CycladicMykonos.

The old town of Mykonos — a whitewashed labyrinth of alleys designed without straight lines, without a grid, and without any logic visible from ground level. The design is deliberate: the maze was built to disorient pirates raiding the island, preventing them from moving quickly or finding their way to specific targets. The result is a town where every foreign visitor is immediately, completely, and repeatedly lost — which is the correct condition for experiencing it. The whitewash is repainted every spring by civic ordinance. The blue doors and window frames are a 20th-century tourism convention; the original colours were brown and green.

Seven cylindrical stone windmills on the hill above Little Venice — built by the Venetians in the 16th century to mill the grain arriving at the port from the surrounding islands. Five are on the prominent hill (Kato Mili), two further north. None grind anymore; all are well-preserved. The row of white cylinders with wooden sails against the cobalt sky is the defining image of Mykonos. The hill gives the best elevated view of the old port, the Aegean, and the town below. Go at golden hour when the stone turns warm amber and the Aegean behind is deepest blue.

A row of 18th-century sea captains' houses built directly over the water — their wooden balconies extending on cantilevered beams above the Aegean waves, which wash directly against the building foundations. The houses are now bars and restaurants. In the evening, the tables on the balconies over the water are the most coveted seats on the island — the Aegean immediately below, the windmills directly above, the sun setting to the northwest. The name Little Venice was given by visiting artists in the early 20th century; the Venetian connection is real (Mykonos was Venetian from 1207 to 1537).

Mykonos food centres on the Aegean catch and local produce: grilled octopus dried on the washing lines outside every port taverna, louza (cured pork, the island's speciality), kopanisti (a sharp fermented soft cheese), fresh fish grilled whole with lemon and olive oil, and tyrovolia (a fresh white cheese). The old port tavernas serve the most authentic food; Matogianni Street has the premium restaurants. Avoid anywhere with a laminated picture menu. The island specialty cocktail is a loukoumades (honey doughnut) plate at Loukoumades Mykonos, not a cocktail at all.