Early morning docking today on the Island of Mykonos, Greece. Up and out at dockside to meet our guide at 8:45. Guide’s name is unpronounceable and therefore unspeakable - we shall call him Gus. He is an older gentleman (74) and his English, while very passable, is sprinkled with catchphrases, such as “Ladies & Gentlemen” or “etcetera.”
Mykonos, originally a fishing village on one of the inhabited islands of the Cycladic group, has transformed itself, for the worse, in the last 50 years. What, in 1979, was a romantic island of whitewashed homes with bright blue, red, pink, or green doors and shutters, situated on hillsides and reachable on unpaved roads by donkey carts, is now a total tourist destination. Roads and autos, buses, scooters, and trucks scurry to and fro. Homes, still whitewashed annually with coloured doors, sell for millions of dollars, and rent for thousands per night.
The island hosts nearly 1.5 million visitors per year and accommodates 50 daily flights into its international airport, not to mention cruise ships. Every shop along the water front and stretching up the hills from the old port are tourist traps selling high fashion names such as Romani, Rolex, Piaget and more. The major industry is fleece, that is the fleecing of the tourist. Scarves that sell for $7.50 on Crete, sell for $22.00 on Mykonos.
This is Deb’s fourth visit to the island since 1979, and she says that, based upon this visit, she will be very loath to recommend this as a destination to her clients. Definitely a disappointment as a stop on the cruise. All except 4 of our group head back to the ship at the 1:00 end of the guided tour. Those staying, stop at a waterfront restaurant for local beer, and lunch. All are back by 4:00. Except of course for one straggling passenger (not one of ours) who caused the ship to delay departure for 15 minutes. As she clamoured up the gangway, her purchases in hand, the rest of the ship stood applauding her arrival, much, I am sure, to her embarrassment.
Onward for the next full day at sea and our next stop at Malta.
