44 - Mediterranean Cruise - Mykonos and Delos Greece

We started our visit to Mykonos with a trip to the island of Delos, and a visit to the ruins of the ancient Sacred City rumored to be the site of Artemis and Apollo's birth.  We continued on to Old Town, had an amazing lunch before heading back to the ship and savored an amazing sunset on the way out of the port! 

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Today onTravel Time wevare visiting Mykonos and Delos, Greece. We arrived in Mykonos early in the morning. We left the ship fairly early for our excursion. We were headed out on the Delos Island excursion, which is MY01 in the Disney catalog on Disney site. As we just embarked we walked from the ship to a ferry nearby for a 30 minute ride to Delos. Delos is very close to Mykonos. Delos is currently an uninhabited island which was the sacred island where the Titanus Leto gave birth to Zeus' twins Apollo and Artemis, according to the legend. In ancient times, Delos was the political and religious center of the Aegean. The island is now an archaeological site but the ruins and temples mansions and monuments. The island was first settled in the third millennium BC, and reached the peak of its glory during the archaic and classical period after 167 BCE and following the declaration of Delos as a free port. All of the commercial activity of the eastern Mediterranean was concentrated on the island. The residents of Delos included merchants, bankers and ship owners, which also attracted artists and craftsmen. The prosperity of the island and friendly relations with the Romans ended up causing its destruction. It was attacked and looted twice in 89BC by through Davies, and then in 69 BC by the Pirates of Atlanta tourists and our way of methodologies. After the second, the island fell into decline and was gradually abandoned. It was captured after its abandonment by a series of nations and became a quarry site for columns were taken for lime and houses left in ruins. The excavation started in 1872 and are still in progress and they have uncovered the sanctuary and part of the Hellenistic town. The portions excavated so far speak of the grandeur of the sacred island We began by walking towards the statues of lions were originally nine to 12 Guardian lions lining the sacred way. The statues of the lions were dedicated to Apollo by the people of Naxos just before 600 BCE, the sacred way goes by the oasis where Apollo and Artemis were born. A fun fact is that because of the sacred nature of the island, no mortal was permitted to be born or die on the island. Even during the peak years, women on the brink of childbirth or people close to dying would be carried over to the neighboring island and now we continued to follow and pass the Delos lions and looked upon the oasis where the twins were born. We continued on to the sanctuary where the temples to Apollo and Artemis were located alongside the merchant stalls, ships coming into port would buy and sell items here in the busy commercial center. From there we could also see the arches and smaller temples up on the hillside. We continued on to the theater which has been excavated and through the residential streets. The artwork in many of the mansions still exists, including some statues and some stunning mosaics, like one showing Dionysus, dolphins and Tritons. Many of the mosaics served as entrances the different mansions you can walk through or look into. After the theater we headed back to the dock to reboard are very back to Mykonos. We spent about three hours on Delos all together. The ferry both there and back had seating indoors and I believe some seating outdoors as well. The trip was about 30 minutes and it had some nice views. The ferry does have a snack bar and bathroom facilities. Although the bathrooms are also available when you land and Delos right at the dock and only at the docks since it's an active archaeological site. We were dropped off at old port also known as Mykonos Town and had some time to study and exploring there we were dropped off near the windmills in Mykonos. We walked up the hill to take some pictures by the church which were also afforded some views of the windows in the bay walking through the town. Down the hill from the church we came upon a nice Greek restaurant that was not too crowded. It did not have views like the ones down on the coast but the food was excellent. The seating was all outdoors and the iconic white tables and chairs were situated in a little town square. I have not been able to find the name of it on the maps but got the feeling the restaurant was newer. The Souvlaki was amazing as was the Greeks stew that they served. Everything from the salad to dessert was terrific. We continued on through town towards the coast to head to the shuttle. There a little touristy shops along the way we stopped to get a little ornament to take home. We have a Christmas tree that we decorate every year all in ornaments from places we traveled so anytime we go somewhere new we pick up a Christmas ornament as a souvenir for me can notice I found a little white Greek church with a windmill behind it. The shuttle to the port was free and it's just a short walk from the main street of old town can catch the shuttle in a bus depot sort of building. It has public restrooms available as well. The shuttle ride to the ship was a quick 10 to 15 minutes back to the port and ship on the way out of Mykonos. The sunsets were phenomenal. Definitely make sure you head out to the veranda or open deck to see the views on your way sailing out of Mykonos. Next up for us was Santorini so that will be our next episode. Until then happy travels. I do want to add a quick note that I'm not proficient in Greek. So if I messed up into pronunciations, I do sincerely apologize. I tried to get them as close as I could, based on pronunciation guides on the internet. Thank you so much.