Ano Sotiritsa

Kapista its old name, now Ano Sotiritsa, a dead village ideal for retirees in a wonderful forest on the outskirts of Kissavos at an altitude of 325 meters and a distance from the beach only 6 km. Kapista, a name probably Slavic meaning country chapel and Sotiritsa probably from the Byzantine Church of Christ the Savior that exists further north. Finds in the area show that in the place of the Church there was a Late Byzantine monastery.

The first residents were seven families who came two centuries ago as oak loggers. Then a cooperative of Kapista loggers was formed and they expanded, in parallel, to livestock farming, viticulture, olives and silkworms.

The area was a manor house, which was expropriated in 1920. And in 1931, the distribution took place and lots were granted to the landowners’ association, after bloody struggles, first against the pasha and then against the manor house owner Alexandros Zoulias. In the 1970s, the village was slowly abandoned and the residents emigrated. Most of them went down to the beach and built the settlement of Kato Sotiritsa.

Chapels, early Christian findings, cobblestone alleys and many restored houses give the village a traditional atmosphere that shows the love of the people to preserve and keep the aroma of the village of their parents.

Just outside the village, on our walk we will come across the small waterfall of Sotiritsa, an oasis of coolness and vegetation, and in a short time we will be able to visit the old school that will become a herbal laboratory, and as soon as we get tired, the taverns with amazing food and snacks await us.