Page 62 - MYCONIAN COLLECTION 2022

discover|local people

LIVING OFF THE LAND
"We are no business. We are a home", says Nikos Zougalenis about Rizes Folklore Farmstead, and it's a Mykonos home open to all.

Nikos Zouganelis

“WHAT VISITORS SEE is our life, lived as close as possible to my memories of older generations”, says Nikos
Zouganelis, who grew up in a traditional Mykonos farmstead. His father, Giannis, kept sheep and cultivated the
land while his mother tended to the household and made cheese. Nikos felt an urge to honor this authentic way of
life by creating a fully functional farmstead that taps into the “rizes” [roots] of the land and traditional folk life. Rizes
Folklore Farmstead was the result. “We are no business. We are a home – expanded to welcome visitors, but still a
home”. Visiting Rizes, you start to understand this way of life, with the wood oven, cheese dairy, cows, chicken coop,
wine press, vegetable patches, donkeys… Nothing is “frozen in time” because nothing is for show and everything is
tended to following traditional methods. You can also see folklore artists working the loom, painting icons, creating
traditional “tsampouna” bagpipes… When you visit, you are a guest. “We want to show visitors they are loved and
tended to; to treat them, make friends with them – then, if they want, they can participate in this life, and understand
how things were before technology”, explains Nikos. And indeed, you can join him at the grape harvest, the traditional
threshing, the olive harvest, or the traditional festivals... More than anything, though, this family want you to join
them at the table, breaking bread and living a purer life for a few hours. www.rizesmykonos.com

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