Philynda's Travels: September 2019

Kythira - A Jewel that is part Ionian and part Aegean but all Unique

Mike & Janet James and Lynda and me love deciding on taking the occasional trip to somewhere in Greece never before visited and having done Crete in January we decided that we would do Kythera -- called the EYE OF CRETE - due to its strategic position being just above and where the Ionian and Aegean Seas meet-- this September 2019.

If anyone reads this and thinks about going somewhere a little different from the normal Greece holiday destinations , then Kythera has to be considered - we all think this Island is great.

Lots to see although you will need to hire a car and I understand they are very reasonable from Panyiotis Car Hire.

We decided to get the ferry boat from Pireaus and let that take the strain -- a little delay but as really smooth trip in glorious sunshine taking 7 hours, sounds a bit long but plenty of places to crash if you don't want to watch the views or play a few hands of Kaluki like us.

We passed Hydra here in the shot and the other Saronic islands.

The relaxing trip to Kythera -- and the gang is on our way

So the most difficult shot to get on ordinary cameras or phones is the Orange Moon which was in the sky to greet us in Kythera but hopefully anyone can get the image -- it was amazing .

We arrived at around 9pm and proceeded to find a restaurant recommended in Agia Pelagio, where we stayed in the Kythera Resort Hotel which we would recommend to anyone for VFM.

These are the views that we woke up to from our balcony -- stunning doesn't really do it justice.

So the first day we started in what was at one time the main port of Kythera called Kapsali , which is an incredible way of organizing what was a city some hundreds of years ago when the Venetians were here. They have a small port and beach/taverna's and the odd shop and yet up on top of the nearby hilltop is the village of Chios with the Castle of Kapsali -- It is so like many other Greek cities like Nafplion were the port is guarded by a fort on the hill, its a great thing to see first hand.

Unfortunately not too many shops -- sorry girls.

I had no knowledge of the action that took place during WW11, just off the coast of Kythera -- where the HMS Gloucester was destroyed by the Germans in 1941 with 700+ sailors on board going down with the ship. It is memorable for me how the Greek people on Kythera wanted to recognise these heroic men and hence the memorial that has been placed on the end of the port of Kapsali and as shown on the picture below.

Kapsali is also a border entry point with a Customs Office on the port which is not usual and so hence the flags on the port -- including this island flying the Union Jack which also does not happen often - so I personally thank the people of Kythera for recognising Great Britain in these ways. Efaristo.

So following an obligatory Frappe by the sunbeds in the Bay of Kapsali it was off up to Chora and the castle -- oh and a few ladies boutiques.

The image above is the view from the castle.

The fortifications dates back to the Byzantine times but the castle was built in the 13th century by the Venetians -- they seam to have built castles throughout the Mediterranean and you can also see that in the architecture in all of the Greek properties as well as in most countries up the Dalmatian coastline.

The views are staggering and as this is on the south coast, it looks all the way out towards Crete - hence the name - and where the two seas meet.

A selfie had to be taken as the rest of the gang were taking a leisurely stroll around the castle and museum while I am running around like a mad thing to ge the snaps that are now on here.

It would appear that the name is part of a ladies clothes shop chain on Kythera, well there are two on the island that we have see. Actually even had the incredible sight of Mrs A, coming out without a bag in sight, even with the discount she said things were too expensive.

Of course there has to be the obligatory cat and they don't look hungry.

After this we decided that we needed to get fed and watered so we headed to a place called Avlemonas, which is really pretty little village on the coast and it has this small bay which is really a good swim.

It appears that this bridge was built when the Brits were in control of Kythera between 1809 and 1864. Many other public projects were built in this period such as roads and buildings to increase the conditions of those on the island and tom increase the population. Kythira has been ruled by among others the Minoans and Mycenaeans around the 3000 BC onwards.

Romans, Byzantinians, Venetians, Turkish, Russian, French and British have all had a time ruling Kythira -- poor people have had hardly a chance to bring their own nationality to bare.

This is the front of the Kythea Resort Hotel that we stayed in and the restaurant we had dinner in Ag.Pelagia in Kelaris which was very very good as was Skandia in Paliopoli, and Psomeladea in Avlemonas -- all very high quality food -- Mike said it was the best seafood risotto he had ever had.

We went to a place called Milopotamos where nearby there are old watermills and waterfalls, which back in the day helped the villagers to produce food and the walks around it are pretty awesome.

The whole area was like taking a step back in time and there had been a lot of restoration done to old buildings and workings and there were great things done to maintain the walkways and trails by people affiliated to the walkers associations so fair play to them.

Some of it we did together and I went off for a bit of a hike myself and on that I found a small house that is so well restored and it would appear that they might also be a café for hikers as well-- not sure but either way a great job done and a real surprised to find this up the trail of the river.

I did not actually get to find any actual pictures of watermills but plenty of evidence of how the people helped to direct the flow of the water from the hills around to where they could use it for turning a wheel.

On a hot day for walking the shaded canopy helped enormously.

From the waterfalls we went looking for Agios Sofia which is a church built into a cave above the sea on the west coast of Kythira. I have put a couple of photos below and the first show its location and of the Church that is inside the cave which was such an amazing achievement and always makes me want to ask -- WHY. Why did they builders of it choose to hide this away in a huge cave , or on top of a mountain or build dozens all over a set of hills, and in the remotest places. As a purported builder, it makes me feel humbled that without all the machinery and technology that people could achieve these things hundreds of years ago -- amazing.

O and the real issue is that I got the images above off the internet as the day we 4 go investigating, Agios Sophias and clamber down the pathways, we find that this is the only day that the place is closed. Still glad we went though, as it is an important part of Kythiras history.

The doorway below is the one that opens up into the vast cavern that holds the church.

As it say's the Frescos date back to the 13th century and I also like the idea that Helen and Paris stayed in the cave if you believe mythology .

It has been really good to learn new bits of history about an island that has so much history and yet hardly gets a mention in the same way that other Greek Islands do.