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You often go to Hawaii, too, don’t you? I’m sorry, your sweater has been catching my attention for a while.
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(laughs) I guess we better ask.
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Hawaii’s an incredible place, too. Of course, it doesn’t provide as many opportunities to experience its own culture like Greece does.
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But I hear you hula dance.
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Yes, there is hula, but that’s not something that just anyone gets to experience on a daily basis. It’s kind of like traditional dance in Japan. If you’re just walking around town here, you’re not going to run into a traditional dance instructor, and they’re not going to suddenly suggest you give it a shot. It’s the same as that.
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I see.
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If you want to experience the culture in Hawaii, you’ve got to seek it out yourself. And I hate to keep giving it as the example, but in Capri, Sardegna, and Ibiza, you’ve also got to seek it out on your own.
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Do you mean you’ve got to make a decision to tell yourself, “Okay, today, I’m going to go see this?”
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Right. “Next I’ll go here,” and “Now I’ll go do this.” Otherwise, you can’t enjoy any of it. But in Mykonos, all you have to do is go, and things will fall into place. That really amazes me.
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Now that you mention it, that’s true. If anyone asked me what they should do around Mykonos, all I could say is, “Swim, eat, walk...”
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You either pick out somewhere to stay along the beach, or in the city, but that’s about all you’ve got to decide. I think anyone could enjoy themselves there. A lot of people even stayed in their hotels all day, and only left to hang around the poolside in the afternoon while their room was being cleaned. Then they’d just go back to the hotel room. But Mykonos is the kind of place that you can just lounge around like that.
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There’s nothing that you really need to do there.
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Yeah, so you can do whatever fits your own interests. If you like clubbing, you can go to a club, and if you want to pick someone up, go for it. It’s just going to be all guys!
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(laughs)
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Of all the resorts you’ve been to, like the ones in Bali, Okinawa, and so on?is there anything you think is particularly unique to Mykonos?
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I’ve got to say, it’s the colors. The contrast between white and blue there is really something else.
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Ah, the white walls. They repaint them fresh every year.
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▲The church is pure white, too. |
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They do, don’t they? It’s very like Greece. The color of that frigid sea is really vibrant, too. And all the scenic areas have their own colors?the harbor, the beach?so you never get sick of it.
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And the scenery changes once you take a bus or car into the mainland.
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Yeah, with some plain old towns inland, too.
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Wow.
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▲There are sheep roaming the inland areas, and the scenery is very peaceful. |
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Well, speaking strictly about scenery, there are better places out there, but the balance in Mykonos is perfect. There are a lot of rich people that come to Mykonos, but it’s a resort town that’s not only for the sake of the rich. That’s how I see it.
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The first time I went, I was in college and didn’t have any money on me, but I still had a great time.
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That’s why I think it’s a flexible place that really accepts all kinds of people, because you can spend your time there however you like. Rich people, awkward tourists, gay couples, families, everyone is welcome. I get the feeling everyone’s really relaxed when they’re there, and no one’s nervous about anything. There’s no need to worry whether it’s a safe place or not.
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When you’re in that pure white place, it almost feels like people are incapable of doing anything bad.
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It’s nice how that place gives off a vibe that makes you want to be a good person. Like it’s a special period in time that only happens during a vacation, separate from everything else.
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We’ve only been talking about the good parts, so how about any bad experiences you’ve had in Mykonos?
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I’ve had bad experiences too, of course. I’ve had a rental car that didn’t have enough horse power, and when I was crawling up the hills really slowly, I had another person getting really mad at me. So I’ve got plenty of bad memories. But most of the time it’s really peaceful. And?this is only my personal opinion, but I get the feeling people in Greece get really jealous.
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Did something happen?
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When I was at the beach, I didn’t have anything to do, so I thought I’d go get a massage. The girl at the spa in my hotel was really good, so when we all kept going back to her, the other masseuses there started getting really mad, asking “Why do you only go to that one girl?” and saying, “What the heck! Just choose me, you can start right now!”
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Even though it was about skill.
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Right? It was like they were just talking like that without even thinking about it.
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You’re right, they can be pretty open in saying what they think.
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They say whatever they want, and then storm off. Even the person at the front desk warned me that everyone else was going to get jealous that people were always asking for her. (laughs) Her name was Eileen, and all of us would always wait in line to go to Eileen. She was incredible.
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Dang.
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And you’ve gone to Mykonos with your friends.
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Yeah. The couple from Italy, and my friend in Spain. And the last time I was there, I was with illustrator Mai Ono. Mai told me her parents went to Mykonos on their honeymoon, and they gave her their old T-shirts and told her to go take pictures in the same places they did. (laughs) So she did. The shirts had Mykonos written all over them. We looked at the old pictures and worked really hard to put her in the same pose and everything, so it was really funny. But there’s something really nice about knowing that some places always stay the same.
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That’s true. The shops change a lot from recessions, but the actual scenery of the town itself never changes over time.
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Yeah, when we looked at the pictures from so long ago, it still looked exactly the same. I don’t think it will ever change in the future, either. Greek culture is so deep, after all. I can see how they produced so many philosophers over time?so this is what it feels like to want to start discussing topics beneath an olive tree, I’ll think. |
