Mykonos - The Perfect Pear

My little hotel is in Ag. Stefanos - a small little community right centered around a little beach in a cove. It is family run, simple and lovely – it sits atop a very large hill with amazing views overlooking the beach below and the main town of Mykonos in the distance – and has the most magnificent sunsets. It is a 10 minute walk down, straight down, to the beach - finally, I am getting some cardio that my friend and trainer back home would be proud of ... and walking up a large number of steps on the coast of a Greek Island beats walking lunges on the sidewalk of 8th & Cambie any day of the week :-)

The family works hard on the business, with very long days - before 8am to well after 10pm it seems. They have about 20 rooms of which 6 above the main house all share this wonderful balcony - the rest suites in the back. The majority, especially the ones with the balcony where I am, seem to get rented as needed by one of the two sisters who meet people like me getting off the ferries and then liaise with them during their stay - they both seem run off their feet. (One told me that she and her sister go for a weeks vacation in September - just them, sans kids and husbands - from what I've seen, they earn it!) The busiest it's been was over the weekend – Saturday night was packed – it's also when a lot of Greeks come down from Athens for the weekend. The beaches and parties of Mykonos call – more on that later. The is also a scooter/atv rental business which the brother runs. Having said all this, really it is the parents who run the place – from supervising everything from the cleaning, to maintenance and looking after the garden (which is beautiful). It is their home and you can tell, they remain in charge. There english is not as good but a Kalimera or Kalispera and a smile will get you one in return.

Initially I was in a lovely little room off the balcony. I kept signing on for a 'few more nights' as I realized I had an exceptionally good deal and it really was a lovely place to stay. I was paying 35 euro a night versus the 60 to 70 euro I found at the other places nearby. Then after 4 nights, when I told them I wanted to stay for another 5, I was told there might be a 'reservation' issue – the next day I was moved downstairs ... a much smaller room with less ventilation and access to the patio and clearly hadn't been rented in a while – the grotto you could say. It seems I had been getting a very, very good deal and for a night or two that was ok but 9, they weren't so sure. However, there was one big upside – it was a good few concrete walls away from the motor scooter area which seemed to get most action anywhere between 3 and 6am in the morning and had previously been right outside my window ... there also was a most magnificent view of the ocean – so simple and quiet is just fine with me. I renegotiated it to 30 euro (i'm getting better at this negotiating thing ...) and then found I actually preferred the room - so it was a win win all round :-)

The title for the blog came from my second day here, I was walking in from a day in town and I stopped to speak with the sister who had rented me the room, the mother then gave me a fresh pear from their tree – oh so sweet, both their pear and the life here.