Traditional settlements and villages, as well as the historic centers of Greek cities, are the basic elements of the country’s traditional architectural and cultural heritage–and are certainly worth visiting for a different view of Greece. In traditional settlements, a way of life, techniques, aesthetic preferences, artistic trends and social relations forged throughout a turbulent historic evolution have left their traces everywhere. The wealth and diversity of Greek architectural heritage is evident in most of the 650 preservable traditional settlements and villages and the thousands of buildings under historic preservation, as well as in the ancient and Byzantine monuments that adorn the Greek countryside, both in coastal and mountainous areas, and the urban centers. The conservation and promotion of the architectural heritage is a fundamental element of mild tourist development, offering alternative possibilities for all kinds of tourist activity. Many buildings of traditional architecture are now being used for different purposes and have various functions, such as tourist accommodation, museums, exhibitions, restaurants, public and municipal services, and so on. The historic centers of cities such as Athens, Thessaloniki, and Patras have been given new life thanks to the restoration of buildings, the creation of pedestrian zones and the landscaping of areas that have made them attractive for citizens and visitors alike. Thus, in most major Greek cities areas are being upgraded that are of the utmost importance for the research on urban traditional architecture and the development of urban centers in the country throughout the centuries.
Architecture is directly linked to the environment, something abundantly clear in traditional settlements that showcase the surprising harmony between what nature created and what man built. The spare towers of the Mani complement the stark landscape just as the more ornate structures of Pelion reflect the peninsula’s lushness. Visitors to Greece are often surprised by the diverse styles in the vernacular architecture of different areas, but as they explore are delighted to discover not just the white-washed cottages of travel posters but graceful mansions and clay-roofed stone cottages that distinguish Santorini from Syros and Stemnitsa. Certainly there are elements common to each region, with settlements in the Peloponnese displaying common characteristics just as the villages of northern Greece or island homes also have a number of elements in common–most stemming from the climate and other environmental factors. But even within each region, there are differences that have to do with the availability of building materials, lifestyle, and history.
The islands
For most visitors, Greece means islands. But these islands are far from uniform, with traditional life and architecture varying widely from the Ionian–and destinations like Corfu, Kefalonia, and Zakynthos–to sweeping neoclassical buildings of Symi and the Anatolian-style wood balconies of Kastellorizo, both in the Dodecanese, to the elegant mansions and cottages of the Chios interior. Even within the white-washed Cyclades featured on travel posters, there is variation with islands such as Syros, with its grand urban architecture.
Hydra
One of Greece’s most photogenic islands, Hydra is wrapped tightly around a small natural harbor, with elegant mansions fanning out against the steep face of Mount Klimaki. Etchings of eighteenth-century Hydra show that the port has changed little since the first building–the Monastery of the Dormition–was completed in 1643. The decision to locate the island’s administrative center on the harbor marks a turning point in Hydra’s history. Slowly, Hydra’s center shifted from Kiafa, located higher up the canyon, to the harbor. Two centuries later, as the island’s population exploded, the settlement inched back up the canyon, although this time the reason was lack of space rather than fear of invaders. Behind a first row of buildings lining the port, the town unfolds around a labyrinth of white-washed lanes and alleyways. The key to this haphazard grid is the central Odos Miaoulis, which has been laid in a ravine cut into the mountain in prehistoric times by water coursing down the Ere range into the sea. One of the finest examples of Hydriot architecture is the former mansion of Lazaros Koundouriotis, which was built in 1780 and beautifully restored in the 1990s.
The Koundouriotis Mansion, one of the first arhontika built by the Hydriot ship-owners, is set back from the port on a graded slope about half-way up the town. It is in the same district as the Tombazis and Voulgaris mansions, to the west of the Church of the Dormition. (Koundouriotis is buried in the cathedral’s courtyard.) The Koundouriotis Mansion is typical of Hydra’s unique architecture – a product of design and necessity. The style of the mansions is heavily influenced by the Italian palaces and loggias the traders saw while abroad. Like most construction on the island, these homes are built from stone – a material that is abundant on Hydra. Unlike homes on the nearby islands of Spetses and Poros, houses on Hydra are narrow and tall because of the steeply graded incline on which the town is built. Because the island has no water, few homes have plants and hardly any have gardens; instead, Hydriots use bright colors on shutters, doorways, balustrades, and loggia walls to break the gray and ochre monotony of the stone walls. The mansions’ stern facades belie the elaborate decoration of their interiors. Common features include hand-painting ceiling borders, gilt moldings, and wood inlaid shelves.
Mykonos
Mykonos is known as the playground of the world’s stars and celebrities, and its distinctive traditional architecture was what catapulted the island to the top of the world’s most popular destinations. The cornerstone of the Mykonian architecture is the humble cube, albeit with slightly rounded corners. Homes are formed by blocks–stacked, staggered, or set down in a single line to create single- or even triple-story buildings. The cubes are always painted white, but accented by trimmings–shutters, doors, banisters, landings–in bright, primary colors.
