Ιn 2004, Albert Blok closed
his eyes and randomly pointed to a spot on a map, determined to spend
his next holiday wherever his finger landed. He’d never heard of
Cythera, a tiny Greek island northwest of Crete, but after visiting, he
was smitten.
“It keeps revealing new secrets to us,” said Blok, who ended
up emigrating to Cythera from the Netherlands in 2008, and now runs the
traditional guesthouse Xenónas Fos kè Chóros
in the village of Aroniadika with his partner Anita Snippe. “Places we
have never been before, people we have never met before – its beauty
keeps on surprising us. On the one hand, we want to share this beauty
with everyone, but on the other hand, we want to keep it a secret.”
Blok
is not alone. Floating at the intersection of the Ionian and
Mediterranean Seas, Cythera – with some 3,500 full-time residents – has
thus far managed to remain one of Greece’s best-kept secrets. But with
the country poised to see nearly 17 million visitors in 2013, the island’s 65 ancient villages and 30km of coastline will not remain blissfully unburdened by mass tourism for long..''
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