Spring is here for good, nature is fully awaken and it won't be long before we start swimming at the sea and enjoy the virtues of summer. But before I start barraging you with summerish posts, I wanted to take some time to think my friends in the south hemisphere, the ones that are chopping firewood like @riverflows or planting their winter crops like @buckaroobaby, the ones that are lost in the fantasy world that they are creating with their own words like @kaelci or birdwatching by the sea like @fermentedphil and all the others that are preparing for a harsh or less harsh winter ahead.

This post is dedicated to them, a tribute to the southhemispherians (I know this is not a word, I just made it up but I like the sound of it 😄 ) and the winter to come, in their part of the world!

So I took a leap in time and I am presenting you not one, but two mountainous villages that I visited in the middle of autumn a few years back! They are located at Evrytania Region in central Greece, an area famous for its abundant nature and breathtaking sceneries!

Klafsi

Klafsi is located 9 km far from the city of Karpenisi. The name of village, meaning “tears”, emanated from the teardrops that were poured by the residents that had probably remained after the terrible destruction, from Galls of Vrenos in 279 BC. Nowadays, Klafsi gives reasons only for smiles and joy with traditional taverns and hotels for relaxing holidays.
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I wandered through the streets of the village without knowing its sad history. Everything looked so calm and peaceful. The corn drying under the sun, the yellow leaves of the trees, the serenity of the scenery, they all illustrated an image of an undisturbed and tranquil life.

The wounds of the past are closed and apart from the name of the village, there is nothing left to remind the atrocities of the past. But then again, 2.300 years is a long time and mankind has proven, more than once, that can easily forget even its recent history.

Megalo Xorio

Megalo Chorio is the main village of the area and is located 14 km south of Karpenissi. Nested on the slopes of Mount Kaliakouda, it is amphitheatrically built. Leave your car on the outskirts of the village and follow the trail on foot.
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Megalo Xorio means Big Village in Greek. I have already told you how ironic that name sounded to me in this post but I haven't show you how beautiful it is! Again the autumn colours were dominating the majestic scenery and the village was just a tiny dot in the wildness of the mountain.

I am often thinking, when I visit villages like that, how close the life of the original settlers was, to what we now call, eco-community. And how much effort and quest is now necessary in order to re-create something that was made out of the need to survive. All that knowledge that was obvious but now is lost and we have to struggle searching for it!

Tourism has saved many of those villages from getting completely abandoned and falling apart, which is great, but I can't help wondering, how much better it would have been if they could be transformed in modern eco-communities with people yearn to live in alignment with nature and at the same time with the knowledge and the morals of the 21st century in their luggage!