Rock N Roll Mykonos nightclub shared this image, by @michalisleventogiannis, on its Facebook page
Corks keep popping: Much like the bunny in the television commercials for the Energizer® brand of batteries, the Mykonos party scene just keeps going and going, fuelled in large part by a seemingly unquenchable thirst for champagne by travellers who have money to burn.
Last summer, I published a post describing how champagne was the summer’s top drink on Mykonos. Fast forward to this month, and Mykonos visitors still have an insatiable demand for the fine bubbly beverage — and that has been making headlines in international media.
This week, newspapers and websites around the world reported on a June 23 Bloomberg Business article entitled: As Athens boils and banks teeter, the party goes on in Mykonos.
This video, “Mykonos: The ‘Crisis-Free Island,” was posted online this week by Bloomberg Business. It explains why the champagne keeps flowing in Mykonos while the rest of Greece reels from its ongoing economic woes.
“Mykonos is not about austerity”
The Bloomberg piece was written by Tom Mackenzie, who travelled to Mykonos earlier this month after spending six days in Athens. Noting that the island’s bars, clubs and restaurants were busy, Mackenzie said Mykonos “could be another country, divorced from the nation’s economic woes. Mykonos is not about austerity. The hotels are among the most expensive in Europe, and a good night is measured in empty champagne bottles, stacked in piles. One three-liter bottle of Armand De Brignac champagne can set you back 12,000 euros (U.S. $13,500).”
Some of those bottles are practically flying off the shelves at Nammos, the premier beach bar and restaurant on Mykonos. Mackenzie interviewed the Nammos manager, who said “he sells 300 to 400 bottles of champagne” on an average night, “much of it shipped out to the yachts that line the harbor.”
Just some of the hundreds of bottles of champagne that Nammos restaurant and beach bar sells on an average night. Nammos shared this picture on its Facebook page with the caption: “Any time is the right time for champagne!”
Two golden bottles of Armand de Brignac champagne chill in a bucket of ice in this photo posted on Facebook by the Pinky Beach Mykonos restaurant and club at Super Paradise beach
Pinky Beach posted this image on Facebook on August 7 to promote two of its champagne and sunbeds special offers
Dozens of new businesses in 2015
Although the Bloomberg article got wide attention when it was picked up and shared by news services around the globe, it was basically paraphrasing an observation that I made at the beginning of May when I reported on dozens of new businesses that have opened on Mykonos this year. Mackenzie’s comment that “Mykonos “could be another country, divorced from the nation’s economic woes,” seems to be simply an abbreviated version of my statement that “While Greece shudders through its sixth straight year of devastating economic turbulence, Mykonos appears to be in a different world altogether, virtually unscathed from the recession that has ravaged the rest of the country.” Indeed, as I pointed out in my what’s new on Mykonos post, many regular visitors to the island will probably be asking themselves “Crisis? What Crisis?” when they arrive this summer to see all the new and freshly-renovated bars, clubs, hotels, restaurants and shops.
Project Mykonos is one of the newest nightclubs on Mykonos this year — a sister to the Project Club in London. This bottle of Moet & Chandon at Project Mykonos was photographed by mykonooos.com.
Sparklers herald the delivery of champagne at Toy Room Club Mykonos, another nightclub new to Mykonos this year (an island version of the Toy Room Club in London). This photo was shared on Facebook by mykonooos.com.
Top international brands flocking to Mykonos
Internationally-renowned retail chains, restaurants and nightclubs — most of which cater to an affluent clientele — have been scooping up all available rental space on the island in a bid to cash in on the big-spending jet-set travellers who have been vacationing on Mykonos during the last several years. The top-flight brands opening on Mykonos this season include Victoria’s Secret, Lapin House, Le Concept Avant-Garde, Six Senses Spa, Buddha-Bar, Hakkasan, and the chic London nightspots Bonbonniere, Project and Toy Room. They have been joined by four new hotels, two new upscale beach clubs, plus at least a dozen new restaurants and wine bars, with more reportedly on the way.
