With book in hand, we walk north along the waterfront to the Mykonos
archaeological museum, to see some of the artifacts from Delos. Since the island of Delos
was thought to be the birthplace of the god Apollo and his sister Artemis, it was
considered sacred. In the 6th century BCE, the island was "purified" by moving
all tombs from Delos to Rinia. From that time forward it was forbidden for any mortal to
be born or to die on the sacred island. Thus, the Delian artifacts in the museum actually
come from an archeological dig on Rinia. They represent one of the richest and most
complete collections of pottery and urns in the entire country. 
When we enter the museum, the first thing that we see is a marble statue of Hercules holding a club and his legendary lion skin cloak. Dating back to Roman times, the statue is a marvelous example of ancient art -- even if it is missing several parts. There are smaller statues and figurines in the collection, some dating back to the 2nd millenium BCE, but most of the exhibit is of pottery from Rinia and sites around Mykonos.
The most intriguing thing about pottery art is the story it tells about the people who created it. Jars, pots, bowls and plates are things that people use every day, and the art on these items depicts the interests of the times. Some of the pieces had artwork that looked like the Egyptian art I saw at the London Museum. This is because the Aegean islands had a lot of commerce with Egypt during ancient times. The most interesting images were of warriors during the Trojan War, which took place around
1,250
BCE during the age of heroes. The war came about when a Trojan prince fell in love with a
beautiful Greek princess and stole her away to Troy, a city in what is now Turkey. 
Greece raised a
large army to bring the princess home and punish the Trojans for their deceit. After many
years of fighting, the Greeks finally won by pretending to quit. They hid themselves
inside a large wooden horse and sent their ships away. Believing the Greeks had
given up the fight, the Trojans brought the wooden horse inside the city walls and
celebrated. After the celebration, when everyone was sleeping, the Greeks crept out of the
horse and captured the city. Mykonos sent many soldiers to fight in that war. Ajax, one of
the greatest heroes of the Trojan War, is buried on Mykonos -- although his tomb has not
been found. If you want to know more about the Trojan War, read 
After thoroughly
exploring the museum, we walk back into town and towards the Kastro district -- where the
ancient acropolis of Mykonos once was. There is not a trace of the temples which once
stood there. Instead there are old windmills. Through a succession of ruling powers and
pirate raids, Mykonos fell on hard times. The islanders had to do something to rebuild and
earn a living. Because they did not have good farm lands, the Mykonians decided to make
use of what they did have. The island has plenty of wind, as we learned the hard way
during our crossing from Syros. By harnessing the wind to mill grain and sail their ships,
Mykonians became the millers of the Aegean. 
During the 18th
and 19th centuries, 28 windmills were operating on Mykonos. These windmills could produce
far more flour than was needed on the island, and so they were used as processing units
for grinding wheat and other grains brought from Russia on Mykonian ships. Some of the
flour was sold into markets around the Aegean and some was used by island bakeries, which
supplied bread to passing commercial ships. Imagine what it must have been like for
merchant mariners on a long voyage to suddenly catch the smell of freshly baked bread and
sweet rolls on an evening breeze. If you like fresh baked goods as much as I do, you will
understand why Mykonos became a favorite port on the trade routes. The bakers here are
still very good. 
escaped drowning at sea and for every family who lost a son to the sea. In
addition to dedicating churches to lost relatives or guardian saints, people also used
churches to bury the dead. The bodies were entombed in the walls as the church was built.
Later, when more burial space was needed, new additions were built. Paraportiani seems to
be an extreme example of this tradition, and may contain the bones of many unlucky sailors
within its walls. There are other churches that serve the same purpose. In this town alone
there are sixty churches, and on the entire island there are about 600. That's one church
for every ten inhabitants. 
We continue walking
beyond the Kastro district, into the neighborhood of Alefkandra. This area is known as
Little Venice because of its Venetian style houses built right on the water’s edge.
It is where prominent and wealthy ship-owners built their houses a few centuries ago. They
were built this way, with the first floor just above sea-level, so that goods could be
easily unloaded there from ships. The lower level was a warehouse and people lived on the
second floor, where balconies hang above the waves. 
This seems rather
scary to me, because I can see the waves breaking on the rocks just below the houses. Some
of the waves are even splashing up against the walls. It is breezy today, and I can
imagine what the waves must be like during a storm ... they probably would splash through
the balcony doors. We continue to explore Alefkandra for some time and then decide to turn
back towards the harbor. Of course, we take a new route so that we learn more of the maze.
