Since today was not expected to be a very exciting day (no Athens. Sob!) we didn't bother getting up early. As we did not anticipate going to Mykonos (I didn't even know what - not just where - it was before we were diverted there) we had no plans at all for our day there. NOOOOOO! This is the WORST thing (okay, there are worse things like...torture, disease, famine, being maimed, natural disasters...but indulge me; I'm a pretentious loud-mouthed drama queen of the highest order) that could happen to an anal retentive super controlling super planner like myself. I need a plan! Unfortunately, I have no plan for Mykonos (sob!) - I only know what I could scrounge up on the internet when I'm not exhausted to insensibility by our other stops so really...I know practically nothing. What I do know though is that Mykonos is a big vacation spot in the summer because of their numerous spectacular beaches. It's like the Hawaii of the Mediterranean. However, we will not be going to those beaches today. Why? 1) we have NO PLAN!!!!! These beaches require a car and we don't have a car; and 2) my mama ain't going to no beach. So...walk around the city it is! Except uh...we can't walk to the city. We need a ride just to get in. Noooo! Really, is this day going to get any worse? (drama much?)
I had actually (sacrilege) looked into booking an excursion on Mykonos through RCI since we didn't really have any other options. The only one that looked attractive was visiting Delos, which I thought looked kind of awesome. But we opted not to do it as it was crazy expensive through the ship and after Ephesus - we were kind of "ruined" out. We didn't feel like spending the day hiking over lava hot rocks under the sun with no shade and my parents really didn't want to listen to a guide they half understood (with Greek accents to boot) and wait for me to translate. So after discussing it, we opted to just spend the day strolling the city and buy some souvenirs.
Anyway, we wake up whenever we want to, and since there's nothing exciting going on in Mykonos that we know of, we mosey our way to the buffet. We're so uncivilized. We usually head to the main dining room for breakfast at least once a cruise - it's open seating - but I think we just wanted to stuff ourselves in a shameful manner without any witnesses to our gluttony (well, at least no wait staff taking orders. Even people as thick skinned as we are - except when it comes to buying those $10,000 Turkish rugs that is - become a little bit embarrassed ordering 4 entrees each) so we can still live in denial. After we have satisfactorily gorged ourselves for a meal that at home consists of only a sad lonely bowl of oatmeal and a banana (sob!!!), we waddle off the ship.
Ugh. Ugh I say. The port is...not beautiful. Also, the port sucks donkey balls because unless you wanna spring for a taxi (mebbe we should have) you gotta get on the RCI shuttle to get into town. WHICH SUCKS ASS. You know why it sucks ass? Because they charge you $10 per person!!! To ride to the town. Of course, we have no idea just where town is as WE HAD NO WARNING WE WERE GOING TO MYKONOS (do you feel my rage? do you?!), and like lemmings, we get in line with everyone else. Because you know, we're mindless followers. But as we don't want to just sit on our butts on the ship the first time we're in Greece, we have to go somewhere. So we get to the front of the line (where I inadvertently cut in front of some dude - sorry man!) where we give them our cabin number and they charge us up the wazoo. Yes, I feel violated. We get these dinky little tickets we have to hold onto if we wanna get back on the shuttle bus and we get into another line for the buses themselves.
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| do you see how excited we are to visit Mykonos? |
Yes, I am a cheap ass, I freely admit it. But dude...we get on the bus and it takes us a MILE down the road and drops us off. Uh...a mile? Why did no one tell me I was paying $10 to take us a mile away? I could've walked that in freakin' 15 minutes! That wasn't worth $10! Ugh. Double ugh.
However, despite my cantankerous mood, even I have to admit that Mykonos is beautiful. The water is so incredibly blue and clear - it actually reminds me of Croatia. So even though I'm being deliberately pissy, even I can't deny just how picturesque this place is and snap photos like I've got a half naked Hugh Jackman before me.
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| the beach is sooo pretty. But the sand really sucked - it wasn't fine and soft, it felt like...rocks :( |
However, even though it's beautiful, it's freakishly windy! I will spare you the photos we took by the beach because my uh, hair - it decides it wants to be an afro in the wind and it's straight up flying for freedom. Not only that, but our clothes are all blown askew and I'm feeling seriously retarded about wearing a skirt since it really feels like I'm going to be flashing Greece and doing some nasty ass photo bombing But damn it! All I wanted was to tan my pasty white legs and I didn't have shorts (sob!). But I'll show you some where it was sorta windy, but not as windy and afro style (and almost nekkid style) as it was by the beach!
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| my dad's hair is too short to be flying in the wind, but you can see some of my mama's flyaways |
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| this is nothing, nothing like the wind by the beach |
When I say it was freakishly windy, I mean it was freakishly windy. It was so windy that I really felt like I could lean into the wind and I wouldn't even fall. When we tried to take photos by the beach, my mama thought her camera was going to blow away!
