Walking the paths of Kythera with Eleni Harou

Chora, the current capital of Kythera, seems to have been inhabited since the Minoan years from the Minoan tombs found at the site of Lionis near Manitochori. Moreover, from the descriptions of 18th and 19th century travellers who mention fossils on the hill of Turkovouni at the entrance to Chora, it seems that Chora is of paleontological interest. In Byzantine times Chora was inhabited and around 1238 the first fortifications were built. Later, in the 14th and 15th centuries, there is mention of fortifications and a Venetian garrison in the castle. The name Chora is much younger. The original name was Borgo. After the destruction of Paleochora by Barbarossa, the seat of the Venetian administration was moved to the Chora Castle in Fortezza. Slowly the area around the castle was also inhabited, which was fortified with an outer wall and named Borgo Serrato, i.e. walled city. The settlement outside the castle and the Closed Borgo, which was subsequently created, was called the Open Borgo.

The square of Chora

The location of the present square was once called Aspa, perhaps because of the rock. The settlement around the square was named Sfakiana, after the Sfakian refugees who settled there after the Cretan War and the fall of Chandaka by the Turks in 1669. The Sfakians also built the Church of the Saviour. The square of Chora was shaped after the war by the progressive Kytherian doctor, Dimitris Stai, who was involved in public affairs.

The Markato

Going down the main road of Chora we meet the Markato, the municipal market, a work of 1834, of the English period, which functioned as a meat market, fish market and market until the 1960s.

The Crucified

It was built around 1660 by the Kytherian bishop of Kythera Philotheos Darmaros, probably on a pre-existing church that is attested in 1560. At the entrance of the church there is a built-in inscription with the name of Theophilos and the coat of arms of the Darmaros family. Thus, the church is referred to as the Darmaros family's property (Darmarianos). During Lent the church hosts the icon of Myrtidiotissa according to an old custom. The church has a famous wooden carved iconostasis and very remarkable portable icons and relics.

The All Saints

It was built in the middle of the 17th century (around 1650) in Troulos by the master Dimitrios Fanaris. Later half of the church was given to the Belesi family and thus both families appear as co-owners. The church has a famous wooden carved iconostasis with wonderful decoration and famous portable icons of the Cretan school of the 18th and 19th century.

The Trachilas

Cape Trachilas is one of the most strategic points of the South Aegean at the confluence of 3 seas. During the Second World War, the occupation troops, appreciating the military importance of the area, built a road and created facilities (command post, warehouses, barracks, barracks, auxiliary areas) which they blew up after their withdrawal. Along the coast of Trachila there are natural salt marshes that are auctioned every year by the Domestic Property Committee.

At some point in Trachila there is a limestone quarry, which used to be in operation.

The Chytra

One of the rocky islets of Kythera with great tourist and ecological interest. Chytra is famous for the plant sempreviwa, the amaranth of Kythera and for the Mavropetrites, the hawks of Kythera, which in Venetian times were traded by hunters and falconers and the Venetians gave them as gifts to kings and rulers of Europe.

St Paul

The church is cavernous and is attested in 1697. It is 15 m long and 3 m deep. It was explored in 1936 by the Kytherian caveologist Yannis Petrochilos, like all the known caves of Kythera. The temple celebrates on 29 June and in the old days the celebrants used to go by sea, or by the path under the castle.

The bridge of Kapsali

It belongs to the infrastructure works that were made in Kythera during the British rule. It is a work of 1822, when the High Commissioner in the 7 Islands was the powerful Thomas Maitland. Under the bridge is a round building where there is a water source. It was from this point that another project of the British rule for the water supply of the Capsule began. An underground tunnel was constructed, through which the water passed and ended up in the reservoir, which was built on the bank of the capsule for the convenience of the inhabitants.

The Primary School of Kythera

It is located at the entrance of Chora and was built around 1825 together with the other mutual schools of the British Empire and is the only one that still operates as a primary school. All other schools of that period were abandoned or changed use. Of course, the building is altered after repeated repairs, additions, extensions etc.

It originally functioned as a boys« school and the teacher is called in the documents »archdeacon« or »central teacher".»

Inside Hamburg

At the foot of the Venetian fortress to the north is a settlement, Mesa Vourgoum, or Klossto Vourgoum, walled by an outer castle wall, which is connected to the fortress walls. Mesa Hamburg was connected to the Fortress by a gate, which can be seen in the fortress wall, and the two settlements together formed the old town. Today they enclose a real medieval necropolis in which there were 18 churches, 14 in Mesa Hamburg and 4 on the castle. In the 16th-19th centuries Mesa Hamburg was bustling with life and according to 18th century censuses it had 4 parishes. The churches of Mesa Vourgo can be dated according to their frescoes from the 15th century, perhaps even earlier. These frescoes are precious monuments of Byzantine art and even of the Cretan School. Of the 14 churches that were all privately owned, some are still functioning today (Agios Georgios, Chrysostomos-Philippos, Mesochoritissa, Agia Triada, Agios Giannis Drapanezos, Sotiras), others are preserved but not functioning (Archistratigos, others are in ruins (Agios Dimitrios, Agios Vasilios) and others have disappeared (Agios Theodore, Agios Saranta, Agios Paraskevi) and we know of their existence from archival evidence.