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Tourlos

 

Arriving at the Mykonos Cruise Port at Tourlos, we initially took a bus tour of the island. Among the points of interest was the island of Delos, offshore, the mythical birthplace of Apollo and Artemis (who's temple was one of the seven wonders previously referred to here). 

 

On Mykonos many houses have these characteristic 'pigeon houses' - a  source of protein
In the distance is the island of Delos - it's the preserve of anthropologists and is tourist free. 

 

Not to be overawed by the proximity of Apollo, we also visited a church/monastery (built by those Johnny-cum-lately Christians with their single three-in-one God).

In fact, there are hundreds of churches on Mykonos. All very picturesque. Apparently, every family had or has their own church, in order to ensure the safe return of fishermen.  Apparently, Apollo is little use in that regard - He's not Poseidon.

We also visited Kalafati beach which, we were told, is much visited by jet-setters. Gaze in wonder - what celebrities may have waded here?

 

 Ano Mera is home to the restored 16th-century monastery Panagia Tourliani,
which houses holy icons and features - as Wikipedia tells us: a 'striking' bell tower and a marble fountain.
We did a tour of the holy objects in the museum - but there is none so holy as the icon, seen in the picture above,
set in a golden frame with silver accoutrements and a face blackened by time and circumstance. 
The faithful queued to offer a silent prayer.
The beach, on the other hand, recalled much more secular pursuits - boys the girls met when backpacking.

Mykonos town is reached by ferry or bus from the cruise port that's a 30 minute hot walk to town. We caught the ferry.

Once away from the very touristy seafront it's quite a steep walk to the top but the view is worth it. Again, picturesque.

  

There are more photos of Mykonos in the album - click on the image above to see them 

 

 Our next stop was the last on the cruise - back in Athens - from where, after a flight delay, we flew to Crete where we had rented a car for the following week.

 

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