Mykonos in May [Greece]
My expectations for Mykonos were impossibly high. Everyone I knew RAVED about it. Unfortunately, it didn't quite meet those sky-high expectations.
The company you keep and your interests will definitely impact your enjoyment of Mykonos. It is CLEARLY a party place. There were buses everywhere promising to take you to Paradise Beach (the supposedly "it" party destination). There were rows of novelty gift shops in the town hinting at all the debauchery and fun people have in Mykonos. It wasn't exactly what we were in the market for as a mother-daughter duo. I mean, some parents and their grown children like partying together (e.g. all those HoCo families at Queen's), but I don't even particularly like getting up to much trouble with friends — much less with my mother and a million strangers.
Others go to Mykonos as a romantic destination. We met a pair of honeymooners from California, and while I could see how Mykonos COULD be nice for them in theory (the water, the sand, the nice hotels and restaurants by the beach)... I feel like the place was a bit overdeveloped and busy for them to truly enjoy the romantic getaway of their dreams too. Case in point? There were endless sets of beach chairs spanning the entire length and width of the beach... aka no space to enjoy the beach itself! I understand why restaurants and hotels do this — everyone wants a nice beach chair, and once you have a chair, you are more likely to buy refreshments. But it felt particularly commercialized. I can only imagine how beautiful the Mykonos beachfront was before all the development sprung up.
The last couple of issues were mostly "me" problems. I am pre-disposed to enjoy a place less when the weather is overcast (note: it wasn't even raining, just cloudy), and that just so happened to be the weather situation during our day around town. We also took a day trip to Ancient Delos (which was super cool!), but I got SUPER seasick on the boat and couldn't enjoy it. The most annoying thing about seasickness is that you can either suffer from the nausea or you can take a Gravol pill, but those suckers knock you out completely... or at least make you so tired that you can't enjoy the place you took a boat to visit in the first place. But hey, these were some of my favourite ancient ruins across the islands we visited in Greece. The pillars towered high and these lions(?) looked majestic. Too bad that after suffering through another bad boat ride, all I could do that evening was crash and eventually eat some ramen.
Mykonos wasn't all bad though. A fond memory was sitting on the beach right outside our hotel and watching the QCCM ICC@M team compete in the Maastricht finals (I. AM. SUCH. A. NERD.). We had interesting conversations with strangers, notably those aforementioned honeymooners, some Singaporeans also on the boat, and a dinner host who spoke 13 languages and worked at a bar in Zurich each winter. And when the weather cleared up, we had a wonderful day walking around and checking out Paraga Beach. There was a secluded "in-the-family" homestyle restaurant near Paraga Beach called Nicolas Taverna with tasty lamb and potatoes. And check out this giant peacock / aloe plant nearby!
The last "notable" thing from Mykonos was a swimsuit that I didn't purchase. It was on the expensive side, so I didn't get it even though swimsuit shopping is such a pain for my build. My mom still brings up the swimsuit every now and then, which probably indicates it was worth buying. Lesson learned — if you find something rare and cute from an unknown boutique on vacation, you might as well get it!
Finally, because my mother is a wonderful photographer, I got these nice snaps for the highlight reel. They've now been sitting in my Instagram drafts folder for three years, so I might as well upload them on this blog if nowhere else.
