Jackie Was Here (Part 3)

Setting sail out of Athens on the Aegean Sea, the first thing one can’t help but notice is the unbelievable shade of the water. The ancient Greeks called the Aegean the “wine-dark sea” for good reason, and in some places the color is such a deep and penetrating shade of blue that it almost appears purple in the sunlight.

Prior to Greece, I’d only traveled by ferry one other time for a grand total of about 20 minutes, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. The ferry ride out to sea was made better by a perfect day without a cloud in the sky and looking out toward the hazy, far-off horizons, it was difficult to tell where the blue sea ended and the blue sky began.

The ferries cruise along at a comfortable speed of about 35 knots. I honestly have no concept of how fast a knot is, but it kept a warm breeze ruffling my hair when standing on the deck, and made the journey very enjoyable.

Our first stop in the Aegean was the island of Mykonos where we spent the better part of three days. Mykonos is known today for its beaches and its nightlife and it’s a popular tourist destination for mainland Europeans. Apparently the Greek Islands are like the Caribbean of Europe, and Mykonos, as the epicenter, is highly crowded! Still, the magic of the Aegean, and the beauty of its beaches are unmistakable on Mykonos, and despite the inordinate number of tourists it’s still easy to have a good time.

At least half of the island’s beaches are “clothing optional” and of those another several are “exclusively nude.” I didn’t actually make it to any of the later variety but I saw enough of the former to develop a theory about public nudity on European beaches: The only people who take their clothes off are those who shouldn’t! While the repeated sightings of saggy bare breasts did little to boost my excitement for nude beaches, they did reassure my confidence in my own sexuality. I’m not sure if being gay came from my environment, my genetics, my mother, or from God, but whoever did it to me – THANK YOU!!!

The center of all activity on Mykonos (aside from the beaches) is the chora. All islands have a chora, which is the main city, or urban hub, but Mykonos’s is unique. It’s laid out in a complete mesh of white stucco buildings built literally right on top of one another with narrow alleyways passing in between (far too small for even the littlest vehicles). These urban pedestrian trails weave in and out of the buildings with absolutely no rhyme or reason and it doesn’t take much time at all to become lost and confused, not mention frustrated! Oddly enough, a little alcohol seemed to almost help the navigating abilities. Apparently the chora was built like that centuries ago, in a preventative attempt to thwart pirate raids, which were frequent in the Greek Islands.

Mykonos also has the distinction of being a favorite vacation spot of Jackie Onassis during the years that she lived in Greece. This seemed to really fit with the island’s mystique and for me personally, made it much more appealing! You see, Jackie serves as something of an icon for the homo-world at large. No, she wasn’t one herself, and she didn’t go around actively supporting the gay rights movement. But she was a liberal (we love all liberals by default), and her sense of fashion, her style, her charisma and charm, and her untouchable class have made her sort of the queen mother of gay men around the world… Cher may be our mascot, but Jackie was our monarch!

Appropriately the premier gay bar on Mykonos is called Jackie O, and it draws enormous crowds after hours when the beaches close. For gay men, a drunken night at Jackie O seemed to be like a Greek right-of-passage, and so that’s where we ended up.

I should point out here that my travel companion is NOT gay, but he puts up with us rather well… in fact I sometimes tease him that he’s an “honorary homo.” At any rate, I managed to convince him to come with me to Jackie O and after we actually found the place (this required the assistance of four locals, two stops at internet cafés, and a misguided walk around half the damn island) we had a pretty good time.

Day two on Mykonos had the best agenda you can have when you’re on an island 6,000 miles from home: Laying on the beach drinking pina coladas (to the tune of about 10 Euros each!). This was the ONLY thing we did on that particular day and I came to the conclusion that no matter how hectic a vacation ever becomes, a day to do nothing except sunbathe and drink is absolutely essential to the rejuvenation of the soul!

Our final day on Mykonos involved a quick trip to the ruins at Delos (more on that in the next post) before setting sail for the next island, Ios. Overall, I have to give Mykonos a thumbs-up. While it was by far the most crowded, touristy place we visited in Greece, it was a beautiful island and a lot of fun. Jackie knew a good thing when she saw it!
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Sailing on the Aegean Sea.

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Mykonos

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Paradise Beach. This was one of the "mostly" clothed beaches

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The gay bar appropriately named "Jackie O." When I took this picture the morning after being there I was a little stunned at how close it is to the sea, and how rough the sea is. Maybe not a good mix when drinking, huh?
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The streets of the Mykonos chora. VERY narrow!
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This pelican is something of a local legend and there's competing stories about how he got to Mykonos. Pelicans are not native to this part of the world but this one stays and the tourists love him.

. The view from our room