As I sit in my lounger by the pool, I look out at the Aegean Sea as a large yacht sails through the bay and into open waters. The infinity pool is still and as calm as a mirror, almost blending into the darker blue waters of the bay beyond. This is not what you think of when you picture Mykonos, the island known for its many bars and clubs. However, our hotel has the rare addition of being connected to one of the last undeveloped beaches on Mykonos. Surprisingly, there are not many main tourist attractions on the island (apart from the famous Mykonos wind mills) so we happily stayed at the hotel’s pool for the majority of our stay. One of our few outings was to the windmills, primarily used to grind wheat, they were built by the Venetians in the 16th century and has been used since then until the mid 20th century.

Originally there were 17 windmills, but only 7 stand today. Our other outing was to the only publicly accessible undeveloped beach where there are lots of big rocks that are really fun to snorkel through. We even found a second beach that can only accessed by swimming there, making it very quiet.

When I got on my first Greek ferry I was surprised. It had granite flooring, spacious staircases, many small bars and snack stands, and was very clean. This styling was not only in the first class area, but throughout all of the large ship. This is very unlike the minimalistic decor of BC ferries. The differences continue when embarkation and disembarkation are concerned. While BC ferries take half an hour to unload at a stop, the Greek ferries take an astounding 5 minutes at quiet stops! This is achieved by simultaneously turning the boat to dock, getting all disembarking passengers to the parking area, and lowering the ramp. About 10 seconds after being docked, the gates open and people, mopeds, cars, and trucks all go down the ramp together in a very chaotic manner.

While one is trying to get out of the way of all the vehicles and people exiting, yet more people are clambering to get on the ferry before it leaves. Once most of the people have gotten on the ferry, the ramp leaves contact with the dock, and the ferry speeds away. This mad dash makes you both glad to sit down on the ferry, and glad once you have left it. Therefore I am thankful that none of my family or our luggage has been left behind in the craziness of disembarking our ferry rides. I can’t say that I loved the island of Mykonos as a whole, but our little hotel and beach is really the most relaxing and beautiful of all the places I have been on this trip.