While the rest of the crew slept, I woke up early for a first morning view of Greece in my favorite way - an early morning run. See more on on my running escapades in this prior post.
Running Up
While all tourist guide books would tell you to run down to the coast on a Greek Island, I instead chose to run up. I was glad I did; I got to see true Greek neighborhoods, kids walking to school, goats, donkeys and the morning commute.
Hotel Breakfast
I returned to the hotel and joined everyone for a hotel breakfast. We had not been in a hotel since Venice, so it was a nice change of morning pace.
Into Town We Go
We set out to spend the day exploring the Old Town of Mykonos, a ten minute walk down from our hotel.
We stopped at numerous picturesque windmills throughout the day. At one point Sadie's hat blew off her head and she said, "now I know why they put windmills here."
A Private Tour with Barbara
Grammy came armed with a 1.5 hour walking tour, courtesy of Rick Steves. Not only did it send us all throughout the Old Town, but we learned a number of fun facts along the way:
Buildings were painted white to keep cool in the summer months. Originally, homes were not color, to create camouflage from pillaging pirates.
In the 1960s, the Greek government ordered all homes to be painted white and blue (the blue shade matching the Greek flag). This was to stir nationalism, but it quickly became a driver of tourism that remains today.
The windmills on the island were built by the Venetians in the 16th century.
There are over 90 churches in Old Town, Mykonos.
No Cars
The entire old city is a no car zone. Appreciating our life in NYC largely devoid of cars, we definitely enjoyed weaving through the small picturesque alley ways in the city.
"Instagrammers"
We are sharing pictures on Instagram, but we are not Instagrammers. Throughout our trip we can't help but chuckle at the poses and professionalism of those devoted to the perfect shot on Instagram. In that spirit, I couldn't help myself when I came across a port-a-potty with the perfect shade of Greek blue.
Resting our Legs
The girls and I hopped in the Mediterranean for a quick dip to cool off.
Meanwhile, the rest of the crew got a drink on the water. The Bohagirls joined with smoothie after the swim.
Dinner Time
After staring at the sea much of the day, we decided that some local seafood would be in order.
After 7+ hours exploring the old town, it was time to head back to the hotel after a great day!
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