Delos: ancient tranquility
Written: Nov 05 '08 (Updated Feb 24 '09)
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Pros: Not as overrun by dorks as many Greek places; no doodad shops; phalli
Cons: If you get seasick easily, your moussaka's going into the Aegean
The Bottom Line: You got as far as Mykonos. You can go lay around naked on the beach some other time.
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| jkkelley's Full Review: Cyclades |
The Cyclades are a roughly circular group of islands in the Aegean Sea. In their midst, about a forty-minute boat ride from picture-postcard Mykonos, lies the island of Delos. As the birthplace of Apollo and Artemis, ancient Greeks considered it very sacred and built a thriving sanctuary there. Neither dying nor giving birth there were allowed, so if you are near the end of your life or your pregnancy, show some respect and wait for the crisis to pass.
You can't just go to Delos and screw around. Unless there's archaeology going on, the only residents are about ten guys paid by the Greek government to play house there and keep out the riff-raff. My guess is that they get real good at backgammon. There are no toilets unless the local cafeteria is open (which it isn't), so pee before you get off the boat. On our boat, the door to the guys' can was stuck open, so each eager peer would do human door duty before having his leak. No idea what the women did, as it was really none of my business. I'm sure they managed, in the ancient tradition of the female requiring sanitation facilities.
Anyway, I went on an excursion from a cruise ship. Cost about 75E, and I suppose that's fairly standard. It's a beautiful, bouncy boat ride to an island you can only somewhat see from the harbor of Mykonos. I found it invigorating, but I am not prone to motion sickness. You can either ride in the cabin with the cowards, or ride topside like any self-respecting Greek. The flag of the Hellenic Republic flapping at the mast, the Aegean breakers smacking islands as you pass them, the setting sun: if you neither travel by sea nor climb anything steep, you weren't really in Greece at all.
Costs about 8E once you land, usually included in your excursion fee. Our guide bought our tickets and led us into the site, which is fairly large as befits what was once a city of thousands. It never had many resources of its own, but was a major trading port--especially for slaves, so if you disobey your guide and the guardians who follow tour groups to make sure they behave, there's no good reason they couldn't hold an impromptu auction. On our tour, the only tourists who misbehaved were the Greeks themselves. I suppose they reckon that, this being a Greek island and them being Greek, the rules for them are a little different. I don't have a big problem with that, but the tourist-wranglers did.
Lots to see: replicas of the famous lions, the sacred lake (which is now a dry, walkable depression containing what looks to be a plurality of the island's trees), the remnants of impressive mosaics, temples to Egyptian gods up on the hillside, remnants of a sophisticated water system, even a rich person's latrine. There are also two columns with broken phalli (what remains are the sack plus a small portion of very lifelike hardon), sure to occasion ribald commentary from people seeing the male reproductive apparatus for the first time.
The setting is just marvelous, because you are so far away from the bustle of Greek island tourism. Your group is the only bustle. Since the area is fairly open, you won't lose your group even if you hang back to take piles of pictures. There is a strong incentive not to go out of bounds even if the guardians weren't there to stop you: never in my life have I seen such nasty, thistly-looking weeds as in Greece and especially Delos. You think hoplites wore shin guards for protection in battle? I tend to think it was to keep their legs from being shredded.
Delos is not without its challenges. If you had heavy chaps and some time and permission (which you did not bring, will not get and will not get, respectively), there are ancient outposts all over the island. With an area of only fifteen square miles, it couldn't possibly take long to reach any given point; it's hilly but not Peloponnese-craggy. Among the parts you won't see is an old synagogue, for example. Do not expect to be able to buy camera batteries, bottled water or Greek Ivi orangeade. Might be problematic for children, especially if they get rambunctious on the boat--could end up in the drink. If you go near sunset, you won't have enough light to capture on film the full colors of the mosaics, which is tragic considering their beauty.
Why go? It's Delos, you Visigoth, a sanctuary and ruined city of vast antiquity and culture and heritage and holiness, with very well preserved evidence of how its people lived and worked. To get as near as Mykonos, then waste your time oohing and ahhing over the same postcard pictures as you're probably going to see on Santorini anyway, buying the same touristic doodads you could get anywhere tourism thrives--and then deny yourself Delos--that's just varvarikos.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
Best Time to Travel Here: Mar - May
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Epinions.com ID:
jkkelley
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Location: Ana-Tolia
Reviews written: 79
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About Me:
Farewell, Mr. Grover.
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