And it isn’t even high season for tourism yet — the peak months for travel to Mykonos are July and August, when the island will be awash with champagne. With so much bubbly flowing already, the heaps of empty bottles collecting behind some of the Mykonos beach clubs could be enormous by summer’s end.
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A bevy of beauties with bubbly at Toy Room Club
Champagne on the bar at Monarch Restaurant & Beach Club, a new dining and party venue at Kalo Livadi beach
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This panoramic view of Ornos beach and bay on Mykonos was shared on the Facebook page for Mpalothies, a traditional Greek restaurant located in the Ornos resort area just a short walk from the beach
Ornos is one of the top beach resorts on Mykonos, offering a wide range of accommodations and restaurants to suit every budget and lifetyle. Ornos is particularly popular with families not only for its gorgeous golden sand beach, but because it doesn’t have a wild and raunchy party scene like Paradise and Super Paradise. It’s also a convenient place to stay — or visit for the day — since Ornos is only a short drive or bus ride from Mykonos Town.
This year I have noticed a tremendous amount of interest in Ornos; in fact, I have fielded more requests for information about it in recent months than I have for any other beach area on Mykonos. Besides restaurant and hotel inquiries, there’s another recurring question many people have asked: “Is Ornos a scenic beach?”
I usually let them judge for themselves by inviting them to view my photos on Flickr — my Ornos and Ornos beach album from 2013, and my Ornos beach 2011 photoset. But thanks to Mpalothies, a traditional Greek eatery at Ornos, I can now refer people to the excellent panoramic photo shown above, which the restaurant recently shared on Facebook. The photo offers a wide-angled view of the entire beach and bay area, something I didn’t manage to capture in any of my own pictures.
If you’re viewing my blog on a desktop computer, click on the photo to see a full-size version of the beach pic.
Filipe Samora captured breathtaking Santorini sights in this spellbinding film posted on Vimeo. I loved watching the video and am sharing it here so you can enjoy the exhilarating images of this incomparably beautiful Greek island.
Three curious cats watch as we approach them in a lane in Andros Town
During our visit to Andros at the end of May, we usually had most of Andros Town all to ourselves while walking around — we saw only a small number of residents and even fewer tourists whenever we were out and about. Although the town’s main commercial street was bustling with people each morning and again in the evening at dinner time, it was a different story off the main strip, where we typically would encounter some cats but barely any people on side streets and lanes like the one in the photo above. For us, the quiet alleys and walkways were pure bliss — a refreshing escape from the crowds, traffic, sirens and incessant city noise that stress us out back home in downtown Toronto. In main travel season, I’m sure Andros Town is teeming with tourists and residents, but we didn’t mind finding it so empty in May.
Here are more street scenes that will give you an idea of what it’s like to stroll around Andros Town:
Approaching a church near the eastern tip of Andros Town
Looking along the main street in Andros Town. Vehicles can drive on this particular block, but beyond the intersection a few doors down, the street becomes a pedestrian-only thoroughfare.
With most shops and businesses closed in late afternoon, the pedestrian section of Andros Town’s main street is empty. Stormclouds gathering overhead seemed to scare most of the tourists back to their hotels until dinner time.
A view of the main street during a busier time of day
Shops and cafes line the marble-paved street
A view down the steps leading to the island’s Museum of Contemporary Art. It was open only between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and since we were always off exploring other parts of the island during those hours, we were unable to visit the galleries. Other tourists told us that the museum’s collections and special exhibits are impressive.
