In the beginning, there was Konstantis Georgilas.
A merchant born and raised in Therissos, with friends all over Crete, Greece, and Asia Minor, who decided to settle here, in Pyrgos Psilonerou, in 1835.
You see, back then, Crete wasn't part of Greece yet. Even Greece itself was an independent state for less than a decade. He bought a large piece of land from the local Ottoman lord and built his house in 1861.
To put things into perspective, that same year, Abraham Lincoln became president of the US.
Konstantis had four kids, two girls, and two boys -Stylianos and Kokkolis (Nikolis).
Both the girls got married and moved to their husbands’ homes. As for the boys, Stylianos and his family stayed at the main house, while a new one was built next to it for Kokkolis’ family -sometime before 1888.
During that time, a 19-year old aspiring barrister named Mohandas Gandhi traveled from Bombay to London to study law.
Kokkolis had six kids: Irene, Stella, Anna, Vasillis, Yannis, and Kostis.
Kostis moved to Athens to study Finance and then returned to Chania. He was a prominent figure of the local society, but he also felt deeply connected to his ancestors’ place. This is why he bought the entire house back in the early ’60s and renovated its western section to use it as a summer house.
As for the Summer of Love, that occurred later that same decade, during the summer of 1967.
More than half a century later, in 2013, Kostis’ son, Nikos, and his wife, Ritsa, decided to renovate the house. It was the year that Francis, the 266th Pope, was elected (we know, it’s not THAT long ago, but there are people out there who still think that the ‘90s were 20 years ago).
That, of course, is just the crash course of the family’s history (with some extra facts). For more details, you can ask Konstantinos -Nikos’ son, a fifth-generation Georgilas, and the estate’s current proprietor- during your stay. He will be more than glad to share all sorts of stories with you!