Slow Living in a Greek Mountain Village
We spent 5 days in the Pelion region, specifically, the village of Lafkos. The Pelion region is more frequented by domestic Greek tourists, equivalent to the cottage country in Ontario. It is less well-known to international tourists. In comparison, northern Pelion, near Tsagkarada (with lush green forest and boutique villas), is more popular than the south (mostly covered with arid olive farms). It is a pure coincidence that I chose Lafkos to be the base. Since I knew we would have a car, I avoided the expensive villas in the north, and found our guesthouse that met our travel need with a spectacular sunset view over the Pagasetic Gulf!
Before arriving, it was hard to picture what Lafkos would actually be like. On Google Maps, it just looked like a dense, tangled cluster of houses separated by narrow alleyways. But once we arrived, the logic of the village revealed itself.
Lafkos sits completely tucked away off the main road, and the paths inside the village are entirely pedestrian. Like most traditional Greek villages, life anchors around a central square shaded by plane trees, framed by the local church, small shops, and open-air tavernas. We even had the chance to patronize the oldest continuously operating coffee shop in Greece—serving locals in that exact square since 1785!
There are no attractions in this region from a traditional tourism sense. I can understand why many tourists wouldn't give it a second look. In fact, if you drove by the village on the main road, you probably wouldn't even notice it. Normally, the recommended activities are beach-going and hiking along old stone donkey trails (kalderimia). Since the weather was really hot, hiking was not an option, so we would go to our favourite beach, Mikro, everyday to cool off, but for the rest of the time, we just hung out at the village like the locals. We experienced the slow living in Greek style with the fresh bakery from local bakery and sipping coffee at square like the local elderlies, picking up necessities from the only store (mini market) in the village, and waving at the mobile vendor (who drive village to village to sell veggies and fruits).
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