Local communities are saying, ‘Enough is enough’

For those of us who spent our summers on Mykonos in the 1980s and 90s, the sight of the Principote club and restaurant on Panormos Beach is nothing short of shocking: a sprawling installation of sofas, cushions emblazoned with gold crowns and, at one point, even carpets on a gorgeous beach where once there was nothing, no loungers nor even umbrellas.

Now the owners are racing against the clock to prevent their illegal structures from being demolished and to wriggle out of the fines they've been slapped with, before "the season" begins. The same is happening at Nammos, which has repeatedly been cited for tax evasion and is notorious for flouting the rules.

Why, though, would anyone want to walk on a carpet when getting in or out of the water? Whose aesthetic dictates that beach clubs must play deafening music so that beachgoers can have a good time? Who wants sushi in...