希臘2021（4）Mykonos （上） 艱難險惡的手排车賭命紀

當時real-time發在facebook上的：

We took a ferry from Santorini to Mykonos. Picked up our rental car at the port and drove to town (10min).

Against his better judgment, Will reserved a manual transmission car. Sigh, his Asian cheapness! He thought Mykonos was a SMALL ISLAND with EASY driving. Prior to this, his total experience with manual car involves learning from a friend for a couple afternoons (20 years ago) plus borrowing another friend’s car to commute to work for a week, and that was 10 years ago! He watched a couple of YouTube videos as his refresher course and told me he was good to go. 

Immediately after we got into the car, we realized we’re in for a wild ride, cross that out, an urban horror story.

He must have stalled five times just in the parking lot. When he finally got it moving again, me and the kids cheered loudly. This car has got no car play, so I’m the human GPS, and he told the kids to pray (fervently) for their little lives (j/k).

The 10min drive was rough with clunky jerking and many stalls and seemed like eternity… Becca begged, “Daddy, can you make the gear-shifting a little smoother?” But this was met with the already-super-stressed driver’s firm refusal. The Greek locals drive aggressively, and the roads are so narrow. But the worst part is parking. Parking is atrocious here in Greece, extremely busy with VERY little space, not for the faint-hearted.

Anyhow, Will was sweating from all the stress, and many drivers honked and yelled at us… it was quite humiliating.

At one point, we were sliding backwards on a hill, and there was a car behind us! What a nightmare!

On our way home, we unfortunately missed a turn and got on some 1-lane dirt road. It was so scary as a huge truck just drove towards us in the opposite direction, and he didn’t even flinch, while we were all screaming and hugging ourselves.

Somehow we made it home in one piece. Will said he lost count of how many times he stalled. Must have been more than 30. He called this experience intense training, talking about trial by fire.

One friend asked how much was the price difference between manual transmission and automatic. Oh boy, I was embarrassed to even say it. It’s only 25 euro! Can you believe him?!

Our home in Mykonos is beautiful and well-equipped and got a beautiful pool. We love it, but I would recommend future travelers to stay in town and just take the bus from the airport/ferry port.

After two days, we finally returned the rental car to the airport. What an ordeal it has been. Absolutely brain-sapping! Apple-watches showed heart rates (both the driver and passengers) over 130.

Kudos to Will that he actually didn’t stall once on our last day. Hooray, it’s over!!

Oh yah, not one photo of the car with the beleaguered driver and fearful passengers… because we all wanted to delete this memory permanently. But truthfully, who am I kidding? It’s not like something we can ever forget. lol.

好喜歡我們在Mykonos的家，https://www.booking.com/hotel/gr/mykonos-supreme-comfort-suites.html


Love the Greek countryside aesthetics.










Exploring the town of Mykonos, a labyrinth of streets with white washed buildings, narrow streets, colorful doors, cute shops.


圆滚滚胖乎乎的古老風車










恬淡嫻靜的海灣港口






迷宮般的白色石板小徑，交錯曲折，走著走著就迷路了。這裡的建築幾乎全是純白色，只有門扉窗櫺用鮮豔的亮色點綴。






豔麗的三角梅從牆角、巷口噴湧怒放，clashing so beautifully with the blue and white.




海邊的小巷子，藍綠的清澈海水在輕輕蕩漾


跟Santorini不一樣，這裡更多的是紅頂教堂


也有藍頂教堂


這教堂看起來是被艷陽融化了的冰淇淋


Mykonos這個小鎮太適合悠閒的漫步閒逛，footloose and fancy free，沒計畫沒包袱，每一個轉角都可入畫。








好驚喜！金銀花的清香沁入鼻尖


#happiness


雖然只是純淨的藍白兩色，這個迷人的小鎮叫我們感覺掉入了世外桃源，從心底漾出微笑。