Wednesday night, Thodoris (Sherry & Paris’ friend who works as a driver at the 5 star hotel Tharroe Hotel, in Mykonos) picked us up around 11pm with his friend for dinner in Old Venice. We went to Pasta Fresca, an authentic Italian restaurant, where the guy in the front is literally rolling the pasta right then and there, 10 different kinds or so. I ordered the 4 cheese pizza with mushrooms – SO GOOD. We got bruschetta appetizers on toasted bread and melted mozarella cheese, tomatoes, basil.. and also fried zuchinni. Everyone’s food looked DELICIOUS.

Afterwards we went to Scalpa, a trendy gay-friendly bar (I’ve come to realize over 60% of males traveling in a group, not with a female is gay here). Mykonos reminds me much of WeHo. Ridiculously good looking guys everywhere which you are unsure if they are gay or not, but the party vibe is excelente. The best music playing, positive energy, clean streets, great food. I love the gays.

Afterwards we went dancing at Caprese, another club, and went home by 3am. Beautiful night with the best music!

We awoke at 9am this morning, and put on our ipod to hear the songs stuck in our head. Jason Derulo “In my head” and Ludcaris “Break your heart”. After the music woke us up, we got ready slowly and wandered down to Nicolas Restaurant again for brunch. I ordered the Octopus salad and Marissa had the boiled Beet salad. If I haven’t mentioned already, there are cats EVERYWHERE in Turkey & Greece! I asked why that was, and they said because they Love cats. I love cats too. There are lizards everywhere as well, but I don’t love them at all. I jokingly said that we shall play a game while riding into town on our ATV on how many lizards we could squash along ze vay (joke of course!).

We asked our hotel lady what beach she recommended we see. She gave us a map of Mykonos, and suggested Panormos Beach, on the North part of Mykonos, exact opposite of Paraga Beach (and Paradise) where we are staying. We hopped on our bright orange ATV and headed over. It only took about 30 minutes through the beautiful scenic route to arrive.

Heaven!! She was right on par with what we wanted to see! An exclusive quaint beach, with young good looking loving couples or honeymooners, and a few small groups of beautiful Athenians friends. I noticed the most vacationers here are from Athens, either working in Mykonos during high season to bring home the dough, or Americans (surprisingly). I’m so glad we ventured away from the crowded popular beach into this small one. Out of all the places I’ve been in my life, nothing has impressed me as much as Panormos beach where I’d say I could have my Honeymoon here one day. I ordered an Iced Americano and read some of my book “Harvard Psychedelic Club” which I’m really enjoying (half way through).

Around 4 pm, we hopped over to the next restaurant over on the beach (there are only 2 on this beach) as they had more variety of food. I ordered a lamb chop & pasta dish, Marissa ordered a huge grilled squid. Both were absolutely delicious but way too much for the 2 of us. I enjoyed people watching with the occasional cool breeze hitting us and friendly staff. By 6 pm, we finally had to say goodbye to the beach, and ride our ATV back into town.

We are going to buy our ferry ticket to Santorini for tomorrow’s departure. After 4 lovely surreal nights in Hedonistic Mykonos, it’s time to say good bye. Someone once advised me that certain moments in life may be remembered and cherished more if left right at the peak, before waring it out. I wouldn’t apply this to friendship or love, but with places and food, I could see their point. A more unrequited type of idealism.

Greece is known for it’s beautiful beaches. The big families. The history. The white Togas. The ‘Alpha’ sexy men, where the word among the rest of the alphabet roots from. The big weddings. The white adobe houses with blue painted windows. The donkeys perhaps. The hedonistic life.

The food here has stood out the most to me. Yesterday morning we had breakfast at our apt made fresh by the owner of Maganos Apts. She is the sweetest, most nurturing lady we could have asked for to make us feel at home. Everything is fresh here, most plants they grow in their backyard - cucumbers, tomatoes, etc.

2 hours after breakfast, we were ready to eat again. What a surprise, we walked down the trail to Nicolas Restaurant, lying on Paraga Beach which we’ve been wanting to try. The price is totally reasonable, and the view spectacular. Not many people on this tiny beach. Every morning they display their specialized item for the day. I ordered the boiled octopus salad which contains chopped up fresh green peppers, fresh tomatoes, capers, topped with olive oil and red wine vinegar. I ate it with pure joy. Ambitiously gluttonous, I ordered a spaghetti with meat sauce which is my new obsession here in Greece.

