Between Syros and Gia, in the sea “lake” formed by the SE side of Attica, the southern “tail” of Evia from the north and the long rocky ridge of Andros to the east, a piece of land in the shape of an almond tree has been floating for billions of years.

The island with the pre-Greek name Kea (formerly Keos), is on the sea route from western Greece (Piraeus, Corinth) to the central and eastern Aegean Sea.

Two deserted islands that starred in the blackest pages of modern Greek history, imprisoning human freedom on their treeless slopes, embrace it from a close distance: the Makronissos from the west and Gyaros to the east.

An island that looks like a part of mainland Greece that broke away from the main body of the island, dropping anchor there in the northwest of the Cyclades cluster.

At the end of May we decide to visit the island, when the vegetation is still flourishing and tourism has not arrived with the noise in its luggage. An hour and 10 minutes is not a long way to go to meet an island. You don’t even have time to suck in the sea breeze of the Lavrio-Macronissos channel and there is Kea in front of you.

Sailing, however, along Makronissos, you can clearly see the signs of an era on its gullies: the camp’s headquarters and scattered half-roofed lodgings…

In the harbour of the bay of Agios Nikolaos, is Korissia, the old meadow with the settlement concentrated mainly in the right part of the bay with the few remaining neoclassical houses and the church of Agia Triada.

A few years ago a beautiful Kouros was found here, which unfortunately was exiled to the Archaeological Museum of Athens.

At the other end of the large bay, which looks like a pair of pincers, I see the lighthouse of Agios Nikolaos, the first to be lit in the Cyclades in 1831, at the end of the arm.

The sandy beach of the bay is an easy solution for those who do not want to go inland.

We arrive at the elegant Porto Kea and we immediately plan our itinerary with an unquenchable curiosity to get to know an island that I was repelled by its proximity to Athens, considering it a priori crowded and the long arm of the capital’s urban complex.

The days available are few for the sixth largest Cycladic island (after Naxos, Andros, Paros, Tinos and Milos). But one name triggers my energies and becomes an emblem for penetrating the island: Kartia. One of the four cities of antiquity (“Keos was a tetrapolis…”), as Strabo wrote in his Geoponics.

I have collected my material for its necropolis, historically equal to Akrotiri of Thera and Minoa of Amorgos. We are currently moving to the northern side of the island. A good, tree-lined road brings us from Korissia to Ozias.

We pass Yialiskari and the cosmopolitan Vourkari to reach the wide sandy beach of Otzia. Here, in a lovely estate with herbs and wild flora plants (like the elegant ebony), Mrs. Aglaia Kremezi lives most of the time and works on her books and new recipes. An indefatigable researcher and food historian, she greets us warmly and sincerely and we try a light and delicious dish from Albania with zucchini, rice and cheese. The conversation flows friendly, free and effortless. The subject of human nutrition is on the agenda today. How can we preserve the primary food material that will ensure healthy food, she asks herself, and the same questions she poses in lectures to her students on her island. After Ozias, the road climbs north to the Monastery of Panagia Kastriani.

We are looking for Father Lefteris, who greets us warmly and friendly. He leads us to the almost basement of the church, which is the first building from around 1700. Three of the icons of the small iconostasis were painted by Rallis Kopsidis. While in the newer church, above the old one, the large icon of the Virgin Mary was painted by Fotis Kontoglou, accompanied at the back by written instructions for its preservation.

We go to the dining room for a bite to eat and the conversation quickly turns to issues around the island and its culture. With respect to the local tradition, Papa-Lefteris informs us that there are currently more than 10 tsampounieres on the island and that he himself plays and teaches the folk instrument to young people.

“Each instrumentalist makes his own drum, matching the thickness and flexibility of his fingers,” he says. “It’s hard to play this instrument well if you haven’t made it yourself. Otherwise the sound comes out annoying and dissonant. And then you hear the well-known phrase: what are you banging on about?”

The monastery is built on the edge of almost a cliff and from its height our view is a straight line between Gyaros, Andros, Tinos and Syros.

In the area of the Monastery one can stay, for a symbolic amount, after informing the Monastery (tel. 22880 24324, 22280).

FROM IOULIDA TO LIONTA

Kea town is the heart of the island and wherever you go you will pass through here. Its tile-roofed houses are lined up on a strip of land, 2 km long, defined by the slate rock of the castle on one side and the hill of the windmills on the other. Characteristic are the roofs, i.e. the galleries whose upper part is a house.

