Apoklistra mill

The windmill of Apoklistra is a landmark of the ridge above Piso Gialos of Kapsali. It is a characteristic cylindrical tower with its beautiful arched entrance, which is crowned with limestone. It is built in an exposed place where the wind rarely stops blowing. The grain for milling from Kapsali, Chora and Fyroi was brought through the path of Lazaretos while others came from the Caves and Kalamos from the “Atrapos of Kapena”. It was probably built at the beginning of the 19th century, like several others in Kythera. In 1819 there were 17 windmills, according to one report, scattered throughout the length and breadth of the island. In this area there were two other mills in Kalamos, a watermill and a windmill. The windmills had ten or twelve sails and their wings moved according to the direction of the wind. In the past, the mills were an integral part of social and economic life, feeding the local community with flour, the basic ingredient for the preparation of rusks, pasta, bread etc. This windmill stopped operating around 1890. After is stopped operating, the family tore up its roof in order to use the timber for the roof of their new house in Kapsali. The windmill of Kalamos stopped operating at the beginning of the 20th century, while until the 1930s the water mill of Kalamos was operating in the valley that ends in Agia Sophia. Generally, in Kythera, the use of mills began to decline at the beginning of the 20th century, with the operation of the first motor mills (the first was steam-powered in Livadi and started operating in 1911). The last windmills, in Mitata and Friligkianika, were abandoned in the 1950s.