In today's blog, we'll take you into the town of Chora with its crazy maze of streets... and of course, we got lost coming back to the hotel. Here's the story
WHY A MAZE OF STREETS? GreeceforVisitors.com says, "During the 16th and 17th century, pirating was common in these islands, so alleyways were built to fool the pirates and thwart invaders landing on these shores. It’s very easy to get lost in the confusing maze of labyrinthed corridors."
If you look at the map (seen on this blog) you'll notice there's no rhyme or reason to the layout of the streets.
MAP MESS- None of the maps in Greece are North-facing. I found this map on-line and it's the ONLY one with a compass on it. The ones we were given apparently had the West direction at the top of the map. Further, none of the maps are to scale.
GETTING LOST! After walking around the town for a couple of hours we decided to head back up to the hotel (which was located on a hill high above the town). Unfortunately, there's only one right path to get back to the hotel... and couldn't find it on the map!
We asked people in shops, but they directed us too far west (which we didn't know).
We walked up a hill toward the highest point as the sun was setting. We wound up walking 2 to 3 miles extra! We reached a highway that continued in the direction of the hotel, but after 1 hour (it took 20 mins. to get INTO town), we got frustrated and finally found a gas station where we called the hotel.
RESCUED - A huge thanks to the owner of the beautiful Damianos Mykonos Hotel who hopped in his van and drove to pick us up at the Aegean gas station. As it turned out we were a 5-minute drive west of the hotel (another 30-minute walk), but we were on the correct street. Of course, the heat index near 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 C) at 9pm didn't help our mood either!
NEXT: Famous Windmills of Mykonos
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