It was easy to picture in my mind the great battle that took place in and around these waters - in the straits between Salamis and Piraeus - in 480 BC. In the first great defeat of Xerxes' Persian Empire, the Athenian navy defeated a significantly larger Persian fleet; setting the stage for the major land battle at Plataea where a large force of Spartans, Athenians and other Greek states annihilated the Persian army. But... I digress. Considering that the Battle of Salamis has been called by many historians as the most important battle in western civilization, I'm sure you can understand the awe I had for those waters.
After an overnight cruise to the island of Mykonos, we debarked and set out on a tour around the island. The main town on the island was also called Mykonos; and it was a fantastic little town right on the water with an ancient port.
They said the streets of the city were deliberately twisty, narrow and meandering on purpose, to get the occasional raiders lost and confused. Regardless of the reason, the streets and alleys were quiet pleasant, and very pleasing to walk around.
Mykonos is well known for its churches(Greek Orthodox), of which there were many. All of them were pretty tiny, with space for a congregation of only 20 or so people.
We took a quick boat ride to the island of Delos. Words honestly cannot describe the awe I felt there. Delos was a sacred island before the Greeks created their system of gods and goddesses. For the Greeks, they claimed their god of the sun - Apollo - was born on that island; in addition, other cultures also built temples there - the Egyptians built a temple to Isis as well, you can see it in the valley in the center of the hills here.
It was simply boggling to my mind to be walking on a street that someone else was walking on over 2000 years ago.
Simply boggling.
Next stop.... Croatia!
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