Our Greek adventure begins in the middle of the night, as we traveled via red eye from OPO via LIS to ATH, before arriving in Mykonos at 8:15am. This was exhausting, and in retrospect that going direct from OPO to ATH would have been much better. Nonetheless, there were no issues and we made it to our hotel, had breakfast, and . . . took a nap.

Yes, even Lisa who (famously) Does Not Nap.

(Don’t tell anyone, but she actually took several naps on this trip.)

Knowing we’d be tired and not up for any adventures, we’d asked the hotel to book us a couple of massages. Unfortunately, our requests were not received and the onsite spa was not available. It turns out that between when Lisa had booked the Rocabella Mykonos and our arrival, they had changed loyalty programs and were now members of the Marriot Bonvoy ecosystem. So her communications had been going to a defunct address that didn’t inform the originator of the error. Frustrating, as we’d relied on several of our plans to have been taken care of by the hotel. We are clear that this ins NO WAY reflects on the property or its employees, but on corporate’s poor-thinking IT and Marketing group.

The Rocabella is our first experience (that we are aware of) with a European resort and it was eye-opening. Resorts, more than other types of hospitality are designed to keep guests onsite, and internally spending. They are the places that have golf courses, multiple restaurants, and likely offer wine or spirit tastings or mixology “classes” and other encouragements to stay there, not to take your money elsewhere. Sure enough, we saw many guests who would park themselves poolside after breakfast and not leave until after dark, where they presumably went clubbing (Mykonos is famous for its party-hard nightlife). In general, we were not thrilled. Not putting the Rocabella down, just overall underwhelmed. Breakfast (included in room cost) was very basic European continental with added Greek yogurt and pastries. Nothing hot, except make your own toast. They did have a good selection of whole fruit. (Lisa ate a lot of carrots, cucumber, and sesame-coated bread sticks.) One reason for selecting the property was they had advertised transfers throughout points on the island, making it unnecessary to rent a car. Turns out the transfer were available, for 35-75eu per trip. We were glad to not rent a car, but would have planned to be more central to places we wanted to visit. (That is, we wouldn’t have stayed at the Rocabella.)

Lunch at the onsite ReeZA was simple: mussels with a curry-laced herb wine sauce and grilled meatballs with tahini labneh. Perfect portions and delicious flavor. A real hit!

Dinner our first night was a celebration at the “Greek fine dining,” “haute cuisine” Efsia, located at a Relais & Châteaux hotel. We were offered a lovely amuse bouche of marinated sea bream with a tiny dollop of fish roe that was excellent. Sweet, vinegary, a great kiss to open the appetite. Our starter was Fried Zucchini Balls, served with a truly excellent tzatziki and they were light and full of flavor, although a tad heavy on dill for Lisa’s taste. Although Lisa was tempted by the Filet Mignon, she instead chose the Sea Bass Fillet with Citrus Crust (with celery root purée, Bok Choy, and lemon beurre blanc), while John chose the Baked Gnocchi (with fresh tomato sauce, garlic and burrata). The beurre blanc was weirdly sweet as was the citrus crust on the fish; the bok choy barely cooked enough to eat (sawing vegetables with a fish knife is just plain wrong), and although the celery root puree was smooth, it tasted odd with the strongly, strangely, sweet other elements. The gnocchi was served piping hot in a small casserole, under an inch of melted burrata. Easily enough to serve four people, it was rich, but took forever to cool enough to not burn the tongue. We both left most of our dishes to be taken away. Interestingly (and unusually) this provoked no question of “did we like the food?” We asked for the check, and were served a pistachio profiterole — pistachio-chocolate “butter” inside a green chocolate crust. I like nuts, but this combination did neither flavor justice.

We don’t often say this, but Efsia is not recommended.

The next day just had to be better . . . right?