Waiting for the "Dasarchio/Thasarchio"?
By the way, if you are waiting for the forestry department on Kythera to finally give your land building clearance you'd better call your topographer/engineer on the island and check on the status. I believe the department has changed its submission requirements and any applications without GPS-coordinates won't even be processed. Many of the topographers/engineers now have the necessary equipment to do the new measurements, but understandably don't want to have to visit the land again to GPS-it without the owner's assurance that they will be paid for their trouble. Just because the authorities have changed the rules doesn't mean we should expect the topographers to put in a few more hours of work for free. At the very least it requires taking the co-ordinates, putting them on the diagrams, adding a new text as well, and printing them all out 7 times. Get them moving on it, as no officials from the department will come to the island to check the submissions until there are at least 70 of them with the new coordiates.
Below great articles by Anna and Maria, as well as a call for help in getting a library on Kythera set up.
All the best from a chilly Berlin evening,
James Prineas (james@kythera-family.net)
.._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _
>Important Posting on the Message Board:
>Submitted by: Toni Cavalenes
In September 2008 members of the Cavalenes/Cavalinis family from the USA and Australia gathered together on Kythera. For many of us it was our first visit to the island of our ancestors and a dream come true. It was a magical experience and we fell in love with the island and its people. My sisters, cousin and I had the opportunity to meet Mayor Koukoulos and during our discussion the mayor said that there was a need for bookshelves to help furnish the island's first municipal library. As luck would have it, my sister Cynthia Cavalenes-Jarvis works for the City of Alhambra, California which recently opened a new library and was disposing of the old bookshelves from the previous library. Cynthia who is also a member of Soroptimist International was successful in gaining the organizations sponsorship for a project to obtain the bookshelves and send them Kythera. A special tax deductible account has been set up to accept donations.
We need to raise funds to help with the cost of shipping the bookshelves to Kythera and urge you to act quickly to make a donation. We are under a time constraint to clear the books shelves from the former library or they will be lost to the wrecking ball, and I think you would agree that would be tragic. Donations should be made payable to: Soroptimist of Alhambra, San Gabriel, San Marino; mailed to Soroptimist International Alhambra-San Gabriel-San Marino, P.O. Box 343, Alhambra California 91802. Attention: Bookshelves Project manager.
If you would like additional information about this project, please feel free to contact the Book Shelves Project Manager, Cynthia Jarvis at: Cynthia_jarvis@yahoo.com
.._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _
>Kythera's Glass Bottom
by Anna Cominos
The days are brightening up on Kythera and the sunflowers have begun to stretch, waiting to turn their beaming faces to the summer sun. Everyone is scampering around like little mice to prepare for the visitors.
But things are a-shift on Kythera (a shift is like a change but there are no "undoings"): on the ferry-front we now have the "Vincenzio Kornaros" which makes three trips weekly to Crete, including Rethymno, as well as Piraeus twice weekly and Gytheio and Neapoli. We also have the Porfyrousa to Neapoli daily. And now we have the queen of boats, the brand-new, off-the-shelf 70-seat state-of-the-art "Alexandros Glass Bottom-Boat". Captain-owner Spyros will continue his tours to the magical sea cave of Hitra (the big sea-rock just off Kapsali) as well as day-trips around the island to secluded beaches and of course to the almost tropical beach of Simi in Elafonissos, with its electric turquoise waters and golden sands.
Yesterday I spent the day with Spyros, whipping around to Kythera's neighbours. Less than half-an-hour after leaving Agia Pelagia we were ordering ouzos in Neapoli. When you leave Kythera and looking back it is a haze, you feel a pang of affection, like a love-gone-wrong movie scene (but perhaps that is a different script...). Getting back to the original film, when you are on the water the protruding landmasses of Kythera, Elafonnissos and the Peloponnese look like massive submerged mountains.
