Restía

We are at Stavros, the village and harbour of Donoussa, and from high above, day and night, we gaze at the sea. We watch the sun rise from the church of Panagia, the boat approach, the prickly pears ripen, and we sip our coffee by the bougainvillea and the basil, the indispensable... members of our company. At dusk we watch the sun set behind Naxos, the beach empty. Sitting around the stone benches in the yard or on balconies, we chat or share our silence... the smell of  the evening primrose filling the air. We gaze at the sea, the sky, and we need not even dream. We live the dream. And wait till you have seen the full moon rise... This is our home. And it is open to all. The rooms are simple and each one different, for we are for simplicity and diversity in people too. And if you need to know our quirks, well, here they are: white is our favourite colour and "chlorine" our favourite word! We treat water with utter respect, as it is threatened with extinction in the Cyclades and little candle flames are our weak spot. Good words about hospitality and other compliments are to be judged by History. And yourselves of course.

Donousa or Denousa or Stenoza or Spinoza or Viridem… Lots of names emerging throughout the centuries- and plenty more which we will probably never learn. For such a tiny place in the middle of the Aegean Sea. Just a dot on the map. In the mind of those who know her, a sheet anchor to grab from in the winter of their everyday life. In the heart of the people who live there, their homeland. And Life. And a Land of paradise. Her history is long and mysterious. Archaeological findings in Vathi Limenari, dating back to the Geometrical Era, witness that centuries have been flowing like water in Donousa. Contributor to the Cycladic civilization, located very close to Keros (where the famous “harpist” and “double-flute player” statuettes were found), Donousa is referred to as a place of exile during the Roman Era, as a hideaway for pirates later on and, at the beginning of 1800, as a summer settlement for shepherds from Amorgos. It is said that Donousa was first inhabited around 1830. However, there is only a little information preserved. Memories, conveyed from mouth to mouth, have become very dim in the tired eyes of the elderly who are almost one century old.