Melissa (of Mavros) in Koufonisia

The Koufonisia Forty years ago it was an unrecognizable place. Life was hard in their isolation Small Cyclades, but had a sweet aftertaste. To talk on the phone with Athens you had to wait an hour at the telephone exchange - a call center with the unforgettable crank -, a small house near Agios Georgios, the metropolis of the village. Just opposite was the Melissa grocery store, by Antonis Mavros.

A shop where you could find everything: items grocery store, ice brought by the ship Skopelitis from Naxos, but also bread since Mr. Antonis had the only bakery on the island. In the 70s, when there was no electricity, houses and shops were lit with acetylene lamps, music was played by violins and lutes, and tourists were counted on their fingers.

The Melissa grocery store, among others, was also a kitchen. While waiting for the telephone to pick up the line, you drank some ouzo with meze, or in the evening enjoy the pies, spaghetti and fish of Mr. Antonis's wife. Especially her dancing with him, when the two of them were dancing a ball. I remember the festivities that took place in the store, but also in the whole of Koufonissi, when in 1984, on August 5 - if my memory serves me correctly - in the presence of Minister George Gennimata, the island was electrified during the summer.

Nearly thirty years have passed since then and many things have changed Koufonisia. Some for the better, some for the worse. The Mavrou couple also left for the big trip, almost together a few years ago.

Now the commands in the store are made by Stamatis, their son, and the store remains as before, a constant value in the changing environment, with the only change being a tasteful pergola useful for the summer shade. From food Stamatis continues to make his mother's delicious pies (cheese pies, spinach pies, potato pies, pumpkin pies), braised goat, various cooked and natural fish.

And as Stamatis typically says:

"More in Koufonisia, there have always been and there are small fish. You can no longer find people who eat fish ", of course, alluding to the economic crisis of the Greeks.