After lunch, we walked to the more happening part of Paraga beach to catch a ferry back to Super Paradise but due to weather conditions, there were no boat out. So we rode a bus into town and decided to rent a vehicle for our remaining time in Mykonos. A scooter bike would be ideal, but seemingly very dangerous due to windy roads and our lack of experience riding. A car would cost at least 35 euros, so we rented an ATV. Bright orange may I add. I am glad of this choice. For 20 Euros a day, I took control of the wheel and took us to Super Paradise beach. IT was a bit scary at first with the narrow roads and crazy drivers, but we made it out alive. The scariest part was the steep drive towards the end to get to the actual beach. I screamed for dear life and braked with all my mite, all the way downo

We got to Super Paradise around 5pm and sensed that it wouldn’t be as crazy as yesterday but enjoyed a few drinks anyways by the water with a few familiar faces. I had my 2nd plate of Spaghetti meat sauce plate (the Best one in town is here in Super Paradise).

Immigration workers: I noticed a few non-greek workers here besides the Chinese on the beach offering massages, I asked a manager and they said they were from Bangladesh, and they come in high-seasons to make money. Or others have been here for awhile, as Greece is a crossing point from Asia to Europe, some being able to pass through and get visa’s, some others not, and staying in Greece for a better life. I’m interested in these issues which seem minor but make up the bigger picture in each economy with immigrant workers.

An hour went by, and as the sun sets, the standard tradition begins of something funky going down. A group of 40 something year old Brazilians began to have a dance party. We weren’t sure if they were on drugs or what was going on, but it was surely entertaining. Within moments, we were pulled into the mix.

We had more of an urge to take it easy during the day and to experience Mykonos at night so we left shortly after and rode our ATV back during sunset. We got a bit lost (per usual) heading back, but was in no hurry. We stopped by Paraga beach Super market for direction and to buy dinner. I’m not sure if we have been intentionally trying to be romantic, or if anything European we do comes off romantic. But we bought a bottle of red vino, 2 kinds of cheese – Gouda & some nasty rubbery salty white cheese, cherries, plums, tsaziki, and smoked trout. We laid it out on the table by the pool area overlooking the beautiful water. The owner of the hotel came by every few minutes with more treat. She’s so hospitable, I’d highly recommend her hotel to ANYONE! She brought over fresh cucumbers at one point. Moments later, the lady brought over a martini of the clear ouzoo like drink that every restaurant gives us a bit of to help digest. It tastes like pine needles, pretty gross, but how can you turn down free alcohol and a warm traditional gesture? The key moment of the night was when we heard the “Mamma mia” song (the beginning part when the 3 men first arrive on the island) in the distance and we thought we were hallucinating. There’s no way we thought! There had been no music playing. And one of the sole reasons we were in Greece was because of the movie! Seconds later, it was confirmed that the song was playing! WE jumped up and down all around the pool to the song.

After dinner, we took a taxi into Old Venice around 10:30 and shopped around. The party scene doesn’t start until midnight so we relaxed. We stopped by a small cozy trendy bar and each had a glass of red wine. On our way out, we ran into the Athenian men we had met the day before in Super Paradise and they advised to meet us at Jackie-O, the trendiest gay bar. We headed over there, which it sat on the water behind some beautiful windmills. Trendy good looking gay men strut around, us being the trophy fag hags. The best music played, and to continue on the Greek dream, 3 more songs from the Mamma Mia soundtrack played. Of course, only in a gay bar! “Dancing Queen”, among others. By 2 am we got a bit bored, so we wandered off some more into town. Stopped by a few more bars just to check out the scene. The last stop, of course a small cafe by the beach for my 3rd plate of Spaghetti meat sauce!! Got to bed by 3am after a crazy windy taxi ride back.

After some heavy bumps in the road, we never let the spirit get us down. We arrived at the Hotel Association of Renters at Old Port, and entered the room to a sweeter lady who asked us what we needed. We told her we prefered a home stay for 50 euros or less. She had the perfect one for us, showed us pictures, and we took it. Within 20 minutes, a huge healthy mama figured lady in her 50s showed up in her mini van to pick us up to her house.

