This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere.
It’s rare luck to be out traveling and run into friends from home. But that is what happened last month: we went to two islands of my choice first, and then to Mykonos because that’s where Jeff and Barbara were.
My friendship with crime fiction author and co-blogger Jeff Siger began at a mystery convention more than ten years ago. I had the added pleasure soon afterward of meeting his wife, the artist Barbara Zilly. I was impressed to learn that Jeff had been a regular seasonal dweller on Mykonos for years, giving him a local’s knowledge to use for his writing. Since Jeff has been an honorary Mykonian for about 40 years, and spends quite a few months there, it’s more like a home stay merged with work. Tony and I are contemplating being overseas much more, so this was a splendid chance to learn from the professionals.
During the short, smooth, ferry ride I pondered our destination. Mykonos is quite small, and its name has something to do with a pile of stones, which certainly reflects the way it looks, or maybe also because it’s named after a a legendary long-ago ruler, Mykonos, a son or grandson of Apollo. I also heard from Jeff that it’s known as Island of the Winds. The triple-possibility explanation of the island’s name reminded me of all the multiple explanations for place names in India. Also like most districts in India, Mykonos is a very crowded place. The nine-mile-long island has 10,700 regular residents, but manages to be Greece’s second-most touristed destination after Santorini.
We’d visited Santorini on our 1990 Greece trip and found the hordes of people made it hard to enjoy the spectacular cliff views. These days, we knew Santorini had become even busier, and we expected the same for Mykonos. This was traditionally an island with working class and poor dwellers that shot into the limelight in 1961,when American First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy visited with her sister, Lee Radziwill, and a few others. Jackie’s time on the Pile of Stones was part of a larger tour of Greece, but of all the locales, apparently Mykonos became her favorite. After marrying Aristotle Onassis in 1968, might her heart have gone to his private island, Skorpios? I wonder.
In the 1980s, Mykonos exploded as a jet-set party destination, and as we got off, we saw so many fellow tourists who fit that decadent description, as well as three-generation family groups from all corners of the earth. Essentially, it was like the crowd at any international airport around Thanksgiving.
The wait at Mykonos Port to get a taxi was a lot longer than the 3-minute ride up a stony hill to Hotel Rhenia, a business owned by Jeff and Barbara’s hotelier friends. We checked in at a sunny courtyard, where the embraces from Jeff and Barbara were just as warm. The sky was dazzling blue, and we could see multiple cruise ships pulled in. How many of the people crowding the port were from the cruise ships, I wondered? I learned later, the cruisers go back during the day; and nighttime is for the partiers staying on the island.
That night, the winds whipped as we strolled Chora, the old original village that is the town’s epicenter for shopping, food and nightlife. The style memo was young, fancy, sexy, and wild. We were. beyond it all, though. As we ambled past shops and restaurants, Jeff and Barbara were greeted like returning neighbors who had been away too long. The Sigers know EVERYONE. The museum founders, the restaurant chefs, the jewelry store guards and the managers, the opticians, the restaurant chefs, the boutique owners, the artists, the local characters… a two-block walk turned into a receiving line of dozens of incredibly friendly people.
Jeff and Barbara brought us to a favorite spot where we had a luscious dinner at a nouvelle cuisine restaurant. There, we planned for the next day: off-road touring in the couple’s rugged jeep to some beaches, and other destinations that would not be overrun by the crowds we were squeezing through in Chora. It would be nice not to see another Rolex store or chocolate boutique!
The next day’s trip rambled and rolled from paved roads to dirt and stone paths, many of them narrow and uphill. Jeff drove like Mario Andretti, backing up and executing hairpin turns without the slightest hesitation. We raced along country roads where the tourists were nonexistent but occasional vehicles would need to play nice with Jeff. He was intent to show us the pleasant swimming beaches most tourists don’t know. So SSHH!!
These locations included the small Kalafatis Beach, with only two people on it, and two famous rock islands in the sea nicknamed the Mounds of Aphrodite—you can come to your own conclusion about what that means. I was getting the feeling there are all kinds of names for the features of Mykonos.
After a great lunch including greens, beans and squid at a taverna on Fokos Beach, another quiet spot, we reached the island’s famous working monastery in the village of Ano Mera. Panagia Tourliani translates as the Virgin Mary of Tourlos, also patron saint of the island.
Built and rebuilt during medieval times through the 19th century, the monastery is simultaneously both a white-washed Cyclades classic—and its interior full of as much gold and treasure-laced decor as Greek Orthodox churches elsewhere. We toured the stunning main church filled with icons and dripping with golden chandeliers. Upstairs, some of the monastery rooms hold treasures of ancient religious clothing, texts and items used in worship. Barbara speaks Greek very well and related that a monk had told her that it was a good we hadn’t come the next day—when four cruise ships’ worth of passengers were scheduled to visit. Once again we had been lucky!
That evening we were still too filled from the delicious lunch to want to eat anything more. I packed up my carry-on and swatted at gnats who’d come in the open windows of our hotel bungalow. Jeff was resting and Tony and Barbara hung out with drinks in the hotel courtyard.
It was the last night for us after two weeks in Greece. While I hated to leave, I also felt renewed. I had seen so much water, so much sun, so many indescribable antiquities. Even in the presence of mass tourism, these gems remain to be found, and I was grateful to Jeff and Barbara for showing us Mykonos’s hidden side.
