Seduced By Mykonos
Waterford, Ireland
“It’s a place just to sit, with a coffee or a drink, and soak it all up…a place where you can be entertained doing nothing for hours.”
That’s how Petra, a fellow traveler we met, described the appeal of Mykonos.
Approaching the island from sea, it’s every picture-postcard you’ve ever seen of a Greek island come to life. Small, white, cube-shaped houses with wooden shutters of turquoise and aqua climb the hills and create a pleasing contrast against the ink-blue Aegean all around. It’d be cliché if it weren’t so dramatically pretty.
Coming ashore, you find a labyrinth of twisting, winding roadways of stone. This time of year, these narrow lanes are nearly impassable for the tourist crowds. Others from our shore tender stepped onto the island and turned left, so Lief and I went right. We looked over the edge of the small cliff we passed to see two local fishermen working hard to keep the seagulls at bay while they scooped up their morning’s catch, destined, I’d imagine, for restaurants just around the corner.
Then we were in Little Venice, where the stone passageways are lined with shops and galleries, one more bijou than the other. Mykonos Island attracts the global jet-set, and the shops of Little Venice supply it with silver jewelry and contemporary art.
Lief and I wandered and shopped for a couple of hours then agreed it was time to indulge in the other, perhaps even more popular pastime on Mykonos is sipping a cocktail at one of the open-air restaurants along the harbor front. Mykonos is a place to see and be seen, and these restaurants provide front-row seats for the catwalk.
Athens is under the cloud of “The Crisis,” but, here, on Mykonos, the sky is clear blue, the sun is bright, and tourists are everywhere. Among them, from our harbor-front perches, we picked out, as well, more chicly dressed passers-by, the fashonistas this island is known for, walking arm in arm.
Around us in the seaside restaurant, couples sat close, snuggling, kissing as the sun began its descent for the day. If you weren’t in love when you arrived here on Mykonos, you likely would be by sunset. The atmosphere is seductive.
Lief and I can’t rationalize sticking around, but, if one were looking for a place to run away for a while, Mykonos might be just the ticket. As Petra said, you could be entertained here doing nothing for hours…and perhaps much, much longer than that.
Kathleen Peddicord
