Exploring the Town of Mykonos

After spending the day lounging around at the fabulous Saint John Resort, we made a quick pit stop in the heart of Mykonos to eat a late lunch, shop for souvenirs, and find ourselves some authentic Greek baklava. We only had about 3 hours until we needed to be back at the ship, but we were still able to get a good feel for the slow-paced Mykonos life. Walking through the narrow streets of this sleepy Greek fishing village reminded me a lot of Sanotrini, except less hilly and a little more run down. It was easy to see that tourism is the main focus of Mykonos these days. With 2 to 3 cruise ships dropping anchor in the Old Harbor each day, much of the town caters to its hundreds of visitors from all over the world. Thankfully, we were the only ship in port that afternoon...so, we meandered through the town with ease. While not as awe-inspiring as some of the other Greek islands, Mykonos still had a unique charm all its own with lots of quaint shops and cafes and arbors overflowing with colorful flowers around almost every turn. Not to mention some pretty stellar food. D and I scarfed down our chicken slouvaki & gyros with homemade tzatzki sauce like ravenous animals. And later, we hopped from bakery to bakery to find the perfect bites of baklava. The winner? Patissaries Mandarini. Might I recommend the chocolate baklava? It's mouthwatering and practically oozing with sweet honey. I stay up late at night still lusting over those tiny drops of heaven. If only I could have brought an entire pan home! All in all, Mykonos would definitely be a place I'd visit again. Even though the town is small, there's still a few things we didn't get to do. Next time, we'd hike to the windmills along the back side of town and hunt for Petros the Pelican, an old "celebrity" of the town's waterfront. I'm actually not quite sure how we missed him. Supposedly he's huge! All the more reason we'll have to save our pennies and come back someday. Darn, right? ;)

Next stop on our cruise recap...ISTANBUL!

If you've missed anything from our recaps thus far, you can catch up right here.