Today it is synonymous with prestige, glamour, and extravagant parties, but the Greek island of Mykonos once lived a very different life\u2014one marked by modesty, honesty, and hard work. Speaking about that forgotten side of the island, as well as her own difficult life, was 87-year-old Irini Marti in a deeply emotional testimony.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grandmother Irini has spent her entire life on the island, watching it transform before her eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“I am from Mykonos, and I have never left this place. Mykonos once had poverty, and now it has luxury\u2014and the kind of luxury that is not good,” the elderly woman begins her story, recalling a time when the island had no luxury villas or yachts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Back then, she says, life was simpler and more honest. People looked forward to Sundays, going to church, and the smell of freshly baked bread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“People only cared about when Sunday would come so they could come down from the villages and go to church. Our parents would load flour onto a donkey, take it to the oven to bake bread, and then carry it home. They were good and honest people. And our only outing was taking small boats to the nearby island of Delos,” Grandmother Irini recalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n