Olympos village

When you decide to visit this village, located practically in the most northern and mountainous part of the island of Karparhos, you will have the impression of having been catapulted into a bygone era and very distant from the present day. The reasons are their archaic language, the music, the uses, the customs, the architectural style and the particular furnishing of the houses.

Until 1980, the road linking Olympos to the rest of the island was impracticable and communications with the rest of Karpathos took place mainly by sea, from the port of Diafani. After 1990, the improvement of the road network took place and this fact has greatly helped the tourism development of the area, which has since grown more and more. Due to its particular architectural beauty, Olympos has been declared the historical seat of the new Municipality of Karpathos.

The village of Olympos is nicknamed the "Village of women" for their numerical majority and because once upon a time, men were almost never in the village to live everyday life with their respective wives, but they often went to battle against pirates or at work. In fact, contrary to the well-known Mount Olympus, the name of the town is female and is also known as "Elymbos".

Olympos is a kind of miniature open-air museum. Costumed women, the many souvenir shops and their dialect remember a real visit to a folklore museum, to remember who they were and not to forget their customs and traditions. It is truly worth visiting this picturesque village.

If you are lucky you can attend the various local celebrations and you will notice how the inhabitants of Olympos put the celebrations into practice: traditional music, local songs and dances accompany any party, even weddings and baptisms. Every gathering where we gather often turns into a spontaneous and genuine party that lasts until dawn. You will also know the traditional musical instruments of Karpathos that accompany every event to date; these are the local 3-string lyre, the bagpipe (ancient name "askavlos") and the lute. If you come to visit her around August you could participate in the feast of Our Lady on 15/08, so that you can fully understand what we are talking about.

The picturesque village of Olympos is an enchanting place. The amphitheater construction at the foot of Mount Prophet Elia, at 250 meters above sea level, guarantees all the houses sunlight, but the most striking thing of all is that these houses, always due to the type of construction, seem suspended in the air, viewed from various perspectives. To say the least fascinating and suggestive!

A curiosity is that in Olympos every family still has, as in remote times, its mill and its church. If you happen to meet some local try to ask him! In fact, windmills are another characteristic aspect of the village. Olympos has almost 75 mills left, some are in excellent condition and work perfectly and those that are not working are simply a delight for our eyes, ready to be photographed.

How to reach the village of Olympos?

Getting there is quite simple because of the only road available and without the possibility of getting wrong. Of course it takes a little patience because we are 42 km from Pigadia in a continuous ascent and descent and curves that seem to never end, but the view is amazing, so it is certainly worth it!