Then the ever-cheerful and careful Spyros took us on a sea-tour of Elafonnisos and I saw dolphins in the Kytherian straits. The Moudari Lighthouse (a must-visit) is the only building I could discern on approach until Karavas and Plati Ammos came into focus. As I tipsily disembarked onto the wharf of Agia Pelagia, I smiled to myself knowing that we just travelled the path of ancient explorers and many a meditative fishermen, each trying to make sense of a frantic world.
by Anna Cominos (acominos@hotmail.com)
.._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _
>Music of Kythera
by Maria from Lourandianika
Many years ago - a lifetime it seems now - I was fortunate enough to spend almost a year on Kythera, learning a different lifestyle from the privileged one which I had known in Australia. It was a chapter of my life which I will never forget.
Every month my parents would take the family to attend the Kytherian Dance at the Paddington Town Hall in Sydney. Such excitement as the evening approached! The hall filling with many Kytherian families, coming together, to socialize and dance the evening away. I was too young to dance, and would sell raffle tickets. The orchestra played high up on a mezzanine level, and at the end of the evening I would be asked to draw the winning ticket.
I was a familiar sight. Me wiith my books of raffle tickets, and the wonderful Kytherians buying them. There were hundreds of people there, sitting at long tables with white tablecloths, and the girls would be seated by their parents at the chairs near the dance floor so that the young men dressed in their suits could approach them, asking politely for a dance, under the watchful eyes of the parents.
The highlight of my evening was when I could join in with the traditional Greek dancing. The music of Kythera. It became a part of me and my life and, to this day, the sounds of the music makes the blood pulse in my head and my veins. The music performs magic, bringing back memories which will never fade.
When I was on Cerigo that Summer we would watch with excitement as the locals collected chairs from the surrounding homes and take them to a small tavern at the crossroads of Lourandianika. Mismatched chairs, six deep, would be set up in the small tavern, and I would look in wonderment. How could anyone dance on this small piece of floor with all the rows of chairs? How different it was from the large hall with the tables and chairs of the Paddington Town Hall!
The locals would start arriving in the late evening, but the first strains of music could be heard earlier. The chairs were quickly filled, and the small dance-floor soon became an area where "dance" took on a different meaning. How could such a small tavern, with such a restricted space, bring such incredible joy? We danced to the sounds of the music with an abandonment I never knew was possible. We danced until the sun began rising over the horizon, starting a new day.
We would start walking towards our homes, laughing, singing, our feet still wanting to dance to the incredible music that stayed with us long after we had left to return to our homes, knowing that all would sleep soundly, as we had started our dance on a Saturday night, and finished as the sun rose on Sunday, a day of rest.
When we returned to Australia and attended our first monthly Kytherian dance, again at the same hall, being greeted by so many, the difference was so obvious. I had slipped into a different way of speaking. I would be spoken to in English, and I would reply in Greek, and even more strange was the fact that I had adopted the island slang, and many would look at me, not understanding what I was saying. I was not aware that I was speaking differently - for me, it was the only Greek I knew. The highlight of the evening was still the Greek dancing. On Kythera we only heard the traditional music, and now I was hearing modern music intermingled with the traditional music. I watched as one young couple did "the twist". I looked at my father, for permission to dance this new dance. He nodded quietly, and with his approval, I attempted to join this young couple. Yes, it was "fun", but nothing could replace the holding of hands, as we joined together, to dance to the strains of the music of Kythera.
I had reached an age where I could now dance with the young men who would approach our table, but the most important dance for me was still the dance I shared with my father. What an incredible dancer he was. How often the couples moved off the floor, to allow my father and myself to dance such intricate steps. How proud I was when I would share this moment with him.
Two years later I went to my first ball. Such finery being presented, flowers sent to our table for me, so much glamour, and yet, if I was asked to choose between this opulence and the little tavern in Kato Livadi, I would say, without hesitation, the small tavern, where the music of Kythera played, and we danced until the sun rose over the horizon, and the music still heard by us, even though the band had stopped playing.
To this very day, living such a restricted life, the sounds of the music which makes Kythera so special is still with me. My illness may deny me so much, but I will never be robbed of the music which is in my blood.
I would like to dedicate this column to my Koumbara, a very special person in my life. Without this column we would never have found each other again, after nearly 40 years.
>by Maria Whyte (nee Marcellos), maria.wwhyte@gmail.com' />
Waiting for the "Dasarchio/Thasarchio"?
