Settling in to Mykonos

Mykonos is one of the most popular of the Greek islands.  It has a very dry climate and is mostly tree-less.  Mostly Mykonos is known for the energetic nightlife that begins when bars open at ten in the evening and continues until sunrise.  I cannot for the life of me understand how people can stay up that late!  Our hotel has poolside music and entertainment from seven until ten in the evening.   That works perfectly for us, and I assumed we were in the one spot on the island where people go to sleep at a reasonable hour.  What I found out is that hanging out poolside is what folks do before their evening starts!  That just made me feel old and tired!  But now I'm up and outdoors bright and early and have the whole place to myself.

Yesterday Leroy and I walked down the hill into Mykonos Town to explore the maze of narrow streets.  It's pretty much a walking town, much like the Old City in most places we've been on this trip.  The streets are so narrow (less than ten feet in some places) that when delivery vehicles squeeze through, it's necessary to find a place inside a store to get out of the way.  The streets are paved with stones that are painted gray and outlined in white.  All buildings are whitewashed and trimmed with bright blue, red, green, purple, etc.  The center of town is highly concentrated with souvenir shops, high-end designer stores, and restaurants that hang over the bay.  When cruise ships are in the harbor, the place is packed with tourists with floppy hats and big cameras (which pretty much describes us as well!)

There is no mention of Mykonos in the Bible, though it's easy to imagine the Apostle Paul passing by on one of his missionary journeys.  Mykonos is mostly connected to ancient Greek mythology.  It's the location of the battle between Zeus and the Titans.  From where I am sitting as I write, I can see the island of Delos which is the most important mythological, historical, and archeological site in Greece.  We will visit Delos while we are here in Mykonos.