Mykonos, Greece

Our port today was Mykonos, one of the islands of the Cyclades in Greece. Mykonos is a tourist destination with multiple beaches. We didn’t get to spend any notable time on Mykonos, but we did take Emily Downing to her very first beach. We spent most of our shore time on nearby Delos, an essentially uninhabited island. Delos has archaeological sites dating back to 3000 BC. According to Greek mythology, it was the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, making the site so sacred that the ancient Greeks wouldn’t let anyone be born or die on the island. Pregnant women and the ill were transported to other islands. At the top of the hill on Delos is a Temple of Zeus. We didn’t make it up that far, but could see it from afar. We did make it to the Temple of Dionysus, where there is a large mosaic floor surrounded by Greek columns. There also was a beautiful mosaic floor in the home of the trident. Around 700 BC, the Naxians (of the neighboring island of Naxos), constructed multiple buildings on Delos. They also made statues of Lions which they dedicated to the Sanctuary of Apollo. There were originally somewhere between 9 and 19 of these lions. There are parts of 5 of the lions on Delos now. The ones outside are replicas, while the originals are in the museum on Delos. A 6th one is in Venice, where it was taken in 1716. The Naxians also made a Collosus statue of Apollo which was about 30 feet tall. In the 1600s the head was cut off of the statue. At this time, the torso and hips are on the island. The left hand is in the museum on Delos and the left leg is in the British Museum. In addition to the ancient ruins on Delos, we also saw quite a few cats (which made Emily happy), a couple of different types of lizards, and frogs. I think Emily took more pictures of the critters than the site itself. Tomorrow we get to go to Istanbul, Turkey.