The corniche road that winds along Corfu’s north-eastern coast takes me past forested coves and dreamy beaches that draw thousands of tourists each year. But while most visitors base themselves in one of the numerous coastal resorts, I follow a lonely and sinuous road up into the mountains. My destination is Old Perithia – an atmospheric former ghost village – and Mark and Saskia Hendriksen, the couple who have helped revive it and turn it into one of Corfu’s most spellbinding attractions.
As I climb higher, the air cools, the olive trees turn to pines and I wonder whether I have taken a wrong turn, until suddenly the village appears, as if hidden until the final moment. “Of course that’s intentional,” says Mark Hendriksen as I meet him by the entrance. “The village was built in such a way as to see but not be seen,” he adds.
With houses dating from the 14th century, Old Perithia is Corfu’s most ancient village. Built to be safe from pirate attacks, it’s near the top of the island’s highest peak, Mount Pantokrator, surrounded by dense forest and with views over the Ionian Sea towards Albania. And yet for decades this was a ghost village, abandoned in the 1960s when tourism hit Corfu and villagers sought their fortunes down by the coast.
“The irony is that tourism is what originally killed Old Perithia,” says Mark, “and now tourism is bringing the village back to life.”
When Mark, a publisher from London, and Saskia, who is Dutch, first visited Old Perithia in 2009, it was a beautiful but abandoned relic of a bygone age. But they fell in love and devoted themselves to restoring the village, seeing its potential as a haven for visitors turned off by Corfu’s packed and gaudy coastal resorts.
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The couple began by restoring an elaborate complex of connected properties into the Merchant’s House, a luxurious B&B with six suites. “We thought that this one restoration might serve as a catalyst,” says Mark. “If we could show that there was opportunity here, it might entice back the old villagers.” Gradually tourists started arriving, intrigued by the project and seeking peace and quiet in the hillsides. And as interest in the project grew, the original inhabitants of Old Perithia also began to return.
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“I never thought I would be back,” said Nikos, who was born in Old Perithia and remembers long mule rides as a child from the village to the coast. Now he runs Ognistra, one of five tavernas in the village. “The restoration project has brought hope, not just to the village, but to the island,” he adds.
Read more: The Guardian
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