2 Best Sights in The Cyclades, Greece

Start a tour of Mykonos Town (Hora) on the main square, Manto Mavrogenous Square (sometimes called Taxi Square). Pride of place goes to a bust of Manto Mavrogenous, the island heroine, atop a pedestal. In the 1821 War of Independence the Mykonians, known for their seafaring skills, volunteered an armada of 24 ships, and in 1822, when the Ottomans landed a force on the island, Manto and her soldiers forced them back to their ships. After independence, a scandalous love affair caused the heroine's exile to Paros, where she died. An aristocratic beauty who becomes a great revolutionary war leader and then dies for love may seem straight out of Hollywood, but it is all true.

Like the Municipal Palace behind it, this expansive palm-ringed marble square was designed by famed Bavarian architect Ernst Ziller and includes a grand statue of revolutionary war hero Admiral Andreas Miaoúlis. Families and couples fill the length of marbled pavement on summer evenings for their evening volta or walk as skateboarding children skid around them. The island's other architectural landmark, the Apollo Theater, is a short walk away.