Diane's Summer

Hooray. It’s that time of year again. The time of year when our family decamps to Mykonos. With it’s cool breezes and white sandy beaches  and relaxed/glam vibe, Mykonos is not just a second home it is a sanctuary, a bolthole, and, of course,  an endless source of inspiration. This year, for the first time, I’m going to be selling some of my pieces—including the delicate charm and “bolo” necklaces—at Alemagou Beach Club one of my top spots  for languid, rose-fuelled lunches stretching out into sunset cocktails. But then having been coming here for over 20 years, I have so many favourite haunts.  Take Maison de Katrin one of Mykonos’ oldest restaurants tucked away on a narrow cobbled street in Mykonos Town. Still run by the original Grizioti family it serves a hybrid of traditional Greek and gourmet French cuisine: think fried zucchini flowers stuffed with minted rice alongside mussels and coq au vin. Perfect for a candle-lit supper a deux. Then there is The Belvedere Hotel which houses the famous Matsuhisa restaurant. For many years I have been holding a pop up shop here—this time around there will be plenty of my coloured rosary beads and beaded hoop earrings, perfect with a little something from the Belvedere’s in-house boutique https://www.belvederehotel.com/shopping/belvedere-boutique-shop-mykonos/ or indeed Enny Monaco on Matoyanni Street, the main drag in town. Proprietor Amalia Korasidou has an eagle eye for great style—think Azzedine Alaia, Aquazzura and Roland Mouret—and  I never leave the island without finding the best ever summer pieces here.

I urge you too, to visit Ano Mera, the largest inland village on the road to the eastern beaches. Home to a beautiful 16^th century monastery and largely free of the tourist hordes, it has also got two of the best tavernas on the island: the family run Oti Apomine—meaning “Whatever’s Left”—legendary for its roast suckling pig, and TSAF overlooking the town square, patronised mostly by local and serving the best swordfish I ever had in my life!  On the outskirts of Ano Mera there is also Cucina di Danielle, presided over by an Italian chef who has been here for decades and which, unusually for Mykonos, stays open all year round.

Along with its reputation for the best clubbing in the world, Mykonos also has its fair share of  pop-up shows, exhibitions and art galleries. Case in point is Dio Horia at Panahra Square showcasing artists such as Spyros Aggelopoulos (check spelling), Hulda Guzman, Selma Parlour and Javier Calleja. Then there is Rarity Gallery right in the heart of Mykonos Town, housed in a traditional Mykonian manor house  and representing worldwide artists such as Julian Opie , Carole Feuerman, Hunt Slonem and the British sculptor Sean Henry.

One of the very best bits about Mykonos, though, is its extraordinary beaches. My personal favourite is Lia, on the south side of the island, a magnificent swathe of white powdery sand with water as crystal clear as it is in the Caribbean where I like to hike with the family dog Rocky in  the early evening. Rocky, who is a rescue dog from this area, now commutes between Mykonos and London. Really, he must be one of the luckiest dogs in the world…..