The Virtue of Flexibility

Yesterday, Thursday, April 9, was to be our last day on Mykonos. The Wednesday night winds had howled incessantly, rattling the door like a persistent intruder. So getting up Thursday, we emptied our suitcases of warm clothes and bundled up.

"Where shall we go?" Judy asked.

"Let's try a different direction. I think there's a museum here." 

We wound through several pathways and ended up at the Old Port. Once there, lo and behold, we ran onto the Tourist Information Office. Our first T.I. find in Greece! They pointed the way to the museum.

En route, we came upon a travel agency and stopped to pick up our ferry tickets for Friday's ride to Naxos. We congratulated ourselves. How clever of us to think of it and avoid a problem at departure time.

On to the museum, where the main attraction was a funeral vase hat depicts scenes from the Trojan War. 

After our short visit among the artifacts, we ventured outside into the blustering downwind that swept us back to the harbor where we stopped for hot chocolate and coffee.

Back at our hotel later that afternoon, on a random, compulsive email check, Annis noticed a new message from Petras, the company we'd used to book our ferry tickets.  "Judy! Listen to this! 'Hello from petas.gr, Kindly note that the schedule for tomorrow has been cancelled due to bad weather. Please contact urgently the airline. Thank you. Regards.'"

Judy said, "If ferries can't go, bouncing in turbulent air doesn't sound like a great option!"

After taking a few minutes to assess the situation, we threw on our gear and rushed to the hotel reception desk. Yes, they had availability for an extra night. Yes, they would honor the "Special Offer" price we were paying.

We quick-stepped back downtown to the ticketing agency. The red-haired woman who'd helped us before seemed much more calm than we felt. "Ah, this weather." She booked us on a Saturday morning fast boat to Naxos. We gladly paid the additional fee for a fast boat and crossed our fingers for a Saturday departure.

So, Friday flexibility? Having explored a great deal of Mykonos Town, we decided to hop a bus to see the nearby town of Ano Mera. At the bus stop, we discovered we were two hours early. We'd pass the time investigating a neighborhood up the hillside.

     Herding a couple of sheep down to a little truck

            The truck driver got out to lend a hand

It proved to be a 15-minute bus ride to Ano Mera, and we'd have four hours to spend there until we could catch the return bus. Little did we know this place would be atop a hill and even more windy than Mykonos. 

                                                    Ano Mera's monastery

                                                      Well-tended  cemetery 

After an hour or so of exploring, we retreated to a little restaurant and spent another hour watching the wind wreak havoc on the town square trees and passers by. 

When we'd finished our snack and could no longer justify taking up a table, we forced ourselves outside to look over other parts of the town.

By 5:00 PM, we and our fellow travelers huddled in the cement bus shelter. All of us smiled when the return Mykonos Town bus appeared.

After dinner, the ever-present wind pushed us to our hotel, where we are now packed and have fingers and toes crossed for our Saturday morning departure. Naxos, here we come -- we hope.