Paradise Beach! More like Paradise Shit!
So I just got back to Mykonos Town, and of course have immediately
decamped to this internet cafe, mainly because it's right at the bus
stop and I'm not going to be coming anywhere near here tonight or
tomorrow. I got on the but to Paradise Beach this afternoon at
around 15:00, and I guess it was nice enough. Sand was a bit
pebbly, like Plata Gilata (or whatever the hell its name is), but the
water was pretty calm. No crashing waves.
It was, however, packed. I managed to find a non-umbrellaed spot (gotta save money where I can, after all) way at the end of the beach, and that involved passing the most densely populated umbrella forest I've ever seen. They were crammed much closer together than at the other beaches. Quite unappetizing, actually.
So I lay on my towel, went into the water to cool off occasionally, and basically sunbathed and read one of my books again. I did this until about 19:00, when the sun was definitely declining and fairly useless as an instrument of thermonuclear warmth. So I gathered up my stuff and set out for the bus stop, only to be confronted with a massive traffic jam. Not sure if it was related to the free concert that Coke was putting on, but I find it hard to believe that that kind of mess happens all the time. In any event, there were two buses trapped there, and they weren't going to be going anywhere anytime soon, so I decided to walk a bit and catch one of the buses when they got freed up. After about a kilometer of quite steep striding, I came to the turnoff for Paragas Beach, where a bunch of people were waiting for the bus, as buses go to both Paradise and Paragas beaches. This might have been at 19:15 or thereabouts. After waiting for an hour, only one of the two trapped buses had made it out, and I decided to hoof it the rest of the way (maybe 4 km) back to town. Fortunately, once I got to the main road, itself no small hike through hill and dale and then more hill, I managed to catch some other bus returning from some other beach and thus made it back to town in unairconditioned but motorized luxury.
My travel agency in Athens has managed to find a place for me at a 90 Euro/night hotel in Santorini, with possibilities at two other locations developing and to be communicated tomorrow. This pleases me. I am very pleased. Although the price is a bit steep - hopefully one of the other spots will be cheaper. But if not, I'll probably wind up taking it, since Santorini is as packed as Mykonos, from all I hear, and I'm sure I will have had enough fun dancing with uncertainty with my upcoming forays to Paros and Naxos, and the need to take what I can find off the ferry there.
It was, however, packed. I managed to find a non-umbrellaed spot (gotta save money where I can, after all) way at the end of the beach, and that involved passing the most densely populated umbrella forest I've ever seen. They were crammed much closer together than at the other beaches. Quite unappetizing, actually.
So I lay on my towel, went into the water to cool off occasionally, and basically sunbathed and read one of my books again. I did this until about 19:00, when the sun was definitely declining and fairly useless as an instrument of thermonuclear warmth. So I gathered up my stuff and set out for the bus stop, only to be confronted with a massive traffic jam. Not sure if it was related to the free concert that Coke was putting on, but I find it hard to believe that that kind of mess happens all the time. In any event, there were two buses trapped there, and they weren't going to be going anywhere anytime soon, so I decided to walk a bit and catch one of the buses when they got freed up. After about a kilometer of quite steep striding, I came to the turnoff for Paragas Beach, where a bunch of people were waiting for the bus, as buses go to both Paradise and Paragas beaches. This might have been at 19:15 or thereabouts. After waiting for an hour, only one of the two trapped buses had made it out, and I decided to hoof it the rest of the way (maybe 4 km) back to town. Fortunately, once I got to the main road, itself no small hike through hill and dale and then more hill, I managed to catch some other bus returning from some other beach and thus made it back to town in unairconditioned but motorized luxury.
My travel agency in Athens has managed to find a place for me at a 90 Euro/night hotel in Santorini, with possibilities at two other locations developing and to be communicated tomorrow. This pleases me. I am very pleased. Although the price is a bit steep - hopefully one of the other spots will be cheaper. But if not, I'll probably wind up taking it, since Santorini is as packed as Mykonos, from all I hear, and I'm sure I will have had enough fun dancing with uncertainty with my upcoming forays to Paros and Naxos, and the need to take what I can find off the ferry there.