After Santorini, we headed off to the party island of Mykonos, famous for it's all-day, all-night beach parties...strange destination for a honeymoon you may be thinking...well Simone was thinking the same after hearing all about Richard's last trip to Mykonos.
Fortunately, there is plenty more to this stunning island than just dj's, dance podiums and Ouzo...as we discovered, Mykonos has several stunning beaches with crystal clear water and sand (which is a treat in Europe), has some fabulous restaurants and a gorgeous town offering great shopping!
We found the most wonderful little hotel a 10min walk from town, with a roof-top pool and bar and a wonderful hostess, Anna who gave us plenty of helpful hints and tips for enjoying this island paradise.
When we wanted to hire a car, Anna had one delivered to the hotel for us and collected from the hotel when we were done. When we didn't have the energy to walk into town for dinner, she had someone from a local restaurant collect us from the hotel in a car and drop us back off after our meal...nothing was too much trouble for her and it really made our stay that much more enjoyable!
We spent our 4days here reading and swimming at the lovely beaches, watching the sunset with a cocktail in hand by the pool, enjoying some traditional Greek cuisine at the numerous tavernas and tapas restaurants in town and doing our part to help the struggling Greek economy with some serious shopping...all in all, a relaxing and enjoyable few days.
As in Santorini, all of the houses in and around the town are all painted white. Simone had developed a theory that there was a little man whose job it was to continually repaint all the buildings on the island to keep them spotlessly white. He would begin on one side of the town and by the time he got to the other end, he would just start again.
Richard was very skeptical of this idea until on our last day we walked around a corner and there he was with a paint brush in one hand and a tin of white paint by his side...the little man whose job it is to keep everything white.
We reluctantly left Mykonos for the fascinating and searingly hot city of Athens.
Upon arrival in our hotel room, we drew back the curtains only to see an un-interrupted view of the Acropolis!!!
Our hotel also had a roof-top view of this ancient monument which many guests made use of at sunset.
After plenty of begging and negotiating, Richard agreed to let us spend our first afternoon in Athens shopping...when every shop is offering discounts between 50%-70% off, it would be a crime not to. It was not for lack of trying, but by the end of our 5 hour shopping spree, it was only Richard who held a bunch of shopping bags in his hands. This has got to be the only country in the world that has a better selection of men's clothes than women's.
We got down to business on our second and final day in Athens and signed up for a walking tour of the city and it's ancient sights. The first stop on the tour was one of the many metro stations build in 2004 for the Athens Olympic games.
When excavating these sights to build the metro stations, the developers came across various artifacts, skeletal remains and ruins from buildings dating back to the bronze era. To preserve this history, each metro station has a museum inside displaying the findings from that particular site!
We then saw the parliament house and the protests that are currently going on given the economic crisis this country is facing but, as our guide pointed out, it would be a shame to visit the birthplace of democracy without seeing a protest.
It was then onto the temple of Zeus and the Acropolis...both absolutely fascinating. The influence that Greek history, culture and language has had on western civilization is quite mind blowing. We thoroughly enjoyed every second of this tour and our heads were full to the brim with new knowledge by the end.
We ended our afternoon with a trip to the new Acropolis museum which houses all the restored sculptures and artifacts found on and around the Acropolis. This has been voted among the top 5 museums in the world and we could see why. The whole building is suspended above a live archeological dig that has uncovered remains from as far back as the bronze Era.
Each floor has a Perspex floor so that wherever you are in the building, you can see the exposed ruins below. The top floor has an amazing display of all the original sculptures and freezes that decorated the Parthenon and a video presentation illustrating what the Acropolis looked like over the years.
It was then time for us to pack our bags, have our last of many meals of souvlaki and Greek salad and head back to the airport to fly to Croatia...the adventure continues.
We're missing you all lots.
Rich and Simone x
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