Last Updated on April 1, 2023 by Adrienne
Although the Mykonos leg of our trip to Greece was mostly about relaxing by the pool and visiting the beach, my favorite day of the trip was the day we ventured to the main village, Mykonos Town, also known as Chora. The walk from our hotel in Ornos was long but undeniably beautiful, since most of the time we were walking right along the clear blue Mediterranean water.
On our way into town, we passed Megali Ammos Beach. We didn’t swim there, but it looked like a very nice beach.
My favorite part of Mykonos Town was the area that’s called “Little Venice” where whitewashed buildings with red and blue shutters meet the sea. I can’t say I really saw that much resemblance but it was beautiful nonetheless.
Mykonos Town is also famous for its windmills. There’s a row of five of them on a bluff that is one of the most iconic sights of Mykonos and there are a few other windmills around town too. (The windmills have a great view of Little Venice and vice versa.)
We climbed up to one of the higher spots in the city, where we could look down on the rest of the town and the boats in port.
Of course, after that climb, we made time for the consumption of some desserts, including excellent gelato (seriously, why is any old cheap gelato in Europe better than the best, fanciest gelato in the US?) and yummy waffles.
Overall I prefer Santorini to Mykonos, and if you can only go to one Greek Isle, I would definitely vote for Santorini. But one thing I loved about Mykonos was that it felt a little less touristy and more authentic than Santorini. Don’t get me wrong, there were some large cruise ships in port, and there are definitely shops and restaurants the clearly cater to tourists, but even in August during the peak tourist season, Mykonos had a calmness and peacefulness that I missed a little in Santorini (at least outside of our oasis at Esperas). Exhibit A: this quiet, beautiful street.
Santorini is all deep blue and white, but, as you can see, Mykonos has those colors, plus a lot of rusty red and turquoise too. These colors give it its own unique feel that is different from Santorini and other Greek Isles.
Although I feel like we saw the highlights well in a day, I definitely would have been happy spending more time in Mykonos Town; it was a pretty and charming village.
The sun started setting as we left, making for a lovely walk home and a great end to our time in Mykonos, and in Greece.
I love all the blue and white everywhere. It says Greece to me all over it! It’s almost like even if the photo isn’t explicitly of something white or blue, there is a bit of a sheen or haze to the place that makes those colors shine through!
Yes, I feel exactly the same way, Julie!