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Well-heeled tourists descend from luxury hotels into the gleaming labyrinth of Mykonos’ historic old town in the evenings, searching for gold jewelry and heading to bars offering expensive bottles of Veuve Clicquot. Tourists cruise the Aegean on 15-deck yachts to designer boutiques on a day of non-stop shopping.
Along the island’s famous turquoise coastline, exclusive beach clubs are busy developing restaurants on the fine sands, surrounded by an influx of billionaires, celebrities and influencers.
With more than two million visitors a year, Mykonos is one of the world’s hottest holiday destinations – and a source of prosperity in Greece’s economic revival. Since the country’s decade-long financial crisis ended in 2018, Greece has been surfing on a recovery fueled by tourism and investment. Investors have come to Mykonos in droves, eager to cash in on the gold mine of development for luxury properties, sprawling hotels and high-wattage nightclubs for the free-spending crowd.
But a darker side has emerged amid the glamour, when a state archaeologist who has been documenting building violations on the island is mysteriously attacked. Civil servant Manolis Psarros, 53, was left unconscious with a broken nose, broken ribs and a black eye from the beating which sent shock waves across Greece.
Nowhere has the backlash been more violent than in Mykonos, where a group of locals have long whispered about illegal and sometimes outright activities by deep-pocketed developers, and a lax enforcement system they say allows anyone with enough money to operate above. the law. The Greek government has taken swift action.
“The situation in Mykonos has gotten out of control,” said Despina Koutsoumba, head of the Association of Greek Archaeologists. “The attack on Mr. Psarros was a mafia-style hit designed to intimidate,” he added. “It’s clear that the interests of big business are at play.”
The police have opened an investigation into the attack, which took place on March night outside Mr. Psarros Athens home, but refused to comment on this case.
In addition to Instagram glam, Mykonos is one of the most important locations in Greece for antiques. Neighboring Delos, an ancient sanctuary for the god Apollo and a UNESCO World Heritage site, is often packed with tourists from around the world.
Archaeologists from the Ministry of Culture are tasked with safeguarding the treasure by inspecting the land before new buildings are built. Twelve ancient sites were discovered in eight years in Mykonos during excavations for building foundations, preventing construction in some cases and forcing relocation in others.
The mandate of the state archeologist is increasingly against development developments and pressure from investors. Mr. Psarros had reported several violations in Mykonos before he was attacked. He was scheduled to testify about the offenses in last November’s adjourned trial, the latest in a series of adjournments since 2018.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who faces a controversial election on Sunday, has moved to restore order. Last week, the government ordered one of Mykonos’ most popular beach clubs to close pending further news of building violations, and this week ordered the partial closure of another.
He also recently sent 100 police officers, as well as financial crime investigators and environmental and building inspectors, to increase control: More than 75 arrests related to illegal buildings have been made, compared to 36 arrests for all of 2022. The police are also investigating reports of corruption by the officials themselves to tip off the developer in Mykonos regarding supervision.
The government has suspended most new building permits in parts of the island until a new zoning blueprint is finalized. And Greece’s Supreme Court prosecutor ordered further investigations into the illegal construction, describing the situation in Mykonos as “disastrous”.
Citizen action groups, which work to address issues in communities, say the government has turned a blind eye. “What is happening in Mykonos is not a secret. The country’s authorities have known for years,” said Markos Pasaliadis, a spokesman for one of the groups, the Active Citizens Movement. “If the attack on Mr. Psarros does not appear, everything will continue as it is.”
Residents complain about chicanery, but they are careful to speak ill of the island that many remember nostalgically as a cultural destination made popular by Jacqueline Onassis and Princess Grace in an era of quiet elegance.
Many are wary of investors coming from outside the world, and talk nervously about the development which in recent years has been accompanied by a proliferation of black vans with tinted windows and forbidding guards.
Will the government’s actions work? Some shorelines are wrapped in a phalanx of concrete houses. Near Super Paradise Beach, one of the largest party shelters, no less than 50 hollow shells cover the hillside, waiting to be completed.
Local authorities are trying to prevent a new mega-hotel complex, including the government-approved multimillion-euro Four Seasons resort in Athens.
Houses have mushroomed on hillsides and in areas classified as “unbuildable,” and some villas are larger than permitted. Some construction sites have supervisors, and workers are gone when the police arrive. Ms Koutsoumba said some small business and hotel owners had reportedly faced pressure to sell their properties to larger interests.
Big clubs also make money with the extension of bars, restaurants and walls blocking access to public beaches.
Among them is Nammos, a jet-setting playground featuring open-air luxury boutiques and beachfront restaurants, owned by Monterock International, a Dubai-based private equity holding company, and Alpha Dhabi Holding. On Friday, the government asked Nammos to close, and the police shut down one of the beach restaurants. Nammos’ lawyers called the order illegal and said the company would contest it. A Greek court has also rejected an appeal by Nammos against a separate government order to demolish illegal structures on the site.
There is also Principote, a place for the rich that has been expanded for many years through Panormos Beach, along a picturesque bay, despite some quotes. The authority has already paid €22 million in fines for unauthorized building extensions, with the option of dropping it to €500 if the structure is removed. Principote, whose holding company is registered in the Marshall Islands, has denied wrongdoing and fines. Police last week ordered it closed until further notice. The company has appealed the decision.
In 2016, the mayor of Mykonos, Konstantinos Koukas, closed the business after reports of illegal building extensions. “But the owners keep reopening it, and there’s nothing they can do about it,” he said.
Principote’s activities raised a red flag at the Greek Archaeological Service, which has identified antiquities at the bottom of the hill near the club. Panormos is one of the areas targeted for inspection by archaeologists. In a media briefing after his hospitalisation, Mr Psarros said the archaeologists sought police protection after facing armed guards as they tried to inspect the building’s extension.
An attorney for Principote did not respond to a request for comment.
Tasos Xidakis, owner of the neighboring Albatros Club Hotel, has been watching the club’s expansion with alarm. In 1989, his father built a small bungalow above Panormos, a public beach accessible to all. Mr. Xidakis and his brother expanded the business into a bucolic hotel complex with views of the Aegean Sea – and the Principote.
Mr. Xidakis watched as Principote morphed from a rural beach taverna in the 1970s to a place for party crowds paying thousands of euros for sunbeds and sushi. He said hotel patrons had regularly complained about being blocked from the beach.
Local authorities say they don’t have the enforcement resources, and if the investigators and police squads leave, the illegal building will start again. Mykonos’ police force is small, and planning authority was transferred to Syros, the administrative capital of the Cycladic island, after the official in charge of Mykonos was suspended in 2017 due to corruption.
“We want to protect our island, and we’re asking the state for help,” said Mr. Koukas, a two-term mayor. “Everyone wants to build everything in Mykonos, but the lack of power creates conditions where people can break the law.”
There are many opportunities to do so. Only three government-appointed archaeologists, including Mr. Psarros, are tasked with approving building permits in Mykonos and inspecting sites.
“Some people don’t want to wait for an approval that can take nine months to a year,” said Antonis Kyrantonis, head of the Association of Project Engineers in Mykonos. “He said, ‘I’m going to build something illegal and we’ll see what happens.'”
Christos Veronis, mayor from 1991 to 2009, said years of treating tourism like a money-maker had come back to bite the island. But government action can certainly help improve it, he said.
The terrible wrangle about real estate does not seem to have tarnished the attraction of Mykonos, which has been buzzing with visitors from the United States, France and China a few months before the high season.
“This is an international destination,” said Mr. Koukas, the current mayor. “It is the island of the Greek stars.”
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