Fodor's Expert Review Manto Mavrogenous Square

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.