Mykonos Town—called Hora by the locals— is the Saint-Tropez of the Greek islands. Beloved by the rich folk and beautiful people.
Put on the map by Jackie O in the 1960s the old town is a maze of white washed houses, colourful doors and glamorous shops.
Its cube like houses and the churches, with their red or blue doors, domes and wooden balconies are perfect examples of classic Cycladic architecture.
The Greek Archaeological Service acted to protect the town so the Old Town has been impressively preserved. It’s almost like a film set!
We arrived super early in the morning to avoid the inevitable hideous crowds so we got to enjoy the picture postcard streets completely alone.
The only downside is that the shops don’t actually open until around 10am so we didn’t get to enjoy the colourful displays until the cruise ships starting disgorging literally 1000s of people !
A fairly unique feature of the Hora are the grey painted stones that mark out the meandering streets. Some of them are real stones and others have been painted to look like them.
Although blinding white is the overriding colour of the town, there are lovely splashes of vivid colours that break up the street scene.
Another thing that you’ll see everywhere are the painted staircases that most shops have.
These are a pretty architectural features that also double as displays for tourists to browse the shop’s wares. They also make very nice floral displays!
Painted doors double as shop adverts, shocking pink bouganvilla drapes itself lavishly around weathered old buildings and open squares provide an oasis of shade later in the day.
The hubby finds a furry feline friend, just one of the many moggies to be found all over the island.
The island has a population of nearly 12,500 and most of them live in the Chora, so it’s the only place on Mykonos that you’ll ever feel crowded.