In Ioulida there are no cars in the summer. Thus, the visitor exercises in the narrow streets for the subsequent exploration of the paths.

In its large central square, Piazza, the two-storey Town Hall reveals the rich aristocratic past of its inhabitants.

A main road crosses Ioulida from north to southeast. This is the road we take to get out of the settlement to the path that will lead us to Lionta, the lion carved in the rock. Carved at about the end of the archaic period (700-600 BC), it tells the myths of the past through its enigmatic smile. Back then, when the island was inhabited by Nymphs, elven figures in the rich waters of the island. But a prolonged drought and drought, along with the cynical wonders of Sirius, brought Kea to a standstill. Then Leo appeared, who was frightened and drove the nymphs away.

Arcadian settlers led by Aristaeus come to the island to restore the natural balance. Aristaeus teaches the art of agriculture, animal husbandry and beekeeping. He is worshipped like a god and brings the melts that cools the earth again and saves the people. The tradition of beekeeping continues to this day and the fragrant thyme honey of the island is one of the best in the Cyclades.

Gia has not yet joined the frenetic tourist dance. Her nature protects her. Activities such as that of Mrs. Aglaia Kremezi who, together with her husband, organises visits – cooking lessons and acquaintance with the beauties of the island or Kostis Maroulis who recently launched a small unit for the production of products with raw materials from the island show the way for a balanced progress, without excesses and waste of the island’s resources.

THE CULTURE OF THE OAK TREE

The oak is a sturdy tree, especially the oak that once spread in the Aegean, Quercus ithaburensis macrolepis. Firm and steadfast in the winds and the weather’s choppy weather, it looks like a strong leader who steadfastly and stubbornly stands upright in defense of his subjects.

A royal symbol in Macedonia, in the palace of Philip, in Vergina, where even today the strong roots of the tree embrace the ruins of the royal palaces.

Theophrastus spoke of dense oak forests in Crete. The proud tree was dedicated to Zeus and its fruit bore his name: Zeus bellanos. Later, the name was identified with the chestnut.

In Gia “…during the occupation we boiled acorns, peeled them and fermented the crumbs. We made something like bread. Sometimes we added a little honey to sweeten it”, says Nikos Paouris from Orkos on Kea. And in Mytilene in 1979, seeing the huge, round acorns on the trees around the village of Stisis, I learned that in times of hardship and hunger, the people of Mytilene were satisfied with boiled acorns and a little sugar!

But the nutritional side of the tree is also the least important. In the economic cycle of the inhabitants of Kea, acorns have been the engine of growth and sustenance of life for centuries.

1. Tournefort who visited the island in the early 18th century writes: “the oak trade is the most important on the island. In 1700 more than 5,000 canthares were harvested there. They call ‘micro-acorns’ the young fruit they collect on the tree, which are much more prized than the large ones that fall off on their own when ripe. Both kinds are used in dyeing and tanning… In the port of Gia we left a Venetian ship loading this merchandise…’. Tournefort, who was also a botanist, was ecstatic in front of the velvet trees, which he described as the most beautiful species in the world. At every step on the island, the harvest trees remind you of their presence.

Their fruit contains tannin, a tanning agent that ensures the preservation of the skins. Tziotes harvested the acorns from July to September. The fruit had to be dried and then collected in sacks that were loaded and taken on their way to Europe. The exploitation of acorns continued until the beginning of the 20th century, when (natural) tanning agents were replaced by chemical ones.

In 1952, 20,000 cantars of harvested fruit were recorded. And shortly before 1960, production is abandoned and the acorns become exclusively animal feed, especially for pigs, which will make their meat delicious for pâté and sausages.

But these proud trees even gave their trunks for the warmth of the Tziots. Until the 20th century there were charcoal makers on the island and the kilns produced excellent long-life coal from its oaks. Then electricity and oil replaced the fireplace with new heating sources. In its rough, stiff but powerful branches, the oak tree preserves legends and stories from the life of the Tziotans, only now it is not in danger from the coal saw but from the rebuilding of the island. And in its branches there are no nymphs nesting but some signs nailed on it, with the word “FOR SALE”.