Hora, framed by a row of white-washed windmills, is separated into five main districts: Kastro, site of the first medieval settlement around which the town was built; Venetia and Alefkandra, two waterfront districts on the west; Matoyiannia, the nineteenth-century extension to the northeast that was built according to a grid-like design; and, Neohori, the town’s latest expansion to the southwest. Despite successive waves of development, the island’s traditional architectural style has been carefully maintained. Continuing west past the Panayia Paraportiani, the waterfront walk leads to Venetia (Greek for Venice) and Alefkandra, probably Hora’s most photographed district.
Santorini
Santorini owes its sublime landscape to an earthquake–and this same event that gave the caldera its shape also influenced the island’s distinctive local architecture. With no timber on the island but plenty of stone, Santorini’s inhabitants had to devise some way to support each home’s roof. The cave-like skafta are the solution they hit upon. Homes were dug into the cliffs and given vaulted roofs created with a mesh formed using ash-mortar and vine twigs. (Ironically, before such homes became fashionable, the more affluent islanders sought to differentiate their homes by encasing these domes in a flat “false” roof.) Facades and interior walls were then formed with mortar made from volcanic soil. Because it was difficult to dig too deep into the rock, even small homes were often built in staggered, split levels. These cave-like huts featured vaulted domes in the shape of the cavern ceiling–a form preserved in above-ground buildings and churches.
Naxos
Apeiranthos and Filoti are two inland villages that have preserved their traditional flavor, resisting the tourism development that has adulterated the main harbor and almost obscured the Venetian fort rising above it.
Set high against the slopes of Mount Fanari, the village of Apeiranthos was reputedly founded in the tenth century by migrants from Crete and is renowned for woven tapestries and other handicrafts. Marked by several abandoned windmills on its periphery, the village is a tangle of marble and cobblestone lanes, archways, and cozy squares. Two fine examples of Venetian influence are the fifteenth-century fortified mansions built by the island’s former aristocratic rulers.
Filoti, just kilometers away, is a sprawling, mountain village built amphitheatrically against the slopes of Mount Zas, the highest peak in the Cyclades islands. The village center is marked by the unusual bell tower of the Panayia Filotissa, an imposing church with an iconostasis of carved marble, yet its heart is the cluster of old-fashioned kafeneia around an enormous, drooping plane tree whose white-washed trunk reflects any rays of sun that penetrate its thick leaves.
The village–the second largest of Naxos, after Hora–has a commanding view over a lush valley with terraced fields. Its narrow, stone-paved streets are pleasant to stroll, although most visitors use Filoti as a base for exploring the surrounding countryside, dotted by ruins that underscore Venice’s long hegemony over the Naxos.
Corfu
Corfu is, in a word, the most elegant of all the Greek islands. Its voluptuous natural beauty perfectly showcases the architecture of the island, an incredible blend of Continental European grandeur and Mediterranean simplicity. Peering over the rooftops of Corfu Town, with its narrow balconies and wrought-iron railings, you feel your gaze transported in time yet the island is firmly rooted in the present. There’s a reason why Corfu consistently ranks among the world’s top tourist destinations: it’s sophisticated yet totally unpretentious. One reason for Corfu’s lasting appeal is its adherence to tradition, both in its buildings and in the fabric of life. Tradition is a part of daily life, not just in the layout of such settlements as the tranquil Kalami, on the coast, or Pelekas, perched amphitheatrically on a verdant slope, or Argyrades, near the Korissia lagoon, but also in the traditional celebrations of holidays such as Easter, which is observed with particular ceremony. And if the island seems at times like something out of a novel or a memoir, it may be because in very many cases it is–just read the works of the Durrells, and others, to get the feel for places like Barbati.
Rhodes
Like Rhodes Town, the entire island is an amalgam of ancient, medieval, and modern architecture–with elements from each period evident in the layout and buildings. Afandou, though known for its golf course, is actually a quaint medieval settlement that fans out around a slip of a plateia. The village, a tangle of brightly-painted cottages, is marked by the tiered bell tower of the Church of the Kimissis Theotokou with its rococo air. It’s markedly different from Eleoussa, with its Italianate sanatorium or Koskinou with its small homes marked by arched doorways framed by stone pediments leading to handkerchief-sized courtyard laid with pebble mosaics. All create a completely different picture from Lindos, with its cubeiform buildings huddled around a barren rocky headland–yet all are prime examples of different forms of the island’s traditional architecture.
Skyros
Skyros Town or Chora is built on an imposing rock and locals have not simply preserved its traditional architecture but also live their traditions, with many of the village elders dressing in the pantaloons and trohadia, shoes designed for their traction on the slippery footpaths used by goatherds. Here, tradition is strongest in the interior decoration, and most homes feature wood furniture with the distinctive ornate designs, the raised beds or sofades and wall décor comprised mainly of hammered copper or brass trays.
