Eastertime on Mykonos Passes Over into Spring

Tomorrow is Greek Orthodox Easter. If you remember what I wrote a year ago (don’t worry, there won’t be a quiz), the simple answer for the difference in the date used by Greeks and others of the Eastern Orthodox faith from that followed by Protestants and Catholics is that the former calculate their Easter based upon the Julian calendar while the latter use the modern Gregorian calendar.  If you want to know precisely how the date is determined, check out this link to my post last year around this time.  Things are confusing enough these days without my adding to them.

It’s still wintry here on Mykonos, which means rain at times and temperatures dipping into the 40’s at night. But we’re starting to have far more sunny days than not, with a few creeping into the 70’s.  A taste of what’s soon to come, no doubt.   When I arrived ten days ago, the old town was still in hibernation, with only a few open bars and restaurants catering to locals and early bird tourists. But by Thursday of Easter week restaurants, bars, and shops were popping open everywhere, pumped up and ready for business.

Nature, too, is in full bloom, giving the island a blanket of green covered in red, yellow and purple wildflowers.  But it will all be gone by the advent of tourist season.  It’s a picture of the island few tourists ever see.

Although the religious rituals and local traditions practiced during Easter Week on Mykonos are something special to behold, I also covered that in the same post last year, and so I thought I’d share with you this Springtime pictorial view of Mykonos and its neighboring island of Delos.  The photographs are from the files of the master collector of all things visual Mykonian, Dimitris Koutsoukas.  Enjoy.

The harbor and windmills.

The Countryside.

Delos.

Kalo paska.

Jeff—Saturday