Mykonos

Paula and I are enjoying our last day here on the island Mykonos before catching a ferry to the Santorini tomorrow. The weather has turned for the better for at least a couple days, so Paula is down at the beach now and I'm soon to follow.

Mykonos is beautiful with the main town (hora) of narrow, meandering streets. It makes for a confusing walk sometimes. All the buildings throughout Mykonos are white washed walls and roofs with typically blue windows. Very greek and beautiful. We found a great cafe along the waterfront where we could have dinner and desert while watching the Champions League games over the past two nights, so not much more I could ask for.

Yesterday, Paula and I took a day trip to Delos, a small island in the center of the Cyclades that is where Apollo and Artemis were born according to legend. For a long time, Delos was considered the center of Greek religion and culture. There were huge statues and temples on the small island to all sorts of gods and dates back to 8th century B.C. (although the first on the island dates to 3rd Millenium B.C. When the Romans took control of the island, around 200 BC, they turned it into a major port and its esimtated that 10,000 slaves were sold out of the port each day.

When we were in Boston, Paula and I talked about how great the history there was and what it was like to walk the Freedom Trail where Paul Revere rode. However, when you get to a place like Greece and explore sites like the Acropolis and and Delos, its such a long history that its hard to even appreciate fully without a better understanding of Greek mythology and the different civilizations that have lived here. Nevertheless, its very beautiful and interesting.