We're here in Mykonos town with Greek tour guide Marilena Sfaellou and one of the things
that most visitors to Greece are familiar with the iconic white paint and the blue trim and
Mariela is going to tell us a little bit about where that comes from in history and how it's
different from different islands Mariela so nice to be with you. welcome on uh the alleys great
so where where throughout the class we see white buildings with blue trim here in Mykonos some more
colors but tell me a little bit about the history of that and what it's all about yeah well um
it all starts because of sanitary reasons so because people used to use the lime for
the disinfecting properties of lime that has antibacterial properties and is still killing
all the germs and bacteria so this is how the houses would stay clean and salad inside outside
the alleys and that began in a time of cholera is that right um well um it goes quite back in time
difference uh different periods of time when that would have been used but definitely uh in 1938 um
it was demanded by the state uh since there was a specific disease uh in in Greece the dengue fever
and uh that um yeah was used to prevent basically uh dengue fever yeah okay
and then how did it go from being a sanitation thing to being a design element
well actually people started liking it practically the white color is also
reflecting the sun and the heat and this is how the houses remain cooler and fresher inside and
then the combination with the blue color we've got that iconic significance that resembles the colors
of the sea and the sky and the colors of the greek flag so it was something that was let's say
a little bit deliberately promoted as the color that represents the essence quintessence of Greece
right and then tell me about the blue trim that we see throughout the Cyclades yeah um basically uh
this is also as i said that started intentionally to imitate the colors of the sea in the sky
and you see that before everything became totally white the buildings on the cycle these did have
different colors like uh like pinkish like yellowish like uh light blue or uh light uh
yeah uh purplish color and this is because of the mineral uh the minerals they could um
mix with the lime so there was that um indica paste or powder they could mix into the lime
wash and create the blue color basically was there some connection also to the painting of the
boats that i think i've heard about um well yeah lots of the islanders seamen and fishermen would
paint the keels of the boats with red color so this is something that brought also the red color
in the fly and in particular when it comes here on mykonos to our family churches and chapels
those tiny chapels you see everywhere most of ours have red domes so one version says that this could
occur from the leftovers of the paint of the fisherman since most of these family
since most of these churches chapels are family practically owned uh
of course this is also something that uh imitates the roof tiles uh the money for which we did not
always have here on the island so it's like uh yeah an imitation of the terracotta tiles got
it so people are very familiar with the blue domes of Santorini and other Cycladic islands
but here in Mykonos you see red domes yeah we have this other tradition people don't always realize
until you bring that to their attention actually so they think it's all blue and white and i'm
always saying saying observe it's more colorful because obviously nowadays we can pick the color
we like for window shadows doors the railings of balconies or staircases and the domes are mainly
red it's not obligatory we have some in blue or white but most of ours are red great anything else
about the sort of white buildings and structure uh and paint colors or palette that you'd like
to share well actually you see that we have all those beautiful patterns also on the alleys this
is a decorative thing nowadays then also because of sun entire reasons in the past imagine that
every house and shop owner is responsible for the area in front of their property so
they are doing that their own ways that's why the patterns are different from spot to spot and um
and other than this there are of course some restrictions that we see on our architecture
here because of Mykonos by all the buildings have to follow the way the buildings used to
be built here in Mykonos town these century old buildings most of them go back to the 16th 1700s
so on this island we need to follow the way that people used to build their houses and there are
certain restrictions for example science ways we are not allowed to go higher than two stories
all the buildings have flat roofs um and then we have usually rounded up edges corners
so um this are some particularities together with the specific size of windows and doors
or the very ornate chimneys on the buildings that distinguish
Mykonos from the rest of the Cycladic islands where you have similarities but we have our own
style let's say so as well great well again we're here with Marilena
who's a Mykonos tour guide we're in the back alleys of Mykonos learning about
not only the history of Mykonos town but also some of these design elements that you see throughout
the Cyclades thank you so much Marilena my pleasure if you enjoyed this video please like and
subscribe to see more super useful travel videos about Greece and beyond from SantoriniDave.com