A steep flight of steps on the south side of Andros Town
Not a soul in sight on this street, either
A colourful section of street near Agios Georgios Church
Agios Georgios Church
A lane of steps in Andros Town
The road along Nimborio beach on the north side of Andros Town
A street near Nimborio beach
The big main square in Andros Town
Looking down the long, steep flight of stairs leading to Paraporti beach …
… and looking partway up the same stairs from a spot near the bottom
This lane has views of two of the most famous landmarks at Andros Town — the Tourlitis lighthouse and Agia Thalassini Church
Steps leading from Andros Town to the Nimborio beach area
A lane high above the bay on the north side of Andros Town
A street near Nimborio beach
A wide waterfront promenade leads to Agia Thalassini Church on the seaside
A view of houses built on the south side of the rocky peninsula that juts into the sea at Andros Town. We found Andros Town fascinating to explore because of its unique layout on the slender, long finger of land, particularly since the views of sea, coast and land change drastically from one vantage point to the next. At upper right is the Tourlitis Lighthouse, an Andros icon often seen on postcards, travel websites and island guidebooks.
The NEL Lines Aqua Spirit ferry departs Andros en route to Tinos and Syros on the evening of May 29 2015.
That’s the Spirit: While we were watching a beautiful sunset from our terrace at the Aneroussa Beach Hotel on Andros on May 29, a passing ferry caught my attention. It was the Aqua Spirit, one of several ships operated by NEL Lines, and I was surprised to see it in service. During the past year, many if not most of its scheduled sailings have been either disrupted or cancelled entirely because of mechanical problems as well as labour disputes by 500 seamen who claimed they had not been paid wages for months. In fact, just before we travelled to Greece in late May, online travel forums were peppered with posts by frustrated holidaymakers who wondered if they could rely on NEL Lines service for their summer island hopping itineraries.
NEL Lines has a 43-year history of shipping in Greece, but has experienced financial difficulties in recent years, reportedly teetering on the verge of bankruptcy at least once. Its frequent service disruptions have caused headaches for Greek citizens and tourists seeking to travel between islands in the Cyclades. (The Aqua Spirit and its sister ship, the Aqua Jewel, operate on routes connecting nearly two dozen different isles in the Cyclades.)
New investors now running NEL Lines
Because of the continuing problems with NEL, Greece’s Coastal Transportation Council (SAS) met last Thursday (June 18) to determine if it would declare NEL in forfeit of its privilege to operate, and to decide if it would bar the company from running ferries in the Cyclades. As the Greek Travel Pages reported that same day, the Council did vote in favour of declaring NEL Lines in forfeit. However, it postponed its decision about banning the company from continuing to operate in the Cyclades after being advised that a new group of investors had taken over NEL and hoped to relaunch the firm once it had settled outstanding obligations to employees and government agencies.
The matter will ultimately be decided by Greece’s Alternate Shipping Minister, Theodoros Dritsas.
Greek Travel Pages said Hellenic Seaways has expressed interest in operating to the Cyclades from the Lavrio port in Attica in the event NEL is barred from providing the service.
Fingers crossed that the issue is resolved quickly …we have relied on NEL Lines for some of our Cyclades island hopping, and would have used them on our recent holiday had we been able to count on the Aqua Spirit sailing as scheduled.
[Editor’s Update June 24 2015: Greek media have today reported that the Alternate Shipping Minister declared NEL Lines forfeit, thereby barring the company from operating ferries in the Cyclades. Next step is for the Greek Shipowners Association for Passenger Ships (SEEN) to hold a process in which qualifying shipping companies can bid to win a 3-month operating permit for service to the Cyclades. For its part, NEL will be seeking new business opportunities to replace the lost ferry contract. Greek Travel Pages reported that NEL issued a statement saying: “The company is exploring ways to replace these revenues by leasing its ships for charter travel in Greece, or preferably abroad, granted that it has been proven that coastal shipping in this continuing and intensifying financial crisis is no longer a profitable business.”
[Update June 26 2015: Greek Travel Pages has reported: “For the next three months the Greek coastal ferry operator Hellenic Seaways will run the route connecting the Western Cyclades with Syros and other islands of the Cyclades complex, according to a decision by the Greek Shipping Ministry.” In three months’ time, the government will open tenders for continuing service on the routes.]
The Aqua Spirit departs Andros on its way to Tinos and Syros
Aqua Spirit steams across the horizon while we watch the sunset from our hotel near Batsi on Andros
