Kos is known for its sandy beaches and Kardamena is geared towards package tourism. Beaches were still empty and the bars, resto’s and hotels were preparing for the coming season that starts in May. Everywhere locals were painting, making repairs and cleaning.
With not much else to see in Kardamena we rented a car to explore the island. The first day we did “the rest” of the island and the second day we would go to Kos city. Close to Kardamena is an authentic Greek windmill. We have seen many ruined mills in the Greek settlements but this one is in working condition and therefore worth a visit.
The place was humming with activity in preparation for the summer season and the mill was not yet open. However the friendly owner gave us a tour anyway.
The mill was owned and operated by the local priest who restored the mill after the devastating 1933 earthquake and kept operating it until 1970. People came along with their donkeys to have their wheat and barley turned into flour. A share of the production was left behind as payment.
The inner workings of the mill on the top (third) floor. The sails outside drive the horizontal shaft with the large sprocket that in turn drives the smaller lantern-wheel and the upper mill-stone. The dosing-shute, hanging in ropes is agitated by a cam on the vertical shaft below the lantern wheel.
The miller could vary the distance between the upper and lower stone from zero to two millimetres.
By varying the distance the miller could control the production capacity and the fineness of the flour in relation to the wind force. He could also break the mill to a standstill.
Maintenance of the mill require dressing the inner surface of the mill stone 2 to 3 times a year, and greasing the sliding mechanism of the roof and bearings of the main shaft.
The castle of Pyli was founded in the 11th century by the monk Hosios Christodoulos, who had also founded the monastery of St. John on the island of Patmos. The inland structure was difficult to identify from the sea and therefor safe from pirates. The fortifications were extended by the Byzantines and later the Knights Hospitaller. In the sixteens century Kos island was conquered by the Ottomans.
The Asclepieion is the most important archeological site on the island of Kos. Asclepieia were healing temples in the wider Hellenistic and Roman world, dedicated to Asclepius.
Asclepius is a hero and god of medicine in Greek mythology. He is the son of Apollo and Coronis. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts. His snake-entwined staff, remains a symbol of medicine today.
Treatment at these temples largely centred around promoting healthy lifestyles, with a particular emphasis on a person’s spiritual needs. The preliminary treatment for admission into the Asclepions was purification. It consisted of a series of cleansing baths and purgations, accompanied by a cleansing diet, which lasted several days.
Characteristic of the Asclepieion was the ‘temple sleep.’ This was a process by which patients would go to sleep in the temple with the expectation that they would be visited by Asclepius in their dream. In the dream, they would be told what it is that they needed to do in order to cure their ailment. At the very least, they would wake up having not been directly visited by a deity and instead report their dream to a priest. The priest would then interpret the dream and prescribe a cure, often a visit to the baths or a gymnasium.
Despite these methods being regarded as ‘faith healing,’ they were highly effective, as is evidenced by the numerous written accounts by patients attesting to their healing and providing detailed accounts of their cure.
Animals were living in the temple too, in particular dogs and non-venemous snakes.
Asclepieia became home to future physicians as well. Hippocrates is said to have received his medical training here.
We were a bit disappointed by the experience. Restoration works is kept to an absolute minimum, probably because the stones of the ruins were used to built the Castle in Kos. The “rubble” doesn’t trigger the imagination of how it might have looked like. Maintenance of the site was poor. Grass wasn’t cut, making it also difficult to get a feel for the site. The ruins of the Roman Thermae were not accessible.
The archeological sites we visited in Türkiye were worth the visit a 100 times more!!
Upon returning to the boat in Kardamena we heard music and saw people gathered at the small port “theater”. The local Folk Dance group was giving a performance, which was well appreciated entertainment.
The following day we would first go to the hot spring (Therma Beach) on the East coast of the island to avoid the crowds. We arrived at 10.30 am which is basically already too late.
A visit to Kos town centers around the old inner harbour, the Castle of the Knights, Hippocrates’ tree (pink arrow) and the Ancient Agora (lower left corner).
The Castle is built on what was a small islet at the time. The tree lined road at the bottom of the photo was water and the castle was (and still is) accessible via a draw-bridge. After the Knights of St. John took control of Kos island in 1315 they started with the construction of the inner castle, using stones from the ruined Asclepieion. The outer walls were added later under the growing pressure of the encroaching Ottomans. In 1522 the Knights lost Kos to the Ottoman Turks who in turn lost Kos to the Italians in 1912 who restored the Castle that was heavily damaged when a gunpowder storage blew up in 1816.
Hippocrates of Kos (460 – 370 BC), was a Greek physician of the classical period. He is traditionally referred to as the “Father of Medicine”. Doctors today still take the Hippocratic oath (oath of ethics). However, the achievements of the writers of the Hippocratic Corpus, the practitioners of Hippocratic medicine, and the actions of Hippocrates himself were often conflated; thus little is known about what Hippocrates actually thought, wrote, and did.
Because of the sad state of maintenance we did not spend much time looking at the remains of the Ancient Agora or other Ancient sites.
However, Casa Romana, a splendid restored Roman villa should be visited once in Kos. The Pompeian-type villa of early 300 AD is built on the ruins of a Hellenistic house. It features an extensive drainage system, 36 rooms and 3 atriums (open spaces).
That evening we had dinner on SV Felizia with (L to R) Astor, Liza, Frits, Lars, Ingela and foto by Laila who also hosted this dinner. Thank you Laila for the excellent food and entertaining evening.
The next day we would leave Kos for Kalymnos.
Thank you for reading our story again. We hope you liked it. Love, Liza and Frits.
Many thanks Frits and Liza for sharing this. While reading the stories you can feel the sun on your skin, the sand between your toes, smell the herbs, olive oil and the good food. It’s almost like we join you.
Looking forward to the next story and beautiful pictures.
Lots of love
Loek
Thank you Loek. Good to read that you enjoy our posts.