What is creativity? It is the act of turning a unique idea into something we can see, hear, smell, touch, or taste. We think of great works of art — paintings, music, dance, and so on. And we sometimes recall famous creative people. However, anyone can be creative in one way or another. While traveling in western Crete, we discovered a good example of this. In the beach town of Kalyves, we turned inland towards the White Mountains (Lefkas Ori). On a hill not far from Kalyves we came upon a whimsical wonderland called Koumos.



Koumos is imagination made real. It all started in 1990, when the wife of Giorgos Khavaledakis suggested that he build a stone table in the garden behind their house. Giorgos thought about the project, and came up with a fanciful way to accomplish it — encrusting the sturdy supports for a stone tabletop with small stones and colorful bits of ceramic.

This inspired him to attempt other projects, which became an obsession over the next 14 years. He carried selected stones and rocks down from the mountains to create all manner of distinctive buildings and artwork.


Intricate stone mosaics and fantastical sculptures cover the house, taverna, chapel, a small museum and every other building in the complex.

Although he was not a trained artist or architect, the creations of Giorgos Khavaledakis are delightful and strangely compelling. In fact, they are similar in some ways to the work of Antoni Gaudi (1852 – 1926), the best known practitioner of Catalan Modernism. Because of his designs, Gaudi’s name was transformed into the word gaudy, meaning extravagantly bright or showy.



No one questions the creativity of Gaudi, nor should they question that of Giorgos Khavaledakis — a self-made artist.