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| The pool at our hotel |
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| Sunset at Kapari beach |
I finally made it to the Greek islands this past weekend, which is what everyone pictures when they think of Greece. It was just like Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants... My school's student government sponsored a trip to Mykonos which is in the Aegean Sea, west of Athens. It was an interesting mix of people because both Greek and study abroad students came, normally as Americans were are pretty isolated from the Greek students. We took an overnight bus from Thessaloniki to Athens and then a five hour ferry to the island. As soon as we got there some of us headed to a small beach called Kapari that was tucked away down a little path. We basically had the beach to ourselves. The water was pretty cold, but it was a beautiful day. We stayed till the sun set and then headed back to our hotel to get ready for a night in Mykonos Town. On Saturday a big group of us went to Paradise beach for the day and rented ATVs so that we could zip around the island and not have to wait for a cab. The island isn't too big, but nothing was really within walking distance from where we were staying so the ATVs were a nice way to see a lot more of Mykonos then we would have by taxi (mostly because we didn't really know where we were going so we got to explore while lost). You could really tell that tourism was just about the only industry on the island--everyone spoke English (even the older generation of people, who normally don't) and there were people on ATVs everywhere, lots of hotels, etc. Anyway Paradise Beach was very nice, and you can also stay there (it's sort of like a hostel with a beach/bar) and a lot of students who came over spring break to Mykonos had already been there. I liked our private beach the first day better, but both were really pretty and a lot of fun. After Paradise we decided to meet up with some more of the group at SUPER Paradise, which was basically just a crazy party on a beach (the name kind of gives that away). It was fun, but once the sun went down it got cold pretty quickly and we headed back to out hotel.
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| At Paradise Beach |
The next day Andrea and I got up early before we had to leave on the ferry and we rode our ATV around the island so I could actually get a chance to see something other than the beaches (she had already been to Mykonos in April and knew where to go). The island has enormous windmills on the hillsides and also by the water, there are whitewashed buildings everywhere, and tiny little streets that you can't take anything bigger than a motorcycle down. It was a beautiful island, obviously a very relaxing weekend, and different from a lot of the other trips I've done this semester. And I couldn't leave Greece without being able to say I've been to at least one of the islands.
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| Andrea and I on a hill looking out over the sea and Mykonos Town |
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| Windmills |
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