ISLAND LIFE: SETTLING IN ON MYKONOS

I didn't sleep the last night in Amsterdam - well, maybe for about 30 minutes before the 4AM wake-up call came. I don't know; just couldn't get comfortable. Our 645AM flight to Athens on Transavia Airlines was uneventful, and we easily figured out the Athens Metro (light rail system) to the Acropolis station, and walked the 2 blocks to our hotel. We freshened up a bit, changed clothes, and went to breakfast (for us) at about 1PM. We asked for the bill, anxious to get to a nap, when the FriedFish walked in following their drive to Athens from Meteora. "OK, we'll linger a bit while you 4 eat;" and we did. That evening (after a long nap) we sat outdoors at a restaurant with the lighted Acropolis behind us. Not a bad way to ease into Greece.

Villa Cleo, Mykonos. We are across the bay from Mykonos town, so we can watch the rythmic arrival and departure of cruise ships, including the huge 4-master anchored off the old port. Mykonos is windy, and the first day was, we were told, windier than usual. Today (day 2) it is a gentler wind that keeps us somewhat cool. Eric and I did the shopping yesterday, trying to stock up for the week in order to avoid more shopping. It was grueling and expensive, but we survived the produce shop, supermarket, bakery and fish market. The only problem was that the refrigerator stopped working shortly after we loaded an expensive bunch of groceries into it! Phone calls to the villa concierge, a big cooler chest and bags of ice, and a bit of frantic activity got the perishables chilled, and a repairman was scheduled to come out today (Sunday) to fix it. This morning when I got up, the fridge was working fine! As per the repairman, the combination of high humidity, the large load we put in, and the poor design of European appliances (a Siemens) caused the coils to ice up, and the machine started working again once the ice melted because the fridge shut itself down.

So we are settling into the routine: wake up whenever we like, make Greek coffees, lounge around, jump into the pool (saltwater, but very pleasant), eat breakfast (today was a marvelous omelette by Max), go down to our "private beach," lounge around some more, jump into the pool, think about making lunch, and etcetera. It's about 3PM now, and a campari-soda was just delivered to me as I sit outside writing this post. I sure hope I can survive a week of this!

The internet here is very iffy. We seem to be connected, but a real connection to a server is intermittent. I'll put a few photos in here, hit "send," and hope that at some point, the post actually makes it to the blog.



Day 1 dinner: sauteed prawns, Greek salad, challah bread (well, that's what it looked like), white wine.



Villa Cleo, early morning.




Sherry on the patio



Villa Cleo, breakfast is ready. Typical white stucco plaster construction with arched doorways, open beam ceiling.




Life is a beach, and this is ours.




Petey Boy the monkey, getting his Fix on Mykonos.

Kalamera everyone!

- posted from the fisheyepad