On the slopes of the highest mountain in Corfu, Mount Pantorkrator, is also the oldest known village on the island. Palia Perithia, a 1 hour and 30 minute hikefrom Mount Pantorkrator is the oldest village, which was abandoned in the 1960s.
The people of this abandoned village moved further down to the coast to the village Loustes and Perithia (mostly Perithia). They moved further down as it was closer to civilization and easier to live.
However, no too many years ago in 2012, a foreign couple became very interested in this village and renovated 3 of the houses. Slowly the village is coming alive again with more and more people renovating and even opening up restaurants. Definitely not, as big as it was years ago, with over 130 houses and 8 churches, it is alive in the summer time with many tourists. There are 3 restaurants open in Palia Perithia during the summer and they are known for their meat!
Taverna Evdokia in the square of the village has a 4.9 star rating! It is even open on the weekends in the winter for the locals.
Walking around the village, especially on a Tuesday afternoon in Corfu’s slowest month January was definitely a unique time. With no one insight, there were only the cats roaming around the village waiting for the Taverna owners to come to feed them. Most of the house were abandoned as mentioned before and most had no roofs anymore. Others, were overgrown by nature and a few were built into castles where foreigners now live. I would highly recommend taking a walk around this village if you are at all interested in getting a sense of “old” and “peaceful”, just come in the low season for that. If you don’t mind seeing other people peak season is also good.
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