Isolated at the foot of the Peloponnese, the island of Kythira traditionally belongs to the Ionian islands, and shares their history of Venetian, and later, British rule; under the former it was known as Cerigo. Administratively it is part of Pireás in mainland Attica - like the Argo-Saronic islands. For the most part, similarities end there. The island architecture of whitewashed houses and flat-roofs looks more like that of the Cyclades, albeit with a strong Venetian influence. The landscape is different, too: wild scrub- and gorse-covered hills, or moorland sliced by deep valleys and ravines.

 

Depopulation has left the land underfarmed and the abandoned fields overgrown, for, since World War II, most of the islanders have left for Athens or Australia, giving Kythira a reputation of being the classic emigrant island; it is known locally as "Australian Colony" or "Kangaroo Island", and Australia is referred to as "Big Kythira". Many of the villages are deserted, their platías empty and the schools and kafenía closed. Kythira was never a rich island, but, along with Monemvasiá, it did once have a military and economic significance - which it likewise lost with Greek independence and the opening of the Corinth Canal. These days, tourism has brought prosperity (and a few luxury hotels), but most summer visitors are Greeks and especially Greek Australians. For the few foreigners who reach Kythira, it remains something of a refuge, with its undeveloped beaches a principal attraction. However, Theo Angelopoulos' film Taxidhi sta Kythira ("Journey to Kythira"), and, to a much greater extent, a 1998 popular Greek television serial filmed on the island, have attracted a huge amount of domestic attention and, consequently, holiday-makers from the mainland. Much of the accommodation is now fully booked by Christmas for the entire Greek school-summer-holiday period; outside of this period some accommodation does not open until June and closes early in September. The Association of Rental Room Owners (tel & fax 07360/31 855) have a list of places to stay: in addition to the following, there is accommodation in the villages of Aroniádhika, Dhókana, Dhrymónas, Frátsia, Frilingiánika, Goudhiánika, Kálamos, Kalokerinés, Karvounádhes, Káto Livádhi, Kondoliánika, Mitáta, Mylopótamos, Strapódhi and Travasariánika.