Mykonos: Endless Picturesque Scenes to Paint, Stunning Prices

Days 111-112, 2025 European Odyssey

Friday and Saturday, Oct. 17-18, 2025; Mykonos and Athens, Greece.

Writing and sketching are engaged in a battle, and for the last week sketching seems to be winning. It might be a matter of timing – I do my best writing in the morning, and if I have an early tour or just plan to go ashore first thing, I don’t finish (or sometimes even start) my latest blog post. By afternoon, I prefer painting on the Panorama Deck, near the NY Deli and above the Lido Pool. There just doesn’t seem to be time to fit it all in.

So here I am, writing a week later about Mykonos and Athens. Perhaps it’s no surprise that sketching played a large part of both ports.

I wasn’t sure what to expect of Mykonos. Strong winds canceled our stop here in 2007. My knowledge of Greek history is painfully lacking, and previous attempts to bone up on Greek gods and myths just leave me confused. I am the personification of “it’s all Greek to me.” So, a tour to ancient temples doesn’t hold much appeal.

But Mykonos’ white buildings with blue (and sometimes red) domes, shining in the Greek sunlight, are legendary, so I headed ashore armed with pencil, pen and sketchbook. The Nieuw Statendam was lucky today to get the one spot on the pier, and I chose to pay €5 for the round-trip sea bus to the Mykonos Yacht Club dock in the center of town. (The other options were a free shuttle bus or a long walk.)

Fortunately, I also brought along my credit card. Mykonos is nothing if not expensive. After wandering through twisty paths lined with shops just opening, I settled at a waterfront café to sketch the storied Mykonos windmills.

Latte and a croissant filled with some sliced strawberries: €20. Even at that, the view wasn’t ideal, as the sun was behind the windmills and the foreground didn’t enhance the scene. (I’ll be back next segment and seek a better vantage point.)

But I still enjoyed an hour of sketching, and the proprietor extended the awning when the sun encroached.

For the next couple of hours, I wandered through the Little Venice section of Mykonos and came close to setting a new record for photographs. I never found the Aegean Maritime Museum marked on my map, but I found virtually every Fifth Avenue, Paris or Milan designer shop. And cats, of course.

Back at the main harbor, I decided I needed a better sketch memory of Mykonos, so settled for a pricey glass of wine in exchange for another shaded seat, this time facing the small Agios Nikolaos Church, with its requisite blue dome and door.

As some may recall, two weeks ago I failed at my attempt to find the express bus to Athens from the cruise pier in Piraeus, but was happy to see a ship’s transfer offered for our second stop there. Sadly, not enough people signed up so it was canceled. Not to be deterred, on Saturday morning I ordered a taxi through Uber. It didn’t show up, and neither did the second one. It turns out that, despite what I was told at the terminal, Uber-booked taxis pick you up about four blocks away at the gate entrance to two piers. I finally made a connection. I don’t think the approximately €25 fare to Syntagma Square was unreasonable, but I resent being charged fees for two no-shows – when those taxis never got to my specified pickup point.

Putting that minor frustration behind me, once in Athens I quickly found the bakery that eluded me in April. Their koulouri, or sesame-coated bread rings, come right out of the oven and onto the board waiting for customers – and the wait isn’t long. It’s probably a good thing I can’t eat one every morning.

With no other real goal, I walked to Monastiraki Square, passing by dozens of souvenir shops. Looking up at the north face of the Acropolis, I pulled out my sketch pad. I’m still not sure if the columned ruins are the Erechtheum or another site, but I’ve always admired the grand houses climbing the hill from the remains of the Library of Hadrian by the square. (Remember: If you’ve come here for Greek history, I’m sorry to disappoint you.)

While walking up the gentle mile-long hill of the Plaka district toward the Arch of Hadrian, I made just one purchase – two old Greek postage stamps in a small shop. One features a space satellite, which will fit well into my very small childhood collection of space stamps. The other is of Alexander the Great, for my sister who named her firstborn after him.