The mainland
As on Greece’s islands, mainland architecture and lifestyle varies as widely as the landscape, from the sheer, sparse slopes of Mani in the southern Peloponnese to the rolling, lush mountains of Epirus in northern Greece. And, as on the islands, these differences in geography dictate the differences in the vernacular architecture of each region as well as in the traditional lifestyle and cuisine. Nafpaktos Nafpaktos occupies the rim of a natural harbor, noted for its small mouth, on the northern coast of the Corinthian Gulf and is more familiar to history buffs as the site of the Battle of Lepanto where the Ottoman naval force was effectively destroyed by the Venetians and their allies. Although dominated by the fortress and fortifications embracing the harbor, the town’s traditional homes offer fine samples of craftsmanship. Walls and supports are mainly stone, with wood box-style windows and solid shutters and swirling wrought-iron accents on balconies. The style is distinctive, yet the influences of successive occupiers.
Stemnitsa
The mountain villages and settlements of the Peloponnese province of Arcadia have a special beauty that isn’t just attributable to the natural setting but rather their harmonious integration into the landscape, from the prevalence of stone and wood as building materials to the colors of the tiled roofs and wood window frames. Stemnitsa, set at 1,080 or roughly midway up the slopes of Mount Mainalo, is a typical example. The houses, so typical of Arcadia’s mountain villages, are a compromise between function and form. The austere facades are decreed by the severity of weather and the terrain; there are homes with balconies, but these were added later, after modern building materials and heating systems made exposing large surfaces feasible. Arches above the narrow windows are the only relief in the bleak stone.
The slope’s steepness forced households into a perpendicular organization. Traditionally, the lower floor was used for workshops, storage, and keeping animals. The family quarters were above, separated into living and sleeping areas by a bagdati, or wood screen. Rooms for receiving visitors were decorated with as much splendor as a family could muster–embroidered covers on sofas, hand-carved wood ceilings. In winter, families took shelter in a small interior room with a large stone hearth. As is typical in most villages, the main square is the center of the settlement. In contrast to settlements on even terrain, the village’s various quarters don’t fan out around the square but rather extend above and below it, following the mountain’s incline.
Pelion
This lush peninsula is dotted with a number of villages that preserve both their architecture and a more traditional lifestyle. Local produce, from flowers to dried aromatic herbs and spoon sweets, line windowsills and entire visitors into store. Favorite destinations here include Tsangarada, four small settlements clustered around a square shaded by a thousand-year-old plane tree, the old market town of Kissos with its marble fountains and kafeneia, and Makrinitsa–all sporting cottages and stone mansions with gardens packed with flowers and fruit-bearing trees.
Zagorohoria
As on the islands, so on the mainland, local architecture is a product of the combined influences of climate, topography, and building materials. One area that has preserved, almost intact, its traditional flavor is the Zagorohoria, a group of roughly forty small settlements scattered over the mountains of Epirus that formed an autonomous federation after the Ottoman occupation of Ioannina. Among the best-known are Monodendri, Papingo and Vitsa, the largest. Here, the local gray stone is the dominant material and is used in the exteriors of buildings and roads, with cobblestone paths twisting between the enclosed spaces of each village and skirting lush ravines accented by pines and firs that provide the timber for homes’ interiors. The same skilled masonry of the buildings is replicated in the arched bridges and footpaths linking the settlements.
In the traditional architecture of the Zagori villages it’s easy to see how buildings were constructed and designed in harmony with the local environment. This is most easily discerned when strolling the cobblestone lanes of the Papingo settlements where it’s obvious that homes were positioned according to the shape and form of the land. Here, as in the vernacular architecture of other mountain villages, the “basement” is actually at ground level while the hayiati where guests are received is slightly elevated. Other distinctive marks of Zagori architecture are the staircases that are about one-third stone before continuing with wood steps.
Arachova
Greeks equate Arachova with winter weekends and the intense nightlife that is part and parcel of the après-ski activity. Foreign tourists, by contrast, tend to view the town as no more than a refreshment stop during a visit to the archaeological site of Delphi. Yet Arachova is worth a visit for itself, with its tiered wood homes overlooking the Corinthian gulf and its stone-paved lanes winding up and down the slopes. Vestiges of traditional life are also preserved in the souvenirs for sale in the stores lining the high street, from honey and dried herbs to local cheeses.
Mani
Mani revels in its splendid isolation at the southernmost tip of the Peloponnese, separated from the rest of the peninsula by a rugged massif that is as barren as the rest of the Peloponnese’s mountains are green. The severity of the landscape is reflected in the austerity of the local architecture which lacks the flourishes found in other regions of Greece, largely due to a lack of timber and other materials. Homes rise in narrow, perpendicular blocks with slit-like windows.
Psarades
Psarades is one of Greece’s most remote settlements as it sits on the edge of the Prespa lake which forms a natural boundary between Greece and two of its Balkan neighbors. Given its distance, it’s hardly surprising that both Psarades and the more populous Aghios Germanos a few kilometers away, have preserved their traditional architecture and lifestyle virtually intact. The handful of homes that comprise Psarades are quite typical of the mountain village architecture and are far too humble to register on the sweeping landscape of mountains and lake. The attempt to strike a balance with the environment is also evident in Aghios Germanos, with its narrow streets framed by two-story stone houses with austere facades and narrow openings to bolster against the cold. |
