Three Traditional “Kafeneia” You Should Visit in Pilio

Kefeneio Forlidas, Lavkos

At Forlidas, patrons nonetheless learn newspapers, play conventional Greek card video games or backgammon, and switch their chairs to allow them to see and chat with everybody, even when they’re sitting alone on the marble tables close to the wooden range.

“A café with 240 years of historical past! Since 1785, we’ve by no means closed a single day, apart from one small renovation after which through the pandemic,” says Manolis Forlidas, the proprietor of Greece’s oldest constantly working café, positioned in Lavkos, southern Pilio.

Run by the identical household for seven generations, the café is housed in a historic mansion whose higher ground as soon as served as an inn. In days passed by, Lavkos (now with simply 300 residents) was a vital cease for vacationers going to and from the Sporadic Islands and Volos. Even the well-known author Alexandros Papadiamantis stayed right here; his favourite seat stays, preserved, within the café. Sitting in that very spot, I hearken to Manolis discuss different nice Greek literary figures who handed by, together with Kostis Palamas and Giorgos Seferis, and he shares his considerations about the way forward for conventional cafés in Greece, which he sees as important areas for socializing and storytelling.

He explains that, previously, cafés had a number of roles: Forlidas functioned as a taverna, a barber store, and a butcher store (the outdated meat hooks nonetheless hold from the ceiling). He begins recounting native historical past and lore, pointing to the black-and-white photographs and newspaper clippings adorning the partitions. Right here, Greek espresso continues to be brewed on a conventional gasoline burner, and the café follows strict rural opening hours (07:00-12:00, then 17:00-21:00), making it a real throwback.

Polydroso, Pouri

“If it weren’t for the aircraft tree, we wouldn’t be right here,” says Anna Georgiou, who runs the café-taverna Polydroso along with her companion Dimitris Dagalos within the village of Pouri in northern Pilio. Certainly, when you sit beneath the big aircraft tree overlaying the sq. exterior the café that abuts the Church of Aghios Dimitrios, you gained’t wish to go away both, not with the countless views of the ocean and the plush inexperienced mountain slopes. An equally enchanting ambiance awaits inside, the place the straightforward but charming décor – lace doilies, a couple of picket tables, and a heat wooden range – helps to make everybody really feel like a part of the identical gathering.

Pouri, probably the most distant village in Pilio, is dwelling to about 300 residents. Constructed amphitheatrically on a hillside, it gives breathtaking views of the ocean from nearly each spot. Anna grew up right here, whereas Dimitris used to go to for holidays. Ultimately, they settled in Volos. In 2015, they determined to maneuver to the village for a greater high quality of life. They opened Polydroso, began cultivating apple and olive timber, and commenced rising their very own greens, each for private use and for the café; on their land, they adopted permaculture ideas not as a pattern, however as a lifestyle they’d identified since childhood.

Their home-style cooking, ready over the wooden range, is really distinctive; it’s seasonal, and impressed by nature’s bounty. The menu options dishes equivalent to slow-cooked goat stew; stuffed cabbage rolls with goat mince; wild boar stew with chestnuts; handmade boumbari sausage; native greens; savory pies; and even salted cod served with foraged wild greens. It’s also possible to take pleasure in tsipouro with meze, espresso, and home made desserts. If you happen to’re fortunate, you may come across an impromptu musical efficiency; Anna performs the accordion and sings.

Irthame kai Desame, Aghios Lavrentios

Similar to their café’s title (“We Got here and Tied the Knot”), Katerina Golia and Giannis Koutroulis really discovered their place to be in Aghios Lavrentios, in central Pilio, eight years in the past. Each are initially from Thebes, however Katerina had been dwelling in Athens, working in multinational corporations. Her first step towards a quieter life was transferring again to Thebes. In 2015, the couple visited Pilio for a trip. On the time, they weren’t even contemplating relocating, however two years later, after Giannis made a number of work journeys to the village, the choice felt pure.

“That’s why we wish to say the village discovered us,” they clarify. “It suited us completely, and with all of the back-and-forth visits, we had the time to understand this.” Giannis, who had no farming expertise, ended up working in agriculture, whereas Katerina, who barely knew how one can boil water (as she jokes), took up baking, not simply as a pleasurable passion but additionally as a strategy to relieve the stress she’d carried right here from the town. They opened their café in 2019, and since then, they’ve by no means appeared again. “Not for a second have we regretted it. That is the pure strategy to reside. Right here, we nonetheless go to sleep with the entrance door unlocked.”

We chat of their cozy café, which feels extra like a buddy’s front room: heat picket components, colourful decor, and a relaxed, welcoming ambiance. One nook is crammed with cabinets of native merchandise on the market, together with Katerina’s home made sweets, jams and liqueurs, pasta from Portaria, and herbs from Drakeia. Classical and jazz music performs softly within the background, and the perfume of Pilio herbs being brewed into soothing infusions fills the air.

The café additionally gives home made sweets (orange pie, chocolate mosaic cake, walnut cake, or cherry pie, relying on the season), regionally sourced eggs and freshly baked bread for breakfast, and snacks equivalent to crepes and tortillas to pair with wine from a small vineyard in Thebes. All of this comes with beautiful views of the village sq., the place a grand aircraft tree stands surrounded by historic stone mansions.