{"id":453,"date":"2020-08-22T20:28:04","date_gmt":"2020-08-22T17:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/?p=453"},"modified":"2024-09-13T09:25:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-13T06:25:00","slug":"skoundouflis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/skoundouflis\/","title":{"rendered":"At Skoundouflis’ stockyard"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Old man Kostis, the bandits and a triple murder on Erikani scarps<\/h4>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n
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I<\/span> met Apostolis on a mesa a little past the Virgin Mary church in Amades. I had been told by the locals that he\u2019s probably the only one who can help me track down \u201cSkoundouflis\u2019 stockyard\u201d. \u201cYou see those three edges over there?<\/em>\u201d he asked me pointing at some crags south of the village. \u201cKostis\u2019 stockyard is located on the third one. To the left of Plakoto and right of Megali Petra<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Having grown up on mountains overflowing with savage beauty, Apostolis is the village\u2019s last stockbreeder and one of the very few that still remember the tale about old man Kostis and the bandits. He knows the area very well, cites placenames I have no clue about and warns me: \u201c<\/span>Don\u2019t get your hopes up, it\u2019s just a little shed still standing there<\/span><\/i>\u201d. He is right; compared to other sheepfolds,\u00a0<\/span>this tiny, roofless shed, buried in broomshrubs, seems plain and unremarkable<\/b>. Rumor has it, though, that a wild tale took place there a long time ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

The story goes that some crooks docked at Amades beach, and after spotting the light coming off old man Kostis\u2019 sheepfold on the mountain, they set out to rob him. They climbed up the bumpy cliffs only to have to climb back down again since they didn\u2019t manage to make it to the sheepfold. The following night didn\u2019t go much better. In their third attempt, they marked the sheepfold by a star and finally succeeded in reaching it. Old man Kostis was sitting all alone, but when the bandits asked if there was someone else around, he replied \u201c<\/span>It\u2019s Kostis along with elderly Kostas and his three children and elderly Kostas himself and Kostas\u2019 dragons<\/i><\/b>\u201d. The crooks were momentarily flummoxed, but after soon realizing the old man was alone, proceeded to ask him where the others were. \u201c<\/span>They\u2019re just a few yards down the path<\/span><\/i>\u201d he replied. \u201c<\/span>One of them is carrying water, another one is chopping logs, another one is gathering the goats; they\u2019re going to be back at any minute. Come on in, have some rest and I\u2019ll treat you some fresh cheese<\/span><\/i>\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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I<\/span> met Apostolis on a mesa a little past the Virgin Mary church in Amades. I had been told by the locals that he\u2019s probably the only one who can help me track down \u201cSkoundouflis\u2019 stockyard\u201d. \u201cYou see those three edges over there?<\/em>\u201d he asked me pointing at some crags south of the village. \u201cKostis\u2019 stockyard is located on the third one. To the left of Plakoto and right of Megali Petra<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

Having grown up on mountains overflowing with savage beauty, Apostolis is the village\u2019s last stockbreeder and one of the very few that still remember the tale about old man Kostis and the bandits. He knows the area very well, cites placenames I have no clue about and warns me: \u201c<\/span>Don\u2019t get your hopes up, it\u2019s just a little shed still standing there<\/span><\/i>\u201d. He is right; compared to other sheepfolds,\u00a0<\/span>this tiny, roofless shed, buried in broomshrubs, seems plain and unremarkable<\/b>. Rumor has it, though, that a wild tale took place there a long time ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

The story goes that some crooks docked at Amades beach, and after spotting the light coming off old man Kostis\u2019 sheepfold on the mountain, they set out to rob him. They climbed up the bumpy cliffs only to have to climb back down again since they didn\u2019t manage to make it to the sheepfold. The following night didn\u2019t go much better. In their third attempt, they marked the sheepfold by a star and finally succeeded in reaching it. Old man Kostis was sitting all alone, but when the bandits asked if there was someone else around, he replied \u201c<\/span>It\u2019s Kostis along with elderly Kostas and his three children and elderly Kostas himself and Kostas\u2019 dragons<\/i><\/b>\u201d. The crooks were momentarily flummoxed, but after soon realizing the old man was alone, proceeded to ask him where the others were. \u201c<\/span>They\u2019re just a few yards down the path<\/span><\/i>\u201d he replied. \u201c<\/span>One of them is carrying water, another one is chopping logs, another one is gathering the goats; they\u2019re going to be back at any minute. Come on in, have some rest and I\u2019ll treat you some fresh cheese<\/span><\/i>\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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\ud83d\udcf7 Skoundouflis’ stockyard<\/small><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Exhausted from climbing up the rugged path, the would-be robbers accepted the invitation; while waiting to dine, though, they fell asleep. That was too big an opportunity for old man Kostis to miss out on: he filled a sliced pumpkin with broiling mackerel and splashed it on their faces. Two of them went immediately blind, while the third one barely missed getting sprinkled only to be axed moments later.\u00a0<\/span>The shepherd then ditched them from a ledge that was subsequently dubbed<\/b>\u00a0\u201c Fonopetra<\/span>\u00a0<\/b>\u201d while his sheepfold has been since named \u201c Skoundouflis\u2019 stockyard \u201d, because that\u2019s where the bandits went blind.<\/span><\/p>\n

Back to the village, I ask the few locals left if they are familiar with old man Kostis\u2019 adventure. The only one that recalls it is the ninety-year old Mr Yiannis who goes on to recount it in the coffee-shop.\u00a0<\/span>Although still alive in Amades, the legend is gradually languishing<\/b>. \u201c<\/span>When did all these happen, Mr Yiannis?<\/span><\/i>\u201d I ask him. \u201cOh, I don\u2019t know, it\u2019s just an old story. They were pirates.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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OLD MAN KOSTIS AND THE BANDITS<\/strong>
\nA similar tale found in literature refers to the neighboring village of Kambia. However, linking the legend to Amades\u2019 topography makes much bigger sense, since the \u201cKostis\u2019 cliffs\u201d and \u201cKostis\u2019 river\u201d placenames still survive in the area where \u201cSkoundouflis\u2019 stockyard\u201d is located.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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OLD MAN KOSTIS AND THE BANDITS<\/strong>
\nA similar tale found in literature refers to the neighboring village of Kambia. However, linking the legend to Amades\u2019 topography makes much bigger sense, since the \u201cKostis\u2019 cliffs\u201d and \u201cKostis\u2019 river\u201d placenames still survive in the area where \u201cSkoundouflis\u2019 stockyard\u201d is located.<\/p>\n<\/div>

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Old man Kostis, the bandits and a triple murder on Erikani scarps<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[11],"class_list":["post-453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outdoor-stories","tag-amades"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=453"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1258,"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/453\/revisions\/1258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}