Even so, I can still appreciate just how cute and quaint this place is. This is what I imagine Greece to look like...well, from movies anyway. It's adorable! The houses are built staggered onto these hills and they're all completely white washed. I got the impression they were getting ready for the summer crowds as we saw several workers repainting the buildings and actually painting white edges on the flagstone ground. It's clear they take great pride in their appearance and make an effort to complement their spectacular scenery as flowers also abound - overflowing pots, window boxes, terraces, and even roofs.
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| something out of a movie, right? (see the windmill on the hill?) |
The streets are narrow and in places, very steep and twist their way up the hills and flow down again. The first thing I did when we got to the shopping streets (away from the crazy afro-creating wind) was drag my mama into a clothing store because I needed summer clothes in the worst way! I didn't bring any shorts with me and in the hot sticky weather, didn't want to clomp around the ship in my jeans anymore (sob!). I found a sundress I liked but decided to come back later since I didn't want to lug a bag around with me while we wandered the streets. It really is an incredibly photogenic place. We were only there for 3 hours or so and while we didn't do anything, it was a really nice place (aside from the crazy high winds I'm guessing is an anomaly) to just stroll around and get lost in.
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| see the white borders surrounding the stones on the ground? We saw them paint those! |
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| my mama loves this tree (growing on and above the building) - not only is it beautiful and vibrant in color, it rocked her world that it grew out of a tiny little niche (below) |
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| see? all that tree - tiny lil' root |
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| tiny little bank too. But must be a nice place to work |
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| I'm not sure what I was doing, but I'm pretty sure I wasn't posing or voguing for the camera. But the flowers behind me are so pretty - pots like this decorate almost all the houses we passed. |
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| why did they paint this tree??? |
After wandering around the maze of streets, we finally get tired of the sun. And we're hungry. And my parents really don't feel like trying Greek food (aside from our cheapassedness in wanting to eat free cruise food) so we mosey our way down the hills and try to find our way back to where our stupid shuttle dropped us off. I mean, we paid for it, might as well use it, right? On the way to the shuttle, I swing by the little shop I was in earlier and my mama and I each buy a sundress. Once again, I hide behind my mama (without shame) and she bargained with the shop lady. I'm not sure if you're suppose to bargain there at all, but my fearless mama sure did, and we got a couple of euros knocked off. Yay!
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| even though the port wasn't really pretty, the water sure was |
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| walking back towards the promised land...the land of air conditioning and buffets |
We head back to our cabin, drop our stuff off and (of course) change into our new sundresses. Hey! We're not the only ones. LOTS of chicks on the cruise started busting out their Greek sundresses. Then we head to the buffet. It's a good thing I got an empire waist dress :)
For the rest of the afternoon, we split off. I head off to hang at the solarium again (where my retinas are once again assaulted by horrific images of gross men in speedos) and I'm there during sail away. Apparently my parents are hanging on the balcony of our room during sail away because I find these on my camera:
At some point we all find ourselves back at the cabin at the same time and go where? to the buffet of course (like there's any other place - puhleeze) where once again, we proceed to do much damage to the size of our asses by eating everything in sight. My dad, excited about the prospect of a show (I honestly think he had no idea what was playing, but he said something about "headliners" and presumed it had to be awesome) wanted to live it up. Being the old party pooper I am, I informed my parents that I would be headed to where nerds like me live - the library. Ahhhh.
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| I lurve the library! |
A place that's quiet, smells nice, has comfortable chairs, and I can have some uninterrupted time with my kindle. I'm there for about an hour until my parents find the library and drag me to the show. Which was pretty good - it was The Emperors of Soul - which I did enjoy, though I'm wondering if my dad knew any songs other than My Girl. Doesn't matter, he had a good time anyway. He was on his feet clapping to the beat - which lemme tell you, don't just happen anywhere. Next stop for dad - gangsta rap!
Once the hour show was over, it was about 10 pm and all my old tired ass wanted to do was get ready for bed. You know, because I'm awesome and exciting like that. Although I have to admit - I was kind of tempted by the silent party at The Dungeon (an awesomely themed disco that lovers of Dungeons and Dragons would drool over) - one in which everyone who goes in is handed headphones and you dance around the disco. Did I want to dance around the disco? No, but I kinda wanted to see other people dance like retards in the silence. Hehehe.
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| disco to the super nerds |
But alas, I decide to walk back to my cabin and sit on the balcony instead. I'm old bitches! I need time to unwind at night. And it's not until then that I notice some of the awesomely weird art that decorate the hallway outside our cabin.
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| puppets? sure... |
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| I don't even know what this is |
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| how apropos in being right outside our door. Clearly saying "Asians live here!" (for the week anyway) |
I walk in to see this:
I have to admit, I still haven't figured out just what this is. Any ideas?
Thus ends our first day in Greece. Not as exciting as I thought it would be (back when I thought I'd be hiking up the Areopagus and to the Acropolis and all), but I can't say it was a bad day. Except for taking it up the butt when I purchased those useless shuttle tickets (and almost flashed the world in those hurricane winds), not a whole lotta complaints :)
Up next - Crete.
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