10. The tunnels in Prastova

Mining began in 1916 and stopped in the beginning of 1918. Kazantzakis was the owner and Zorbas was the foreman, surveilling everything with a watchful eye. There were many tunnels leaning on wooden frames and lit by acetylene lamps. At some point, a tunnel collapsed and a worker was killed. For digging, they used pickaxes, shovels and metal rods with which they manually dug holes for controlled dynamite blasts. They put coal into barrows and loaded a Decauville type cart (with mobile, removable rails) which headed straight to sea, to the Louki areas where it was sorted and emptied on the ship with an overhead system. This business provided work to the residents of Stoupa, as well as the surrounding villages. But due to groundwater the quality of the coal was not that good and mining stopped, shutting down the business. It was reopened by locals for a little while, around 1940.

"I was sixteen years old then and worked as a water lady. I followed the cart pushed by workers from Louki to the tunnels and when they asked for water, I gave them some from the jug I was carrying. I spent a lot of time with Zorbopoules (daughters of Zorbas), especially with Filio. I even had my picture taken with them." Testament of Eftychia Theodorakea.

"There were three houses back then in Prastova. The coal made bread. We were all working. A few Germans had come for a while. We used to find fossilized deer bones. Zorbas was firm with the workers but worthy. Kazantzakis only came a few times and he looked like he had just woken up." Testament of Nikolaos Rouseas.

The author mentions him in his work. He was an actual person. He lived in one of the three houses in Prastova. He didn't know his letters well and one day, upon finding a book missing its cover, he saw “The Table of Contents”. He thought the content would be excellent and ran to Kazantzakis to give the book to him. "Look," he said, "it must be very good, it says 'Table of Contents'!" Kazantzakis laughed and never forgot about the Reader.

Α taste of the unique moments of pleasure of the joint action "Everyone in Stoupa is dancing syrtaki" which took place on Friday the 22nd of September, at 17:30 in the whole of Stoupa. This is one of the 1st day activities of the Festival "KAZANTZAKIS & ZORBAS IN STOUPA... 100 YEARS LATER" (Stoupa, 22nd - 23rd - 24th September 2017) Our goal here, was to be able to communicate this "opaa" that comes from our souls! The "opaa" of brotherhood and solidarity between us and our nations! The "opaa" as a moral uplift! The "opaa" of Zorbas that can instantly erase and transform every bitterness into joy! The "opaa" that lives inside us as a reminder to everything that Nikos Kazantzakis represented until the end of his life... The freedom of spirit... The freedom from the barriers that keep us imprisoned and confined in a meaningless life, which has unfortunately become way of living! However, we want to hope that, through art, we can set the basis for a brighter future! Montage: Akrivi Kollia Teazer of festival: Leonidas Papadopoulos Drone: Dimitris Fildisis Videos: Ton van der Zalm, Georgios Beneas, mesogeios tv, messinialive.gr, Yannis Avrameas speakaz: Filippos Sofianos Frondpage picture: Filanthi Lagiou