The cruise stopped at five port of calls in total within four days, and each stop were few hours long. While we only scratched the surface of these islands, I was glad to have the chance to see even a little bit of Mykonos and Patmos.
Sights visited: Mykonos (old town), Patmos (Apocalypse Grotto, St.John Monastery), Kusadasi
Mykonos island was the first port of call, on the very first night of cruise departure. The cruise was very punctual and always stopped at the planned hours. We had 18:00~23:00 for this stop.
The port at the Mykonos old town was too small, so the ship docked at another port one mile north. After gathering at the meeting point on the cruise, a coordinator announced the order of which passengers get to disembark first. The tour groups always exit first, and individual travellers like us went last but the whole process didn't take longer than 20 minutes.
After leaving the ship, multiple coach buses transported passengers to the bus stop of Mykonos town. The buses would run continuously between port and town until half an hour before departure.
After the short bus ride, there was still a bit of a walk to reach town centre. Mykonos is known for its nightlife and party beaches.
Three days into landing in Greece, I was so excited to finally see the iconic Cycladic island scenery with the white houses!
We walked along the beach like everyone else was, and soon we saw the famous quintuple windmills. The sidewalk was really narrow, and often blocked by restaurant tables, so it was not a pleasant walk.
In the opposite direction from the same spot was the equally famous "Little Venice", which was shown in the cover photo of this post. Many diners were already seated, waiting for the sunset.
We walked all the way up the hill near the windmills, but it was impossible to take a clean shot as people were constantly coming and going.
To avoid the crowd, we took the narrow old town streets back instead of the seaside walk. These streets were also very charming so would be shame to not explore them.
The buildings on Cycladic islands had to be painted white by law. The original reason was to keep the temperature down, but later became a stylistic choice with political back tone on specific islands.
Mykonos for being the party island of the Cycladic, was even more photogenic at night. Its reputation started back in the 60's, and it also became the "Ultimate Gay Destination", evident from the penile postcards I found in the souvenir shops.
Mykonos was really beautiful, but too crowded for my taste! I did however, took many photographs out of the short two hours we spent there.
Next morning, between 7:00~11:00, the ship docked at Kusadasi, Turkey. I found it ironic that I ended up in Turkey again, a country that I had no interest in revisiting. The demand for the nearby Ephesus ruins must be so high, that I couldn't find one cruise itinerary that didn't include Kusadasi.
We already visited Ephesus just last year, so we had no plans for this port of call. I didn't find anything that interest me that could be done within this time frame, so we decided to just sleep in, and then briefly walk around the port area. Kusadasi is a big port, so the ship was docked right by the land and passengers could just walk right off the ship.
A castle fortress called "Pigeon Island" is Kusadasi's landmark. It was originally called Bird Island (Kusadasi), but the Ottomans gave the name to the town and renamed it Pigeon Island. It was connected to the mainland through a narrow walkway. Multiple tour boats that took passengers to a national park nearby.
As we were walking along the seaside, we kept getting harassed by taxi drivers and this reminded why I didn't like traveling in Turkey. They just won't take no for an answer! Even after we told them we had already been to Ephesus and House of Virgin Mary, this one annoying driver kept following us and tried to persuade us for 10 minutes. In comparison, traveling in Greece was much more pleasant.
Most of Kusadasi was revolved around shopping, which included a traditional bazaar and a modern shopping complex near the port. I didn't find the products on sale particularly interesting, and neither did I want to deal with Turkish merchants.
We sat at the seaside benches for a bit, then return to the ship.
On the afternoon of the same day, the ship reached Patmos, stopping between 16:00~21:00. We've already left the Cycladic islands and reached a Dodecanese island. Unlike Kusadasi, the ship was too big to dock near land, so tender boats were used to transport passengers from the ship to the old port (scala) of Patmos.
We participated in the excursion "Religious visit to St John". Multiple buses from local tour agencies were waiting at the port, and it was only the matter of finding the right one.
Everyone were given this radio guide with earphones so we could hear the guide more clearly. It was very handy as I was free to roam around within a reasonable distance.
The first stop of the tour was the Grotto of Apocalypse, where St.John received visions from God and wrote the book of Revelations. A small chapel had been built over the original cave, and was obviously too small to accompany a cruise ship of people.
I was concerned about this tour becoming too spiritual and sentimental, but our tour guide was actually quite amazing. He delivered the information for these religious places in a very unbiased fashion, and offered secular, Catholic and Orthodox point of views.
The next stop was the Monastery of St.John, built in 1088, as requested by an abbot St Christodoulos to the Byzantine Emperor. Since then, Patmos had developed into an Greek Orthodox and Catholic spiritual centre, and a destination for Christian pilgrimage. Along with the Grotto of Apocalypse within the historic centre (Chora), they were collectively declared UNESCO World Heritage site.
We stopped at a breathtaking panoramic viewpoint of Patmos on the way.
The bell towers of the monastery were especially beautiful.
There was also a museum in the monastery housing religious objects, but photos were not allowed. Our guide did a very good job pointing us to the highlight pieces. I was not a huge fan of the Orthodox religious art style, but some of the mini-sculpture work were unbelievably intricate.
The monastery is located up on the highest part of the island, so it double-dutied as a fortress to fend off attacks from the Turks and pirates, hence the castle-like appearance.
The three nicely restored Patmos windmills could be seen from the monastery, albeit a little far. The photo was taken with a tele lens.
Hang-drying octopus was a common sight in Greece. After tenderizing the octopus by beating, they were dried for a day before going on the grill for optimal taste. We basically alternate octopus (grilled or vinegar) and kalamari for every meal in Greece.
The excursions provided by the cruise company was definitely overpriced, but luckily we got a great guide and got to see a lot. When we returned our audio guide, I overheard a tourist said the guide "you've done a great job, and we're sorry about your economy"...maybe it's just me, but isn't that kind of inappropriate...?
I could easily spent two days or more on every of these island, and visiting them so briefly is not my preferred travel style. Surprisingly, having everything organized for me was kind of nice for only part of the trip. Two more days and two more port of calls to come, before we abandon our luxury ways and return to independent traveling.
