John Blade's Homepage

Greece relies on tourism to survive. The Greek islands are a bunch of islands similar to Australia Whytsunday’s islands in some ways as they’re geared for tourists and have vast stretches of natural beauty. Cara and I were looking forward to this final part of our trip as we’ll finally be able to relax instead of dragging our bags across half of Europe!

There were also a couple that were going to meet us in Athens for a boat ride as well…

Yes it’s my old mate Ben “MasterCyl” Routeledge and his radiant wife Vikki! The above photo was taken aboard the Ikathaki on our five hour boat ride from Athens to Mykanos. We all had much to talk about and the time passed quickly with stories and news from home. It’s not very often you get to spend time overseas with mates so it’s always great to take the opportunity when you can!

Also another advantage of having friends with us is that they can take photo’s of us for us! Cara and I have been working on our trick ‘hold the camera with one arm and smile’ myspace style shots, but now it’s time to trade camera’s with Ben or Vikki.

It was an awesome boat ride with our new crew of Aussie’s, and docking at midday in Mykonos we were greeted by a guide, picked up by a bus and taken to our hotel. Easy street!

Ben and Vikki were still quite exhausted from their 20 hour Airplane ride just as we were in Paris nearly three weeks ago. So they retired to their rooms early 18h to have a nap. I however had my eyes on a vehicle hire shop only ten minutes walk from our accommodation….

Cara heard a noisy scooter pull up outside our room and wouldn’t-ya-know-it, it was her crazy Husband who had found a scooter to travel the roads of Mykonos! She ran downstairs and jumped on quick-smart as we cruised the empty streets of this awesome little island to find a nice spot for the on-coming sunset.

You have to agree, Mykonos is positively gorgeous.

We rode for an hour and found a nice little spot in an urban area not too far away from our hotel. Stopping to take the beauty in of the horizon we cuddled up and watched the sun drop over the horizon.

The sunset was fantastic, especially being able to watch it drop over the sea. The constant fog (or I suspect pollution haze) reflects the Sun’s rays as it dips down and creates some beautiful pinks and purples.
Cara and I jumped back on the scooter and cruised back home.

Our accommodation here in Mykonos is fantastic, and is very spacious compared to our previous Hotels in our Europe trip. It’s fun by an old Husband/Wife who barely speak English but have hearts of gold and are genuinely warm and welcoming. We spent quite a lot of time communicating with hands and making various noises that are generally universal, but in the end we got there.
Unfortunately for us the electricity has blackouts in our hotel between 8h-18h as there is work on old water pipes nearby. This wouldn’t be a problem except this also means no running water as it’s all pumped… You can imagine trying to ask an old Greek lady for a bucket of water to flush a smelly toilet.

Ben and Vikki rose from their slumber later on in the night and I ferried them and Cara to the main town for dinner at a cute little outdoor Greek restaurant. To be honest the town is only 15 minutes walk away, but why walk up a hill when you can motor up one?