IN THE HUMID VALLEY OF MILLOPOTAMOS

Only 2 km from Korissia is Mylopotamos, on the road to Ioulida. It is a wide valley that descends and slowly fades out just before the plain of Korissia, parallel to the weak river-torrent Elixos that barely wets the sandy beach of the port. In the “heart” of Mylopotamos flows the stream of Flea (from the word flea-water-vein). Its water, though scarcer than before, gives life, watering all the fields alongside. The main power of Tziotes was used to drive the 13 watermills that once operated on the island.

Watermills in the Cyclades are rare since the island complex lacks ground water. Only in Andros (Dipotamata) and less so in Serifos (Dipotamata), water forces are able to drive the mill mechanism.

Despite the scattering of greenery all over the island, here in the valley of Mylopotamos, the beneficial water has favoured almost all of Gia’s crops and fruit trees: orange, mandarin and bifid lemon trees. Pomegranate, apple and vegetable trees, spinach, potatoes, onions, May roses, deep walnut trees, broad-leaved fig trees, olive trees and lychee cypresses. And among them small colonies of palm trees that give the landscape the appearance of an oasis.

A few meters from the source of the Flea that feeds the Mylopotamos, a small waterfall cools a group of geese that squawk with intensity in the dense foliage.

To the left and right of the riverbed, dozens of watermills once constituted a peculiar “polity” which, through the lulling sound of the wing, milled the wheat and barley from the many barley fields, before the useful grain was abandoned by man as food and given to the animals.

There were once thirteen water mills. Only 2 remain until a few years ago. Paralyzed now, most are half-demolished, while elsewhere their owners are converting them into residences. Where to find barley to grind anymore! In the few fields I observed, barley is grown alongside oats for animal feed.

The water cycle in Tzia had its own philosophy in Mylopotamos: the maximum economy of water, which, as a social good, was treated with respect.

The water that passed from one mill, mobilizing it, was not poured into the stream, but continued to the next, until the last, through a system of ditches, in a wondrous management – a tribute to the collectivity and social importance of the liquid element.

We do not know when the watermill buildings were built, but they must have been in operation during the Ottoman Empire, since there was a special tax for the watermillers.

Walking through the valley, the sound of the water can be heard without being seen, as the channels are covered with bushes that have dominated the ruins.

The forecasts and the findings on the diminishing water resources do not leave out Tzia, where the scarce water of Flea, which is scarce every year, is lost unused in its land.

The network of paths of Kea

The dense vegetation, abundant water sources and fertile soil on the island favoured the cultivation and production of agricultural products, including the harvesting of oak trees.

So before the opening of roads and the creation of asphalt, the inhabitants moved around the island through a dense system of paths, much of which was built in antiquity. Many of them are more than 2 metres wide with a solid and balanced stone surface. Such paths can be found almost all over the island. Mostly, however, in the northern, central and south-eastern part, where most of the cultivated land is located.

In recent years, a large part of the network has been marked, reaching and exceeding a total of 40 km. The marked trails amount to 7 and are marked with the corresponding number at the beginning of the route:

1. Ioulida-Leon-Dosonari-Diaselli-Otzias, 5.100 m. Duration: 2.30 hours.
2. Agios Konstantinos-Ioulida-Mylopotamos-Flea-Korissia, length 3.100 m. Duration: 1.30 hours.
3. Ioulida-Messaria-Profitis Elias-Astras-Hellenica-Agios Simeon-Karthea, length 11.850 m. Duration: 6:30 hours.
4. Moni Episkopi-Sotiras-Parameria-Triple Matherika-Sykamia, length 4.450 m. Duration: 2 hours.
5. Katimeria-Kalodouka-Pigi Vathypotamos, length 3.150 m. Duration: 1:30-2 hours.
6. Stavroudaki-Pigi Vathypotamos-Karthea, length 2.300 m. Duration: 1:30 hours.
7. Chavouna-Agios Taxiarchis-Pigadaki-Kaliskia-Karthea, length 1.700 m. Duration: 1:30 hours.

There are of course many half-destroyed paths that usually end up in secluded and charming coves throughout the coastal region of Gia.

– From the scattered cottages of Perameria, a path of about 3,500 m. starts and ends at the wide sandy beach of Sikamia.

– From the Monastery of Panagia of Kastriani, north, a path descends to the pebbled cove Kastri, 1 km long, lasting 15′-20′.

