Offline copy: Final day Mykonos

After mild drama, this was a fabulous day. The mild drama involved Tim having to spend an hour with some mafioso types for the insurance BS (see prior post). Every place has its shady bits and we found it in Mykonos for sure. At the end of october, everyone leaves the island due to its horrendous ugly and windy winter months then return in March. Virtually no one lives on the island. So, before they leave, businesses claim a bunch of insurance claims for damages that may not have happened but the claims are ready on return and everyone gets new things. They target tourists for this. We really didn’t lose anything other than time so they aren’t trying to take your money, just get theirs.

While Tim was dealing with Niko the barbarian, I did a walking tour of the windmills, shops before they opened, etc. The empty streets are so photogenic before the bustle starts so I recommend that early start. For brunch, I located the restaurant we had seen with huge lines the previous evening and they were just opening. Nikos taverna is about a block off the water in a church square. The menu is traditional, reasonable, with a great wine list. Niko himself still waits tables and greets all the guests so it feels like you are at a truly local gem. Tim and I shared olives and a lemon whole fish that was fantastic…and a bottle of rosė of course.

Next up: Delos, the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis. The story goes like this: zeus, king of the gods, was an unapologetic gigolo. This time, he impregnated a nymph. Hera, always looking to punish the women instead of taking a scythe to her husbands jewels like other goddesses, cursed the demigod to never be able to give birth on land. She sailed everywhere trying to find a place to labor, then was told that Delos and Rhennia were floating islands so not really land. So she docked and gave birth to her twins there. Artemis and Apollo of course went on to be important for protection, especially for women, the harvest, music, childbirth, mercantiles, etc. and you can visit today to see the beautiful ruins of the once busy port island.

The trip by boat is 45 minutes and many are available. It is a magically impressive collection of ruins. There are some amazing hiking trails as well if you have the time for a higher vantage point. And finally, it is home to thousands of cats…6 people only…and cats.

After this we went and changed for tapas and dinner. I mentioned that there was drama earlier in the day but I forgot about the drama later in the day. There was an area in the old town that had some very cute bars where all windows around the front face the water, crashing waves, very breathtaking. The food was very acceptable, the drinks were definitely OK, but when I left the table to go to the bathroom and the waitress took my phone off the table and apparently gave it to one of the bartenders. I noticed it right away when I got back from the bathroom. I could see on my watch that the phone still was in the building. On pinging it we could not hear the sound. Tim also has me linked up as a family for our devices however, and he decided that he was sound off the alarm and shut down the functions of the phone to find out who had taken it. When we realized that it was coming clearly from behind the bar and clearly also done on purpose we took my phone back and threatened to call the police. I wanted to give the restaurant a very good review prior because the food was actually quite nice and a bit different from some of the other things in the area. But trying to steal a tourist phone when it is thousands of miles away from their actual home and the Cyclades don’t have a ton of AT&T stores I’m gonna get this one zero star I will mention what it is in the list below.

nikos taverna: amazing and worth the wait! https://www.nikos-taverna.com/

katerinas: aka people that steal your shit DONT GO: katerinaslittlevenicemykonos.com

my google review:

To be clear, the food was fine. Had a very nice orzo dish and a spritz. Bar music was good selection but so loud you couldn’t talk to your dinner mate.

Biggest issue: stepped away from the table and my phone disappeared. We were the only remaining people eating in that area. My watch said it was still in the building but waitstaff played dumb until I got the police number and my husband used family share to sound the phone alarm to find it. One of the other servers had it.

I didn’t report it but advice is to go to one of the other 1000 places that won’t try to hijack your stuff when you turn your back to the table.