Page Text Content
SKYROSHOLIDAYS
Skyros Island
Sung about by Homer and full of ancient memories, Skyros is a magical, ancient isle, about 100 miles north-east of Athens. Its old village, with its narrow cobblestone streets, is graced with an unhurried intimacy and wholesome humanness long lost in the contemporary big cities. Its white cubicstyle houses are shaded by grapevines waving gracefully in the glittering sunlight. In its square, the villagers, tempered by lingering memories of the millenniums, still watch with curiosity the visitors from their future. Yet Skyros is a mixture of tradition and global trends. Doors are left unlocked, children play out until late and weddings and special events are celebrated by the entire community. Still, young men drink whisky at cool, funky bars and young women are as fashion-conscious as their counterparts in London's Knightsbridge. The island lives in more than one century at once. The island's long history goes far beyond the reach of memory. Recent archaeological finds at Palamari, near Atsitsa, have uncovered a well-fortified village dating back to the Early Bronze Age (2800 BC). Artefacts from the site are on display at the village's Archaeological Museum. Achilles, the hero of the Trojan war, spent his early years on the island, and Athenian hero Theseus, the man who slew the dreaded Minotaur of Crete, died there. King Lycomedes' palace on top of the village hill was built in pre-Homerian times, rebuilt by the Byzantines and then again by the Venetians. The Byzantine monastery of
Living in more than one century at once
Saint George, built on the ruins of an ancient temple, is still intact. So are many old traditions including the island's mesmerising goat festival which, rooted in Olympian Greece, draws visitors from all over the world. Rupert Brooke, the English poet, is buried in the tranquil olive grove on the southern part of the island, that corner of a foreign field that is forever England'. The islanders have honoured Brooke by naming one of the village squares after him.
Immediately I fell in love with the place. I kept thinking I am an actor in A Midsummer Night's Dream; this is Arcadia. I want to live like this for ever.. .'
Sue Townsend, The Guardian
|
Save it »
inbro