By the way, if you are waiting for the forestry department on Kythera to finally give your land building clearance you'd better call your topographer/engineer on the island and check on the status. I believe the department has changed its submission requirements and any applications without GPS-coordinates won't even be processed. Many of the topographers/engineers now have the necessary equipment to do the new measurements, but understandably don't want to have to visit the land again to GPS-it without the owner's assurance that they will be paid for their trouble. Just because the authorities have changed the rules doesn't mean we should expect the topographers to put in a few more hours of work for free. At the very least it requires taking the co-ordinates, putting them on the diagrams, adding a new text as well, and printing them all out 7 times. Get them moving on it, as no officials from the department will come to the island to check the submissions until there are at least 70 of them with the new coordiates.
Below great articles by Anna and Maria, as well as a call for help in getting a library on Kythera set up.
All the best from a chilly Berlin evening,
James Prineas (james@kythera-family.net)
.._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _
>Important Posting on the Message Board:
>Submitted by: Toni Cavalenes
In September 2008 members of the Cavalenes/Cavalinis family from the USA and Australia gathered together on Kythera. For many of us it was our first visit to the island of our ancestors and a dream come true. It was a magical experience and we fell in love with the island and its people. My sisters, cousin and I had the opportunity to meet Mayor Koukoulos and during our discussion the mayor said that there was a need for bookshelves to help furnish the island's first municipal library. As luck would have it, my sister Cynthia Cavalenes-Jarvis works for the City of Alhambra, California which recently opened a new library and was disposing of the old bookshelves from the previous library. Cynthia who is also a member of Soroptimist International was successful in gaining the organizations sponsorship for a project to obtain the bookshelves and send them Kythera. A special tax deductible account has been set up to accept donations.
We need to raise funds to help with the cost of shipping the bookshelves to Kythera and urge you to act quickly to make a donation. We are under a time constraint to clear the books shelves from the former library or they will be lost to the wrecking ball, and I think you would agree that would be tragic. Donations should be made payable to: Soroptimist of Alhambra, San Gabriel, San Marino; mailed to Soroptimist International Alhambra-San Gabriel-San Marino, P.O. Box 343, Alhambra California 91802. Attention: Bookshelves Project manager.
If you would like additional information about this project, please feel free to contact the Book Shelves Project Manager, Cynthia Jarvis at: Cynthia_jarvis@yahoo.com
.._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _
>Kythera's Glass Bottom
by Anna Cominos
The days are brightening up on Kythera and the sunflowers have begun to stretch, waiting to turn their beaming faces to the summer sun. Everyone is scampering around like little mice to prepare for the visitors.
But things are a-shift on Kythera (a shift is like a change but there are no "undoings"): on the ferry-front we now have the "Vincenzio Kornaros" which makes three trips weekly to Crete, including Rethymno, as well as Piraeus twice weekly and Gytheio and Neapoli. We also have the Porfyrousa to Neapoli daily. And now we have the queen of boats, the brand-new, off-the-shelf 70-seat state-of-the-art "Alexandros Glass Bottom-Boat". Captain-owner Spyros will continue his tours to the magical sea cave of Hitra (the big sea-rock just off Kapsali) as well as day-trips around the island to secluded beaches and of course to the almost tropical beach of Simi in Elafonissos, with its electric turquoise waters and golden sands.
Yesterday I spent the day with Spyros, whipping around to Kythera's neighbours. Less than half-an-hour after leaving Agia Pelagia we were ordering ouzos in Neapoli. When you leave Kythera and looking back it is a haze, you feel a pang of affection, like a love-gone-wrong movie scene (but perhaps that is a different script...). Getting back to the original film, when you are on the water the protruding landmasses of Kythera, Elafonnissos and the Peloponnese look like massive submerged mountains.
