Windmills of Mykonos

The row of white cylindrical towers standing on the hill above the harbor is the Kato Mili. Built by the Venetians in the sixteenth century, these windmills harnessed the fierce northern winds to grind grain for passing merchant ships. A young miller named Antonis lived in the smallest tower for forty years, keeping a goat and a patch of onions inside the cramped living space. When the steam engines arrived in the early twentieth century, the grinding stopped, leaving the structures silent and empty.