{"id":455,"date":"2020-05-01T20:30:35","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T17:30:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/?p=455"},"modified":"2024-09-13T09:24:21","modified_gmt":"2024-09-13T06:24:21","slug":"gria-gialouris","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/gria-gialouris\/","title":{"rendered":"Nikos Gialouris’ “Old Woman”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Forty two years ago, the Chios loving painter climbs up \u201cOld Woman\u2019s Castle\u201d along with a couple friend<\/h4>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n
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S<\/span>unday,\u00a0October the 1st, 1978. <\/strong>Driving off from Chios town, an automatic Volvo is heading for the northern part of the island. Behind the wheel is shipmaster Alexandros Armenakis, sitting in the back is his wife Eftihia and on the passenger seat is painter Nikos Gialouris. Their destination is Koulalas valley, their goal is ascending up to \u201cOld Woman\u2019s Castle\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00abGialouris was a truly great man; he was cultured, he had connections, but he was simple, it wasn\u2019t like he was a diva or anything<\/strong><\/em>\u00bb, says Mr Alexandros before adding: \u201cWe would often go for a drive.<\/em>\u201d While on one of these outings, on the way to Kardamila, Mrs Eftihia\u2019s gaze was captured by the mountainous boulder dubbed \u201cOld Woman\u201d, with the legendary fortress on the top. She herself came up with the wish to visit it, Gialouris, who anyhow wanted to portray it, agreed, so they settled on climbing up to it soon.<\/p>\n

Despite standing at a height of no more than 450 meters, \u201cGria\u2019s\u201d mount overlooks Kardamila and strikes those heading for the largest northeast Chios village. The medieval fortress occupying its peak provides ample view of the village, Inousses and the Asia Minor coast<\/strong>, while its name can be interpreted through two similar local traditions: The first one is about an old woman from Kardamila who climbed up to it running away from pirates, while the second one \u2013somewhat more creative\u2013 states that the fortress was inhabited by a humongous old woman protecting the village and alerting the villagers whenever pirates drew near.<\/p>\n

The weather was good. Mr Alexandros parked the car at the edge of Koulalas plain. \u00abWe started ascending from Pitios side; it was a slightly uphill, rugged path. Walking on a goat track, we could hear the sheep bells<\/em>\u201d recollects Mrs Eftihia. Panting, they made it to the saddle, where they could now look up to the medieval fortress. As they stopped to catch their breath, Gialouris took off his shirt and lay down<\/strong>. After a while, he sat on a rock, placed a small tray on his lap and started drawing. Close to him sat Mr Alexandros, an occasional student of his, also attempting to capture \u201cOld Woman\u2019s Castle\u201d on canvas.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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S<\/span>unday,\u00a0October the 1st, 1978. <\/strong>Driving off from Chios town, an automatic Volvo is heading for the northern part of the island. Behind the wheel is shipmaster Alexandros Armenakis, sitting in the back is his wife Eftihia and on the passenger seat is painter Nikos Gialouris. Their destination is Koulalas valley, their goal is ascending up to \u201cOld Woman\u2019s Castle\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u00abGialouris was a truly great man; he was cultured, he had connections, but he was simple, it wasn\u2019t like he was a diva or anything<\/strong><\/em>\u00bb, says Mr Alexandros before adding: \u201cWe would often go for a drive.<\/em>\u201d While on one of these outings, on the way to Kardamila, Mrs Eftihia\u2019s gaze was captured by the mountainous boulder dubbed \u201cOld Woman\u201d, with the legendary fortress on the top. She herself came up with the wish to visit it, Gialouris, who anyhow wanted to portray it, agreed, so they settled on climbing up to it soon.<\/p>\n

Despite standing at a height of no more than 450 meters, \u201cGria\u2019s\u201d mount overlooks Kardamila and strikes those heading for the largest northeast Chios village. The medieval fortress occupying its peak provides ample view of the village, Inousses and the Asia Minor coast<\/strong>, while its name can be interpreted through two similar local traditions: The first one is about an old woman from Kardamila who climbed up to it running away from pirates, while the second one \u2013somewhat more creative\u2013 states that the fortress was inhabited by a humongous old woman protecting the village and alerting the villagers whenever pirates drew near.<\/p>\n

The weather was good. Mr Alexandros parked the car at the edge of Koulalas plain. \u00abWe started ascending from Pitios side; it was a slightly uphill, rugged path. Walking on a goat track, we could hear the sheep bells<\/em>\u201d recollects Mrs Eftihia. Panting, they made it to the saddle, where they could now look up to the medieval fortress. As they stopped to catch their breath, Gialouris took off his shirt and lay down<\/strong>. After a while, he sat on a rock, placed a small tray on his lap and started drawing. Close to him sat Mr Alexandros, an occasional student of his, also attempting to capture \u201cOld Woman\u2019s Castle\u201d on canvas.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Nikos Gialouris at \u201cOld Woman’s Castle\u201d \ud83d\udcf7 E. Armenaki<\/small><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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The acclaimed painter was going through an experimentation period, dabbling in new techniques. \u201cBy then he\u2019d got the hang of it and could easily draw straight lines, so he wanted to come up with something more original, less conventional<\/em>\u201d recalls Mrs Eftihia. \u201cHe employed a technique with cuttlefish ink and a quill he had made of cane<\/strong>. He\u2019d scraped it in a way that he could draw both thick and thin lines with it; he wanted his lines to variate in thickness.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon finishing drawing, they walked up to the twin-tower medieval fortress. They relished the panoramic view, took some photos and soon set off in the opposite direction before rounding off the day at a tavern in Pitios, where Gialouris handed his friends the unusual drawing, dedicating it to them<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

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The acclaimed painter was going through an experimentation period, dabbling in new techniques. \u201cBy then he\u2019d got the hang of it and could easily draw straight lines, so he wanted to come up with something more original, less conventional<\/em>\u201d recalls Mrs Eftihia. \u201cHe employed a technique with cuttlefish ink and a quill he had made of cane<\/strong>. He\u2019d scraped it in a way that he could draw both thick and thin lines with it; he wanted his lines to variate in thickness.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon finishing drawing, they walked up to the twin-tower medieval fortress. They relished the panoramic view, took some photos and soon set off in the opposite direction before rounding off the day at a tavern in Pitios, where Gialouris handed his friends the unusual drawing, dedicating it to them<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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\ud83d\udcf7 Nikos Gialouris’ \u201cOld Woman’s Castle\u201d<\/small><\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Koulalas\u2019 Well<\/strong>
\nAt the northwest edge of Koulalas plain, approaching the end of the dirt road, one can see an impressive Genoese era well featuring an elaborate spiral stone staircase on its walls. \u201cKoulalas\u2019 Well\u201d, with water in it all year round, is still being used today.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

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Koulalas\u2019 Well<\/strong>
\nAt the northwest edge of Koulalas plain, approaching the end of the dirt road, one can see an impressive Genoese era well featuring an elaborate spiral stone staircase on its walls. \u201cKoulalas\u2019 Well\u201d, with water in it all year round, is still being used today.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Forty two years ago, the Chios loving painter climbs up \u201cOld Woman\u2019s Castle\u201d along with a couple friend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[12],"class_list":["post-455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outdoor-stories","tag-kardamila"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455","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=455"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1257,"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455\/revisions\/1257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chioshiking.gr\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}