This postcard showes Kaliagra in the beginning of the last century (?), with its balconies still intact.
Even on this picture from 1971, made by Dr Nicholas Exadaktylos, the buildings and balconies are still in situ.
How different were things in 2009: the small building on the picture from 1971 is almost washed away by the sea and the large arsanas tower with its annex are allmost in ruins. The balconies disappeared totally and windows are gone. The scaffoldings tell us that they had already a plan for the future…. And this is how it looks now: the buildings are newly renovated: the balconies are back and the scaffolding are gone! The building is now protected against the waves by walls which are placed in the sea.
Wim Voogd, 6/2
Kaliagra was the principal point of entry to Athos up to the middle of the 20th century. It’s decline started when people started using the Ouranoupolis-Dafni route to visit Athos.
The pictures show you how the decline looks like.