A Tour of To Pounti – A 14th Century Pyrgi Village House

Yesterday Mr Kosta and his beloved parrot Fidelina arrived back at To Pounti. He had been attending to business at their other house in the north of the island – Mr Kosta and Toula’s house that is! Fidelina as far as I know doesn’t own any property! Fidelina immediately goes into her repertoire of words such as “Kalimera” and her best party trick of replicating the sound of the ringing telephone. What a character she is! When Fidelina first came to the household, Mr Kosta had called his new companion Fidel Kastro. At some point there was a realisation that ‘he’ was actually a ‘she’ and a name change ensued!

To Pounti is a 14th-century house typical of the mastic villages in Southern Chios. The houses were built in close proximity to each other creating narrow labyrinthine alleyways. This was all part of a defensive strategy to protect the precious mastic at all costs. The rooftops are where battles were fought. The narrow bridges that connect one side of the street to the other would give the defenders the advantage over the marauding pirates. Many buckles have been swashed above where we stand today.

At breakfast one morning, Peter and I spoke about our visit to the Chios Mastic Museum where we’d seen a model of the traditional house. Toula and Mr Kosta told us that the makeup of the houses has changed very little over the centuries though they no longer keep livestock in the house – just a parrot! Toula told us that the window at the front of the house used to be the door to the barn. When the street was re-laid, it was higher than the bottom of the door, so they changed it into a window and used the other entrance as the main door.

Not all of the houses in the village have modernised their exteriors. Many of the houses still have the original barn doors. Being a bit of a door fanatic, I stumbled across several of these doors during my wanderings.

In 2008, Toula and Kosta carried out an extensive renovation to To Pounti. They also carefully curated a beautiful collection of antique furniture and artwork sympathetic to the age of the house which gives it its character. Let me give you a little guided tour.

After entering To Pounti from the street, you arrive into a small stone hallway. Stone steps down to the left lead you into the old stable and what now serves as the breakfast room and reception. There are little nooks everywhere. One located on the ground is a small recess where the chickens would roost but has now been tastefully repurposed into a decorative fireplace. Another nook just below the ceiling was a store for animal feed – handy enough for access but out of their reach of the livestock. This now forms the perfect stage for a Greek shadow puppet theatre.

An arched recess houses a small reception desk which only Toula with her slight frame would be able to squeeze behind to carry out her functions as a hotelier. Right at the back of the breakfast room is a small kitchen where Toula works her magic to prepare her sumptuous breakfasts. This would have originally accommodated an oven where bread would have been baked.

Above the breakfast room is a stone canopy that forms a mezzanine level. This is used as a leisure room and is filled with books and board games. I suspect that this was a later addition and part of the 2008 renovation but it works perfectly to utilise what would have been dead space.

Continuing up the stone steps and through a door, you arrive at the accommodation level. There are two rooms – Fegari (Moon) which is a double room (and what after 2 stays I now call ‘my room’) and Estia (Hearth) which is a larger room with a double bed on one level and another double bed on another level. Fegari is accessed by two floating stone steps projecting out of the wall. Again the rooms have been sympathetically designed with antique furniture and unique pieces of artwork.

Toula tells me that originally Fegari was a reception room where special visitors would be hosted. The nook to the right of the sideboard is where the Stefana or wedding crown would be displayed along with selected ornaments that may have been given as wedding gifts.

Handpainted designs adorn the ceiling and the walls. Above the window overlooking the street is an ornate fanlight which can be seen in many of the village houses. A small but functional bathroom has been built into the corner of the room above which is a storage space accessed by a set of ladders. It is a bit of a squeeze to get things in and out of the wardrobe but this is a small compromise to stay in a place like this.

The space between Fegari and Estia is what I think defines To Pounti. As I’d discovered in the mastic museum, the word Pounti means Atrium – though trying to back this up through internet searches has proven fruitless. However, I’m sure the museum curators are the experts in this field.

There is a small space between the two rooms that is too small to be defined as a courtyard though in practice, it serves a similar purpose. In yet another nook there is a display of amphorae and potted plants. Look up and you can see that the roof space is open. A curved wrought iron handrail leads you up the final set of steps.

At the top of the steps is the roof terrace and another seating area built into a covered recess. This formerly served as a grain store and a place to keep additional animal feed. I wonder if there used to be a mechanism for dropping these down to the ground floor. I wished I’d have asked Toula the question.

Toula and Kosta’s quarters are on the roof terrace surrounded by an abundance of potted plants and vibrant flowers. Mr Kosta is a retired agronomist and used to advise farmers on how to grow successful crops. Every morning he can be seen tending to his beloved garden – once it’s in your blood it never leaves you!

A small wooden step takes you up into another seating area shaded by a canopy. This is a lovely place to rest a while. Sink into one of the comfortable chairs cocooned in greenery and allow the scent of the flowers to waft over you. Heaven!

From the roof terrace, you have views over the rest of the village. Even when the town square is full of hustle and bustle in the evening, up here it is silent. The only sound comes from the Scops owl which became very vocal at night. At first, we couldn’t identify the sound which was a low, single beat trill. It sounded almost digital but the irregularity of the call indicated that it was a nocturnal bird of some type. Enter Merlin, the app that can identify birds by their call. One evening we followed the sound of the call to a building close to To Pounti. It was up in the rafters of an old house. Although it was out of sight, the call was clear enough to identify it as a Scops owl.

That completes the tour of To Pounti. I must say that as a budget traveller, I’ve had the privilege of staying at some incredible places during my travels. I don’t seek out luxury hotels and the bells and whistles that come with that calibre of travel. I prefer a simple place in the heart of the community where you will have a more authentic experience and benefit from true Greek hospitality. To Pounti Pounti and my incredible hosts Toula and Kosta are more than this. It is a place, and they are people that will stay in my heart forever. ❤️