Of all the Aegean islands - and I have visited the most - what my heart skips when I step on its soil, is the Mykonos. I do not understand how and why, after so many disasters it has suffered and after so many disappointments I have felt about it, Mykonos remains today my favorite island. The journey to Mykonos begins.

I think this is because of her beautiful teenage memories, perhaps because of her "energy field" Delou, but certainly also the solid relations that I have had since then with the people of Mykonos and that continue to this day.

Mykonos went through many phases. The first, that of tourism development (1930-1980) was fortunate to rely on truth of the authentic Cycladic landscape (in the place, in the environment, in the architecture) and in the character of the inhabitants (the people of Mykonos are hospitable, tolerant, friendly, open) making the foreign prominent visitors of Camus, Bart, Darrell, Le Corbusier, Menuhin, but also our Kazan , Seferi, Eggonopoulos, Tsarouchis, Elytis, Konstantinidis to go crazy with the island and to write enthusiastic impressions. The second phase (1980-present) was based on modern lifestyle fairy tale. Mykonos became the place where life was shaped exclusively by pleasure, bliss, luxury, exaggeration and display.

Now if we want to be more detailed we could describe them visitors to Mykonos over time in much more specialized categories, the so-called "races" (secular, newly rich, artists, homosexuals and transsexuals who here freely and festively enjoyed the uniqueness, hippies, eccentric, people of the established, but also of the system, insane youth and of course those who wanted to meet all of them). And with great tolerance I could argue that all of this had to one point in common, the integration into a space where despite the exaggeration it had some capacity for mutual assimilation and attraction, which led to most visitors leaving with a sweet memory.

Today things have deteriorated… Wealth and exaggeration have passed to other cultures that do not understand the values ​​of the island. Other "tribes" of tycoons and machinists who operate without measure and respect for anything and of course drag the "services provided"!

Thus, the island as far as it goes and is identified with this way of life, creating the corresponding spaces and services to satisfy its visitors. For all these - which I obviously do not own - there are relevant guides who properly inform those interested.

My boss - remaining uncorrected - is always looking for some parts of Mykonos on the cosmopolitan island that retain their authenticity and I obviously look forward to visiting them at the right time. Thus, together with those who boast, one can unravel the soul of the island by drinking their coffee at Bakoya Café, between the farmers who sell the vegetables from their garden and the fishermen who chant their treatise on the marble bench of Gialos with the characteristic locality. In this cafe they can try it louza and Mykonian sausages, the thug and show, characteristics delicacies of Mykonian cuisine. Continuing, they will try the Mykonian nuts on wood oven of Gioras, where the delicious loaves are musked, while in Nikos Koukiasas patisserie will try the special flavors (kopanisti, gingerbread etc) of Mykonos in ice cream. There are still restaurants where Mykonian cuisine leaves its mark, such as M-eating or Bakalo.

And even better, traveling to the Mykonian countryside - the one quite burdened by the impudent villas that are erected - they can get to know the beautiful "villages" (in Mykonos "village" they call the farmhouse) and the chapels, or even go to watch the pig carcasses and lots fairies of the island, but also the surrounding uninhabited islands, such as of Agia Kyriaki in Delos ή of the Virgin in Tragonisi and to be seduced by the relentless joy of the scales of the unrepeatable revelers Babeli in the tsambouna and Cantenasou in the tumbaki.

Listen to:

"We did not come here to eat and drink,

we only wished for you and we came to see you "

or the surreal:

"Beautiful where 'n' beautiful, and beautiful the beautiful,

and better company than gums is good company "

In these places one will get to know the people of Mykonos better, who despite everything that has happened on the island, still maintain their humanity and their love for their place and their longing for life. When he discovers these and when he even meets some creative people (Dimitris Rousounelos, George Rizopoulos, Panagiotis Menardos, Giannis Gavalas, Nikos Koukiasa, Irini Zouganeli etc.) who write in their own way, the gastronomic - and not only - history of the island through the Mykonos Gastronomy Club, maybe then they will understand the attraction that Mykonos can cause to modern sought-after travelers, but also the pioneer role that the island could play in the field of Greek gastronomy.

In Mykonos with love.