Mykonos: 5 windmills, long winding alleys, a big fat Greek wedding and a pelican

Our short but tiring honeymoon has just crossed the finishing line. The Greek expedition was fantastic, though not everything went to plan. My (new) laptop screwed up (thus the lack of updates), I had to work more than I expected, and 2 out of 3 of our hotels were not up to scratch to name a few, but oh well, the positives far outweighed the negatives, so consider it a very very blessed trip!

Following Athens, we made our way to the famous island of Mykonos. From our minimal research, we knew that it was a place famous for its beaches and nightlife which never ends (not our cup of tea), and after 2 days, the findings proved to be accurate.

View from the old port

Don't misunderstand, Mykonos is really pretty, with sparkling turquoise seawater and uniform white cubes(buildings) forming a unique landscape.

It is the beachboy/girl's paradise.

It's just that destroying our skin under the blazing hot sun followed by hurting our bodies further with the never-ending nightlife did not exactly appeal to us. It didn't help when public transport only brought you to 2 places (Ornos and Mykonos Town). In the end, for us at least, Mykonos became a tale of 5 windmills, long winding alleys, a big fat Greek wedding and a pelican.

4 of the 5 windmills, it's one of the postcard pictures everyone has to take

It would take no more than half a day to finish walking Mykonos Town, which is basically made up of a maze of beautiful winding alleys flanked by restaurants and shops which sold more or less the same things. However, it would be good to note that this is also where the nightlife begins and never ends, whatever that means.

How a quieter alley looks, pretty eh?

You would probably not be able to leave Mykonos without buying a souvenir with its mascot Petros the Pelican on it. Though Petros has since passed away, pelicans were still the stars of the show when we walked along the waterfront at the old port. These gigantic birds looked capable of shredding me into pieces if they wanted to, but to my surprise they were tame and friendly, some sleeping peacefully while others proudly changed poses like a supermodel for tourists to snap away.

One of the smarter poses I could catch it in

Last but not least, as much as we found Mykonos the most uninspiring stop of our trip, one of the highlights of the honeymoon happened here as well. Thanks to our otherwise "not-very-pleasant" host at the "not-very-impressive" Eva Hotel, we spent 3 of our meals at the same restaurant, including our first dinner, when we gate-crashed a big, fat Greek wedding!
 
In actual fact, the wedding was not between Greeks. The bride's South African, the groom's Polish, they both live and met in Hong Kong, and were getting married on Mykonos Island, Greece, with a wedding party mostly conducted in English! It's ok if you did not manage to follow me on the couple's background, because since there's Greek food, live Greek music, Greek alcohol and lots of Greek dancing, who cares?

They sure had a lot of Greek fun

As we were on our honeymoon, it seemed fitting that we managed to experience a Greek wedding party and a great honour to be able to share their joy. It was undoubtedly by far the most unexpected bonus of our journey!
 
How could I complete this post without a picture of Li Li and myself in Mykonos? So here goes...
 

 
Next stop: Santorini.
 
It would take at least 3 more posts before I end off this Stranger in Greece series. Stay tuned!