I was in bed till 10am but up sporadically since 7am. I walked down to the main street to look for a Coke and was joined by Susan, Deb and Patty. It was a difficult search because every store went went to was a Pepsi store. As in "no Coke...Pepsi". I've been waiting months to work that SNL reference into that travelogue.
The 4 of us walked to the arch (Portara) but I'd left my camera in the room, so no pics. But then after we checked out at 11:45am and while we waited for the ferry, I had time to go back with the camera.
Portara. The arch was the only portion of this temple that was completed. But even it is only a reconstruction.
Dude, I totally framed it.
More of the selfsame.
Naxos town from the Portara hill. The walled part in the middle is called the Kastro. People thought it's named after Fidel, but it's actually named after his brother, Dennis Kastro. I think Earl Hafler owns an apartment building in there.
The ferry to Mykonos was only an hour. Along the way I listened to Culture Club, the B-52's and Wham! on my iPod. Then at the hotel I had Macho Man in my head. Mykonos is an island of freedom.
On the minivan ride to the hotel, Gabriel told us that Super Paradise (a largely gay beach) is a big party only during the day (i.e. beach hours). Stacy wanted to confirm that it's a "day" beach, but Gabriel misheard "gay". Me: "Whether people party during the day or night is their own personal preference."
Our hotel was at Psarou Beach. We went to the next beach over (Platis Yialos) for lunch. I had fried shrimp...fried with the shells, heads and tails on of course. I had to consume a lot of shell. I finished a Genesis I got at the hotel and ordered a Heineken at lunch, which I took with me down to the beach. Same deal...free chairs for diners. Most of us chilled on the beach for a while. Sarah and Stacy tried to take a boat to Super Paradise but the last one had already left. While on the beach I returned to the backgammon board and lost to Gabriel 3-0. I'm still learning basic strategies and whatnot.
Psarou and Platis Yialos are the hippest, youngest and hottest beaches I've seen. Supposedly the whole island is this way.
It was getting close to sunset, thus the lack of people on the beach.
A guy on the beach chair next to mind was getting a massage from another man. I was uncomfortable just being in the vicinity. Hamstring. Korea. Fortunately it did not move. There was some nudity on this beach. All the Mykonos beaches are nude. Sol Rosenberg would have fun here stepping on piss clams. (Gabriel made a Jerky reference at some point today with a mangled "open your eyes, jackass!" Last year I had to explain a Jerky Boys call to Gorana. Much better having an American tour leader.)
We left the beach around 7:30pm. Walking back to the hotel Susan asked my plans for Mykonos. I said I'm ready to partay, which I've never actually done before. Also told her, as I told Marie earlier, that there was one thing left on my to-do list for Greece. She pointed out that I'm a good-looking young guy so I shouldn't have any problem doing that. You know, I hate that. I hate the assumption that there's any correlation between being good-looking, brilliant, funny, etc. and shagging or dating with any respectable frequency. The implication is that if I'm not, I must be doing something horribly wrong that's overshadowing any positive qualities. I don't know...maybe I am.
I had another Genesis at the hotel during 2 of the 3 S's, and had a 2nd Mythos on the beach earlier, so I'm up to 1.66 L of beer so far. And then Manoli (our minivan driver) gave me another Genesis out of the fridge. I thought it was free but I had to pay for it as we were leaving the next day.
At dinner in Mykonos town I ordered soup. Gabriel asked me what kind. "Lentil. Because I'm mental." Like Fusilli Jerry.
Rosalie and I sat across from each other, and effectively divided the group into two conversation pods. I tried to keep an ear in both conversations, one in each, but every time I heard the word "university" on one side, my attention switched to the other. Sorry, but Rosalie agreed, the other conversation was "more current".
One final roll call: Ellie, Deb, me, Jodi, Gabriel, Len (behind him), Marie, Dawn, Stacy, Sarah, Gloria, Rosalie, Patty, Leo. Susan stayed home.
After dinner we stopped at a liquor store to get, uh, liquor. The idea is it would be cheaper this way than buying it in the clubs. I got a beer, a mini bottle of vodka and...hello, what's this? Absinthe? That's been on my to-do list for years, not necessarily in Greece. I bought a 100-mL bottle.
What ensued was probably the most boring 2½ hours of this or any tour, as we went to a club and I just stood around waiting as everyone else danced. It wasn't an unbroken 2½ hours (we had to look for the Russians at one point after they vanished), but still pretty excruciating. When we moved to a second establishment and it didn't look like the dancing would end anytime soon, I caught a taxi with Len and Marie and went home around 2:30am. It's not so much the dancing, but there's really nothing for me to do otherwise. The music's loud so it's not like a regular bar where I can sit and have a conversation. Not my scene at all.
The one thing I missed in Mykonos town that I wanted to see was Petros the Pelican. He's kind of a local mascot who hangs out downtown and tourists throw fish at him. The original Petros is dead and now there are several pelicans who play the role, like the various guys who have played Doink over the years. Or like when Gallagher's brother started touring as Gallagher, playing different cities from the real Gallagher.
At some point today I realize that Greece is the first country I'd like to go back to right away. For other countries that are more tourist-attraction-based, you need a buffer of at least a couple years. But Greece is about lifestyle.