Artemonas is the largest village in Sifnos. Its name comes from the workship of the goddess Artemis in antiquity. The village is quite different to the rest of Sifnos, its past properity reflected in the quality of the houses.
One early evening we took the bus to Artemonas which deposited us in the square. We wanted to go to the small settlement of Agia Anna because I wanted to look at two ceramics workshops and then we were going to spend the evening in Artemonas.
In order to get to Aghia Anna we took the peripheral road outside the village
The views were spectacular and included other villages and the sea in the distance
olive trees all around us
We walked past the Sifnos Cultural Centre who were responsible for organisonh the folk dance festival
It was an uphill walk and as the higher we climbed up, the more spectacular the views
Soon enough we could see the windmills of Aghia Anna
one of which has been converted into a home
and from here we could see the terraced fields
Right by the entrance to the settlement Antonis Kalogirou' pottery workshop and shop are situated. We spent quite a while here
Then, following Mr Kalogirou's directions we walked through the settlement
and without any trouble, found the second workshop, Lebesis ceramics where we bought quite a few things, not for ourselves as we own a few of their functional pieces, but as presents for friends.
We were then given directions on how to reach Artemonas without having to take the peripheral road again. It was a wonderful walk, and all of it, downhill
Narrow alleyways
ceramic chimneys from the island's workshops.
We reached the church of Agia Anna
At some point around here, we had left Agia Anna and had entered Artemonas, but I have no idea exactly where
antiques and folk art
a taverna
another church
now we were certain we were in Artemonas because some great houses, or mansions as they call them here, started appearing
We came across four girls in all, who paint pebbles and then sell them for two euros each - we bought some from the girls Apollonia, but just chatted to this one: one can have only so many painted pebbles
another girl selling her art
We had come full circle and reached the square
and ended up at Liotrivi, a taverna in the middle of the square, where the food was very good, and the service excellent.
The place was empty when we arrived at around 8:30 but by 10:00 it was packed, and there were queues of people waiting for an empty table. Hardly any of them were tourists.
Sitting here made us realise how different Artemonas is to the rest of the island: there are hardly any tourists, real village life, where locals congregate in the square to exchange news and be seen
and children play unaccompanied.
These two little girls had such fun together!
During our second visit we walked around a different area of the village, a residential area
I loved the arches in this house
Past the Citizens' Information Centre
and another that leads straight on to the balcony
this one leads on to a courtyard
We retraced our steps and walked up to the street we had taken last time
great sky
We entered this gallery that showed work by Nikolas Houtos
He also paints religious icons
I found his modern take on religious icons quite interesting
After wondering around for quite a while we went to Liotrivi for another lovely meal.
No comments:
Post a Comment