Samarina in Grevena: The highest Balkans village was covered in snow

Santa’s village is known to be located in Lapland, the famous theme park in Rovaniemi, Finland, which attracts millions of tourists every year at this time. Greece has places, however, that may remind you of Scandinavia.

A typical example is the village of Samarina in Grevena. The reason for the village with the highest altitude in Greece and all the Balkans, which stands at 1,500 metres and when “dressed” in white, has nothing to envy from the “village of Santa Claus”.

The video of Yiannis Stamatakis, which Forecast Weather republishes, is characteristic and depicts the village at sunset under the roof of Smolika. Samarina is in northern Pindos on the eastern slopes of Smolika at an altitude of 1,500 metres.

Samarina, like the other Vlach villages of Pindos, has its own glorious history in the well-known struggles and rebellions. There are several versions for the origin of the name of the village, but the most probable, according to Krystalli and Vakalopoulos, is the version that it is derived from the word “samari”.

The population of Samarina in the summer is about 3,000 inhabitants, with August reaching a record of up to 15,000 inhabitants. The area of ​​Samarina is 110,000 acres, and 70,000 goats, sheep, and cattle graze on its green plains.

The village has eight churches divided into four large districts or parishes: Megali Panagia, Agios Athanasios, Prophet Elias and Mikri Panagia.

Each of these parishes also has its own summer festival, so life in Samarina seems like an endless festival. The highlight, of course, is the three-day celebration of the Great Virgin Mary on August 15-16-17, when all the Samaritans everywhere try to attend the festival on these days.

The Greek folklore song “children of Samarina” is associated is associated with the local volunteers who fought and lost their lives during the Greek war of independence against Turk in 1821 and especially it refers to the Messolonghi events and the heroic “Exodus of its Guards.”