Culture of Tilos Island. Places to visit - old town, temples, theaters, museums and palaces

Despite the fact that Tilos Island is rather a small island, there is a bunch of diverse places of interest. Many travellers come to the island to spend here just a few hours just walking along the embankment and swimming. Even though it’s pretty possible to get a general impression of the island, you won’t be able to see all the essential historical monuments or local eye-catching places.

For instance, there is a picturesque deserted Mikro Horio village. Its history is actually very peculiar. The small town appeared back in the Middle Ages. Owing to the pirates raiding, locals preferred to settle on higher ground, as it’s perfect for defense. Mikro Horio was built on the bases of the Misaria Fortress (14th century). Knights of the Order – who used to own the island many centuries ago – were doing their best to save the ancient Byzantine defense walls and they were building new ones as well. The medieval village had been living its life for more than five centuries. Citizens used to bake bread, weave, leather and pottery crafts, herd sheep, plough and plant their fields. Eventually, there was no more need to live so far away. Pirate raids stopped by the 19th century, and Misaria Fortress had lost its importance. The citizens were leaving the village and moving closer to the port – the centre of the island’s mode of life. In the end, the Mikro Horio’s last inhabitant left the town in 1960. Presently, nobody lives there and it became a ghost town. However, there is an acting bar for tourist during the summer period in one of the restored farmsteads. Otherwise, you can just enjoy admiring local houses the majority of which stand there since the settlement’s origin. Although some buildings came down, there are still ones which can boast about their completely intact walls and roofs. What is more, the Church of Agia Zoni is quite in good condition nowadays. It was built in 1861, and though there have been no services for already many years, the roof’s red tile, as well as the décor, still look pretty nice. Even though no buses run to Mikro Horio, it’s not a big deal to get there afoot from the capital.

Concerning Megalo Chorio, there you can see the ruins of the 15th-century fortress which was built by Knights Hospitaller. In spite of the fact that it’s no more used as intended and nobody’s repairing it, you can get a true image of how the building was used in ancient times anyway. It would take about 40 minutes to get up there but It’s definitely worth it. In addition, the view from there is absolutely magnificent. Megalo Chorio is also a lovely town in an authentic Greek style and it has a long history, so it’s highly recommended to spend some time walking around its streets. Copyright www.orangesmile.com

Also, there is a small museum on the first floor of the local town hall and one of the exhibitions there is remains of a dwarf elephant which were found here on the island.

Moreover, there is a couple of extremely beautiful churches in Megalo Chorio: the churches of Panagia Theotokissa, Saint Taxiarches and Agia Triada are wonderful examples of religious architecture. Then, there is the monastery of Agios Antonios in 2 km from the town. A huge collection of ancient artifacts is kept there.

The famous St. Panteleimon Monastery (15th century) is 6,5 km from the town. Scientists suppose that there was Temple of Poseidon on that place in antiquity. The monastery was rebuilt twice – in 1703 and 1824 – and still, some of the 15-16-centuries buildings survived until today. So, you can not only see marvelous murals and iconostasis of the 18th century there but also the monastic mode of life if you’d like to stay in a guest house for a couple of days too (by agreement with monks).

Moreover, a small Gera village is also worth visiting. Marvelous Church of Taxiarches Lifosa has been the main attraction there for already four centuries. Hand-made murals are the invariable part of the church since it was constructed.

If you come to the main Tilos Port, Livadhia, you would have a chance to learn something about the modern Greek architecture of the island. Livadhia is quite a bustling town. Touristic ships and boats of local fishermen come right there. Furthermore, the Harkadio cave is rather a unique place in the world, as remains of 38 dwarf elephants were found exactly there. It’s also supposed that people were already inhabiting it about 10,000 years ago.