Aegean Adventures - Super Paradise Beach Mykonos Pics

Super Paradise beach

The famous Mykonos windmills

A Little Venice alleyway

Yours Truly nipping an espresso near the water

View of Mykonos Island from the mills

Pelicans hanging out

Aegean Adventures - Super Paradise Beach trek in Mykonos

The pier of Hora on Mykonos

I arrived in Mykonos in the midmorning and found an accomodation right off Taxi Square, the pier area of the island’s Hora.

It was a small, easygoing hotel with a safe above the closet, an odd painting of a red lobster eating a plate of fried cheese, a lovely candystriped window covering, and blue shutters.

I wandered the narrow streets of Little Venice familiarizing myself with the jewelry and olive oil soap shops, the name brand retailers and the mousakka sales points. There were many bars and coffee places and when I found one to my liking I nabbed my first espresso of the journey. (I’d been drinking Greek coffee exclusively.)

My trek began with the five most famous residents of Mykonos, the iconic windmills, perched on top orange rock and brush just south of Little Venice. I followed the street beside them past shops and a bus turnaround toward the beaches.

While it is tempting to load up on food and water ahead of the 5.5km trek, I would recommend holding off until one sees the fresh fruit sign - indicating bakeries, a vegetable shop, and an organic food outlet within close proximity to one another.

Though much of the produce is shot up with water here, some very fresh small apples were available. They made my day.

Of the hikes I’ve made on the Greek islands thusfar, the road to Super Paradise was the least spectacular. I suspect, made with friends with a similar beachgoing mindset in season it would be more convivial and exciting.

There are plenty of dovecotes to distract the imagination. There is little subsistance farming to provide pickable wild fruit. The only shops, architecture, or culture of any kind is beachside, limited to alcohol consumption and life sustaining activities.

“Super P”, has blanket-to-blanket visitors during the high season. When I approached it, the crowd had thinned to about a dozen. It was lovely having the wide expanse of golden sand and indigo water largely to myself.

At the beach, I stripped and dove into the sea. I flirted with a man past the last bouy, but he ignored me and went back to shore.

Shortly after, I struck up a conversation with two other naked men from Florence, Italy, and we discussed the before and after of Mykonos. They informed me that their first journey to the beach had been made by boat in 1983, before the tourist infrastructure made driving to the area possible.

We compared notes on the different islands and I resolved to make Delos a stop on my next visit.

Aegean Adventures - Tinos Trek Pics

One of the more intact ruins from the Temple of Poseidon and Aphrodite

The towers of the Panagia Evangelista

A handsome roadside temple

A dovecote near the Panagia Evangelista

Yours Truly hanging out with the lizards in the ruins

Aegean Adventures - Tinos Trek

The port city, Hora, on Tinos.

I purchased a ticket for the ferry traveling from Milos to Andros. It was as far as I could get away from the island the day I left and I figured that was auspicious.

However, as I read more about the islands the ship was stopping at, I became excited by the possibility of stopping on Tinos. I jumped off the ferry a stop early and took a ride from a domatia operator waiting in port.

The major attraction in Tinos is The Panagia Evangelista spread which caps the central hilltop of the Tinos Hora. The central road toward this site is flanked by vendors selling religious tokens and trinkets.

The Greek Orthodox tin reliefs of various body parts I had seen on Serifos were selling for a Euro apiece. Frankensence and copal, which I was more familiar with as organic dried saps, were pressed into fingernail sized chips through which one could comb for a quick fragrance buzz.

At the Panagia Evangelista, I observed an exterior courtyard of black, brown, and white pebbled set into cement to create symbols significant to the faith. Through the plaster arches, past a faded fresco of Joan of Arc in battle, I heard the sound of the choir celebrating mass within the cathedral.

The cathedral was so crowded that celebrants stood outside each of the doors peeking in. Near the offices of the church, a crowd of locals was sipping coffee and enjoying the sound of the mass which could be heard clearly without amplification.

I sat down and chatted with Georgio, a handsome man with CP who works at the on site museum. He served as a translator for the others as they asked me questions about San Francisco and about blogging.

I inspected the museum which featured two remarkable battle frescos, several marble and alabaster busts.

Later in the day, I wandered several kilometeres downhill to the Temple of Poseidon and Aphrodite.

Along the road were several dovecotes, elegant geometrical birdhouses Tinos is famous for. The natives of Tinos have historically trained doves and pigeons.

I also saw one of the finest examples of a roadsite temple that I’d ever seen. It was a handsome Greek Orthodox shrine made of white marble columns with a St. Andrew’s cross at the peak.

At the anthropoligical site, I could hear workmen digging in the backgound. I sat on the benches, touched the columns and imagined what my life would have been like in another age.