Cruising the Agean (Monday)

After a later-than-usual rising today, we ate breakfast, brought our bags onto the bus and bid a temportary farewell to our hotel in Athens. We headed for the port of Piraeus (adjacent to Athens) and boarded our cruise ship for our AGEAN CRUISE! We were pleasantly surprised by the cruise ship. Although not as large or ornate as the typical Royal Carribean or Carnival cruise vessels, it is comparable in comfort and ammenities - nice cabins, dining choices, lounges, pool, entertainment, etc. We set sail by 11:00 a.m., and sailed to our first port-of-call, the island of Mykonos. This island is what most people envision when they picture the Greek isles...it's the most cosmopolitan of the Greek islands, and its capital, "Hora," or "Mykonos Town," is built into the hillside above the port with fascinatingly-narrow and twisting alleyways. We discovered that the almost-haphazard feel of the twists and turns of the little cobbled streets were designed by plan - to thwart the scores of pirates who threatened the Mediterranean hundreds of years ago. Our guide even pointed-out the balconies that were shaped in such a way as to aid in the dumping of boiling water or oil onto the attacking pirates down below. The timing of this port visit could not have been better...we arrived close to dusk, and explored the picturesque resort town with a goreous sunset as a backdrop (I think the pictures we took did it justice). We passed through the white-washed houses and shops of "Little Venice" as we worked our way up to a line of ancient windmills that have been restored recently, and were used to grind corn and wheat centuries ago. While most of the tourists ventured back down the hill to the more crowed areas, Kris and I continued hiking upward through the more residential part of the town, and stopped at an internet cafe to check email, and got some refreshing gelato. We enjoyed "getting lost" inside the nooks and crannies of the place, and took our time strolling back to the ship before our deadline of 10:00 p.m. We had a late dinner onboard the boat and got to sleep late (right before midnight). The day was everything we could have hoped-for in a "perfect" Greek island tour, and more. This will be hard to be topped!