Patmos is the best!

Loads of great design here with the marvelous simplistic combination of beauty and practicality that was the hallmark of the ancient world.

But I’m really talking about everyday design, where the regular people lived.  People like you and me. There’s archaeological proof that small concrete houses with domes roofs have been built around the Mediterranean Sea for 5000 years. That’s a lot of know-how from a time when we think people maybe didn’t know too much.

They knew plenty. Turns out they were plenty smart, lacking only the ability to plug something in to do it for them.

Their homes are a great example. There isn’t much wood around the rim of the Mediterranean, so homes were built within frames and filled with rubble, loose rock, whatever they could find. Then they bound everything together with cement, which hardened up beautifully. Plaster on the outsides and voila! A very sound home with a domed cement roof to provide natural air-conditioning. Examples about throughout this small island, particularly in churches. But word has it that local construction is returning to this style, which is much more energy-efficient.

Don’t you love when old things become new again?

I also love the Greek sense of playfulness, which you see everywhere. Take a look at this doorknocker:

It’s a little hand! We also saw the interior of one home, occupied by the same family for eight generations, that used family china in a decorative wall arrangement. You know how we love plates at Metamorefix.  But we never claimed to be the first to do so!

I’m sorry we don’t have pictures of that for you. No photography allowed in Signora’s house.

Turkey tomorrow…