We woke up to a windy day again. After breakfast we shared hiring a car with Jeff and Tsachi so we could see more of the island. We went off to the town in the centre of the island Ioulis that is the capital of Kea.

After leaving our town of Korissia we were on windy roads going up very steep hills. All the hills have ancient terracing on them not being used in most places any more.

After only 15 minutes we arrived at Ioulis. No cars can enter as the town is on the side of a steep hill with lots of steps and narrow paths.

The town is stunning with small houses built in every available spot all the way up the hill.

We climbed up the quiet main street with not too many shops open.

Jeff and Tsachi decided to go for lunch but we weren’t hungry so went to find the archaeological museum just down the street. It’s only small but it contains amazing finds from Kea sites from 3,200 BC.

Ayai Irina was a town started in 3,200 BC not far from our hotel. It must have been very sophisticated as the pottery and tools looked quite modern in today’s standards. They exported pottery that has been found on other Cycladean islands including Crete.

They had an odd religion that had statues of women with large breasts dancing.

They imported food from other islands and had a weights and measure system and Linear A tablets imported from the Minoans. They also forged their own metal items.

It was abandoned in 1450 BC when the buildings were destroyed by an earthquake.

Karthea was another town established in 800BC that was one of the 4 city states in Kea.

It minted its own silver coins and traded with many areas.

It had a large Acropolis and fortified area. There was a large temple to Athena that had required a lot of solid rock to be removed and a large retaining wall built. Karthea was mentioned by Herodotus as siding with the Greeks to defeat the Persians and then being on the side of Athens but being defeated by the Spartans and then ruled by them until 394 BC. Here are some of the interesting artifacts.

After enjoying that we caught up with Jeff and Tsachi again and walked up to the top of the town for coffee for them and a light lunch for us. The views from the cafe were amazing.

We then headed back down to the car.

We dodged some tradesmen trucks just making it into the bottom area of the town.

We then headed to a sheltered sandy beach out of the wind and had a very nice swim. The water was coolish but crystal clear.

Dinner was at the village of Vourkari around 20 minutes walk away.

We had an easy walk there and I enjoyed some mashed fava beans with octopus and caramelized onions for starter and shrimps with linguini for main.

We had a pleasant walk home as the sun set.