Located in the Kastoria region in central Macedonia in northern Greece, Gavros isn't alone. Other abandoned villages include Korestia, Kranionas and Mavrokampos while the towns of Agios Antonios, Makrochori and Melas have a similar look.
Gavros is situated a mere 25 km from Kastoria. Some of the old houses date back to the 18th century. Although dilapidated, their red baked clay, mud and straw construction with their crumbling tiled roofs are relics of long past prosperity. Yards and lanes overgrown with weeds and wildflowers popping into the homes - nature reclaiming the space abandoned by humans. The structures that still stand show a sort of defiant character refusing to succumb. Some of the buildings are used to store fodder and only the St. Nikolaos church has been maintained.
The mother tongue of Gavros's inhabitants was the Slavic language. The village's original Slavic name was Gabreš/Габреш. Gavros's population in 1912 was 650 persons. The village was depopulated during the Greek Civil War in 1948-1949. Most of the inhabitants sided with the rebels and fled to Yugoslavia and other East European Communist Countries following the defeat. The rest had the fate of the people of the Greek rural areas. They were forcibly displaced by the army to the cities so that they could not supply the rebel army and there they were left to fend for themselves. Soon after the end of the Civil War a new settlement was built a few kilometers to the east and the few remaining native residents of Gavros were re-settled there together with refugees from Asia Minor.
I visited Gavros 11 years ago. Not much has changed since my last visit. Then and now no one there to greet me. The same red glow of the red brick houses in the fading light of the day. The same echo of absence and desolation. The wild stray dogs ready to chase you away from their kingdom. And the feeling of sadness for the lives left behind and forgotten.
Gavros, Kastoria
6-9-2022
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