Kardamena Blog

It's 28 years ago this month that my love affair with Kardamena started. A lot has happened in that time, especially the rate of growth of the village. I well remember standing on the road outside of the church and looking left up the road.  There were no buildings at all on the right hand side of the road so that you could see the hills in the distance.
Looking to the right, from the  road leading to the square,  it was virtually fields all the way down to the Norida beach complex. My wife and myself cycled it on old boneshaker bikes, treating ourselves to some delicious ripe figs from an orchard, afterwards feeling guilty for our sins of stealing fruit.
On the west side of Kardamena, over the bridge was the only other holiday complex, namely the Portobello Beach which was mainly used by Germans, again this was the only hotel  on that side of the village, except for the Valinakis beach hotel that was just over the bridge,  which was regularly visited by old Mr Valinakis, resplendant his his much favoured lightweight safar suits
.Before the building boom came along, village rooms played an inportant part in holiday brochures. These provided much needed income for local people to supplement their income
 during the holiday season.. These were favoured by the young not so well off student types.
On the road leading to the airport there was a large taverna which was never open which was a great pity because it could have hosted great wedding parties or greek nights . besides the large indoor area there was also a large outdoor space. The last bus stop  out of Kardamena  was just outside it. I think that it was a forced closure to allow the bypass to be built, this being the first significant change in Kardamens.
At this time kardamena was a genteel peaceful place, a get away from it all place where you could unwind from the pressures of home and work. To my mind that is no longer the case. No doubt the younger end who now frequent Kardamena would totally disagree with me.
Perhaps next time I wll mention personalites who have played a part in my Kardamena experience.

MY KARDAMENA 2
The first major change in Kardamena was the building of the bye-pass leading to the bridge. Without this,bar street would not be as it is today if coaches had to go up and down it a few times a day. The street as it was in the early days had very few pubs or bars. It was mainly shops. A few notable ones were the hardware shop which sold all manner of things, a large perfume shop and a high class confectioners. There was a large ice cream parlour and a large grocery and dry goods shop selling fags and spirits., it was apposite Peters Bar which was popular with the older end, unfortunately now closed as is the shop which turned into yet another bar. Opposite the war memorial there was a very small shop with quite limited stock.( now a fast food place. I walked in one day and the owner was nowhere to be seen. Tills were a thing for the future those days so money was just thrown into a drawer. The drawer was fully open and was full of Drachma notes. Such was the trust of the locals at that time. After a wait I did get my packet of fags. In the square would you believe it, was an expensive shop selling fur coats from short ones to full length. It seemed quite bizzare considering the heat in August. E.U. grants soon had a great impact, with the creation of the first enclosed harbour and the renovation of side streets and walkways which tended to be a bit broken up. The modernisation continues to this day, but I still have a hankering for my old Kardamena

Like many an older person, my memory doesn't always serve me well, but I will never forget the first time that me and my wife arrived in Kardamena for the first time. The year was 1981, the month August. Our previous experience of Greece had been island hopping in the Cyclades group of islands which were really quite pretty. Greece was then governed by the Military junta, and any airport on an island was a military one. The taking of photographs was strictly forbidden, the penalty for doing so was prison. The journey from Kos Airport was uneventful, but we noticed that the road leading into Kardamena was relatively narrow with broken edges, bordered by sunscorched weeds. There was a look of deriliction about the whole area, a place lost in time. The coach turned into the square which was then used as the bus terminus and taxi rank, it then turned down what is now called bar street. We alighted at the end of bar street and were taken to our hotel which was the Christina Beach. It was a small family run hotel with not many rooms as the breakfast area was very small. We wondered what on earth we had come to !! The following day we went for a walk to do a recce of the place. Yes ! it did look a bit run down, but what hit us was the sheer tranquility of the place after the bustle of a busy town in the U.K.. More surprising was that many local people said "hello" and "enjoy your holiday." We were beginning to love the place. Over the years we made many friends, and were recognised in the side streets by locals who were sitting outside in the evenings. It had now become "home from home". The world was our oyster as far as holidays went, but we always said "lets go back to Kardamena" Kardamena has changed a great deal since our early days. But that could be another story.

Τον Ιούνιο του 1922 οι Ιταλοί Alessandro Della Setta και Doro Levi έκαναν ανασκαφές...

It deserves to mention the background of the villagers from the Old Kardamena to the New one as we know it now. It is known that the residents of Antimachia and Kardamena constituted until the 1850 roughly, as a community and they were living in the big castle of Antimachia. It appears that they were enough in order to have two parishes, Saint Friday and Saint Nikolaos in the narrow space of fortress. They remained obligatory closed there from the fear of pirates Algerians and Saracen’s, where robbing everyone in the white sea.
They only came out during the day, in order to cultivate and take care their properties, by the evening, they should be inside the castle, in order to lock the massive front door so they will be protected all the night!

 Αξίζει να παραθέσουμε το ιστορικό της μετοίκησης των χωρικών από την Παλαιά Καρδάμαινα στην Νέα.Είναι γνωστό ότι οι κάτοικοι Αντιμάχειας και Καρδάμαινας αποτελούσαν ως το 1850
περίπου, μια κοινότητα και κατοικούσαν μέσα στο μεγάλο κάστρο της Αντιμάχειας.Φαίνεται ότι ήταν αρκετοί για να έχουν δυο ενορίες, της Αγίας Παρασκευής και του Αγίου Νικολάου μέσα στο στενό χώρο του φρουρίου. Έμεναν αναγκαστικά κλεισμένοι εκεί από τον φόβο των  πειρατών,  Αλγερινών και Σαρακηνών,που ελυμαίνοντο και καταδυνάστευαν την άσπρη θάλασσα.
Έβγαιναν μόνο την ημέρα,για να καλλιεργήσουν και να φροντίσουν τα κτήματά τους,ενώ το βράδυ,με το βασίλεμα του ήλιου,έπρεπε να βρίσκονται μέσα στο κάστρο, για να κλείσει και να σφιχτομανταλωθεί η μεγάλη πόρτα...