The house was more of an Apt complex. Maganos Apartments is located in Paraga Beach, just west of Paradise beach but way quieter and with a young-middle age sophisticated calm crowd. The buildings were  painted white adobe style houses (just like you see in the movies all across the island) with bright blue painted windows and doors. It was EXACTLY what we envisioned. Resting high on the mountain, Over-looking the beach. Also a huge flat pool area with comfortable law chairs for those days you prefer to take it easy away from the beach.

We took out all our luggage and made ourselves at home. Finally around 2pm, we took a walk to Platis Gialos Beach, a favorite of mine with a young good looking crowd, but not so party-ish. A lot of young families with toddlers too. From there we bought a 5 euro round trip boat ride to Super Paradise, where the day party is.

After a 30 minute surreal boat ride in the blue water, perfect weather, we arrived to Super Paradise. It was a bit quiet at first, but you could sense that the party was just about to start. I couldn’t tell whether the men were gay or not, as there seems to be a very fine line between European men & gay men. But Super Paradise is known to be the most gay-friendly beach, playing hits from Madonna to Kylie which are the best queer hits. It didn’t matter to us realy if they were gay or not, all that mattered was that everyone was overall good looking, tanned, with great bodies. There wasn’t anybody nude, although most men were in speedos and women in thong bikinis. There were a handfull of women with amazing bosoms which we couldn’t stop staring at. It was confusing to us how such thin bodies could produce such big beautiful butts.

We had some drinks on our own, the bar prices overall being rather cheap for such a hot trendy place, about 5 euros each. We laid out for a bit, the beach charging 6 euros a person for a sunbed.

A Chinese man walked over (as there were about half a dozen of Chinese workers on the beach) with a chart and asked if I wanted a massage for 30 euros an hour or 15 euros half hour foot massage). I took the foot massage, partly because I needed it, but more so because of my curiosity of why he was here. I spoke to him in Mandarin, hoping he’d give me a discount or a better massage. I got neither, nor did I get much of a story from him as he didn’t seem interested in sharing, but I got enough to perform a research after.

He said he had been in Greece for 9 years, prior then that in Italy for 2 years and 1 year in Yugoslavia before that in which he fled from Shanghai. I asked him why they fled, he said because of war. I cannot recall a war that happened in 1998, do you know?

Around 6 pm, after a small nap, we heard the music blast louder and we knew the beach party was starting at Tropicana Bar. As soon as we approached, we were befriended by the cheery gay men (or Europeans, we still don’t know) and were offered drinks left and right. We ended up spending no more than 10 euros the whole day. Most of them were all from Athens, partying it up locally here in Mykonos. We didn’t end up finding out what they did for livings but they all seemed unaffected by their declining economy as we probably showed the same of ours in the US.

It was the most Hedonistic day of my life, with the best music. I even took a short trip to the cafeteria for a meatball spaghetti and I’ve never had better. (I promise it wasn’t because I was intoxicated) By 9pm we were ready to head back and get ready to go back out. We waited by the boat stop for what seemed like forever and came to conclusions with the other fellow-passengers that it wasn’t coming. So we went to the taxi stop for a bit, and within 3 minutes, Marissa hops in this random car & waves me and this Argentinian solo traveler we met earlier in the day to get in.

The driver was a beautiful middle-aged Greek woman who was had a loud voice and friendly charisma to her. She simply said she’d take us back since she was passing through and said we seemed like we needed a ride. Until now, we still don’t know why she took us in. She wanted nothing from us, perhaps it was sincerely on her way and performing a good deed. We had great conversations with her in which we don’t really remember, but when she dropped us off, she wouldn’t take our money and said “hopefully I’ll see you tomorrow”. Thank you angel.

We got back to our room by 10pm and had the intention of taking a nap. Instead, we woke up at 9am this morning with our clothes and light still on.

What protest? What declining Economy?

We haven’t felt one inch of that here in Mykonos. Well it certainly is the most popular island to visit in Greece. We have seen more Americans traveling in Turkey and Greece than anywhere I’d been. I’d say 65% of the people we’ve come across, along with Canadians, and Australians (per usual). The island is still filled with travelers.

The food in Greece has been lustfully DELICIOUS!! From the cheapest food to the higher-end food. I’ve never been more gluttonous in my life.