– From the settlement of Ellinika, a difficult and quite long and downhill path begins, 6-7 km long, lasting about 3 hours, ending at the charming and lonely sandy beach of Agios Philippos with the homonymous chapel.

– At about the middle of the path, if you follow the right part of the path (at the junction), you will come out on the dirt road that leads to Agios Simeon, from where you will descend towards the area of ancient Karthea.

A few meters after Agios Simeon the path splits: the right part (2,500 m long) descends to the towns (Ancient Karthaea), while the left (another 2,500 m) to the small beach of Miladelfi.

And if the downhill is easy with the joy of surprise and the breeze of the sea constantly ahead of you, the way back requires strong legs and a slow pace. The best time for the descent is very early in the morning and the ascent with the sun behind us.

– On the west side, the remaining 500-600 m path in the area of Mavrabeli brings us to the homonymous beautiful beach. We will reach this path from the settlement of Sklavonikola.

A large part of the network has been destroyed, especially on the seaward sloping sides, where rain and wind have removed the soil, causing the slabs to be lost and the path to be covered by wild vegetation, and therefore left uncharted.

THE VISIT TO KARTHEA: AN UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE

We decide to approach ancient Karthea not from the wooded, but almost vertical path from the Greek, Agios Simeon or a little further from the scattered settlement of Stavroudaki.

We’re driving down the road to the south, the tip of Gia. Here the familiar oak cover is dwindling and the wild growth is dwindling, with only thyme and asphodel (Fhlomis fruticosa) as the only chlorophyll cover.

We start from Ioulida and just outside the country we come into first contact with the nature of the island. The dominant tree is the oak. Trees are large, hard trunks with a split and rough bark. One tree is 5-10 metres away from the other. But its almost hairless branches, spread openly, tend to touch the neighbouring tree. Thus they form a sparse but continuous forest for many kilometers, rare for an island of the Cyclades and the Aegean, together with the scattered oaks of Agios Stratis and Mytilene…

After Prophet Elias, the highest point of the island (562 m.) we meet the sparsely populated Astra and in a short while the Greek. These are rudimentary settlements with few inhabitants who temporarily resided in these areas for their agricultural needs. Thus the rural houses, the cottages evolved into permanent residence, while Ioulida, which is not more than 10 km away, ensured communication with the capital of the island.

After Chavouna and Stavroudaki we descend in a rather dry and inhospitable landscape that is soothed by the view of the sea and the ever-increasing approach to the coast.

The dirt road passes high above the small beach of Stefa and then after we open the well-known doors to improvised and peculiar pastures-manatees, the machine passes by the last two beaches of the route, at Cape Viokastro.

The dirt road that wrapped us in a red dirt road stops at a shore with lazy waters and the shade of 2-3 tamarisk trees. It is Kaliskia. From Kaliskia the boats will also pick up the faithful to the beach of Polos under the ancient Karthea where every year at the big Tziotiko festival the tsampouna of papa-Lefteris and the other tsampounieres will accompany the dances and the feasts with the lozes and the paspalades.

It will take about 20′-35′ until in the distance, on a plateau, on the “neck” of a small peninsula, 2 reconstructed columns catch our eyes.

The path we took ends at the first of the 2 beaches of Karthea. Ormos Poles was called Poles by the locals, paraphrasing in the unbroken continuity of the language the word: polis. The name testifies that here in the present-day wilderness lived the inhabitants of Karthea, a powerful southern port.

The well-built stone path that takes us up from the first beach to the Acropolis is designed from antiquity. People from the Archaeological Service are weeding it, revealing its width and beauty as it snakes up – cutting through the uphill – so that the walker does not tire.

When one finds oneself in the remnants of lost civilizations, thoughts are spontaneous and chained. What kind of people lived here? These steps that take me up to the Temple of Athena, how many feet walked up and down it? Fishermen, poets, sculptors and courtesans, temple priestesses, athletes and warriors. They built a city here on a rock between two rivers. Perhaps the sculptor of the lion in Julis or the sculptor of Kouros found in Korissia lived here.

In the city they also minted coins. They also built a theatre outside the walls, and some of its stands, half covered by wickerwork, are still standing today.

Karthea was born in the 7th-6th BC along with the other three cities of the island, Ioulida, Korissia and Poiessa. In the Classical period (5th-4th century BC), its port became stronger, as a stopover for ships sailing from Piraeus to the Eastern Aegean.

