📷 The cultural associations of our area
Mousagores, the association of the Vathi community, which keeps the area's traditions alive and organises the Lafonisios Dromos.
Welcome to
Vathi, Kissamos
A village among olive groves and vineyards at the south-western tip of Chania — with Byzantine churches, red earth and people who keep the place alive.
Our village
Vathi, formerly known as Kouneni, lies in the Kissamos province of western Crete, on the road down to Elafonisi and Chrysoskalitissa. It is surrounded by olive groves, vineyards and chestnut trees, and the Libyan Sea is not far away.
Two Byzantine churches with 13th and 14th century frescoes survive in the village — witnesses to a long history that continues today through festivals, feasts and work on the land.
History
From Kouneni to today’s Vathi: Byzantine churches, traditions and memories.
Our settlements
Vathi, Plokamiana, Tzitzifia and Chrysoskalitissa Monastery: the settlements of the local community.
Nature
Olive groves, vineyards, footpaths and the beaches of south-west Crete nearby.
People
Stories of local people: those who stayed, those who left and those who return.
Why I am making this website
I am building this website as an amateur, out of love for my home village. It is not an official site of the local community or the municipality, but a personal notebook about Vathi.
My name is Giorgos Georgilas. My grandfather, Tilemachos, was born in the village in 1906, when it was still called Kouneni. My father, Manolis, was born here in 1957, the very year Kouneni was renamed Vathi. Our family home is in Georgiliana, the neighbourhood with the little church of Saint Basil. Here, with my brother Tilemachos and our friends Dimitris and Iraklis, I had countless childhood adventures in the village’s countryside and at the lively gatherings of our parents and fellow villagers. All four of us still visit our village together to this day.
That is why I chose the address kouneni.gr. Kouneni was the old name of our village; it appears in old documents and in descriptions of our Byzantine churches, and still lives on in the neighbourhood of “Pera Kouneni”. I wanted the site to remind us where we come from.
I want to gather what is at risk of being forgotten: the stories of the elders, photographs, names, songs, the way people lived here. I am not a historian; whatever is written here, I am learning along with you. If you have something to add or correct, I would love to hear from you.
— Giorgos Georgilas
Share a story or a photoLatest news
All news →Lafonisios Dromos
The historic running race to Chrysoskalitissa, held every year in memory of the victims of the Lafonisi massacre of 1824.
The olive harvest years
How the olive harvest used to be done in our villages — with beating sticks, nets, animals loaded for the olive press, and the first bread dipped in fresh oil.
From our land
Olive oil from centuries-old trees, wine and tsikoudia, honey and chestnuts. Meet the produce and the producers of the village.
Local produce