Old Perithia, the village the mountain kept

High on the northern flank of Mount Pantokrator, Old Perithia is a village of stone that its people slowly left during the 20th century. Houses stand roofless among the fig trees, and a few have been restored. A handful of tavernas serve lunch on the square, and in the quiet you can hear the bells of goats on the slopes above. It is the best place on the island to feel how the villagers lived before the coast filled with visitors.