Afitos – Afitis, Afetos, Athytos: The stone-built “balcony” of Halkidiki

Places where you nourished me with the juices of the moon and the sun, today I dream of you,

Helios the First – Odysseus Elytis

The Athytos of painters, the Athytos of her people who love her and dream of her. Its characteristic position with the endless view towards Toroneos, the architecture of its houses, its well-to-do and sometimes “archaic” inhabitants. Athytos, the third consecutive village after the Potidea isthmus, has been spread over the same area since 3,000 BC. at least.

Ancient Afytis was an important city of Pallini and is mentioned by the ancient writers (Herodotus, Thucydides, Xenophon, Aristotle, Pausanias, Strabo etc.) The sanctuary of Dionysus (8th century BC) and the temple of Ammon Zeus ( of the 4th century BC) contributed substantially to the consolidation of its reputation during antiquity. Prosperous city during Archaic and Classical times. It minted it’s own coin bearing the head of her patron Ammon Zeus.

In the revolution of 1821, it gave a dynamic presence with fighters and victims. After the Destruction the villagers dispersed to various safer areas. Around 1827, with the return of the fugitives, Athytos was for many years the capital village of Kassandra. Intense building activity has been present since the middle of the 19th century. In 1859, Agios Dimitrios was built, a three-aisled, wooden-roofed basilica with a dome, the jewel of the village in the center of the square.

The visitor deserves to notice the peculiar architecture of the temple, its old icons and the stone carvings on the outside of the south wall. It is also worth visiting the large chapels that followed. (1867 Agios Georgios1885 Dormition of the Virgin Mary-Agios Athanasios-Agios Nikolaos).

The characteristic old stone-built houses with their architectural inscriptions and stone carvings are also noteworthy. (1860 Katsani, 1864 Papavasileiou, 1876 Galani, 1889 Aletra, 1898 Athanasiadis etc.). A folklore museum operates in Aletras’ house in the central square.

From the square the road leads you to Vrachos, the balcony of the village, from where you gaze at Toroneos, Sithonia across the street and Kassandra down below. Then you climb to Koutsomilos, the windswept citadel of Athytos with the panoramic view.

Athytos is sufficient in rooms for rent, hotels, taverns and restaurants with good and clean food, cafes and bars. The visitor is transformed by walking the cobbled streets of Athytos, following Elytis in his Aegean passage, and can bathe in the blue Athytian sea, in Varkes, Pounta, Liosi, Dafni. Numerous cultural events, throughout the summer, prepared by the people of Athyto with passion and responsibility, make Athyto a key point of reference for the tourist who comes to Halkidiki.

The stone-built “balcony” of Halkidiki, Athytos or Afitos, takes the breath away with the magnificent view it offers of the Toroneos gulf and leaves visitors stunned with the harmonious multicolor of sea, sky and nature. Athytos (Afitos) is for every architect a dream come true, as it perfectly combines natural beauty with human intervention.

Walking through the stone alleys, observing the traditional settlement with the characteristic examples of Greek folk architecture, one feels that time has stopped at the beginning of the century. Houses built of bricks, with stone brought by the Arvanites, who together with the locals built the village at the beginning of the 19th century, the central square with the church of Ag. Dimitriou, which was built around 1858 and is the only one in Halkidiki of the “domed basilica”, the mansion houses of Katsanis (1860), the painter Paralis and Athanasiadis (1898), even the community building-mansion of Aletras they deserve a deeper approach, a more elaborate look.

Source: kassandra.gr

Photo: kassandra.gr