A tribute to the southhemispherians
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!
This post is also my contribution to #SublimeSunday inspired by @c0ff33a and #BeautifulSunday initiated by @ace108.
Have a great week ahead, either springlike or autumnal :)
Thank you for reading and if you want to know more about me you can check out my introduction post.
Commenting, upvoting and rebloging are highly appreciated!
Would you look at that corn! Nice shots Stef!
Thank you Ruben, glad you like them :)
Thank you very much for your support!
The village is perfect! I would live there for sure.
Maybe you should try :)
Thank you for stopping by!
@tipu curate
Thanks a lot for your support!
What beautiful colours, they are colours that I don't normally see in nature, I live in the northern hemisphere, in the tropics and here the autumn season is almost non-existent, so we only have summer and winter. Those yellow and orange colours are beautiful, and I loved the bushes. Very beautiful landscape. Lovely place.
Of course, Cuba is much souther than Greece. I am sure you also have some beautiful landscapes though!
Thank you for stopping by Yordis, I am glad you enjoyed the pictures :)
Oh thank you for letting me wander through this beautiful "big village". It is true that people cannot remember (or learn) from history
Yes, learning from history turned out to be something too hard for us humans!
Thank you for accepting my call and stopped by :)
Sublime indeed.
We keep searching for the past ways of doing things don't we? Things that were just survival skills. We aren't surviving so well in the modern world I guess, so old, slow skills seem sooo much better.
It's very cold as I wake up but we have had four days of around 20 degrees. Unusual for this time of year. The autumn colours on the trees are beautiful still. Winters knocking but not quite fully here yet.
Stunning photos. I'll need a whole list of places to visit from you when we finally get to Greece!
Love it. Australians often called antipodean but don't know how that applies to other southhemispherians!
When you are roasting mid summer I will send you some cold and rain.
Haha that would be great and much needed :)
I try not to look at it nostalgically and I am definitely not idealising those times, people were poor, uneducated and lacking basic services but in many ways it was so much better than the urban dystopia that we are building globally!
Cheers!
I have to admit that the picture of the yellow corn drying in the sun was the first thing that caught my attention, I started reading it convinced that it would be an ode to agriculture, to the Mayan culture or something related to the Popol Vuh (sacred book of the Mayan culture).
Saving, of course, all the agrarian history of that part of Greece, I never imagined that while reading I would like the essence of the publication so much.
I really enjoyed the very touching way you approached your travel experience in these two beautiful places.
The photos are wonderful, to the point that they invite you to visit the place in a very special way.
From my humble point of view this publication is a true and heartfelt tribute to the people of southhemispherians, that although the word does not exist, it is a deserved honor.
Thank you so much dear @fotostef for sharing this magical experience through these paradisiacal Greek lands.
Thank you very much @bravofenix for taking the time to actually read my post and for your kind words! I rarely receive so thoughtful comments :)
Cheers from Greece!
It is a very good publication, instructive and motivating.
Looks like lots of traditional houses there.
You got that right!
Thank you for stopping by @ace108 :)
You're welcome
looks like a wonderfull place to get lost with a camera :)
It is indeed!
Thank you for stopping by @stresskiller :)
aren't people afraid to live on such a hill??😮😮
a village name means "tears"...oh...I would like to live in such a nice place but then I would rename the village to "smiles":)
It is not the most hospitable place but I have seen villages in most intimidating locations, like the crater of an active volcano!
Smiles is a nice name too :)
Oh wow, these places look magnificent, @fotostef. I am sorry for only responding now, so so very late! But they look stunning.
The winter is upon us and the cold has been gnawing at my bones. I am sure that the summer is revealing herself where you are living. Embrace it and enjoy it for us who are feeling the cold!
Thank you very much!
No need to apologise, we are only humans :)