Cruise Day 9: Mykonos, Greece

We got the blood flowing today with a run on deck four of the Disney Magic.  Our ship moored at the "New Port" in Mykonos, Greece.  Katherine and I were here once before in 2011 with her brother, but it looked nothing like what we now saw at the port.  It was just a flat barren landing area for the ships.  Most of it was dirt and there were no buildings or security, and there was certainly no small inner harbor.

This is how the "New Port" looks today.

Back then, we were at this location waiting for a 2:00 am ferry to take us to Samos, and then to Turkey.  We spent many hours waiting for that boat and were all alone with Andrew and some cats at this place.  Wow! It has changed.

Below are the old posts about our travels here in 2011.

Mykonos 2011 Day 1

Mykonos 2011 Day 2

Our tour today was brief, but took us to places on the island we didn't see before.  We met up with my mom and dad after the run, got breakfast, and headed to the tour bus.

Many tourists rent four wheelers to tour this small island.  And, this Greek island might be small, but it has a huge party scene!

This is a cool map of the island our tour guide pointed out.  On the map you can see the airport runway.  That really gives you a sense of how small this place really is.

Me trying to be funny on the bus.

We stopped at a quiet cove area just to take a look around and allow time for people to take pictures.  Our tour guide told me a few things that I never knew about the island.  For one thing, some families build and maintain a chapel on their property.  It is always aligned east to west and built about the size of a small bedroom.  Not all properties have one, we were told, since they are expensive.  Inside they keep the remains of deceased family members so the living will always be near their ancestors.  Once we knew what to look for, we saw these chapels all over the palce.  Yes, creepy indeed.  

A second thing that was new to me was that there are pigeon houses across the island.  In the past the islanders would eat these birds for meals.  In liking the meat, and also needing it with the limited resources on this desert island, they would build little roosts for the pigeons.  Today, the roosts still remain in places and the design of the roosts are used in many of the houses.   We were told that no one eats the piegons any more.  I do not believe it. Why would you pass up a good meal?

We stopped at Panagia Tourliani Monastery which is one of the oldest monasteries in the Greek islands.  This place was used as a hideout to stay safe from the pirates.  With the giant wall around it and it's great vantage point from atop a hill, we can see why. 

After the monastery we stopped for a little sampling of Greek food.  In the pic below we are trying a few types of olives, the local cheese, tzatziki sauce, bread with tomato, a lamb meatball, and glass of Ouzo.  This was a perfect lunch snack before we headed back to the ship.

After our snack, we stopped at a small beach.  We had time to sip a cold drink and take in the beautiful scenery.  For me, the beautiful scenery included the Jeep below.  Yes please!

Katherine and I got back on the ship, while my parents stayed out for a bit of time after the tour and walked the streets of Mykonos Town.  The village center is full of winding streets and colorful white walls.  I was a little tired and wanted to hit up the ship's water slides before our fancy dinner at Palo.

There are 2 water slides onboard the Disney Magic.  The first slide we tried is found in the Aqua Lab pool area, which is designed for young kids.  The slide, however, is pretty large and to ride it you have to be taller than most of the kids that are playing in this area.  We climbed the stairs all the way to the top, where there was only a line of 3 kids and 1 adult in front of us.  Katherine and I both took the lead of the experienced water sliders, and when it was our turn launched ourselves forward by swinging off of the bar at the top of the slide.  With the little extra push to get you started, you really haul down this thing.  The splash pool at the bottom to stop you was deeper than we expected, and left us both temporarily blinded and breathing in a bit of water.  Also, you move quite fast so the joints that hold the sections of the slide together can really do a number on bare skin.  Next time we'll follow the lead of the seasoned veterans and wear a shirt.  Overall, this is a really fun water slide.  Even though you find it where the tiny kids are playing, it can give big kids a thrill too. 

Our next stop was the slide called the Aqua Dunk.  This bad boy is not for the faint of heart.  You stand on a near vertical platform that drops out from underneath you, causing a couple seconds of super fast slide riding fun that takes you out in a transparent tube over the edge of the ship before you are dumped into the splash pool at the bottom.  When we started to climb the stairs there was a sign that said it was a 40 minute wait from that point.  Luckily, there were only 3 kids in front of us.  We saw that we were once again wearing improper protective gear for the slide.  The experts were fully covered.  One boy said he already rode the slide 30 times this week, and wished us good luck.  Katherine went first and pretty much lost her bikini once she hit the splash pool.  She had anticipated this, but still experienced a wardrobe malfunction at the bottom and was trying not the give all the children too much of a show.  I followed, and also had the pleasure of hitting the splash pool with so much speed that I thought my shorts had blown off.  Once I got my bearings I realized that they were just crammed into my butt crack.  I also had red lines down my back for the next hour.  If I ever find myself on this cruise ship again, I will definitely ride this slide, but with different swimwear.  It is like being flushed down a toilet of fun.

We didn't have time to ride the slides more than once, because we had to get ready for our dinner at Palo.  After having such a nice brunch at the restaurant earlier in the cruise, we were really looking forward to the meal.  It did not disappoint.  

After the Palo dining experience we headed to deck nine for a night time walk.  My camera lens had some fog on it from the temperature change and dew point which created a nice unintended effect.

Tomorrow will be a sea day on our way to Malta.  We are all really excited since none of us have ever been there.  My friends that have been there say that it's awesome, so we can't wait to check it out.

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