Not far from Drymonas is a private church called Agios Kosmas, which was formally the site of a monastery about which little is known. Local people believe that in 1820 the clergy of this monastery decided to build a new church - the present Agios Kosmas - to replace a much older church which had been destroyed and the remains of which are still visible. One of the monks embarked on an overseas fundraising trip which took him to Constantinople. There he met with many Kytherians and other Christians. To his surprise, he was approached by a frail man who confessed to him that he had been a pirate all his life and that a great deal of his loot had been buried on Kythera. The two locations that the old man described were close to the present site of Agios Kosmas. The priest interrupted his journey and returned to Kythera. In a small cave in the location described to him by the pirate he found a jar full of gold coins. The construction of the church was completed and locals insist that a second jar, which was never found, is still buried in the locality.


From Kythera, a History
Many thanks to Peter Vanges and the Kytherian Association of Australia for their kind permission to reproduce this excerpt. To order the book contact the Assocation - their address is in the "Culture" section of this site.