The motorcyclists disembarked from the ferry to Kythera with history close at hand, as the Isaac-Solomou Memory Initiative’s journey reached Karavas on 10 July 2026 and its imposing Monument to the Unknown Soldier.
The landscape evoked the occupied Karavas in Kyrenia. The lemon trees and olive groves seemed almost to have been transported there for the journey, 30 years after the murders of Tassos Isaac and Solomos Solomou.
After Ano Kyrenia in Achaia and Elos in Laconia, the motorcyclists met friends in Karavas, Kythera, whose Centre for Culture, Tradition and Contemporary Art preserves the intangible cultural heritage of Turkish-occupied Karavas.
A sign marking the Road of Virtue and Isaac-Solomou Street was placed in a prominent position, carrying a clear message: the two communities named Karavas remain strongholds of memory and bastions of liberation.
In the presence of former Karavas mayor Yiannis Papaioannou, the historical details completing the symbolism were recalled, particularly the connection with revolutionary fireship captain Konstantinos Kanaris.
Tradition holds that Kanaris sailed to Karavas in Cyprus during the Greek War of Independence, before the hanging of Ethnomartyr Archbishop Kyprianos. The historical continuity is clear, with history linking the two communities.
At the simple ceremony, wreaths were laid and addresses were delivered by Kythera deputy mayor Georgios Komninos and Zacharias Souris, president of the Karavas community in Kythera.
Former representatives of the Kythera municipal authorities and the Karavas community also spoke, along with a member of the Isaac-Solomou Memory Initiative.
The presentation of the sign for the Road of Virtue and Isaac-Solomou Street completed the ceremony, together with a pledge that it would be installed as a permanent reminder that two heroes of Hellenism sacrificed themselves for the universal values of freedom, dignity and justice.
The journey then continued towards historic Leonidio and Salamina in Attica, before the group set sail for Rhodes and Kastellorizo.
