Serifos

What an amazing card and the stamps are fantastic as well! 

Just like so many other parts of Greece, Serifos has a rich history that divides its origin into two different streams: the mythological history and the historical facts. The island was already inhabited since Prehistoric times, as shown findings in Koutalas Cave. 

The Cretans came in the historical times and their economy was based on exploiting the mines of Serifos.

After the Cretans, the Phoenicians took Serifos, and then the Mycenaens. All this has in part been deducted from the testimony left by the tombs, the 5th century White Tower and other monuments of different origins.

Today, although the population has decreased and the remaining inhabitants are devoted to agriculture and fishing, Serifos manages to attract tourists by means of its natural beauty, and has been developed in this branch, which is also one of its main current economic resources, hosting thousands of tourists every year. However, when it comes to mythology, the story is very different. 

There are two legends related to this subject. The first one is related to a few real facts, like the explanation of why the coastline looks so rocky, which feature is true.

On the other hand, the other legend is more related to the historical facts previously mentioned. According to this one, the island was at first inhabited by Cyclops, a group of giants, sons of Poseidon, who lived in a cave near Psaropyrgos. They are said to have construct the huge walls surrounding the island, so the mentioned walls of Liomandra and the White Tower are said to be the remaining of these.

Regarding the mineral resources of the island, these are said to be exploited by them, which made possible the development of the later civilisation. So in this story, we can see one way to conciliate the real facts, with the mythology that surrounds Greece, which is an undeniable part of the Greek culture. [source: greeka.com]

Thank you very much Milda!