Go to Artemonas in the morning
Artemonas in the afternoon is wonderful, I am not saying otherwise. But if you want to see it differently, go in the morning. Before the stones heat up, before the streets fill, before you start getting hungry.
Walk without a particular goal. In Artemonas, make it your goal to walk through the smallest lanes. Don’t worry, you won’t get lost. You will see neoclassical houses, courtyards cared for down to the smallest flowerpot, white bell towers, unlocked little churches, small turns when you do not know where they lead and, in the end, lead to something beautiful, something different.
Go towards Patsana and the three springs, continue towards the windmills and Agia Anna, or sit in the alley for coffee and something sweet. Do not make the mistake of treating it as “the village next to Apollonia”. It is next to it, yes, but it has a different character. Quieter, more elegant, more rural, still inhabited in the old way. As if it were saying: “I do not need to make noise for you to notice me.”
And notice the details: the doors, the marble, the flaroi on the rooftops, the old window frames, the steps, the gardens. Artemonas is one of those places that, the slower you walk, the more it has time to show you.
