The private island retreat is part of a small archipelago of islands scattered off the southern tip of Evia. A place of pristine Mediterranean landscape, limestone shores, ancient olive groves, and whispering cypress,left largely undisturbed for centuries.
A historic estate, mentioned in Antiquity for the visits of Pericles and Aspasia, in recent centuries it was the domain of the Pasha of Eubeoa, during Ottoman times. Later, it became an Imperial Russian property and a Greek Royal estate. During WWI, the property was acquired by a shipowning family, who have restored its historic buildings, and quietly opened their hideaway to guests.
The island offers several beaches and private coves within walking distance from the villas; others can only be reached by water. There are 11km of unpaved roads and paths to discover the island bicycling or hiking.
The beaches open to the full breadth of the Aegean with views across to the uninhabited islands of the archipelago.
The Residents
The Residents
The private island retreat has always been home to more than its human guests. Cats materialise at mealtimes with practised charm. Turtles roam the island’s quieter reaches, entirely unhurried by the presence of visitors. Donkeys and horses move through the estate at their own pace. A chicken coop at the edge of the garden supplies the kitchen each morning. Wild rabbits, toads, and countless wild birds, cicadas engulf the island. These animals are part of the island’s life, a reminder that this place has been tended, not conquered.
The Garden
The Garden
The vegetable garden sits next to the natural port of the island, tended with patience and respect for the soil. Each season brings something different: fragrant herbs, pistachios picked straight from the tree, olives, and olive oil.
Your Private Chef works closely with local fishermen and farming families from the surrounding area, bringing the day’s catch, creamy yoghurt, the famous Feta of Karystos, honey from wild thyme groves on Mount Ochi, and extra virgin olive oil pressed nearby.
Heritage
An island of rare beauty in the Aegean Sea; wilderness, heritage, and serenity. Olive groves older than memory, shores untouched by crowds, and the ruins of civilisations past. Every path reveals a new perspective. Every cove offers a private world.
Heritage
An island of rare beauty in the Aegean Sea; wilderness, heritage, and serenity. Olive groves older than memory, shores untouched by crowds, and the ruins of civilisations past. Every path reveals a new perspective. Every cove offers a private world.
Legendary Guests
Legendary Guests
In the twentieth century, the island has offered hospitality in an environment that cannot be manufactured: genuine seclusion, genuine beauty, and the unique quality of timelessness that a private island confers.
Among those hosted were Maria Callas, Leonard Bernstein, Aristotle Onassis, Rudolf Nureyev, Greta Garbo, Herbert von Karajan, Gene Kelly, Richard Gere, and Cindy Crawford. What they found here is what still holds today: a private world.
The Ottoman Village
The Ottoman Village
At the heart of the estate stands a cluster of buildings dating from the 15th-16th century, where the pillars of limestone are worn smooth at the corners. It offers a rare glimpse into a village that was once home to a small local community. Dry walls lace the island, a testimony to the patient workmanship to retain the land from erosion. A traditional stone-built wheat-threshing floor is now used as a heliport.
The Russian Church
The Russian Church
At the edge of a cove next to the Villa, stands an Orthodox church, built in 1848. Its origins are bound up with one of the island’s most romantic chapters: Queen Olga of Greece, born a Russian Romanov Princess, niece of Tsar Alexander II, brought these islands as part of her personal dowry when she married King George I of Greece, as her private property. The church of St. Nicholas remains, whitewashed and serene, gazing the Aegean, protecting the sailors. It rewards those who seek it out.
