Spend some time cruising around Greece's Aegean Sea, and it's not hard to slip into the adventures of Odysseus on his 10-year-long trip back to Ithaca from the Trojan War. You can almost see yourself battling a three-headed monster on one island, steering clear of the Sirens on another and matching wits with the witch-goddess Circe (who turned you and the rest of the guys into pigs for awhile) on still another.
One of the islands is known for its good times. Another one - just a half-hour boat ride away - is known for its old times.
Mykonos: The Party Island
The swinger of the pair is Mykonos, dubbed "the place where the world goes to party." Merry-makers pour in around the clock on jetliners and private planes and on an armada of water ferries, yachts and small boats from the Greek mainland.
Parties start in the waterfront tavernas
During the day, thousands of tourists jam the outdoor tables of wall-to-wall tavernas lining the island's waterfront village. Other visitors take up so much room on the beaches - including "clothing optional" stretches here and there - it's hard to see the sand.
It's at night, though, when Mykonos really comes alive. Dozens of bars are packed through the morning, the crowds whipped into frenzies by dreadlocked DJs playing everything from the disco hits of the old-time Village People to the techno blitzes of bands like Apokolypse and BlueZeus.
After that, it's back to the island's 80 or so tourist-class hotels, inns and villas for a few hours of sleep before another day of people-watching from the tavernas and trying to elbow in on the beaches. And then another night of flipping your arms to "YMCA," belting down shots of ouzo, whooping it up on table tops and trying to get the hang of Zorba-style line dancing.
Delos: The Holy Island
The Greeks love a good legend, and none more than the tale of how their sacred island of Delos came about. The story goes back to 3,000 B.C., when the big buzz on Mt. Olympus was that Zeus, the god of gods, was about to become a proud daddy, thanks to his girlfriend Leto. The dad-to-be's delight, however, wasn't shared by Mrs. Zeus - who let it be known that the ruler of any land or island who allowed the shady lady to give birth on his turf would be turned into a frog.
But Zeus wasn't the top god for nothing. He got his brother Poseidon, god of the sea, to simply push a new island out of the water. And up came Delos, where the Greek superstar Apollo and his twin sister Artemis first saw the light of the bright Aegean sunshine.
Tourists wander around the home town of Apollo.
Temples had to be built to mark that event, of course, and along with them homes, courtyards, fountains, sports arenas, theaters and even what amounts to shopping malls. Delos soon became the religious hot spot of the Aegean, a distinction it held for a thousand years.
Fast forward to today, andferries full of tourists from Mykonos start arriving at Delos around 9 a.m. Visitors are free to explore the island's archaeological wonders until mid-afternoon - about the time some merry-makers back on Mykonos are getting up - when everyone has to leave the island.
Delos' iconic Terrace of the Lions.
Among highlights of the ruins is the much-photographed Terrace of the Lions (dedicated to Apollo around 600 B.C.). Other big draws include the House of Dionysus (a 2nd century B.C. private home), the Platform of the Stoibadeion (dedicated to the Greek god of wine and pleasure Dionysus, also known as Bacchus) and a slave market where hundreds of thousands of captives from wars in places now known as Iraq and Iran were sold over the years.
Tourists arrive at the site of Delos' slave market.
More info: Visit the website of the Greek National Tourism Organisation.
Photos by Bob Schulman.