Tilos is an Aegean island with nineteen beaches, twelve mountains, seven medieval castles, a Byzantine monastery and two hundred churches, a cave full of natural discoveries, a village that is a declared cultural monument, a hundred bird species, hundreds of wild flowers and herbs, and five hundred residents. I visited this unspoiled Greek island recently to rediscover the Greece of times past.
As the dawn gently appeared over the horizon during my first morning on Tilos after an absence of nearly a quarter century, I wondered to myself what had changed or remained the same during this time. I decided that the best way to find out was to fold my memories into my overnight bag and venture out with an open mind to explore the body and soul of this island in the Dodecanese.
I began my journey at the port of Livadia on the east side of Tilos which is the main entry point for most visitors to this small, intimate island that is home to 250 residents. As you step onto the dock, the village of Livadia quietly hugs the shore next to the port at the foot of the mountains that shelter Livadia Bay. As you face eastward, the silky silhouette of the mountains of Turkey appear to rise out of the morning sea mist in the distant background while early morning fishermen can be seen guiding their boats out of the harbor before fanning out into the open waters of the Aegean. As your gaze drifts upward to the sky, Agriosykia Castle emerges from the rocky mountaintop to cast its watchful eye over Livadia as it has done unfailingly for the past six hundred years.
As the sun slowly rose, I was captivated by the changing pastel hues of the mountains above Livadia which stood in contrast to the unremarkable architecture prevailing in the village below. There are a few noticeable exceptions which include the gracefully sculpted Italian architecture of the Tilos Police Station building at the port, reminiscent of the Italian domination of the island from 1912 until 1948 at which time the Dodecanese reverted to the modern arms of its maternal Hellenistic past. Another welcome exception can be found dotting the foothills of the mountainside where you will see scattered white, cubed buildings in which small, fully equipped apartments have been constructed and tastefully landscaped with spectacular views overlooking the pristine bay.
Livadia Beach begins its graceful mile-long curve twenty meters from the port, but it will test the reliability of your shoes with pebbles blanketing the shore by the village before gradually refining to sand at its distant end. This slight inconvenience underfoot will not deter enthusiastic beachgoers who enjoy swimming and snorkeling in warm, crystal clear water; breezing along the smooth surface of the protected bay on colorful windsurf boards, canoes and pedaloes easily available for hire; and sunbathing on comfortable lounge chairs that peak out from the welcome shade of tall pine trees scattered along the beach.
When the spirit moves, you can drop into any one of a multitude of small tavernas that overlook the beach or are tucked away in the village, which fulfills the needs of the visitors and local residents with the exception of island banking services that are limited to those offered at the Livadia post office.
The overall feeling I had from the town is one that reflects its recent history. The village of Mikro Horio, established in the 15th century in the hills above Livadia, was abandoned after World War II by its residents, some of whom moved to Livadia to build a new life as business developed around the port. The incongruity of recent building designs and colors in some portions of Livadia reveal the underlying dreams of hard-working people whose visions reflect a commendable self-reliance tainted by a blindness to their cultural heritage and the merits of community coordination. On balance, though, I found a refreshingly relaxed atmosphere in this town with genuinely accommodating residents.
Eager to explore the rest of the island, I took the main road out of town toward the direction of Megalo Horio which is only a ten minute drive (7 km) from Livadia. Visitors can select from a variety of transport options, including a car or scooter available for hire at the port, a surprisingly reliable city bus, or a taxi, all of which are easy to procure. A petrol station is conveniently located on this road halfway between the two villages.
As I wound my way through the mountain, I marveled at the ancient stone walls made centuries ago to corral the animals, the plethora of tiny churches with their ruggedly rustic architecture barely perceptible against the stony hillsides, and the venerable, twisted trunks of windswept oak and olive trees that guard the secrets of the island’s past.
The history of this island, dating