Day 2 - "The Windmills of my Mind..."
We started the day with some buffet breakfast at the hotel, which for me was an eclectic mix of cucumber, feta cheese, scrambled egg, sausage and tomato ketchup. Andrew opted for the far more trad toast and marmalade, coffee and Greek yoghurt...I then had a whistle stop tour of the local supermarkets to find some swimming shorts for Andrew as I had forgotten to pack them (whoops! But how about you do your own packing JUST SAYING!).
Today was turning out to be an absolute scorcher, so we decided to devote our first morning to sunbaking and generally lazing around the pool. Our hotel has two swimming pools, one by the bar, and a smaller one up the back end of the hotel where our room is. This one was completely deserted apart from us - bliss! So we spent a happy couple of hours there, swinging on the hammocks and dipping into the FREEZING pool. It came to an end as Andrew realised he was wearing factor 30 rather than 50, and he darted back inside like a frightened vampire.
We were ready for lunch anyway, so we went on our first trip to Mykonos Town. As the taxis are so expensive, and driving would be terrifying as every junction resembles the first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan, we decided to negotiate the bus to the town. The bus stop is conveniently at the top of the road, and and was only about a 10 minute wait until the bus arrived. In this time we were approached by an American girl wearing pretty much nothing but dental floss, asking us how long until the next bus arrived. I told her, only for her to reply "Oh forget it, I'm just going to use THESE (indicating her boobs) to get a ride". Ridiculous. Satisfyingly, about 30 seconds after she strutted away, the bus came!
Navigating around the mostly pedestrianised Mykonos Town was pretty cool. The layout of the streets is very jumbled, as the town was designed to confuse any invaders/pirates, so it's a delightful place to get thoroughly lost (which we did!). Our first destination was Little Venice, so called because the buildings in this part of town come right up to the water's edge and are reminiscent of Venice. It's a really romantic spot, with the waves crashing over the first row of tables at the high-end restaurants perched perilously close to the shoreline. This is also the area where the iconic windmills of Mykonos stand proudly over the town. These five structures are imposing and beckon you up the hill to have a closer look. We scrambled up amongst other tourists, and whilst the views back over the town are lovely, you can't look inside them or find out any info or history. But it was still a great photo op! "Like a circle in a circle, like a wheel within a wheel..."
We skipped back down the hill to find a place for lunch. The restaurants and bars in Little Venice are very cool, but were strangely uninviting and you pay a high premium for having such an impressive view, so our search for lunch took us past here and back into the labyrinthine town. The narrow streets between dazzling white buildings are gorgeous, with bougainvillea bursting forth on every corner, but it's PACKED with tourists. And HOT. Just as I was about to sweat completely though my shirt and on the cusp of throwing my toys out of the pram, we stumbled across the Cafe Manto. This is set in a lovely walled garden in the middle of the jostling streets, and is a proper oasis of calm. Shady trees, goldfish ponds, and tweeting birds all made for a graceful respite from the sweaty tourists - and there's also an open air cinema there. Hooray! I love the cinema...
So we ate there - I had some yummy scrummy vine leaves and tzatziki. Delish. Suitably cooled down and refreshed we plunged back into the maze of streets and came across Katerina's Bar, one of the bars in Little Venice which have balconies jutting over the sea. We were welcomed in enthusiastically by a handsome bar man (they know their audience...) and it was a really lovely little bar, with a fantastic view back across the water over Little Venice and the Windmills (see pics!). I had a gorge mango daiquiri, and Andrew had some vodka and basil (bleugh) concoction. I'd really recommend it even for just one cocktail (they were pricey) as it's a chilled out space with a great view. After our cocktails, we had a brief return to the hotel to get ready to hit the town again for our first proper night out in Mykonos.
On our meanderings earlier on in the day we had earmarked a tiny restaurant sandwiched between two buildings called Ollo. It looked really cute with only a handful of tables and we were lucky to get one at the front of the restaurant. My salmon was totes scrummy, but Andrew's souvlaki was sadly average. The great thing about this spot though was that the people watching was incredible! It's right on one of the main pedestrian arteries coming into town, and the tourists were pouring in in their hundreds! There's a real variety of people drawn to Mykonos it seems: families, couples, the gay scene is really well established, groups of lads and girls dressed to the NINES. However the overwhelming atmosphere is one of a Real Housewives or Made in Chelsea vibe. Which is fine, but it does mean that people are quite, well...rude and obnoxious. Not wanting to sound too negative, it was starting to annoy me - turns out all I needed was to get drunk and belt out some showtunes! After dinner we headed to a Mykonian institution called Montparnasse - a piano bar with a balcony over the sea. It's primarily a gay bar, but all are welcome and the atmosphere was delightful! It's presided over by a seasoned old pro (I've forgotten her name but she was totally great!) who is accompanied by a guy on an old upright in the corner, and they perform show tunes and pop ballads. Perfect! As we arrived she started to belt out "Downtown" encouraging the audience to sing along, so we knew it would be our kind of place! After a set list that took us through 3 (yes 3!) songs from the Sound of Music, a dash of Phantom, a splash of The Carpenters AND a curveball rendition of a song from Hamilton (a bold choice considering she was about 65...) we wended our way home full of wine and Mythos. A good start to the holiday! It's Andrew's birthday tomorrow (it's threatening thunderstorms tomorrow, so fingers crossed...) so more blog then! Bet you can't wait...xx