Two Days in Mykonos Greece

On our way back from Karachi we always try to take a little side trip. Something to help us unwind from all the craziness of that trip. The first time we made a three day stop in Istanbul, the time after that we spent five days in Denmark. This time we spent nine days in Greece. 

M obviously did not have that many vacation days so he spent the first week in Karachi working from home. :(

We left Karachi in the wee hours of the night, we flew Turkish Air and landed in Turkey in the morning. After a four hour layover we arrived in Athens in the afternoon. We made the executive decision to not do anything that night. We checked into a lovely boutique hotel - Estia Boutique Apartments, in a slightly sketchy (up and coming) neighborhood just a stone throw away from the hustle and bustle. We checked into our lovely apartment esque room and showered and rested until it was time for dinner. Coming in from Karachi we had three checked bags and four hand carries. The hotel allowed us to store the larger pieces of luggage with them while we continued our trip with only our hand carries. 

For dinner we went to the Egg of the Rooster and went to bed early as we had a very early flight to catch to Mykonos!

Mykonos is generally referred to as the party island, it is a hot spot for celebrities and billionaires. So I was a bit on the fence about how much we were going to love this island but I was so relieved when we got there. It was beautiful. And while yes it was lined with designer store after designer store we did not at all feel out of place.

We landed in Mykonos pretty early and had a driver waiting to take us to our hotel - Mykonos Bay Resort and Hotel, which was on a steep hill. The staff was waiting to welcome us and had a table full of breakfast ready for us in the restaurant. I did not expect that. Most hotel do not provide you with the free breakfast before you have officially checked in.. and the breakfast OMG! 

and they were so accommodating to D's allergies. Couldn't have had a better start to the day. Our room was not ready, so we dropped off all our stuff and headed out, let the exploring begin!

The old town or as they say Chora was a 12 minute walk from the hotel. Most of it was going down the steep hill our hotel was on and the rest was along the side of a high traffic main road. Dozens of people were walking along the road to and fro the Chora. All the fruit trees along the way. I had no idea a fig tree was so fragrant.

Our first stop was the Windmills of Mykonos. They were built by the Venetians in the 16th century and were primarily used to mill wheat. 

Then we continued to walk through the winding streets of the beautiful Chora. 

The streets were lined with over priced shops and designers brands. But it was so pretty and white everywhere you looked. Yummy smells wafting out of the restaurants. 

We stopped for lunch at Souvlaki Story

Next stop was the Panagia Paraportiani Church. It was white is all I can really say.. unfortunately when you travel a lot things don't always impress you as easily. Jaded :(

Then we continued our walk through Little Venice, which as you may have guess is architecturally reminiscent of Venice. 

It was such a beautiful day.. 

and then some ice cream at Macarena before heading back to the hotel to see if our room was ready.

It was. So we got checked in and the kids ran off to spend some time in the pool.

The exterior of our room

The hotel was split into two levels half the rooms and a pool at the top of the hill and the other half of the rooms and a pool and beach at the base of the hill. This was the pool closer to our rooms, it was deeper and seemed more of an adult pool. There were no kids around and no one was in the pool except for us. The adults seemed to all be on the loungers. 

After the pool we spent some time in our private jacuzzi! Look at those faces. We had to force them out to take a shower and go back into the Chora for dinner.

We ate dinner at Vagera in Little Venice. We are not big seafood eaters. But I'll have some sometimes and H really wanted to try lobster so we ordered a lobster pasta for us to share. Thankfully the server deshelled the entire lobster at our table before serving it too us. The couple next to us were struggling with their shrimp (shell on) until a server came and showed them out to deshell them.

The dish was good but decided that I don't really love lobster.. the dish would have been equally good with chicken. H felt the same way but was a good sport and finished a majority of his lobster. 

On the way back to the hotel we got a glimpse of the party side of Mykonos. Dozens of young men and women dressed to the nines were descending upon the Chora. Coming out of buses, walking from nearby hotels or riding ATV's which was a popular way to get around the island. The music had begun pumping, the party was just getting started as we headed back to the peace and quiet of our room, a safe distance away from all the noise. 

The next morning we were treated to another scrumptious breakfast and the nicest staff. This day was going to be a pool/beach day. The boys were overjoyed, they love the water.. especially a pool and were thankful they didn't have to do 'all that boring walking'.

We ate poolside

There was a beach at the hotel as well but the kids preferred to stay in the pool.. after a lot more pool time we moved things to the jacuzzi. This day was as you can imagine the kids favorite day. 

Eventually we showered and walked back to Chora for dinner. We had dinner in Little Venice at BouBoulo. It was an extremely average meal.

We finished off the night with some ice cream and headed back to our room just as the partying started. 

While I am aware that Mykonos had more to see than just the Chora and many beautiful beaches that we did not explore. After years of travelling (in the early years) with a checklist and rushing through cities we have changed the way we vacation (especially with kids). No more checklists.. we try to relax and enjoy the place we are in without rushing to see everything, because we never will. In the time that we had we achieved our goal and we were extremely pleased with our stay in Mykonos. 

    

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