The cafe of Kostas in Siva Messaras

Ο Sivas is a picturesque little village on the southwestern edge of its plain Messaras, ten minutes drive from the Matala. Its few inhabitants are engaged in agriculture.

As for the name of the village, the male and not the older female Shiva has prevailed today, so as not to be confused with the other Shiva in Heraklion. The village is known because it is birthplace of Saint John the Stranger, who worked for the revival of Orthodoxy in Crete, after its release from the Saracens by Nikephoros Phokas in 961 AD.

In Siva is one of the most quirky cafes in Greece. The cafe of Kostas. Small as a space, but what a space! An alloy of mysticism and intimacy, metaphysics and reality. A cafe museum full pictures, mainly of the Cretan period - photos glued to wood that look like real - works of Dominikos Theotokopoulos, Fayum images, and all of them from floor to ceiling. The tables and the table in the green color and on the fourth wall photos from groups that have passed through the store, young people, seniors and several foreign teachers and intellectuals.

So a cafe for art lovers, for philosophers but also for lyre players and the common people. You stare for hours at the pictures, the sayings and the proverbs.

"My whole life has gone to reason and reason,
and the bow remained in honor of desire"

the mantinada and another one by Sykoutris:

"No one can build for you the bridge from which you owe to cross the stream of life, no one but yourself. There are of course infinite paths and bridges and demigods willing to cross you. But they will ask for payment yourself...".

The coffee maker is a modest and sophisticated Cretan he runs the family cafe twenty years have passed since he lost his family. Behind the tufted pepper that almost hides the facade of the cafe, many treasures are hidden, ready to be delivered to travelers looking for special experiences.