From afar, in the foothills of the village Faneromeni, twelve colorful cubes come into view. They are not an assortment of rose flavored or bergamot loukoums, Syros’s exquisite delights, only a bunch of dry-stone buildings, scattered around the hill, crowned with ultramarine terraces, indistinguishable from the sky. These buildings are clustered around a large rose-colored mansion. Could it be be Bernarda Alba’s house or Nora’s? The “Cherry Orchard” or maybe Blanche Dubois’ “Bel Rêve”? Why not “Marlinspike Hall” or “Yasnaya Polyana”, or even Marguerite Yourcenar’s hermitage, “La Petite Plaisance”? Under the endlessly blowing northerly winds we suggest the “Sanssouci” along with the “Wuthering Heights”. In any case the mansion serves as an acropolis, overseeing the estate and its surroundings: a small village with its own agora, assembly area, and aloni, threshing floor —a makeshift theatre and a space for dance, fun and games— a swimming pool for refreshing dips and the terraces overlooking the island’s valleys and hills, that reach out towards Tinos and Mykonos.
Saint Andreas, the chapel at the main entrance, assumes command of the domain when Gin and Ilex, our two dogs, are off to a lizard hunt.
All the buildings in the domain occupy an area over 300 m² on a plot of 11,000 m².