Most popular food in Greek Culture: Souvlaki, Taziki (or any greek yogurt.. ze best in ze world!), pork/lamb/beef. The Salad here is always freshly grown in their yard, fresh tomatoes, fresh cucumbers.. mainly topped with vinegar and olive oil. I’ve enjoyed the boiled octopus salad. The simple Spaghetti and meatball sauce is YUMMY! Gyro’s. Ouzoo for alcohol, and another sweet clear drink they give you a shot of after every meal to help digest.

From Samos, we took the Ferry at 1:30pm to Mykonos.. arrived at 7pm. We rode the Hellenic Seaways (50$) Yacht which was nicer than any Yacht I’ve ever been on. The first 2 floors being work area & 3rd/4th being savvy parking lots for cars and motorcycles. The 6th and 7th floor having sun decks where people could kick up chairs and lounge. Certain sections for VIP lounge, bars, restaurants, theatres with different movies/shows playing.

The whole ferry trip was beautiful as we stopped off at least 3-4 other islands before reaching Mykonos for other passengers who’s destination it was to get off. It was like a mini tour. After a short nap, some ADHD hopping all around the cruise ship to lounge at every angle possible, we arrived safe and sound to New Port in Mykonos (the main port to be dropped off at) located in the western central part of Mykonos. From there we had expected dozens of locals soliciting us for homestay, as we had heard from other friends, but we did not encounter that. So we hopped on a taxi and asked him to take us to Paradise, where we heard is the beach with the youngest best vibe for partying. He dropped us off at Paradise Beach Resort & Camping, seemingly the biggest accomodation that provided almost every style of hoteling one needed for the young budget traveler.

We asked for the cheapest which was 11 euros and he led us to a canopy style tent hut, which was way to small and dirty even for the standard that I’ve traveled upon. So we asked for an upgrade which was 17 euros to a Bungalow. It seemed ok from the surface. We walked over to the beach and saw no more than 10 people there. The beach itself was pretty with neatly lined straw umbrellas and a few bars, but it was no more than 1/3 of a mile across the beach. We looked at one another and thought there was no way this was “the funnest part of Mykonos”. Asked and asked and everyone said ‘Yes, this is Paradise.’ We had heard there were more people during the day and they had gone home to change to go back out, to either Paradise club or Cavo Paradiso where the 2 biggest night clubs in Mykonos were. We were still confused. Even with the lowest of standards, how could this be?

Literally everyone that was there was between 17-20 years young. It reminded me of a tacky Rosarito town we use to embark in back in College spring break, for an all-inclusive package of 150$. Mainly Americans, Canadians and Aussies.

We gave it a rest for now, and took a bus ride for 1.40 euro (1.70$) to Old Venice which is the ‘main city’ where all the fun restaurants, bars, shopping, livelihood is, and if you want to get anything done like internet, bank, etc. We loved the vibe around town. So romantically lit. We found a fancy outdoor restaurant right along the water for dinner. I ordered a baby lamb dish, and Marissa got a fish soup and stuffed tomatoes. The food was OK but the ambiance was pleasant. We walked around a bit more then decided to bus back to our Bungalow by 11pm. The big much promoted party at Paradise club which was right next to our hotel was to start in an hour at midnight, but we saw no appeal in it, so decided to call it an early night and save our energy for the next day.

Throughout the night, we were awoken by the most annoying buzzing noise of a fly, and the uncontrollable itching of lord knows what bug. Perhaps bed bugs, mosquitos, spiders, who knows, but we couldn’t stop scratching. It was incredibly annoying. And it were moments right when we thought the itching or biting had stopped, that we’d then be awoken by that fly reaching near our face. When those 2 slowed down, obnoxious drunk college students stumbling back from the bars passing our rooms woke us up. It was the most uncomfortable sleep of our lives. When the sun finally rose, which seemed like decades, we finally were catching up on some sleep, when the only somewhat funny event of the night happened.

2 guys were walking outside the room obnoxiously loud as hell, and we hear from a neighboring bungalow “Shut up! We’re trying to sleep!’ The guys trying to be smart-asses, echos back ‘Who’s trying to sleep!?’ I shout out now “We’re trying to sleep!” And we hear one of them go “I think those were the girls trying to fight the bugs all night!”

Marissa & I must have been louder than we thought cussing and screaming and clapping the bugs off of us. We must have seemed like crazy ladies. hahaha.

Finally in the morning we checked out and jetted the hell out of that shitshow island they call Paradise. Our hotel manager recommended we go down to Hotel Association by the Old Port for other rental options.