KYTHNOS, island of simplicity

Kythnos is touted as an island of authenticity and quiet, an island that’s “relaxed” and “low profile,” or as the tourist office calls it “the island of simplicity and hospitality.” The first thing you notice on the island are the brown barren hills: stark mostly treeless land with a few clumps of olive trees here and there. Huge stone fences zigzag across the landscape to mark land boundaries. Abandoned windmills. Little churches.  It resembles its neighboring island Kea (Tzia) that we visited last year, but Kythnos is even drier.

Then your eyes are swept into the dramatic views of the blue – green of the Aegean sparkling below in the sunlight.  There’s in fact little to do on the island but enjoy the wonderful seas. 

It’s the middle of July and tourists are on the move.  For boat travel, you need evidence of complete vaccination or results of the PCR test or rapid test. We join what looks like full capacity, on the boat from Pireaus going to Kythnos (3 hours), then on to other islands of the west Cyclades:  Serifos, Sifnos and Milos. The islands were given the name “Cyclades” in ancient times because they form a circle around the sacred island of Delos. (On the return trip we go to another port, Lavrio, which is a little less than 2 hours.) Kythnos might not be a heavily tourist island, but its close proximity to Athens draws a number of weekend travelers.

An actual family vacation! The first in too many years to count. Our son and daughter, who are visiting, surprised us with arrangements for the four of us.  Usually we avoid taking a car to the islands, but this time we take our 1992 automatic Mercedes because it’s comfortable with all the stuff we pack in. Though it turns out not to be the best car with all the up hills and down, and constant braking – a car with gears would be much better.  But you do need wheels if you want to see the island.

We stay in a house on the edge of Chora, with just a hint of the sea below. We face the valley, with an unobstructed view of the stars and the night sky. In most Cycladic islands, the traditional capital, always called Chora, is a slightly inland village higher up from the port and other seaside villages.  All the Choras have a look of centuries ago, with the whitewashed houses and the narrow “sokakia” (alleyways) that make walking through such a delight.

The steps of the houses are decorated with pots of basil and other plants while shops display their merchandise on their steps.

One morning we’re awakened by a street worker loudly singing as she applies whitewash to the street.

The other mornings we wake up to a donkey braying nearby. In the usual brown shrubs, off in the distance the flock of sheep, look healthy enough, but the island goats are scrawny, not surprising with what they have to eat! Despite the skin and bone look, goat cheese is a specialty of the island, in island products like sfougato (round cheese fritters) and kopanisti, a soft goat cheese.

In all the “Choras,” you leave your car outside the village and climb up, up, up. On Kythnos the Chora (also known as Messaria, meaning village in the middle of the island) is practically one street that meanders its way with bars playing music just a little too loud at night — do we really need to hear Justin Bieber being blared all over the streets? (While we were away, we heard that on Mykonos, music at the bars and restaurants had been banned completely, as well as a curfew imposed from 1 to 6 am. These were government measures to try to control the spread of covid on the island, measures denounced by all in the tourist industry).

There are many dessert places with crepes and above all, waffles.

 
One of the most popular restaurants is the steki of Detzi looking out to the valley below.

Off of the main street down a couple of series of steps, lies a little roped off area with a sign outside: “catholiko.” Inside is a cross mixed with various Roman ruins. No one seemed to know anything about this little area. When we asked a woman in one of the houses nearby about it, she shrugged and pointed up to the main street. “It’s a lot more interesting up there,” she said. (Hmmm,, it made me wonder if they’re trying to hide something…are they stolen?)

Even more curious a Corinthian capital sits next to a double sided eagle, symbol of the Byzantine era. I suppose these ruins were collected somehow and brought to this spot.

The other inland town, Dryopida (also called “Horio” meaning village) is even more picturesque than Chora. Here the sea is completely hidden. The roofs of the houses with their red tile, are not characteristic of the Cyclades and here were some trees, including fig trees which I didn’t see anywhere else on the island.

Inside you walk slowly through the town, savoring the alleyways, flowers and small shops.

Dryopida has some shops where they make their own traditional sweets. Ted samples the baklava while Suzanna poses in the “sokakia.”

In Dryopida, I noticed a number of little poems or verses on tables and columns by “Annusio.” Below is his/her prayer to the island saint “Panagia Kanala” (see more below) asking for a miracle, for coronavirus to be gone from Greece and then asking for friends, tourists (foreign I guess) and Greeks to visit Dryopida as everyone here has been vaccinated (it sounds better in Greek!)

As in all the islands, you can see wandering around thousands of stray cats, fed by both tourists and locals alike.

Many of the street squares have birds or fish drawn on them.

Besides visiting the village itself, the main attraction of Dryopida is the Katafyki cave, on the southern edge of the village that you find by following the handmade signs to the “spilia.” It’s a natural cave created in prehistoric times and discovered around 1600. The name katafyki is an island pronunciation of katafygio (refuge.) The cave was always used as a refuge or shelter, for instance during the time of the Ottoman occupation and the German occupation.

Katafyki is a very large cave, but most of it is unexplored and only a small part is accessible in the tour that we took. Our young enthusiastic guide showed us the black iron ore on the walls and explained that It was mined especially during the 19th century by locals and foreigners. A passage was created for trolleys to carry out the iron ore 4 kilometers to the nearest port to be sent to other places in Europe. She told us some villagers have taken (or tried to take?) that path out to the sea at their own risk… The cave has been used through the years as a place for panygiria at Eastertime, celebrations with music and dancing inside. The bright sunlight hurts our eyes at first after the darkness and the 17 degree centigrade (63 degrees F) constant temperature. There’s no entrance fee, but there’s a box to give contributions.

