Greek Isles Part One: Mykonos

A famous windmill with "Little Venice"
in the background

Wow, we have been so blessed this past month to enjoy some amazing travels! For nearly three weeks we enjoyed visiting three different countries with just brief stops back in Zurich in between each trip. Needless to say there's a bit of catch up to be done on this blog! And while it was a bit chaotic and tiring, it was full of once in a lifetime experiences!


To start everything off in the middle of May we headed to Greece for a week with our time being split between the islands of Mykonos and Santorini. We knew after our brief stop in Athens last November that we really enjoyed the Greek people and the history we saw, so we were eagerly awaiting our trip to the islands to not only enjoy another taste of the Greek people but also a bit of warm weather.

We arrived in Mykonos late in the afternoon on Wednesday and the first day was all about being lazy and enjoying the beautiful weather, so after an extremely warm welcome by the staff at our hotel we quickly found ourselves enjoying a late lunch, a cocktail, and some time in the pool. Little miss Emma also quickly found herself at home in the pool after being only somewhat recently introduced to the water. Even though it was still a little cool we couldn't keep her out of the water!



Not a bad start to vacation...

Our little fish

Too many great photos!

After settling in we enjoyed the evening wandering around the town of Mykonos as we were staying just on the outskirts of the city. It was picture perfect blue skies to see the famous windmills and just wander the narrow streets in awe of the beautiful white washed buildings. It was hard to stop meandering and looking in all the fun shop windows to eat dinner, but once we did we found a restaurant situated in a gorgeous garden covered in a canopy of trees where we could enjoy some wonderful Greek seafood. We were puzzled as to why we were the only people eating there and had everyone waiting on us hand and foot. When I asked I was simply told that we were still early in the season and although the crowds were starting to pick up quickly it was still relatively quiet so they were staffed and ready to go but not surprised to not see more guests. Needless to say we enjoyed the extra attention and all the staff loved our daughter who spent the evening eating up all the attention! Cue the recurring story from all of our following trips of a very petite and adorable 10 month going on 11 month old that loves to wave, smile, giggle, offer pacifiers, clap, play peek-a-boo, and generally just be cute and demand attention from everyone she meets!

Another view of the beautiful windmills

Little Venice is full of nice restaurants and bars right on the water

Tiny alleyways and colorful stairs!

A busy friendmaker at our gorgeous restaurant the first night

Day two we spent the morning exploring more of the town of Mykonos, visiting some historic sites including a few beautiful old churches, and hiking to a great lookout point over the city. Having ate a big breakfast that morning at our hotel (where Emma also decided to say one of her very first words - banana, or more commonly manana) we skipped lunch and instead opted to stop for a "snack" at one of the many tasty crepe and ice cream cafes. It was a good choice for the start of vacation!

So picturesque

Mykonos harbor

Church of Paraportiani

View of Mykonos town and harbor

We headed back to the hotel for more swimming and relaxation at the hotel that afternoon. We also took a quick walk over to the nearby beach, but unfortunately Emma didn't know what to make of the Mediterranean waves so it was short lived. It was still a nice afternoon followed by a trip back into town for a dinner for some traditional Greek lamb.

Our little movie star... not wanting to get too close to those waves!

On our way to dinner strolling through Little Venice

Come Friday and our final full day on Mykonos we decided to take the 40 minute ferry ride to the nearby island of Delos. Delos is famous for its role in Greek mythology and archaelogical finds. Although we did not find it to be as impactful as visiting the Acropolis or some other sites in Athens, it still was very intriguing and simply amazing that they believe some of the original huts were built in the 3rd millenium BC

Island of Delos from the water

The Terrace of the Lions was dedicated to Apollo and originally had 9 to 12 lions with many similarities to the
Egyptian avenue of Sphinxes

Remains of an ancient village

Loving her new friend!

After spending a couple hours on the extremely windy island we made our way back to Mykonos where we spent the afternoon exploring another nearby beach (although no swimming attempts were even made as it was quite cool), and we relaxed by our pool again. It was fun to spend some time talking and getting to know the people that worked at our hotel better. Talking to the pool/bar manager further solidified how friendly and welcoming the Greek people really are. Everyone seems to simply love children and want to do anything they can to help out. From waiters & waitresses the first night offering to hold/watch Emma while we ate, to the lady managing the breakfast room at the hotel bringing special treats for Emma, to that afternoon this man bringing out a giant dinosaur for Emma to love on, they went out of the way to help! Later that evening we even ran into the restaurant manager from a previous night's dinner while out walking around and he was so cute as to put Emma up on his scooter and let her help rev the engine. I simply could not get enough of these people. So while some people might say not to go to the Greek Isles with children and to instead just enjoy it as a romantic spot, I might say the opposite as so far in our experiences there are few places you will find where people will be so welcoming and helpful to a family with children!

No swimming today, but enjoying our afternoon poolside nonetheless and teaching Emma new things!

She loved the Momma cat and her kittens that lived around the hotel

Come Saturday morning we had only a few hours to enjoy the island before taking off on the ferry to the island of Santorini. Although most people might hope to skip working out while on a vacation like this, with a marathon only a couple weeks down the road I didn't have much of a choice and so Saturday morning I squeezed in my last semi-long run. I couldn't have asked for a much more stunning place to run. While it might not be the most runner friendly and the one thing that I don't like about the Greeks is that they frown largely on women exercising it was still perhaps one of the best places I have ever run (one of the others is Santorini!).

While we were sad to be leaving the island of Mykonos come afternoon we were so excited to be headed to Santorini to enjoy some more Greek hospitality and another beautiful island!

What a helper!



One last shot with the windmills!

Waiting for the ferry and someone wants to practice her walking!