Travels through History : The Peloponnese – The Island of Kythira

This is an excerpt from my forthcoming book called Travels through History : The Peloponnese.

Kythira is located to the south of The Peloponnese, opposite the Mani peninsula. Despite this geographical placement, the island is part of the Ionian Islands, along with Zante (Zakynthos), Ithaca, Corfu, Kefalonia, Lefkada, and Paxi (or Paxos). Antikythira, seventeen nautical miles south of Kythira and halfway to Crete, is one of the lesser-known and smaller islands of the group. Antikythira is best known for its mechanism, found in a shipwreck over a hundred years ago, which is on display in the Archaeological Museum of Athens.  

Kythira can also be spelled Cythera, Kythera, and Kithira. It has a small airport on the top of a cliff. I would advise visitors to make sure a taxi is meeting them at the airport, as it can be a lonely place when the evening flight has left to go back to Athens. The ferry port is at Diakofti and according to my information, there are many routes that call in here. Now, the sea can get really rough and so ferries may be cancelled at short notice. The most frequent ferry is to Neapolis on The Peloponnese. Other boats can go to Crete via Antikythira, to Piraeus via a Saronic Gulf island or two, to Gythio and to Kalamata. These latter two may well be seasonal services, so check before making an itinerary.  

I started my trip around Kythira at Avlemonas, a traditional fishing settlement built in Cycladic style, with whitewashed houses, blue windows, and lovely gardens. The port of Avlemonas serves as a shelter for fishing boats. The most important historical site of Avlemonas is Kastelo, a tiny 16th century Venetian castle built at the entrance of the port. It was used as a watchtower during the Venetian period and today it is the principal tourist attraction. There are cannons lying around in the grass. 

Myrtides, or Myrtidiotissa, is a monastery in Kythira that’s home to the icon of Panagia, the patroness of the people of the island. The monastery is in the southwest part of the island, in the village of Kalokerines, surrounded by pine trees. The Myrtides monastery was built during the 19th century, on the site of an older church. According to the legend, a shepherd found among the myrtle bushes the miraculous icon of the Virgin, giving the church its name (“of the myrtle”). The icon’s face was worn away with no discernible features left, thus appearing to be black. Some people believe Luke the Evangelist himself had painted the icon. During Dekapentismos (1st -15th of August), the monastery opens its doors and extends hospitality to pilgrims who take part in fasting and prayers. 

Visiting the monastery, I was impressed by how many rooms were available for people to use. These rooms were modern and the doors even had numbers. The grounds were spotless, there was no litter, the plants in the gardens looked healthy and well-watered, and the buildings were clean. The church interior was fairly plain, especially the stained-glass windows that were panes of coloured glass placed together rather than representations of stories from The Bible. 

Nearby, overlooking the sea, was the white church of Agios Nikolaos Krasas. According to tradition, in 1619, a captain named Kasimatis, was sailing with his ship full of wine near the western coast of the island. A storm threatened to sink his ship. He called Saint Nicholas the protector of sailors for help, and promised that if he was saved, he would dedicate a church to him. The captain safely landed on the rocky shore. He believed that Saint Nicholas had saved him and fulfilled his promise. He built a small chapel in the name of Saint Nicholas. To make the mud necessary for the construction of the chapel, he used wine from his ship’s cargo. Therefore, the chapel was named Agios Nikolaos Krasas (Saint Nicholas of the Wine). You might have read almost the exact same story in the chapter on Spetses.