Mykonos, Here I Come!

Jeff--Saturday

Tuesday, I return to Greece where I shall remain until returning to the US in late summer for Bouchercon in San Diego.

I can't wait to be back on Mykonos. I understand a lot has changed on the island over the winter, much of it being widely reported in news stories of the sort you'd think only a wild-eyed crime fiction writer might conjure up. If you're interested in such juicy details, just hit "Mykonos" on your browser to see what's been drawing so much attention to its reputation as the World's Mediterranean playground for the rich and would like to be famous. 

I've already written a book exploring my thoughts on that subject--make that two books ("Mykonos After Midnight" and "The Mykonos Mob")--and am done addressing that topic (for now).  Besides, I'm having great fun mysterifying oh so many other glorious places in Greece. 

Instead, I decided to reminisce a bit by rerunning a post I put up some half-dozen years ago on the eve of another return home to the Island of the Winds.  So here goes...

Mykonos today is very different from even a decade ago, and as  different as night is to day from its hard times, make that very hard times.  The island once was among Greece’s most impoverished places.  Mykonians literally starved to death during World War II.  Then came the Greek Civil War.

Once I'm back on Mykonos I promise to share with you as much as good taste will allow of present day life on that international jet set summer destination.  But how did it came to pass that a community still guided by centuries-old church traditions and deeply held family values so effortlessly coexists amid the unstructured, freewheeling lifestyle of visiting summer hedonists?

I think the simplest way of telling the story of that transition is out of the archives of Dimitris Koutsoukos--which includes some photographs taken by the extraordinary photographer and honorary Greek citizen, Robert A. McCabe.  Dimitri is a native Mykonian who has amassed a fascinating collection of photographs capturing the essence of the island, many of which are posted to music on YouTube videos available through this link.  http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dimitris+koutsoukos&aq=0

Dimitris Koutsoukos amid the old and the new.

Dimitri, the photographs please…

These were the days that set the island’s modern day roots, when all Mykonians had was each other.  It was the turn of the 20^th Century.

Naturally, many lived off the sea and learned their skills from childhood.

Others survived as farmers.

Some depended on both.

Then came regular boat service linking the island to the mainland.

And with that tourists looking to experience traditional island life.

But one day a very famous visitor stepped ashore and forever changed the image of Mykonos.

International celebrity Petros the Pelican arrives with friend.

And glitz began to flock there.

Turning fishermen into guides.

Bringing energy to quiet beaches.

And, of course, making nice with the locals.

In the process each learned much from other.

Tourists how to dance...

...locals how to dress.

And they became friends.

It is a life to which I long to return.

Mykonians tolerating tourists

 

And for a musical understanding of the draw of Greece, check out this YouTube Video.

 

 

 ––Jeff

A Church Question and A Cruise Answer

 

Agia Kyriaki today, Dimitris Koutsoukos photo

Jeff–Saturday

 

Today, I’m torn between (a) asking a question, and (b) providing an answer to an often-asked question. They’re not related to each other in any way, but both represent what I believe are topics many have on their minds.

 

I think I’ll do both.

 

First, my question:

 

As some of you may know from hearing me talk about how I came to write the first novel in my Greece-based mystery-thriller series, the core plot came to me in a vision while I gazed up at the adorned ceilings of one of Mykonos most significant churches, Agia Kyriaki in Chora.  I’d looked away so as not to see the open casket of my best friend on the island for whom I now served as a pallbearer.   

 

That church later featured in my debut novel…as it has in many important moments in the lives of generations of Mykonians.

 

All of which brings me around to asking this question:

 

Can anyone give me a clear explanation of why this revered gem of a place of worship has been––and remains––stripped of much of its outer protective stucco finish in such a way as to leave it at obvious risk for severe, if not irreparable, damage from the elements?

 

I can’t imagine it’s a matter of finances.  After all, we’re talking Mykonos, where one day’s take by any number of its clubs would be more than enough to rebuild the church from scratch.

Agia Kyriaki in better days

 

I await an answer.

 

Second, here’s my answer to a question asked by many who long to visit Greece, i.e.,

 

What’s it like to cruise the Greek isles aboard a major cruise ship?

 

The answer came to me by email today in the form of a twenty-minute video shot by Robert Gundersen. I met Rob and his wife Joan a few years back at Pittsburgh’s Mystery Lovers Bookshop. Rob kindly sent me this link to their May 2022 seven-day Celestyal Cruise Lines jaunt to Thessaloniki, Kusadasi (Turkey), Rhodes, Crete, Santorini, Mykonos, and Milos. It’s far more than a home movie, for it gives you a sense of what it’s like to tour that way, and whether it’s for you or not. Hope it helps.

 

A final note:  Next week in Minneapolis is Bouchercon, the big daddy of mystery conventions.  Sadly, I’ll be missing the festivities this year, but I wish my friends and MIE mates who’ll be attending––and all the hard-working volunteers who make Bouchercon happen––the best BCON ever!

 

 

–Jeff

A Different Time

Three weeks from tomorrow Greece votes for a new Parliament in an election already overrun with pronouncements, predictions, predilections, prognostications, and prevarications.  In other words, it’s politics as usual—politicians and the press p’ing all over the public.

Enough already.

I have my own sort of P for thee.  It’s an assortment of photographs culled from the archives of my friend Dimitris Koustoukas capturing Mykonos—his birthplace and my heartspace—a couple of generations back.  

Times were different then.  And no doubt will be so again.  Whether times are better or not I suspect shall always be debated, for that is the Greek way…

Jeff––Saturday