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Exploring Mykonos

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Waking up to a bright and sunny Mykonos we took advantage of the beautiful weather and decided to explore the island as best we can. First order of business was to teach Ben how to operate a scooter, and convince the hire shop that his Australian Motorcycle Learner’s would qualify him to ride one… Good news is, Ben is a quick study and we were on the road!

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Of course, the only problem is to figure out exactly -how- to get where you want to go. The Map we had was fairly useless as it was designed for kids with colouring in pencils and had no detail whatsoever. No mater, we couldn’t get -that- lost and luckily our hotel was close to the main town.

The problem with Mykono’s streets is that most of them are dead ends. You may think you’ll be able to reach your intended destination if you head in the right direction and indeed you’ll be damn close and see it but encounter rocky mountains or man-made walls.   

It mattered not though as we had so much fun exploring the old tight roads and weaving through traffic. IMG_0924.JPG

The girls were a little concerned riding on these old noisy scooters. It is the way to travel on this island though as many lanes are two way but are only big enough for a single car. So unless you’re a local and know the tricks I think scooters are the way to go. Plus the top speed on the island is officially 60km/h, but you wouldn’t know it looking at the traffic.

I’m not sure if there is any official police presence on the island, as it seems everyone does what they want to do. Our guide warned us to wear our helmets or face $350euro fine. To be honest, I think our heads our worth more then any damn fine and I find it silly for so many cyclist riding around without the right gear.
The whole island has a feeling of a bit of the ‘wild-west’ in terms of lack of law and order. Nothing serious, indeed it’s a great feeling laid-back carelessness that’s just what we need to kick back and relax.

In the evening we decided to head up to the lighthouse which we’re told has the best view of Sunsets on the islands. Unfortunately for us we never quite made it to the light-house. We got to about 200-meters of it from the wrong road, but it was breath-taking view none-the-less. IMG_0911.JPG  

Here’s three of us looking at the various wonders from the top of the mountain with Cara taking the happy snap. Speaking for my beautiful wife here she is with me as the Sun as finally settling.
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You can tell the weather is a little bit cold. It’s nice and warm when the Sun is out but a bit chilly and very windy otherwise. I loved running around on the Scooters exploring this island with Cara sitting behind as a pillion rider.

I’ve always favoured visiting new places on two wheels instead of four. You can see more, feel more, smell more, and if you want to stop you can park virtually anywhere. To be honest we took these little scooters father and on far more steep and rocky roads then they were originally intended. There were a few moments with two people on a single scooter simply didn’t work as we ascended some very steep peaks.

So naturally the girls had to jump off as Ben and I raced up to see if the view was worth it!

Written by Blade

May 6th, 2009 at 3:23 am

Posted in Diary

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