than Conrad.

A shop entrance in Little Venice

We headed up a little hill to a set of very famous windmills. The view from there was very pretty.

Windmills

Little Venice

A hotel on the hillside

we then headed back into the main part of the town by the beach to take some more pictures and have some lunch at a little waterfront cafe.

Church in town

Fishing boat in the main harbor

Tiny fishing boat and behind it the cafe where we ate.

We had split a plate of Gyros and Baclava for lunch –

Gyros

Baklava and Ice cream a traditional Greek dessert

Before heading back to the ship we wandered through the back alleyways of Hora and did some shopping. The streets barely look wide enough for a motorcycle but there were little minivans and trucks delivering food and other items to the stores the whole time that we were walking through. We decided that it must take a long time to learn to drive on those little streets.

Alley in Hora

Church in Hora

Alley with different colored porches in Hora

Private residences above the shops in Hora[

We took a quick picture of the cruise ship before boarding. Our room is between lifeboats 7 and 9 (the two big ones) and 3 stories above.

Celebrity Reflection

Tonight we will head to dinner and overnight the ship will move us to Ephesus Turkey

#MediteraneanCruise2015