Fourni Sights: Pirate Korseon, the Acropolis and the Churches
The sights of Fourni grow out of its history and its landscape rather than grand buildings. The island was once the pirate haven of Korseon, and it keeps an ancient acropolis above the beach at Elidaki, painted churches on the hill paths, the windmills of Kambi and, on the neighbour islet of Thymena, the monastery of Agios Ioannis. The uninhabited islands around it are protected scenery for wildlife and nesting seabirds.
- Old name
- Korseon
- Ancient site
- Elidaki acropolis
- On Thymena
- Agios Ioannis monastery
- Wildlife
- Aegean seagull islets
Korseon and the pirates
Fourni was once called Korseon and served as a base for pirates. Its deeply indented coast, with many hidden coves and sheltered bays, made it an ideal place to hide ships and wait for passing trade, and the same broken coastline now gives the island its string of small, quiet beaches. The pirate past is the oldest layer of the island's story, still read in the shape of the land itself rather than in any surviving fort.
The ancient acropolis at Elidaki
Above one of the coves reached from the Elidaki turning, on the road towards Agios Giannis, stand the columns and high walls of an ancient acropolis. The remains sit on a hill over a clean beach, with wide views across the bay to a small islet just off the coast. It is the clearest ancient sight on the island, and it rewards the walk down from the road. The beach below it is described in the Fourni beaches guide.
The churches of Fourni
Small churches mark both the town and the hills of Fourni. The main street of Fourni Town runs up to a square by the big church, and the footpath north towards Chryssomilia passes two churches after about half an hour of climbing. The first of these is beautiful inside, with all its walls and ceilings fully painted. A small white church also stands beside one of the quiet beaches on the far side of the port.
The windmills of Kambi
Windmills stand above the twin bays of Kambi, about 20 minutes south-west of Fourni Town. You walk out behind the windmills to reach the two beaches below, which are divided by a rock crossed by stairs. The windmills are the landmark of this stretch of coast and mark the start of the paths that run south into the island's empty, unspoiled bays.
The monastery on Thymena
The neighbour islet of Thymena keeps the monastery of Agios Ioannis on a hill beside its single village. Below the monastery lies a small hamlet with a beach, and a second small beach with a white church sits down a path on the north-east side of the island. Thymena is very quiet and sees few visitors, reached by the ferry from Samos or by the water taxi and small boats from Fourni.
The wildlife islets
The smaller, uninhabited islands of the Fourni archipelago are set aside as a scenic area for wildlife. They are important nesting grounds for seabirds, among them the Aegean seagull, the Aigaioglaros. Seen from the beaches and hilltops of Fourni, these islets and the bays between them make some of the island's finest views, and they explain why the whole archipelago feels wild and empty beyond the two villages.
