Mykonos!

So Friday morning came early as Alex, Dustin, Chaz and I woke up at 4AM to pack up our things and check out of Athens Studios in order to start making our way to Piraeus where we would begin our journey through the Cyclades Islands... And although anyone that knows me can attest that I absolutely detest mornings, this particular morning was redeemed by the fact that the clerk at the hostel was actually watching Game 7 of the NBA finals at the sports bar downstairs, allowing us four Yanks to watch the Lakers win the title just before setting off (shout out to all you Celtic fans out there... I was rooting for you).

Thus at around 6:30 AM our taxi rolled up to the port of Piraeus, which is absolutely enormous (fun fact, apparently Greece controls one third of the world's ships), we found the ticket window and boarded the nicest passenger boat I've ever been on (two stories, plush seats, several bars and hardwood floors). The journey to Mykonos took about three hours, and since I had booked Alex and I's tickets, and Dustin had booked for him and Charles, we were sitting at separate tables, with Alex and I sitting across from two Greek girls, which would have been more than fine except for the fact that the two of them spoke not a lick of English and we spoke not a lick of Greek, resulting in 3 hours of awkward staring across the table at each other. Sweet. ;)

At Mykonos we found the shuttle to our hotel and checked in the to K-hotel, before promptly making our way to the nearest bar called Blu-Blu to watch the USA-Slovenia game... with me rocking my Union Jack bathing suit and Alex carrying a real American Flag. =) That day we quickly learned that eating out on Mykonos was going to be very expensive if we didn't find cheaper alternatives, and thus began our four day love affair with pitas (aka gyro wraps)... You see, although almost any item on the menu at the restaurants on Mykonos would cost 8-20 Euro, almost every restaurant also sold Chicken, Pork or Lamb Pitas a la carte for 2-3 Euro... So basically we could get full on a big wrap with chicken, onions, tomato and taziki for a handful of change or drop 20 bones to eat anything else. I think I've since eaten about a dozen pitas, and I'm pretty sure that's not going to change on Ios or Santorini. ;)

That first night we went bar-hopping in Mykonos Town before catching a taxi to Club Paradise where Ministry of Sound was playing all night long... Good times aside from the 10 Euro drinks, and we finally cabbed it back to the hotel around 4 or 5 AM...

The next day we woke up bright and early at 2PM ;) before heading to Paradise Beach for some afternoon sun... and Paradise beach is just ridiculous. It's like Spring Break central, with young people everywhere, clubs blaring techno music, go-go dancers and even a dude wearing nothing but an elephant... yeah, basically an elephant-shaped puppet on his schlong, gyrating on stage and taking pictures with anyone that wants to... Have I mentioned that Mykonos has a pretty prevalent gay scene yet? ;)

We stayed clear of Elephant dude, but did enjoy some frosty beverages, good beats and a nice dip in the crystal clear ocean, which felt ice cold and glorious after roasting in the Mediterranean sun. That night we expected big things since it was Saturday, but what we found when we walked into Mykonos Town was that the whole city was PACKED with groups of Greek guys... Literally, there were roving packs of gay dudes out in force... not that there's anything wrong with that, but not really our scene. ;)

Thus we decided to leave the center of town and go to a club again that night, this time to Cavo Paradiso, which we'd heard was a great cliff-top, after-hours bar, known as a place to drink until dawn and watch the sunrise. So we rolled in around 4AM, but by 5AM Dustin and Chaz were both non-plussed with the scene (aka, striking out with the ladies and wanting to go home). Alex and I were both of the mindset that we should at least stay to watch the sun rise over the Aegean (we'd paid 20 Euro each to get in after all), so Dustin and Chaz left, and Alex and I grabbed some Coronas and cigars and settled back to watch the sun come up... while listening to blaring techno and watching some gogo dancer gyrate in the club's swimming pool. ;) All in all it was one of the coolest experiences ever... Gorgeous sunrise, good beats, and we even ended up making friends with a big group of Californians and some French girls... Sorry D and C, you missed out.

Sunday however was a different matter. After going to bed at 7AM, and several nights of heavy drinking I could feel a cold coming on and was in need of a night off, so I took advantage of the Sabbath to relax, take care of some business online and go to bed early... Monday was then our last day in Mykonos as were were catching the ferry to Ios on Tuesday morning, so we spent the day drinking at the pool and then spent all night barhopping in Mykonos Town. All in all it was a great night, especially when I got a UGA girl we met to tell Charles she had a present for him and then had her Ice him right there on the waterfront... For those of you that don't know what Icing is, you can learn more here: http://www.newser.com/story/89862/oddest-new-drinking-game-icing.html Yeah, I'm taking this shit international. ;)

Tuesday was a day in transit, as we caught the 40 minute super-fast hydrofoil to Paros (a harrowingly bouncy ride for four hungover schmucks) where we had a three hour layover before taking the 4 hour slow-boat to Ios. We thus got to Ios at around 6pm in the evening, where we checked into the amazingly situated Hermes Hotel (gorgeous panoramic views), and then heading into town for a night out... All in all, the verdict thusfar is that Ios is going to be my favorite place yet... Imagine a picturesque Mediterranean island, population ~2000, except in summer when it's invaded by thousands of young Scandinavians and Aussies on Holiday... at 29 (wow, I almost said 28) I'm definitely an old man for this island, but the people are super friendly and everything is about half the price it would be on Mykonos.

It's now Wednesday night and we just watched USA beat Algeria at a place called Fun Pub (prompting a USA! USA! chant much to the chagrin of the predominantly British clientelle). All in all it's been a great trip thus far, though I do miss home and am sad to know I'm missing yet another Wednesday Night at Pub 71. ;)

Cheers from Ios!
-Tom