Karydaki, the vanished village
‘Karydaki’ used to be a village in the area that is nowadays known as the commune of Vlatos. This village no longer exists in the map and it is now a rural location. The area of the commune of Vlatos, is one of the most productive of ‘enia choria’ or else ‘nine villages’. It captures a considerably large area of land, rich in olive trees, inside which the neighborhoods of the village are sparsely spread. The present story does not refer to the village of Vlatos as a whole, but to the forgotten village, ‘Karydaki’, which in English means ‘a small walnut’.
What the village was named after, I have not heard of. There are no walnut trees in the area, neither have older people told us that there used to be. ‘Karydaki’ is located towards the North. It is an area surrounded by hills and low mountains. Its overall shape, at a glance, looks like a walnut shell. Perhaps it is this distinctive shape that gave the village its name. The surrounding low mountains are rich in vegetation, full of dense arbutus forests. Its low-lying area ( the flat part) is full of olive trees that are considered to be of the best quality in Vlatos in a very convenient location, being protected by all kinds of weather.
‘Karydaki’ used to be a small beautiful village with three neighborhoods. Its residents used to make ends meet with income coming from the olive oil and livestock farming. Now, ‘Karydaki, as a village, does not exist. It is an area that belongs to the people of Vlatos.