Travel Guide: Paros & Mykonos

And my Greece Adventures are coming to an end. This is my last Travel Guide for Greece where I take you through my time in Paros & Mykonos. I spent most of the time on boats with minimal sightseeing so, they both are getting combined into one post!

📍Paros, Greece

CLIFF JUMPING

If you find yourself on a boat (and you know how to swim and are not afraid of heights) and the boat stops at a place for Cliff Jumping- JUMP! The cliff I jumped off of - my very first cliff jumping!- was 32 feet and wow what a long way down.

If it'll also be your first time cliff jumping:

GENERAL TIPS

 TIP #1: I'd recommend wearing swim shoes of some sort. I had to climb up the cliff and it was a bit hard with just bare feet.

TIP #2: Do not climb all the way up there if you have a fear of heights. Odd tip but the person in front of me climbed all the way up there and said he had a fear of heights. He eventually did take the express elevator down - i.e. jumped - but it took a lot of convincing.

TIP #3: When jumping, you must land like a toothpick. STRAIGHT! So keep your hands to your sides. If you even move a bit to the left and land on your thigh you're going to have a massive bruise there, so please please please make sure you land as a straight as a toothpick so you don't get hurt.

PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS

 TIP #1: If you have an iPhone, your best bet is to hand someone your phone and have them take a video and you can screen-cap from there. If you attempt to have your photo taken as you're in mid-air, chances are the person taking the photo won't capture you.

TIP #2: If you have a go-pro strapped to your head for the jump, I would take some precaution. The person in front of me who eventually jumped had a go-pro strapped to his head and on the way down it unclipped. Thankfully it wasn't so deep and a few skilled swimmers managed to get it for him.

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If you're interested in seeing me jump in action - you can check it out on my YouTube Channel at minute 1:49 on this video -  HERE
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HOTEL

Aegeon Hotel

The address:

Peripheral Road of Parikia, Kakepetra, 84400, 844 00, Greece

Their Website

⭐️⭐️

2/5 Stars

What I Loved:

- The Hotel was family run and the family was so warm-hearted and so so sweet to talk to. Although there was a language barrier, they were so kind to speak to.
- There was a beach a short drive away

-  The Hotel was very close to a bakery, so if you weren't feeling the small selection for breakfast they had, the bakery was right there for you:

Directions to the Bakery

Exit the hotel and walk to the right for a little bit.

You'll see a bakery right across the street! 

I also want to note that this bakery had a massive slice of baklava for 2€. Best 2€ spent.

(split it in two for my sister and I!)

Now, I really wanted to find the exact location however, when I went on Google, the street view hasn't been updated since 2011. If you find yourself at this hotel, just remember there's a tasty bakery for breakfast extremely close by!

What I Didn't Love

-  The rooms were extremely tiny. I shared with my sister and another roommate and walking-space was not a luxury. What I mean is that when it came time to actually get ready for dinner, we literally had to hop onto our beds if someone needed to take a quick look in the bathroom.

- The Shower: Our tour guide mentioned that the water pressure here in Paros is not the best, we saw that with the shower we had. It was pretty low pressure.

- There was no place for us to dry our bathing suits. We had to hang them in the bathroom and even balance some on top of a hook by the window - they weren't the driest the next day but it's better than having it be soaking wet!

- The Elevator takes a while to come down so when you first arrive you are better off carrying your luggage with you up the stairs.

📍Mykonos, Greece

Ah yes, the party island. My EF Tour had an excursion for my tour group for a Beach Party and seeing as my sister and I don't drink we opted out and decided to spend the day on our own.

The Windmills (Kato Milli)

GENERAL TIPS

TIP #1: Wear closed toe shoes/comfy footwear. In order to get to the Windmills there is a lot of walking, some on sand depending on if you take that route.

TIP #2: The best time to go is right before sunset, your photos will have nice lighting and you get to see an amazing view.

last time I did this jumping pose - for those who haven't read my last Travel guides, I do this jumping pose at every major place!

PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS

TIP #1: You are going to have to pick and choose which Windmill you want in your photo, you can't really get all of them in one photo. And if you do, you'll be this lil tiny thing in the photo.

