Estia Amariou

Estia Amariou is the Cultural Centre that is home to our Association. As our heart and hearth, Estia Amariou, will offer a sanctuary where visitors are welcomed as honored guests and as guests, are free to offer their gifts to the village and the valley communities that surround it. These gifts might include storytelling skills, gardening/farming knowledge, ecological initiatives or simply the love of community building. Here, at Estia Amariou, guests will spend time deep in conversation, sample the delights of local food and wine and enjoy making music together. Estia Amariou will also be a venue for workshops, exhibitions and other activities organized by the local community or us.

The word "Estia" is derived from Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth. Hestia in Greek means fireplace (hearth) AND focus, core, centre, source, seat, breeding-ground, hotbed, spot. The Goddess Hestia is the centre of the home, the welcoming warming fire at the heart of home. Her duty is to always keep the fire burning, a source of light and warmth. She was one of the twelve Olympians but she gave her seat to Dionysos, God of Wine and Vegetation, and preferred a quieter life by the hearth. This forged forever a link between Dionysos and Hestia - eating/drinking by the fireplace. Abundant simplicity really and the most ancient way of beginning to transform a group of strangers into a community.