Then the ever-cheerful and careful Spyros took us on a sea-tour of Elafonnisos and I saw dolphins in the Kytherian straits. The Moudari Lighthouse (a must-visit) is the only building I could discern on approach until Karavas and Plati Ammos came into focus. As I tipsily disembarked onto the wharf of Agia Pelagia, I smiled to myself knowing that we just travelled the path of ancient explorers and many a meditative fishermen, each trying to make sense of a frantic world.
by Anna Cominos (acominos@hotmail.com)
.._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _..._ _ _
>Music of Kythera
by Maria from Lourandianika
Many years ago - a lifetime it seems now - I was fortunate enough to spend almost a year on Kythera, learning a different lifestyle from the privileged one which I had known in Australia. It was a chapter of my life which I will never forget.
Every month my parents would take the family to attend the Kytherian Dance at the Paddington Town Hall in Sydney. Such excitement as the evening approached! The hall filling with many Kytherian families, coming together, to socialize and dance the evening away. I was too young to dance, and would sell raffle tickets. The orchestra played high up on a mezzanine level, and at the end of the evening I would be asked to draw the winning ticket.
I was a familiar sight. Me wiith my books of raffle tickets, and the wonderful Kytherians buying them. There were hundreds of people there, sitting at long tables with white tablecloths, and the girls would be seated by their parents at the chairs near the dance floor so that the young men dressed in their suits could approach them, asking politely for a dance, under the watchful eyes of the parents.
The highlight of my evening was when I could join in with the traditional Greek dancing. The music of Kythera. It became a part of me and my life and, to this day, the sounds of the music makes the blood pulse in my head and my veins. The music performs magic, bringing back memories which will never fade.
When I was on Cerigo that Summer we would watch with excitement as the locals collected chairs from the surrounding homes and take them to a small tavern at the crossroads of Lourandianika. Mismatched chairs, six deep, would be set up in the small tavern, and I would look in wonderment. How could anyone dance on this small piece of floor with all the rows of chairs? How different it was from the large hall with the tables and chairs of the Paddington Town Hall!
The locals would start arriving in the late evening, but the first strains of music could be heard earlier. The chairs were quickly filled, and the small dance-floor soon became an area where "dance" took on a different meaning. How could such a small tavern, with such a restricted space, bring such incredible joy? We danced to the sounds of the music with an abandonment I never knew was possible. We danced until the sun began rising over the horizon, starting a new day.
We would start walking towards our homes, laughing, singing, our feet still wanting to dance to the incredible music that stayed with us long after we had left to return to our homes, knowing that all would sleep soundly, as we had started our dance on a Saturday night, and finished as the sun rose on Sunday, a day of rest.
When we returned to Australia and attended our first monthly Kytherian dance, again at the same hall, being greeted by so many, the difference was so obvious. I had slipped into a different way of speaking. I would be spoken to in English, and I would reply in Greek, and even more strange was the fact that I had adopted the island slang, and many would look at me, not understanding what I was saying. I was not aware that I was speaking differently - for me, it was the only Greek I knew. The highlight of the evening was still the Greek dancing. On Kythera we only heard the traditional music, and now I was hearing modern music intermingled with the traditional music. I watched as one young couple did "the twist". I looked at my father, for permission to dance this new dance. He nodded quietly, and with his approval, I attempted to join this young couple. Yes, it was "fun", but nothing could replace the holding of hands, as we joined together, to dance to the strains of the music of Kythera.
I had reached an age where I could now dance with the young men who would approach our table, but the most important dance for me was still the dance I shared with my father. What an incredible dancer he was. How often the couples moved off the floor, to allow my father and myself to dance such intricate steps. How proud I was when I would share this moment with him.
Two years later I went to my first ball. Such finery being presented, flowers sent to our table for me, so much glamour, and yet, if I was asked to choose between this opulence and the little tavern in Kato Livadi, I would say, without hesitation, the small tavern, where the music of Kythera played, and we danced until the sun rose over the horizon, and the music still heard by us, even though the band had stopped playing.
To this very day, living such a restricted life, the sounds of the music which makes Kythera so special is still with me. My illness may deny me so much, but I will never be robbed of the music which is in my blood.
I would like to dedicate this column to my Koumbara, a very special person in my life. Without this column we would never have found each other again, after nearly 40 years.
>by Maria Whyte (nee Marcellos), maria.wwhyte@gmail.com" />
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