Chora and the windmills
A whitewashed maze laid out to lose pirates, and sixteen windmills on a ridge.
Duration
2 hrs – 4 hrs
Best time
At sunset
Open
Every day
Entry price
Free
Mykonos Chora is a deliberate maze: the lanes were laid out narrow and without apparent logic to disorient landing pirates, and to break the meltemi, the north wind that blows all summer. The houses are limewashed twice a year, doors and shutters painted.
Sixteen windmills were built on the ridge above the port from the sixteenth century, to grind the wheat of calling ships. They all face north into the meltemi, and seven survive in a row — that is the island's silhouette. Little Venice, below, lines up merchants' houses built with their feet in the water.
Getting there
All on foot from the old port. Vehicles are banned in the Chora, and buses stop at the two entrances.
Rules on site
The meltemi blows hard from July to September and regularly cancels ferries: don't book a flight the day after a crossing. The lanes are jammed on cruise-call days.