Taygetus, rugged and stormy at its highest elevations, softens as it descends toward Tainaron. Its first southeastern slopes, stretching down from the Monastery of Panagia Giatrissa, are steep and difficult, yet full of naturally occurring firs, chestnut trees, strawberry trees and heather that attract bees.
Farther south come successive hills, with unique olive groves laid out on terraces, known locally as ‘loures’, built by hand over the centuries to hold back the soil. Scattered among them are vineyards, fig trees, pear trees, apple trees, blackberries, wild dandelions, as well as ‘ovries’ and asparagus, the produce of spring.
The landscape is made up of gorges, caves, streams, countless springs of drinking water and the Smynos River, mentioned by Pausanias, whose banks are renowned for their flavorful oranges.
Melissa, Kokkina Louria, Agios Nikolaos, Selegoudi and Kastania are the villages that define this fertile zone. Across from them stand Kotsatina (Spartia), Arna, Tseria (Agia Marina), Palaiovrysi, Lemonia, Petrina, Prosilio and, at the Smynos River’s exit toward the Gythio plain, Archontiko.
The Harpies and the father of Theodoros Kolokotronis
These are historic communities steeped in myths and realities that nourished generations of modern Greeks. Here, the Harpies were honored, the female-shaped mythical birds of prey that symbolized the violent northern winds, while the same area is home to numerous distinctive Byzantine churches built among the olive groves.
The persecuted-by-the-Turks Konstantis Kolokotronis, father of Theodoros, found refuge in the tower of Panagiotaros Venetsanakos in Kastania. In Petrina, the oldest virgin olive oil cooperative was founded in 1915, while in Arna, during the interwar years, walnut prices were determined at public auctions.
During the postwar decades, the area managed to overcome the passions and hatreds of the Occupation and Civil War and lived through several decades of hard and painful efforts by its humble inhabitants to achieve prosperity and progress.
The battered postwar generations worked hard, preserving and increasing the wealth of the area. Its olive oil remained famous because the olives are taken to the oil presses on the same day, just a few hours after being harvested, before they oxidize. Figs also remained a major crop for several decades.
Their children, however, followed the path of urbanization. Most went on to study, becoming doctors, lawyers, engineers and teachers, and abandoned their villages, with many leaving the country itself, as happened across almost all of Greece.
The first wave of abandonment
The signs of abandonment and decline began appearing as early as the 1980s. That first wave of population decline and deterioration was partly offset by the mass arrival of immigrants of Albanian origin in the early 1990s. The olive groves were once again carefully cultivated, houses were repaired and the villages were preserved.
Thirty-five years later, immigrants from the neighboring country had also evolved and become urbanized. They changed jobs, filled gaps in the construction sector, moved toward more profitable tourism activities, and many sought better opportunities and lives elsewhere in Europe.
Today, this particular zone, like most of the Greek countryside, is experiencing a second wave of population decline and economic retreat. The population is aging dangerously.
In the aforementioned villages of southeastern Taygetos, permanent residents now rarely exceed 50 in each village. Their average age is above 60 to 65. The number of young families with children who live permanently in these villages and make their living from activities connected to this vast olive-growing zone, covering thousands of acres, can now be counted on one hand.
There is a widespread belief that, as time passes and current trends of population decline continue, the olive groves will run wild, production will decline and a rare reserve of plant wealth will be at risk of disappearing.
Along with it, the area’s residential heritage will also be at risk. Architecturally, it is something to be admired, following the traditional style of Byzantine stone-built two-story houses with arches and adjoining animal shelters, which have now been converted into cool bedrooms for the hot afternoon hours.
Not to mention the area’s cultural heritage, whose roots go back to the era of the Free Laconians.
“Resurrection” only in August
The truth is that every August, the villages come back to life. The younger generations — the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the postwar farmers — arrive en masse in the days around the Feast of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary on August 15. Houses are opened, squares fill up, village festivals attract large crowds, and dances and songs continue until dawn.
The August gatherings, organized through initiatives by local associations, are large-scale affairs. They demonstrate a belief in the value of these places and reveal existential anxieties. Customs, traditions and ancient games are revived, from ‘amades’ and ‘ennia petra’ to ‘mila’. Local sweets are prepared, awakening memories and interest.
More recently, private, individual initiatives aimed at reviving the villages and showcasing their accumulated wealth have also been observed. Carefully restored houses, small accommodation units and modest but attractive cafés are being brought back to life, creating the sense that some people, even if acting individually, believe in the value of places threatened by abandonment.
They may not have the appeal of tourist destinations, but they retain productive and other advantages that, if supported, could offer opportunities for their revival.
The problem of abandonment, productive decline and population shrinkage does not concern this particular zone alone. It can be found throughout the Greek countryside.
At the beginning of the new millennium, an initiative to highlight historic traditional communities and settlements enabled, with minimal resources, the residential revival and economic reconstruction of the villages of Pelion, the Zagorochoria, Nymfaio and others.
A similar initiative, combined with incentives for relocation and the promotion of local products and productive potential, could reverse current trends.
And the government?
We do not know how much the government is concerned with the problem facing the countryside or how willing it is to take action by directing even limited resources toward this effort.
It would be a shame to leave it to its fate, risking the loss of the triple reserve of plant, residential and cultural capital held by Greece’s communities.
