Stavros

PLEASE BE MINDFUL OF YOUR PARKING AS THERE IS A LOCAL BUS THAT COMES TO THE VILLAGE AND TURNS ROUND. The Byzantine village of Stavros lies 220 metres above sea level and approximately 12km south of
Corfu town and has a population of around 450. As you pass the impressive large white church on
your right, you will arrive at the main street where there is a taverna and an old British red telephone
box. The panigiri here is on the 15th August and on the evening before there is a procession around
the village and afterwards plates of macaroni are offered, to all that take part. There is also the festival
of the Holy Spirit which falls on 24th June.
Mount Stavros stands above the village at 435 metres and Stavros takes its name from the Greek word
for cross. It is believed that warning cloth flags were hung from the wooden cross, whenever pirates
were seen approaching the coast. Others believe that the wooden cross was used as a deterrent
towards pirate invasions by signalling to the pirates that they would be punished by crucifixion, if
they attempted to attack the villagers.
Around 1700 a village built at the foot of a mountain was completely destroyed by pirates and its
inhabitants were forced to move up the hill. The village which was the first settlement in the Stavros
area was called Gouloumata. It is believed that it was settled by a community from the island of
Cephalonia. When the pirates came into sight the villagers hid themselves in a cave, on a steep slope
on the mountain. The pirates followed them and tried to get into the cave but as the slope was very
steep and the entrance of the cave was very narrow they were forced to climb up one at the time and
the villagers were able to kill them as they attempted to reach the cave. The pirates then decided to
use gun powder barrels to blow up the cave. There are still big rocks scattered near the entrance of
the cave which seems to confirm the legend. The cave today is called the burnt cave “kammeni grava”. All this information was kindly supplied from the books written by Steve Ford and the money raised from sales of these goes to Corfu Charities. Please use the link below to download your own copy and find more information on all the villages listed and more from Steve