Tuesday, September 13

9/13/2016

This was our last morning in Mykonos, and what did Hirsh want to do more than anything? The same thing he resisted so strongly yesterday was the same thing he wanted to enjoy one last time before our 24-hour rental expired. We rode that 4-wheeler all over creation and checked a few more beaches off the list. Since most people in Mykonos seem to sleep in after a late night/early morning of partying, we had the first couple beaches - and seemingly much of the island - mostly to ourselves and it was so blissfully peaceful.

Since we'd become so well acquainted with Super Paradise Beach, we thought we'd check out regular Paradise Beach this morning. These two beaches are widely considered the top two beaches on the island, and we can see why. The strands are wide and long and beautiful, the water is gorgeous, and there's plenty to do and plenty to see. This is the first time we saw full nudity on a Greek beach, and of course we didn't come equipped with our beach gear or enough time to partake. Darn! Mykonos, we will be back!

We raced back to our guesthouse to check out and said goodbye to our home for the last four nights.

We caught a very sexy catamaran ferry for the hour and a half ride over to the island of Paros, a destination highly recommended by Sarah's brother, Jeff.

We even stayed in the hotel he recommended, Akrotiri Hotel. This hotel is located in the neighborhood of Parikia and is a quick 5 minute drive from the main town and ferry port. A staff member from the hotel was waiting at the port to pick us up, and we were given the warmest welcome when we arrived at the hotel. The people here are genuinely lovely and go above and beyond to make your stay exceptional. Even the resident border collie greeted us with a big smile! The staff immediately served us homemade lemonade on the beautiful terrace and explained in great detail all the things to do on the island. After a string of somewhat unfavorable rooms in our previous accommodations, we lucked out with the best room in the entire hotel: 2-room family suite on the top floor with the best view of the ocean AND the beautiful pool!

We hurried to change into our bathing suits and hit the pool right away.

The hotel even arranged for a 4-wheeler rental company to drop a vehicle at the hotel for us and they would pick it up after we checked out. This time we specifically requested a bigger, more powerful vehicle (our Mykonos 4-wheeler couldn't make it up really steep hills with both of us on it, oops). The rental company obliged and brought us a beast, and the looks of pity we had grown accustomed to in Mykonos were replaced with looks of envy. Winning! We drove to town to watch the sunset and had dinner at a wonderful seafood restaurant recommended by our hotel hosts, where they serve gigantic portions of fresh seafood at unbelievably reasonable prices.