Xirosterni () is a village and a community located in the

Apokoronas Apokoronas () is a municipality and a former province (επαρχία) in the Chania regional unit, north-west Crete, Greece. It is situated on the north coast of Crete, to the east of Chania itself. The seat of the municipality is the village Vry ...

region close to the northwest coast of the island of

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, in Chania regional unit. The community consists of the settlements Xirosterni and Litsarda. It is approximately from

Chania Chania (, , ), also sometimes romanization of Greek, romanized as Hania, is a city in Greece and the capital of the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit. It lies along the north west coast of the island Crete, about west of Rethymno ...

Overview

It is a small, traditional village located between

Kefalas Kefalas () is a over 800 years old village on the island of Crete, Greece, 360 m above sea level.https://www.wysokosc.mapa.info.pl/ It is in the Vamos municipal unit in the Apokoronas municipality. The community consists of the villages Kefalas ...

and

Vamos Vamos (Greek language, Greek: Βάμος) is a small town and former municipality in the Chania (regional unit), Chania regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform "Kallikratis" it is a municipal unit, part of the municipa ...

. The

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

mainly consists of old traditional homes with views of the Cretan White Mountains or the

sea A sea is a large body of salt water. There are particular seas and the sea. The sea commonly refers to the ocean, the interconnected body of seawaters that spans most of Earth. Particular seas are either marginal seas, second-order section ...

. There are no hotels, rental rooms or restaurants here - it is strictly residential. There is however a small café which sometimes serves snacks. The village's previous name was "Viola", which is a Cretan flower. The new name Xirosterni means "dry cistern", or "dry well". During the Ottoman rule a Turk ordered a villager to pull water out of the cistern for his horse to drink. The villager replied that there was no water, to avoid the humiliation of serving the enemy. The Turk then said angrily "why do you call the town Viola? You should call it Xirosterni ry cistern Every 5th and 6th of August a local festival begins place in which there is Cretan music, dancing and food prepared by the village's people. An old time

lyra , from ; pronounced: ) is a small constellation. It is one of the 48 listed by the 2nd century astronomer Ptolemy, and is one of the modern 88 constellations recognized by the International Astronomical Union. Lyra was often represented on star ...

player (lyra is the main musical instrument in Crete) singing in the town for his friends said: ''To Xerosterniano nero lene pos ehi avdeles, ma kino to marioliko vgazi omorfous glentzedes'', meaning: "They say that the water of Xirosterni has leeches, but this beautiful town gives birth to handsome dancers-singers". Later Nikos Xilouris, a famous singer from Anogia Crete, changed it to: " They say that the water of Xirosterni has leeches, but this beautiful town gives birth to beautiful young women". Every year tourists arrive for the celebration.

References

Populated places in Chania (regional unit) Apokoronas {{Crete-geo-stub