Vrissi

Platia Levidi

Platia Levidi is one of the best Platias in the whole of Greece.It is a rectangular platia surrounded by beautiful trees cafes (cafenia) that sell Greek coffee, sweets, drinks, ouzo, (offcourse) and any appetisers you may desire.

 

There are Greek style eating places (Psistaria) which make traditional style dishes.
There are local shops like chemist, small supermarket hairdreser,electrical,video a bakery which women take their Sunday roasts and pick it up after church .

In the the main platia is a small fountain and in front of it is the famous statue of the Greek hero Striftombolus. He is pointing in the direction in which the Turks were attacking Levidi in 1821.

 

This view of the platia shows the church of St.John with its two bell towers.
On the other side of the round fountain you can see the rows of seats for relaxing, drinking coffee eating sweets and just socialising.
In the summer months it is full of tourist and locals who come from Athens to escape the unbearable heat.
Levidi is about 850m above sea level so after 6pm in the summer you may need a jumper it is a little chilly.

During August 23-26^th there is a three day festival called the Panigiri.The platia is packed with people every night dancing. The greek music and singers are magnificent,the atmosphere is unforgetable.(Levidi even has a disco).Here you really begin to get a taste of the Greek culture and traditions.

In the daytime the surrounding streets are lined with stalls and goods for people to buy, crafts and many memorabilia.
The Platia is alive, people are remenising of old times, about their the old friends and the way of life now and the years gone by.Particularly those who have come from abroad Australia,America,Canada etc,and have`nt seen each other for 30 or 40 years.These reunions are always filled with emotion,pleasure,saddnes joy.
I saw this first hand with my father and mother how they met their friends,neighbors,cousins brothers,sisters after 28 years .

In the above picture there are TWO clickable areas:

1. on the church bell towers or click here
2. at the end of the road in the distance or click here

 

Levidi from a distance

Here is a picture that shows Levidi from a long way with the mountains towering in the backgound

This at the bottom end of Levidi on the outer side.Before water was brought to the households the people would come here to collect their water.They would saddle up the donkeys with barrels and bring their washing to do.I remember coming down here with my mother I had great fun here with the other children playing in the water and continualy scabbing my knees on the rocks.The women had to work very hard washing and lifting barrels of water on the donkeys and finaly making the upward journey back to their homes,and our house was way up the top of Levidi (see below the Vrisi picture)