Page 139 - ATHENS RIVIERA JOURNAL 2023

ATHENS RIVIERA JOURNAL
Influence
T here is something about a family

business and its unique synthesis of her-
itage, loyalty and emotion which cap-
tures the essence of luxury and accounts
for the strength of some of the world’s
greatest portfolios. This quality is at the
heart of the Myconian Collection’s suc-
cess. “My brothers and I are as proud of
our roots as we are of our growth”, says
Vangelis Daktylides about his parents
George and Eleftheria Daktylides, founders of the Myco-
nian Collection that today counts twelve of the leading
luxury hotels on Mykonos, three of which are members
of Relais & Châteaux.
Mykonos during George Daktylides’ youth was very dif-
ferent from that of today. The island ran a barter economy
well into the Fifties. “My mother, along with everyone
else who lived off the land, will tell you that they traded
their cheese, sausages, cured fish and produce with the
townsfolk for imports such as sugar, flour, rice, coffee
and spaghetti, not to mention the all-important cigarettes,
sold individually from a big box”, Panos Daktylides, son
of George, explains. Besides visitors to a few private vil-
las, the island was a well-guarded secret before the yachts
and cruise ships of the Sixties began to drop anchor on
their way to view the magnificent ancient ruins of Delos.
Onassis and Jackie O were followed by Princess Soraya,
Grace Kelly, Brando and Liz Taylor, to mention but a
few, and Christian Dior famously crowned the town’s
tailor, Josef Salachas “le roi du pantalon” [“the king of
trousers”], inspiring Givenchy to collaborate on a couture
THE MYCONIAN ETHOS the boho chic of the Seventies. George Daktylides was a
collection. The secret was out, and close on its heels came

handsome young man in a hurry when he married the
beautiful young Eleftheria from Delos. On completing
his military duty, he had returned home with big dreams.
He drove a bus that carried men and materials from town
Throughout the legacy of the Myconian to the barite mines, and soon convinced his brothers to
invest with him in a vehicle of their own. Before long, they
Collection, Panos, Markos, Vangelis and were operating the only public transport on the island,
with a fleet of twenty-five buses on which the four boys
Marios Daktylides’ primary objective cut their commercial milk teeth. “As kids, we sold tick-
ets on our dad’s buses, which was a little boy’s dream”,
says Markos Daktylides, brother of Vangelis and Panos.
has been to create a haven where Concurrently, George started trading in cement, bricks
and sand that he was hauling to the mines and construc-
guests feel not only welcomed but also tion sites, and for ten years mixed concrete and brought
in coils of rebar used for structural reinforcement. “I can
immersed in the very essence of the still remember the ringing sound of both of my grandfa-
thers hammering to uncoil the steel just below our house.
Everything was done by hand.”
magical island of Mykonos Tourist accommodation on the island had grown modestly
with the state-funded construction and informal room
CHRISTOS DRAZOS and board offers, but demand from visitors drawn to ex-
perience the warm hearts, rich culture and exceptional
hospitality of the locals continued to grow. It was not
uncommon for cash-strapped backpackers in the Eighties >

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