VI of XII · The Twelve Islands
Mykonos
The island the world discovered
First came a pelican. Then everyone else.
Chapter I
The myth
Petros made the harbor his home and became the soul of the island.
Beneath Mykonos, Strabo said, lie the last giants Heracles defeated, and the island’s huge granite boulders are their bodies turned to stone. For centuries it was a place of fishermen and of windmills that used the wind to grind flour for the sailors’ hard bread. In 1955 there was hardly any electricity or running water.
In 1958 a fisherman found a wounded pelican, nursed it back to health, and named it Petros. Petros made the harbor his home and became the soul of the island. Soon after, the world discovered Mykonos: in came the artists, high society, the celebrities.
Chapter II
On Contadora
1979–80Contadora gives refuge to the Shah of Iran
Contadora had its moment of discovery too. In the late 1960s, the yacht of Panamanian businessman Gabriel Lewis Galindo broke down off the island. Lewis stayed, bought a good part of it, and opened it to the world. Then came Elizabeth Taylor, John Wayne, Cantinflas. Between 1979 and 1980 the island gave refuge to the Shah of Iran, who, the story goes, offered 25 million dollars for some land and never managed to buy it.
And as on Mykonos, there were always pelicans: the brown pelicans of the Pearl Islands, plunging into the water just off the beach.
Continue in the story of Contadora: The yacht that broke down, Late 1960s
Chapter III
Your ritual
Order a cocktail as evening falls and watch the pelicans fish. They were here before all the celebrities.
The room
Ocher, sand, and gold
Mykonos has a golden light, the light of late afternoon at the harbor. Its room plays with ocher, sand, and gilded details, with a livelier spirit than the others. It is for those who come to celebrate something.
Reference images: the photo shoot on Contadora will replace them. The room details (size, beds, view and capacity) will be published with the real data.
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VI · Mykonos
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