Ano Chora built its October on chestnuts. Karya could build a lathouria festival

Ano Chora, a mountain village in Nafpaktia, gives visitors a dated reason to come in autumn: its chestnut and tsipouro festival in mid-October. Karya, in the hills of Lefkada, grows lathouria, a local pulse, and has the walking routes for a comparable cool-season festival. What it lacks is the dated occasion and the offer built around it.

Ano Chora turns mid-October into an occasion

The Municipality of Nafpaktia dates the chestnut and tsipouro festival to mid-October: tsipouro is distilled on the spot, chestnuts are roasted, and the tables carry baklava, ravani, kourabiedes, spoon sweets and local pies.

Houses rise in tiers on a fir-covered slope of Mount Korakas at 1,050 m, among stone lanes, traditional cafes, guesthouses and hotels.

Walking fills the hours between meals. The Oineas path is a circular walk of 1 hour 45 minutes between Ano Chora and Kato Chora. The Hercules path runs through a gorge from Ampelakiotissa and takes 2 hours 40 minutes.

Local history is on show too. Beside the church of Agia Paraskevi stands Karnavalos, the old bus that ran the difficult Nafpaktos to Ano Chora and Kato Chora route until 1983.

Karya already has the village and the produce

Karya lies at 500 m, 14 km (about 20 minutes’ drive) from Lefkada Town, and has about 1,000 inhabitants.

Its square has century-old plane trees, traditional cafes and taverns. The church of Agios Spyridon, with its late-19th-century bell tower, stands at the centre.

The Monastery of St John the Baptist, built in 1605 in the meadow below the village, preserves frescoes and a carved wooden templon. The private Folklore Museum and the village’s lace-making tradition give a visitor something to see indoors on a wet day.

The meadow of Karya, on the south side of the village, grows lathouria, chickpeas, peas, olives and vines. Lathouria is the Lefkada name for lathyri, a Lathyrus pulse. Next door, Eglouvi grows lentils on the Agios Donatos plateau, registered by the EU as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). In spring and late autumn the plateau is green and full of wild flowers.

A lathouria weekend in Karya: a proposal

A proposed weekend would combine the village’s heritage with the fields between Karya and Eglouvi, and part of it already exists. Follow Lefkada sells a 4-hour guided hike from Eglouvi over Profitis Ilias to Karya, from 67 euros per person. It includes the Folklore Museum and a lunch of local products and spirits.

On foot, the route from Karya over the 1,009 m summit of Profitis Ilias to Eglouvi is 6.5 km; an easier monopati between the two villages is 4.4 km.

What the weekend would add is a dated occasion: a lathouria festival in the cool months, built the way Ano Chora built its October around chestnuts and tsipouro. On that date the offer would need open rooms, a set meal built on lathouria and Eglouvi lentils, and an open museum.

What a trial would need

A trial would depend on practical basics more than on new attractions. Buses from Lefkada Town to Karya and Eglouvi are infrequent, so a weekend offer would need a transfer. Karya has tavernas and accommodation; Eglouvi has tavernas and only limited beds.

National policy now favours mountain tourism outside the peak season. At a mountain-tourism conference in Platanos on 16 October 2026, Deputy Minister of Tourism Anna Karamanli said mountain destinations offer far more than skiing: outdoor activity, culture, religious tourism and local food. She cited the TAG GREECE initiative for gastronomy and agritourism, and the Tourism for All programme for domestic travel outside the peak season.

Nafpaktia is one of five destinations studied for sustainable tourism development under the White Paper 2030 to 2035. Lefkada is not on that list, so a Karya trial would be a local initiative, outside any national programme.

The Nafpaktia example shows that a mountain village can fill a weekend in October when the date is fixed and the food is the reason to travel. Karya has the plane-tree square, the monastery, the meadow crops and the walk to the lentil plateau. A trial would need a date, open rooms, a transfer from town and a table built on the lathouria that grow below the village.

Featured photograph: Ano Chora, Nafpaktia, 12 September 2022. Photograph: FilipposTrains, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Resized and compressed.

Extended Read

Karya and Englouvi Outside Summer continues the question of visiting Lefkada’s interior beyond the beach season.

Further Reading

Visit Greece: a guide to mountainous Nafpaktia; Municipality of Lefkada: Karya.

References

• Municipality of Nafpaktia: Ano Chora, village and autumn chestnut and tsipouro festival
• Visit Greece: mountainous Nafpaktia, villages, paths and the Karnavalos bus
• Ministry of Tourism: Platanos mountain-tourism conference, 16 October 2026
• Municipality of Lefkada: Karya
• Lefkada Trails: Eglouvi to Agios Donatos and the lentil fields loop
• Lefkada Trails: Karya to Eglouvi over Profitis Ilias
• Lefkada Trails: Eglouvi to Karya monopati
• Dictionary of the Lefkada dialect: lathouria (lathyri)
• Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/2893: Faki Eglouvis registered as a PDO
• Follow Lefkada: Fields of Flavor, Eglouvi lentil land guided hike