Eleftheres - your holiday village
Eleftheres has only 2000 inhabitants, but it's still one of the most lively villages in this area. Along the main street that cuts through the village are grocery stores, coffee shops, a bar, butchers, bakers, pharmacy, church and school. Even on an ordinary weekday night you'll find villagers strolling the main street or enjoying a cup of Greek coffee in one of the many traditional Greek kafeneia.
But despite our lively main street, there's still a strong sense of laid back laziness in Eleftheres. No one seems to be really busy and everyone seems to take their time, whether it's shopping, drinking coffee - or as my neighbor Maria does on the picture here - showing me how to clean artichokes.
Eleftheres is situated only three kilometers above the coast.
But here in Eleftheres we enjoy our peace and quiet. Return from Eleftheres to Kairos main page
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She's just picked a bag full from my garden, where they grow more or less wild, and promises me to demonstrate to me how to cook them the Greek way.
Eleftheres is one of the oldest villages in the area. Some 1000 years ago it had a population of 17 000 and 21 churches. But then came the Turkish occupation, and many of the inhabitants fled the suppressing regime. Population went down drastically and only raised again with the immigration of ethnic Greeks from Asia Minor to this area after the first world war. The first houses built by these new inhabitants is what we today's refer to as the old town of Eleftheres.
Today most of the inhabitants of Eleftheres work as farmers. The major products are grapes, kiwi and cherries, and olives. The grapes are both used for wine and for the local specialty tsipouro, a drink that resembles ouzo and that is served with food.
The seaside villages in our municipality, Iraklitsa and Peramos, are popular and typical Greek holiday resorts, with tavernas, bars and coffee shops lining the beach front.