The products that are exported from the island are the dark red wine, the “Mavroudi”, which is still produced on the island, wool from the numerous sheep and goats and excellent quality malt. Miltos (iron oxide) was used in the construction of vessels, in shipbuilding and in pharmacy.

The turbulent course of Cartagena coexists with the interstate conflicts of the time. Its inhabitants resorted to the protection of the state of the Ptolemies (Ptolemy II) in order to protect themselves from foreign invasions. Then came the Aetolians, the Euboeans and from the 2nd to the 1st century BC the new power of the Mediterranean, Rhodes.

Karthea gathers strength and together with Ioulida they absorb the two other cities of the island, Poiessa and Korissia.

In the second half of the 1st century BC, the Romans incorporated Karthea into their Empire, “donating” it to the Athenians, from where its decline began.

The advent of Christianity and the birth of Byzantium sign the historical end of the glorious ancient state, which was nevertheless inhabited despite the looting of its demolished temples until 700 AD.

Carthage is being plundered by a variety of forces. In 1537 it was occupied by a Turkish armada. The forces of the Russian Empire, which dominated the Mediterranean, in the short period (1770-1774) literally plundered (dead) Karthea, removing valuable ancient treasures in an unprecedented destructive campaign. Among other things, they removed from its pedestal (dug into the rock) the statue of Pythian Apollo.

The unofficial antiquities plundering on the island and especially in Karthea was done with the contribution of the unsuspecting inhabitants who thought that the ancestral treasures would be vindicated! On the day we visit the archaeological site we are lucky enough to meet Mr. Themistocles Billis, an architect-engineer who is leading a crew repairing the “inner course” of the magnificent temple of Athena, after his own study. Next to him is the inspired marble sculptor Evangelos Phylaktos, who has some of the most important reconstructions of ancient monuments (Delphi, the Ancient Theatre of Philippi, Byzantine monuments in Cyprus, etc.). He has his workshop in Kavalari in Thessaloniki and is present at almost every archaeological site he is invited to.

The topography of Karthea has remained unchanged since antiquity, giving us an inconceivable, almost sacred landscape. Thus, the reconstruction of the columns of the temple of Athena, together with the Doric capitals, was done by manual means, without electricity, cranes, private cars and other lifting devices. Everything was based on human power and absolute respect for the environment, which had to continue its course through history indestructibly. The personality, seriousness and respect for history of Mr. Filaktos fascinates us.

The porolith used came from Kefalonia, after passing through Kavalari for its chiseling. The transportation of the columns and the capstone was done by sea, as in ancient times, and the material was unloaded in the same bay that once teemed with life. The restoration of the monumental site of Karthea is in good hands. Mr. Billis, his wife Maria Magnisali and the able Evangelos Phylaktos with his Macedonian stubbornness work here with self-denial, making the Kaliskia-Karthea route on foot many times, carrying water, food and tents, worthy descendants of a wondrous civilization.

As I examine the infinite number of temple parts gathered on the floor of both the temple of Athena and the temple of Apollo, I try to understand and listen to the inner voice of the landscape, as history has left its traces on it. The small peninsula, only 40 metres above the sea, which hosts the monuments, divides the large beach into two smaller ones. On the right (as we look out to sea), the Vathypotamos runs weakly through it. On the left beach, Kalamitsis. Both create a single valley with lush vegetation and some crops today, more in the past.

The wicker and oleander trees reach as far as the sea. Here is built the chapel of Panagia of Polos, with ancient architectural parts, and above the churches on a hill-vigilator, Panagia Myrtiotissa shading the temple of Athena. In front of us is the sea and in the distance the rocky islet of Nisaki, which in ancient times was connected to the land, forming the port of Karthea. Today, triremes and merchant ships no longer arrive from the sea. Only a few boats for their passengers to swim in peace and quiet. The landscape is unpretentious to visitors. I hope they too will respect the sanctity and balance of this place.

We thank:

• Father Lefteris at the Monastery of Our Lady of Kastriani.
• Aglaia Kremezi for her delicious food and hospitality.
• Mr. Billis, Mr. M. Magnisalis and Evangelos Phylaktos who have in their hands the responsibility of restoring the sacred site of Karthea.