Queen Elizabeth Ship - Mykonos

George has brought us to the port of Pireaus where we will embark our beautiful ship, the majestic Queen Elizabeth to begin our long awaited cruise of the Greek Islands.  Check the size of the gangway in relation to the ship!

Queen Elizabeth Cruise Ship - Mid ships

She is so huge that I had to take 3 photos to get her all in!

Fore

Aft

Have to use the correct terminology see!  What a beauty she is.  Our cabin stateroom with a balcony was 3rd from the front port side on deck 4.  Les and Dave and Barb and Russ were 3rd and 4th from the front, also deck 4, starboard side.  Here is a pic of our stateroom looking from the door towards the balcony.  Very comfortable king size bed with plenty of room on each side. 

Our Stateroom

A glass of complimentary champagne on the balcony

The lifts to the left and right

Staircase

I will randomly post pics taken on the ship but I would like to take you to our first port of call - Mykonos.

MYKONOS

We docked at about 8am as we did on most days, usually still having breakfast at this time, definitely as with all meals, not to be rushed!

Mykonos lies at the heart of the Cyclades Islands and has been described as "the jewel" of the Aegean Sea.  With its maze of narrow alleyways, well preserved traditional windmills and tiny red-roofed churches, the town offers a delightful mix of culture and custom.

Typical whitewashed buildings

Windmills in the background

This island is spotlessly clean and we were advised to wear sunglasses because of the glare off all the white buildings.  The whitewash reflects the sun and helps to keep the houses cool, as did the small shuttered windows and graceful arcades.  There were lots of golden beaches with crystal clear water.  We walked from the docks along the busy road till we came to the red boat landmark and then along the harbour into town.  We wandered through the quaint town with its narrow little streets with tiny houses whose front doors opened directly off the street.  Oh my, compared to our homes with huge gardens!  The narrow winding streets break the force of the wind and they also foxed pirates (in the 16th century) who might have got lost in the maze!!!  Not difficult to imagine as many a moment was spent trying to figure out which way to get out.

Narrow streets

I managed to get this pic without any tourists!!  Note how clean the streets are.

Neatly painted blue doors to this home.

A shop with beautiful ceramics - so tempting!

Walking up one of the narrow streets between the homes

Perhaps the most enjoyable occupation in the town is strolling aimlessly, appreciating the architecture of the houses with their arched ground floors, outside staircases, trailing creepers and colourful potplants.  

While walking through this quaint town, we came upon Petros the Pelican.  The story goes that in 1958 a wounded pelican was found off the coast of Mykonos shore by a local fisherman.  The pelican was nursed to health and remained on the island supported by locals.  It soon adopted the name "Petros", as a joke between the locals, as "petro" in Greek means rock, stone but metaphorically Old and Grumpy.  To great disappointment by locals and tourists alike, Petros was hit by a car on 2 December 1985 and failed to recover.  Subsequently, three new pelicans reside around the main town of Mykonos.  One, honorifically, was given the name Petros.  I must say that I was a bit dubious about that beak bearing in mind the Grumpy part of his predecessor!

Petros the Pelican

I do believe that we were very lucky to come across him as others have visited the island a number of times and have failed to see him!

After lunch Dave and I took a taxi to Aghios Ioannis, 2½ miles south of the town, the beach where the film "Shirley Valentine" was filmed in 1989.  This was the highlight of our day as we have watched this film a number of times and always said how exciting it would be to actually go there.  Well, 24 years later we were really there, and we were not disappointed.  Bearing in mind that obviously the place has changed and is more built up and the restaurant where a lot of the filming took place has been added on to, but one can still clearly see where it all happened.  

This sign has quite probably drawn many tourists!

The beach as it is today with many tourists soaking up the sun.  How I just love this photo....

Recognize this road?

Yours truly taking it all in!

Thus ended our first day on a Greek Island.  All had to be back on board by 5.30pm to leave port by 6pm; our next port of call being Kusadasi, Turkey.