#kastri

Gerontoelia is the oldest olive tree in the world on the island of Naxos, Greece, in the village Kastri. It is estimated to be over 5,000 years old.

Gerontoelia is behind a stone wall, so I couldn't get up close (seen here), but here is another olive tree on the same grove. By size I believe it would also be thousands of years old.

In case you don't know, I love drawing and making headcanons about the personifications of modern greek cities and towns for various reasons, mainly because I want to promote the modern image of my country, as opposed to the ancient one that most foreigners are familiar with.

This time, I made 10 personifications, the two of them representing a regional unit (I will explain later why it's two and not one) and the rest representing some towns of that regional unit.

The regional unit, in question, is:

So, why Aetolia-Acarnania of all regions? Well, partly because my mom is from there and because almost nobody on the internet talks about it, so I wanted to make it more well-known.

I tried to seach some information online and I couldn't find much, other than that the Ancient Greeks considered these people barbarians, because they were war-like and didn't produce works of art.

Anyways…

Artistic choices: Aetolia and Acarnania's appearances were based from my uncles'. Specifically, Acarnania looks exactly like the one I based him from. Aetolia not do much, except from the face. None of my uncles have shoulder-length hair, I just added it to give him a more savage look based on the idea that the Ancient Greeks had about these people (which still exists today, but we will discuss it later). It was kinda difficult, because I'm not used on drawing male characters and even when I do, I give them a "cute-boy" look, so it was challenging but nice to draw something different for once. Also, regarding the choice of the color. I thought of all the colours that Hapo used in her @athensandspartaadventures: green, red, lots of purple and a little bit of brown. I wanted to choose a colour that she hasn't utilised and the first one to come to my mind was mustard yellow. Sooner or later, I will come up with an actual good explanation (or I might use a different colour).

Now, enjoy some photos I took while I was on vacation.

The view from above the mountains.

Honestly, the trip there feels like visiting South France, since it's full of green. A small tip for all the foreigners who are in Greece right now, but they wish they were in South France: just visit Aetolia-Acarnania! It's the same thing! But better! 🙃

The Ancient Fortification of Kastri.

An ancient site I wish more people would visit. Mainly because I love the way we get there. Basically, you climb a mountain. All alone. Without a special equipment. But that's the fun of the ride! 😃

I telling you, you won't regret this!

I would really love to introduce some new characters, like Messolonghi or Agrinio, but unfortunately, Tumblr doesn't let me include more than 10 pictures. So, enjoy Aetolia and Acarnania and you might get to meet new characters in the upcoming week.

Kos. Kastri islet

Chaste tree in Kastri, Naxos, Greece

Kos

Kos. Kastri

Kastri

a dragonfly by Gerontoelia in Kastri, Naxos, Greece