The Goatmen (and Women) of Skyros - Away from the mainland compulsion to change and conform, some special customs have been preserved on Skyros.  Goat Dancing or Dionysiac cult? - article written by Anne Peters, published in The Athenian, March 1, 1992. "We should have known we were in for something out of the ordinary. On our first trip to Skyros, newly arrived, Saturday evening, all our enquiries about the return boat to Kymi on Monday (Kathari Deftera/CIean Monday) were met with evasive smiles, and a vague “Well maybe, but then again maybe not!” In the event, the ticket office remained stubbornly closed until Monday evening, and the rickety Anemoessa (now in semi-retirement on a trunk line in the Dodecanese and replaced by the possibly more punctual Lykomedes) didn’t run. This, it turned out, was not entirely due to snow… For much longer than anyone can remember, throughout Apokries, but especially on Tyrinis, or Cheese Sunday – so-called as it is the last day on which c...

  CRETAN LEATHER by Ann Elder, published in The Athenian, December 1, 1992 " The tourist explosion based on charter flight holidaymaking in western Crete in the last decade is significantly prolonging the life of the traditional Cretan leather industry. Custom-made boots and shoes and handmade sandals, bags and belts from vaketta (treated leather), tanned with natural, environment-friendly products are now being carried or walked on throughout the world by customers who have patronized of Chania’s Carnaby Street – Stivanadika, or Leather Lane. “European women love my Cleopatra sandals,” says extrovert Lefteris Pirpinakis, a master craftsman married to a Frenchwoman. Enjoying the stimulation of summer visitor traffic, he no longer has to burn the midnight oil as he did when an apprentice, sometimes working till dawn to finish orders on time. He produces stylish boots for women, working and riding boots, made-to-measure in a week. The dethroned (but still well-shod) king of Greece i...