Melanes Valley

The road to Melanes leaves Hora to the south, passes through a few flat miles of fields to the village of Agios Thalalaios. Then the villages of Melanes come into view. The first one, Kourounohori, claims the Della Rocca tower. As you continue on into the mountains, 12 km from Hora a crude sign directs you down into a green orchard. A kouros, a 12 metres tall unfinished statue of a nude youth from circa 550 8.c., reposes in a lush garden amid olive and lemon trees, vines, and running water. There is a similar kouros in a field above.