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Modern Description: The road north from Karystos, past the hospital, leads into the area of Palaiochóra, the site of ancient Karystos, at the foot of the acropolis hill now crowned by the castle. It continues beyond, into the densely treed valley of Mýli (3.5 km), named from the water-mills which profit from its abundant water. The village is a welcome retreat in summer heat, with a couple of shaded tavernas. At the top of the village are vigorous springs of a good, but not particularly sweet, water. The road ends at the church of Aghii Theodori, where a path continues up the slopes of Mt. Ochi to the ancient quarry at ‘Kýlindri' and eventually to the summit of the mountain. (From the end of the cement road, go straight and cross the stream bed. Ahead, you can see a first quarry to the right side of the gorge and the stream, then a second face much higher up; on top of this, you can make out the supine, abandoned columns. This is the objective: it is 40 minutes uphill to your right (northeast), about 300m higher than the point of departure.)
Kýlindri is a truly remarkable and evocative site. The half-dozen abandoned monolithic columns, some detached from the rock bed, others at a still more protean stage, are of massive dimensions: approximately 12m (40 Roman feet) in length, with a diameter of 1.26 m (4.25 RFt.): they already have a gentle, swelling entasis and cuffs at either end. They await a shipment that never materialised. The square holes in the bed-rock are for the fixing of pegs and capstans for lifting and manoeuvering the columns. From this vantage point the port of Karystos, where the monoliths would have been loaded onto boats, looks despairingly far away over a terrain that presents seemingly insurmountable problems to the transportation of such cumbersome weights. Yet, by the construction of pistes of beaten earth, the use of braked sleds, and of calibrated rolling at other moments, such blocks were moved in large numbers down to the port, and then shipped, slung between two lashed barges, to their destination. All around are other quarries, cutting-faces and assays: it was the quarry-master's expertise that selected the best veins. Below, as you descend, you see a flat-topped rectangular knob which remains from the surface quarrying of thin decorative plaques of marble, cut from the bedrock.
Wikidata ID: Q105780477

Info: McGilchrist's Greek Islands

(From McGilchrist’s Greek Islands, © Nigel McGilchrist 2010, excerpted with his gracious permission. Click for the books)

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