A Look Back at 2021: January

With the Christmas and New Year’s holidays approaching—which also mark the transition to the new year—Kythera.News begins today its monthly review of 2021, featuring the news stories that have kept our islands in the spotlight over the past 12 months.

The Mayor's Message and the Three Anniversaries

The year began with the Festive message from the Mayor of Kythira, Efstratios Charhalakis, which made special mention of the pandemic and its impact on the full range of activities on the islands, as well as the imminent start of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign for the population. Furthermore, the message referred to three landmark anniversaries in the history of Kythira and of Greece more broadly. The first marks the 200th anniversary of the start of the Greek Revolution; the second, the 120th anniversary of the recovery of the iconic Antikythera Mechanism; and the third, the 1,600th anniversary of the founding of the city-state of Venice, the city that served as a historic catalyst in the history of Kythira.

The Jubilee and the Airport's «High Flights»

In his own New Year's greeting, Airport Director Stavros Paizanos made an initial statement marking the 50th anniversary of the Kythira State Airport’s operation, while also welcoming the first flight to arrive on the island in 2021.

Later that month, we also had the Air service between Kythira and Northern Greece, with AEGEAN adding the Kythira–Thessaloniki route to its schedule, with two flights a week during the summer months, starting last summer.

The Magicians with the Gifts

The Trifyllio Foundation and K.I.P.A. responded to the challenges posed by the new reality that the pandemic brought to the field of education, by providing tablets to elementary schools and preschools, respectively, in order to meet the needs of distance learning.

Pandemic calendar

Operation «Eleftheria,» which was still in its infancy in our country at the beginning of the new year, was launched on our islands as well, with the long-awaited arrival of the products on January 11 and the official start of vaccination coverage One day later. The first appointments for those over 85—the first age group to be vaccinated against the disease—were scheduled for the 16th of the month.  In an urgent message, the mayor spoke of «the beginning of the end for the pandemic that changed our lives.».

At the same time, the Metropolitan of Kythira, His Eminence Seraphim, went on the offensive regarding the government’s stance on the celebration of Epiphany and the ban on holding the festivities. In his impassioned message, he spoke of the Church «which is not a store or a club… within which the virus is not transmitted and the faithful are saved.» On the issue of vaccines, he proved to be prophetic, as he had already spoken of indirect mandatory vaccination as early as January.

A rose…

A long-standing problem on Kythira has been resolved, with the Commencement of operations at the Sanitary Landfill Site (SLS) on the island. A colossal project, with a budget of 6,300,000.00 euros, included in the Attica Operational Program, and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, which was initiated by the previous administration of the Attica Region and completed by the current one. This project appears to definitively resolve the waste management problem and to comprehensively upgrade the island of Kythira.

… and a thorn

At the same time, the 5th Investigative Division of the Piraeus Public Prosecutor’s Office for First Instance ordered an urgent preliminary investigation into the alleged Illegal salvage of antiquities in Antikythera in August 2020 by shipowner Panagiotis Laskaridis following a report filed by the Kythira Port Authority. The case concerned the shipowner’s recovery of a cannon and a stone anchor from the waters off Antikythira, without first notifying the authorities responsible under the law, namely the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and the Coast Guard. In fact, Mr. Laskaridis himself has admitted to the salvage in a letter to the archaeologist and former head of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities, Angeliki Simos, a letter that has also been forwarded to the office of the Minister of Culture, Lina Mendoni. This is a story that, as the findings indicate, runs «deep,» and it cannot be ruled out that, as the legal proceedings unfold, it may also drag on, since no conclusions have yet been reached from the investigation.

And on the horizon… a tour of the wind farms on Kythira

Just as is the case throughout almost the entire Greek territory, so too in Kythira the tug-of-war over the pharaonic industrial parks—which are now openly courting the island—is becoming dangerously tense. A courtship with the scent of central authority, as evidenced by the Rejection on January 8 by the Energy Regulatory Authority, the appeals filed by the Municipality of Kythira and the Local Property Committee against the decisions granting licenses for electricity generation from wind farms in the areas of Finikies and Mermigaris.

Local organizations are standing by the side of local government, with the Society for Kythira Studies raising the issue in a statement, the initiative to establish an energy community in Kythira, which will promote the prudent use of solar and wind energy, contributing to the restructuring of the primary sector, the further promotion of tourism, and the protection of residents’ health and the island’s cultural heritage.

In the Municipality, at Home

The municipality has been on… fallow for most of the month, with the 1st City Council Meeting to be held on Friday, January 29, via teleconference, in real time on the ZOOM platform. This is a process over which the municipal administration and the opposition have clashed—and continue to clash—on more than a few occasions during the pandemic.

Police Bulletin

Burglars targeted the «Dilaveri Elementary School in Potamos» With the start of the new year. Some people have apparently turned this into a sport, as this particular target was selected twice in 10 months.

The loot consisted of a video projector, and the collateral damage included a broken window (through which the perpetrators entered) and smashed cabinets.

Organizations in Action

The Kythira Foundation for Culture and Development It was the first organization on the island to inform residents about its planned activities for the coming year. These included the renovation of the English-language school in Kato Chora, Mylopotamos, support for the primary sector—particularly olive growers—through the sustainable rural development program, the restoration of the stone terraces at the Karava micro-dams, the printing of the new promotional brochure for the Kythira Trails, the funding application for mountain bike trails through the CLLD/LEADER Culture & Environment program «En Plo,» the donation to the Social Grocery Store, etc.

Kythira on screen

Kythira took center stage on the small screen, with two very important Greek television programs featuring topics related to the island scheduled to air in January.

To begin with, «The Magic of People,» on ERT2, featuring the island's cardiologist, Gavrilis Psarras, an episode that aired on Friday, January 8.

Around the same time, he was on the island ERT1 production team with host Ina Tarantou, for the TV series «Life Otherwise,» which took several days to film and gave us three wonderful episodes, full of Kythira!

And for dessert: A Kythirian New Deal (Part Two)

The second part of the strategic development plan for Kythira was submitted in January by Yannis Koronaios, Manos Trifyllis, and Spyros Michalakakis. This followed the a general outline of their proposals in the first part, where the central message was the decentralization of the island’s development model, with an emphasis on local institutions, the activation of new business entities, as well as the changes brought about by recent shifts in the labor market, with the dynamic rise of telework taking center stage.

Now, the second phase of the Kythira New Deal, includes proposals covering all sectors of production, with an emphasis on improving infrastructure and practices, on a cooperative shared vision, and on the collaboration of institutions and collectives, with people at the forefront.