Kostas Scavdis – Coming to age on a remote Greek island called Ikaria
Sunday afternoon, late August 2026 in Agios Kirikos, Ikaria. It is hot, 32 degrees, summer is still very present. The beaches all around the island are packed with people, enjoying an easy life with a swim in the sea, good food, drinks and an endless chit-chat with friends and family around.
Ikarian youngsters, 15 – 18 years old, are among them, mostly dressed in their favorite black T-shirts and shorts, hanging out in the kafenia for hours over a coffee or a lemonade, scrolling on their phones, making plans for trips to their favorite beaches on their motorbikes. Some of them only have limited time, because their help is needed in the family business – may it be as a waiter, or a shop keeper – to keep the summer season running. Others may lose themselves already in boredom, because after nearly three months of summer holidays, no possibility to travel to other places, only little money around … there is not that much to do for teenagers on an island where summer activities are focusing on beach bars and panagyria.
But Kostas is not among them this summer. At this time of the day on a Sunday, he is concentrating on correclty measuring water and flour so that the dough for the bread he is preparing right now, has the right consistency.
Even though he has done this more than a 100 times over the last 2 months, this crucial moment in the process of making bread is still making him nervous. But his father Nikos is standing by his side, smiling encouragingly at him: “It is alright, Kostaki mou. You are doing fine. Just a bit more flour and then the dough can rest for a while.“ Kostas breathes a sigh of relief and then turns his attention to the next task. He carefully coats the boxes – which will be used to store the dough for tiropita, spanakopita and the famous cinnamon rolls over the next few hours – with oil before turning his attention to the dough mixer. This one needs special attention and really the right timing. Therefore Kostas is fixing his eyes on the digital display on the wall. Just three more minutes, then this batch of dough will be ready too and can be left in the cold room until early morning, when his father will shape it into koulouri.
Even though the workshop in this woodfired bakery in Agios Kirikos is small and hot on this afternoon, Kostas is moving at ease between the boxes, flour bags and piles of baking trays. Wearing his white apron he focuses on the different tasks, knowing that all of them are important and he cannot mess them up if Ikarians are to have their bread and koulouri in the morning – and he is responsible to make it happen. Perhaps this will be the most important “take away” from the summer season 2026 for Kosta.
Even though he grew up in this bakery, knowing that making affordable and tasty bread is an important work, he wasn’t aware of just how much attention to detail is required, how much maths goes into making bread, and how much experience is needed to ensure that all the ingredients come together at just the right moment to produce delicious bread. But this summer he was eager to learn it.
It was at the beginning of summer, when his father was searching for an assistant to help him in the bakery and couldn’t find anyone, that Kostas happily joined in. Not only did he want to help his father, he also wanted to learn something new, so that he wouldn’t spend too much time on computer games. His father Nikos was surprised, but proudly accepted his eldest son’s offer and they kicked off together. For the next two months, Kostas showed up every morning at 8 am at the bakery and took over the tasks his father had assigned him: mixing the sauce for the pizza, making the sandwhiches, rolling out the dough for the tiropita, spanakopita and so on.
Of course, in the beginning there were small tasks, but it was fun and little by little, gaining more confidence, Kostas took over more difficult tasks. Kostas enjoyed the learning and working side by side with his father. The two of them developed a good routine by balancing concentrating working and chatting about the many different subjects of their everyday life. During these weeks, it became clear that Kostas is no longer the ‘little boy’ who spends his time running around in front of the bakery with his siblings. At the age of 15, many questions arise, and Kostas is glad that he can discuss some of them with his father.
Kostas is aware that growing up on an island is actually a privilege. Here on Ikaria, he was able to enjoy a peaceful childhood. He loves nature – the sea and the mountains – and the many activities associated with the different seasons: the quiet days in winter, snuggled up with his family in the old stone house in Vaoni, which over the years his parents have transformed into a real home for the family through their own hard work. Spring and autumn are spent hiking in the mountains of Ikaria, together with their dog. He felt safe and never really questionned this lifestyle, because he had the chance to compare the Ikarian life with life in other places.
Coming from an American family, he had the chance to travel forwards and backwards to the United States, where he got to know a life with large shopping malls, huge toy stores, big and perfect roads, big cars, the availability of a wide range of leisure activities. But even though Kostas was attracted this kind of lifestyle when he was younger, he does not consider it as a perspective for his future life. He is grateful that he had the chance to experience it and he appreciates it a lot that his parents were able to offer him and his brothers the possibility to travel abroad. Visiting different places in Europe and even in Africa were good eye-openers and gave him a lot of food for thought, about how life could be in other places and also what could be improved on Ikaria. “Don’t misunderstand me”, Kosta is saying, “I do love my life on Ikaria. In general, I am not bored (well, at least not all the time), but it is a shame that there is not a wider range of leisure activities on offer. Basketball and football are the main sports activities you can do, but this might not be everybody’s interest.“
Kostas and his brother opted for the sailing lessons offered during the summer season, and he is keen to follow them, as for him it is a great chance to gain competence in navigation, reading the weather and he loves being outside. And he is also interested in many other things, such as technology, environmental questions … topics where his curiosity cannot always be satisfied through lessons or extracurricular activities on Ikaria. Therefore he likes reading, and when his dad is talking to him about what is happening in the world, then Kostas is happy to do some more research online. So, little by little, he is developing his own ideas about how the future of Ikaria could look like. When asked which issues he considers to be priorities, he is quick to give his answers: the traffic situation, the cityscape in Agios, and the environmental protection of the island. In his opinion, there could be more different shops in Agios, so that you don’t have to buy everything on the internet, but Kostas knows that doing business on Ikaria is a very difficult task.
To solve the traffic situation, he would opt for more public parking spaces outside the towns of Agios and Evdilos, and replacing cars by electric driven buses, which could also operate on demand. In general, more efficient public transport would also help youngsters of his age to be more independent from their parents, who always have to be available when Kostas wants to see his friends in another village or when he wants to follow his leisure activities.
But what really bothers him is the environmental state of his island. Having seen other places, he knows that the situation can always be worse somewhere else, but it could be also much better in places where activities are available to raise awareness about climate change and where people are getting involved in environmentals activities together. It bothers him that it is so difficult to raise this awareness on Ikaria and he really hopes that more will happen.
So, while working side by side with his father during summer, the two had many subjects to discuss. Certainly the question was hanging in the air, whether Kostas one day may take over the bakery, but he is not sure about that. Even though he calls himself a baker – and he is proud saying it – he dreams of another future. Perhaps he could become a pilot, a job that could satisfy his interest in technology and travelling and this would give him the possibility to be based in Europe, even in Greece, to be close to family and friends. But this is just one of the ideas that Kostas is considering. There are still three more years until he finishes highschool. Three whole years, where a lot of ideas and learning may come up. He is curious how this will turn out, because one thing is already reassuring him: he already has a good base.
He can make good bread and after the summer season 2026 he knows that he would even be able to manage the bakery by himself – certainly slower than his father, but the Ikarians would still get their bread, their tiropita and their cinnamon rolls every day.
(Text and photos @Birgit_Urban)