Places where with the moons forget flower and with the suns juices nourished me, today I dream of you Sun the First
Odysseas Elytis
Athitos of the painters, Athitos of the men who love and dream of it. Its characteristic location with a view to the Toronaios Gulf, the architecture of its houses, its benevolent and often archaic habitants. Athitos, is the third village in row after the isthmus of Potidaia, which lies there from about 3,000 b.c.Ancient Afytis was an important town of Pallini and it is mentioned by the ancient writers (Herodotus, Thoukidis, Xenofon, Aristotle, Pafsanias, Stravonas e.t.c). The alter of Xenofon (8th century b.c) and the temple of Ammonas Dias (4th century b.c.) contributed in making Athitos famous during these years. A prosperous town during the ancient and classic years. Athitos had its own coin that had the head of its protector, Ammonas Dias.Athitos had a dynamic participation in the revolution of the 1821 however with a lot of victims. After the Chaos the habitants of the village were scattered in various safer regions. Around 1827 the fugitives came back and Athitos was for many years the largest village of Kassandra. In the middle of the 19th century a great constructive activity was presented. In 1859 the church of St. Dimitrios was built. The church was built in the central square of the village, it was a wooden roof basilica with a dome and it was considered as the villages ornament.The visitor should look at the unique architecture of the church, the old images and the stone anaglyph in the exterior part of the south wall. It is also worth visiting the big chapels that followed it. (1867 St. George, 1885 Assumption St. Athanasios, St. Nikolaos).
The old stone-built houses with the inscriptions and the stone anaglyphs are very characteristic of Athitos. (1860 Katasanis, 1864 Papavasileiou, 1876 Galani, 1889 Aletras, 1898 Athanasiadis, e.t.c). The house of Aletras in the central square has been converted into a folklore museum. If you take the road from the square you will be leaded to Brahos, the balcony of the village, where you gaze Toronaios Gulf, Sithonia and Kassandra peninsulas. Then you go on Koutsomylos in the windswept acropolis of Athitos with a panoramic view. Athitos is efficient in rented rooms, hotels, taverns and restaurants with good food, coffee shops and bars. The visitor when walking in the stone paved alleys of Athitos, following Elytis in his Aegean walkabout can enjoy the calmness of the sea, in Barkes, in Pounta, in Liosi, in Dafni. Many cultural events take place during the summer. All these are organized by the habitants of Athitos and thus make Athitos a reference point for the tourist of Halkidiki.
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