TIP #2: Make sure the person taking the photo is slightly crouched in place, leaning back a bit, so they can get the full view of the windmill(s) behind you.

TIP #3: When having your photo taken, have the person kneeling down on your righthand side/left hand side to get a photo of you with the windmills at an angle.

TIP #4: Getting a picture without people behind you may be a bit difficult, so you're going to have to wait a few minutes to get a less crowded photo.

FOOD

Rouvera Cafe Restaurant
Mikonos 846 00, Greece
$$

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

5/5 Stars

At this restaurant, my sister and I got a fish and a bowl of clams to share. I really wish they had their menu online so I can tell you exactly what I got and that I actually wrote it down. Although pricey, it was honestly the best fish we've both ever had.

The person who served us was actually the person who went on the boat fishing that morning. So, your food is quite literally fresh. The cost of the fish depends on the weight of it - I believe the fish was about 14€ for us, it also came with a small portion of rice.

You may be wondering, well where's the picture of the perfect meal? Well, you see, I was really hungry and didn't think to myself oh maybe I should take a photo of this.

Also, best part? FREE WIFI!

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We went to another restaurant near the Windmills however we weren't too in love with. You are mainly paying for the view of the windmills not necessarily the food if that makes sense. So, if you find yourself by the Windmills, I'd recommend finding a place to eat where the start of the walkway is rather than near the windmills - you'll get better food and a better view!
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DESSERT

Gelarte
Mikonos 846 00, Greece

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

5/5 Stars

For some reason the address is the same as the restaurant however just keep walking straight all the way down the path.

We actually found out about this ice cream place when we saw so many people with their little ice cream cups walking around. So we started walking down the path after eating at Rouvera and found it. Now, please drumroll for this ice cream flavor I am about to tell you about.

Baklava ice cream! I didn't know this was actually a thing but it tasted like heaven. You'd think the baklava might get soggy however, it still has its nice crunch to it! It was nicely priced at 3.50€ for a cup.

Funny story: After my sister and I tried this place we mentioned it to our tour group, and everyone in our tour group went to get ice cream and we all basically finished their baklava ice cream.

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HOTEL
Alkistis Hotel
Agios Stefanos, Mykonos

Their Website

⭐️

1/5 Stars

What I Didn't Like:

- You see those stairs in that photo above? Yep, so imagine having to climb that + 3 more of those daily because there is not an elevator. Oh, and climbing up those stairs with your very own luggage up all those steps. That itself was a workout. It made me really upset though because it wasn't wheelchair accessible. Although yes I am able to walk up these stairs, I kind of got upset that they didn't think of making this hotel wheelchair accessible.

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If you're interested in seeing me walk up my hotel room in action- you can check it out on my YouTube Channel at minute 1:25 on this video -  HERE
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- The water smelled odd in the shower and from the faucet that was outside of the bathroom.

- The air condition stopped working, and there was a quick blackout on the island. When the generator kicked in we put the air condition back on and essentially the air condition had an identity crisis because it turned to heat. Why there is a heat function on this air condition, I have not the slightest clue. So we had to sleep without the air condition that night.

- I didn't get the best vibes from the people at the front desk.

What I liked:

- The beach in front of the hotel was free for you to go to.

- There was a convenience store right near by, just walk to the right hand side for .5 seconds and you should see it.

- The bus stop was nearly right in front of the hotel. Right by the convenience store, you'll see a bus stop. It was I believe 2.50€ for a ride.

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AND THERE WE HAVE IT - the end of my Greece Travel Guides. This Travel Guide was supposed to be up last week however I was attending a hack-a-thon and prepping for my race, so it ended up getting pushed around to this week instead.

I really hope everyone enjoyed reading my Travel Guides, I had a lot of fun writing and remembering what I did in Greece - I think of them now as massive diary entries with tips I wish I knew before. If this is the first one you're reading from me, you may want to check out the others as those have a lot of sightseeing, photography and general tips!

Travel Guide: Athens, Greece
Travel Guide: Santorini, Greece [Part 1]
Travel Guide: Santorini, Greece [Part 2]
Travel Guide: Santorini, Greece [Part 3]

Thank you again for reading, I mentioned in my last Travel Guide that doing Travel Guides were really outside of my blogging comfort zone and I'm so happy with how they turned out!

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