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Kimolos (Greek ) is an island in the Aegean Sea, at the south-west part of Cyclades at a distance of 1,6 km north-east of Milos, has 769 inhabitants (2001 Greek Census) and includes administratively the uninhabited islands Polyaigos (literally translated Many-Goats), Agios Georgios and Agios Efstathios (purchased by local ship owner family). It is considered as a middle class, rural island, not included in the tourist hotspots, thus, ferry connection is sometimes of bad quality. The community's land area is 53.251 km², and it reported a population of 769 inhabitants in the 2001 census.
Kimolos women fashion 1794 An older name of Kimolos was Echinousa. Its current name originates from Kimolos, the person who according to ancient Greek tradition was the first to establish on the island. During the Middle Ages it was occupied by Venetians and named Argentiera. It was united with Greece along with the rest of Cyclades after the Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1829.
The capital of the island is Chora or Chorio. The second inhabited place in the island is the port os Psathi, at a distance of 1.5 km from Chora
Castle ruins on Kimolos (the island Milos in the backgorund), 2004, © I.M.F.J. Joukes Residents For more than 150 years, similarly with the rest of the Greek rural areas, it was a poor, agricultural island, until the early 1990s, where the first tourist development began, upgrading the living standard of its residents. Nevertheless, according to the last censuses, its population appears decreasing tensions, having left the island with no more than 600 residents (mostly pensioners) during the winter. The underage population is no more than 100, according to the school records. The most of the working population is involved with the elementary tourist industry of the island (hotels, restaurants) in combination with agriculture activities, mainly during winter. Local government After the municipal/prefectural elections held in October 2006, the new mayor of the island for the period 2007-2010 is Theodoros-Gerasimos Maganiotis, who also publishes the only newspaper of the island, Kimoliaka Nea (Kimolian News). The municipal authority has the title of Community, because it has population under 5,000. Thus, the local forces (municipal workers, equipment etc.) are weaker than those of a Municipality (5,000 people and over), but it retains autonomy in local administration, according to the law. Kimolos has a local Police Department to keep the order. The Kimolos Port Authority is a department of Milos Coast Guard. Transportation * Internal: On the island all vehicles are permitted, but during the summer months, the lack of parking space is the most important problem in populated areas, such as Horio Kimolou and Psathi. Common kinds of fuels are available at the local Fuels Station. There are also public means of transport, such as bus (ticket price: around euro 1)and taxi (price from euro 4 to euro 9 dependent on the route), programming routes to popular beaches. * External: Kimolos belongs to the line of the Western Cyclades and it's connected to nearby islands and Piraeus Port (Athens) via ferry boat all-round year and catamaran ferry during the tourist season. Routes frequency varies with the year's season. During the tourist period, it usually has daily connection to Piraeus and other islands. The ticket price, without special offers, costs about euro 25, by ferry boat (Piraeus-Kimolos: 7h) and euro 36 by catamaran ferry (Piraeus-Kimolos: 4h). Also, transport via Milos is possible, because of the frequent connection of the two islands with local ferry boat. Finally, Kimolos is station for the local connections between Cyclades islands. Division of the municipality
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