Église et cimetière proche Xirosterni (Crète)

Xirosterni ( el, Ξηροστέρνι) is a village and a community located in the

Apokoronas Apokoronas ( el, Αποκόρωνας) is a municipality and a former province (επαρχία) in the Chania regional unit, north-west Crete, Greece. It is situated on the north coast of Crete, to the east of Chania itself. The seat of the munici ...

region close to the northwest coast of the island of

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, in Chania regional unit. The community consists of the settlements Xirosterni and Litsarda. It is approximately from

Chania Chania ( el, Χανιά ; vec, La Canea), also spelled Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno and west of Heraklion. The muni ...

Overview

It is a small, traditional village located between

Kefalas Kefalas ( el, Κεφαλάς) is a village and a community on the island of Crete, Greece, 282m above sea level. It is in the Vamos municipal unit in the Apokoronas municipality. The community consists of the villages Kefalas, Drapanos and Pala ...

and

Vamos Vamos (Greek: Βάμος) is a small town and former municipality in the Chania regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform "Kallikratis" it is a municipal unit, part of the municipality of Apokoronas, serving as its his ...

. The

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

mainly consists of old traditional homes with views of the

Cretan White Mountains Lefka Ori ( el, Λευκά Όρη, meaning 'White Mountains') or Madares ( from the Cretan Greek meaning 'without coverage, bald, bare of any vegetation for high mountain areas') is a mountain range located in Western Crete, in the Chania prefect ...

or the

sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

. There are no hotels, rental rooms or restaurants here - it is strictly residential. There is however a small café which sometimes serves snacks. The village's previous name was "Viola", which is a Cretan flower. The new name Xirosterni means "dry cistern", or "dry well". During the Ottoman rule a Turk ordered a villager to pull water out of the cistern for his horse to drink. The villager replied that there was no water, to avoid the humiliation of serving the enemy. The Turk then said angrily "why do you call the town Viola? You should call it Xirosterni ry cistern Every 5th and 6th of August a local festival begins place in which there is Cretan music, dancing and food prepared by the village's people. An old time

lyra Lyra (; Latin for lyre, from Greek ''λύρα'') is a small constellation. It is one of the 48 listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and is one of the modern 88 constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Lyra was ...

player (lyra is the main musical instrument in Crete) singing in the town for his friends said: ''To Xerosterniano nero lene pos ehi avdeles, ma kino to marioliko vgazi omorfous glentzedes'', meaning: "They say that the water of Xirosterni has leeches, but this beautiful town gives birth to handsome dancers-singers". Later Nikos Xilouris, a famous singer from Anogia Crete, changed it to: " They say that the water of Xirosterni has leeches, but this beautiful town gives birth to beautiful young women". Every year tourists arrive for the celebration.

References

Populated places in Chania (regional unit) {{Crete-geo-stub