The inland villages are lovely, but after all we are on an island and time for some seaside villages and beaches. We head north for the small village of Loutra, known for its thermal waters. In fact before the 17th century the island was known as “Thermia” for the springs.

The water in the thermal spring area mixes with the sea water in order to make it bearable to sit there; otherwise it’s really scalding hot! In the 19th century, doctors “confirmed” that the water was good for illnesses related to joints, muscles and bones and nerves, as well as “gynecological diseases.” King Otto and Queen Amalia visited Loutra in the 1830’s and created fame for the thermal springs.

We found a truly lovely beach in Agios Stefanos with its calm and pristine sea, and you could actually drive right up to the beach.

In contrast to Kouri Naoussa, where you need strong leg muscles for the uphill trek from the beach to where you leave the car. The island itself might be short on trees, but fortunately most of the beaches are full of tamarisk trees that offer shade. The Greek word “almerikia” meaning “salty” is closer to the other name for these trees, “salt cedar,” because they have an amazing tolerance to salt.

The other village settlement besides Loutra and the port Merihas, is Kanala on the southeast coast, and has the most beautiful setting, the only area on the island with pine forests.

Kanala is famous for its church Panagia Kanala (referred to in the poem above by Annusio) and is an important religious site because of an icon of the Panagia (Virgin Mary) that was found by fishermen in the narrow canal between Kythnos and the island of Serifos (thus the name “kanala”). The icon, painted in what was known as the Cretan School of Art, was created by a Cretan artist living in Kythnos in the 16th century, A church was built for the icon and if you happen to be in Kanala on August 15th, there’s a large commemoration. (Mind the crowds though)

There are gorgeous seas all around, some with more greenish waters. Someone left a hammock from which to enjoy the view below.

Megali Ammos, a super pleasant place to spend a few hours, has houses to rent right on the long sandy beach. If you’re thirsty or hungry, you can have a bite at the Almyra Beach Bar Restaurant.

Kolona beach: From the moment you set foot on the island, you are told don’t miss Kolona! If there’s one beach to see, it’s Kolona! There’s a catch though. You can’t really drive there unless you want to destroy your car tires. It’s not only a 20 minute dirt and rocky road, but it becomes so narrow only one car can pass, so woe to you if you meet a car coming from the other way, one of the cars will have to back up and back up and back up …. to where the other can pass. Those that manage to reach the beach with a car then have to park it kilometers away and walk, burdened down with umbrella, chairs, beach bags. But there’s a lovely alternative! The pleasant way to go is with the little boats from Merihas (the main port), a 10 to 15 minute sailing.

So is Kolona worth the hype? Yes and no. it’s an interesting natural phenomenon, the strip of sand that divides the crystalline sea in two If you like to climb, there are hills with great views. But cons: because it’s always calm, yachts are parked all around, which is a little annoying. Most serious, there’s no shade unless you’re lucky enough to find it under the one large tamarisk. It’s a very windy day while we’re there, and umbrellas are blowing into the water. The beach bar has some overpriced umbrellas and sea beds on a platform. At first they were playing Pink Martini but then turned to a (loud of course) monotonous techno for the rest of the time.

After Kolona, we seek shade on Episkopi beach, where the tamarisk trees go practically down to the water. Notice the whitewash on the trunk. Besides whitewashing stone steps and fences, it’s also done for trees. This is associated with traditional Mediterranean architecture going back to ancient Greek and Roman days. The “whitewash” is a mixture of lime and chalk and water and is believed to have disinfecting properties, a way to fight insects and also prevents the trunk from becoming sunburned.

Besides the lovely shade on Episkopi, there’s a rarity, a changing room and a marvelous shower with warm water. This seems to be the beach that locals prefer.

One night driving into the main port from Chora, we ooh and aah at the sunset over Episkopi beach.

My favorite dinner was in the main port of Merihas eating on the sand, right next to the water and listening to it lapping against the shore. Here we had some Cycladic specialities, the sfougato mentioned earlier, fava (chick pea puree), tomato keftedes and some seafood, including mussels with pilafi and delicious octopus “in gastra” cooked in a wine sauce.

It was just a little too windy (always the case with with Cycladic islands), but better the wind than suffering in a heat wave.

Back in Athens and here’s my take on returning from vacation:

VACATION GLOW

They say it fades quickly the vacation glow
That after the next day you’re wondering again
What to do with the eggplants waiting for you

Patient, wrinkled and alone in your refrigerator bin.
When you open the fridge, you sniff
At the sweet sour smell of the half watermelon

left behind, you touch a lemon with a fine coat
of green dust. Making a supermarket list,
off you go, always forgetting the potatoes.

There, your only concern was where to dine
at night under the stars, and your secret worry
that you’re bursting out of your bathing suit

that you bought just last year. You look over
your photos once more, why did I take
a picture of that tree? Ho hum, another

Gorgeous beach, what was its name?
To be honest, there are those moments
when you tire, when in fact you yearn for the return

to your house, to quiet mornings
on your balcony surrounded by your plants,
with the tzi tzi tzi of the cicadas

and reassuring landscape of satellite disks
air conditioning units, solar panels and antennas
among the cypress and poplars, where you can think
and dream of your next vacation.

And speaking of poetry, my book of poems “Wanderings” with illustrations by my friend Zaharo, is available as an ebook on Amazon. Happy summer wanderings to all!

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Sherri Moshman Paganos is a writer and former educator, inspired by her life in Athens, where she and her husband are happily retired and enjoying their travels in Greece and abroad. You can check out her writing — fiction, non-fiction, poetry and articles here.