Greek Islands

Skalochori Village

Skalochori Village Belfry

Welcome to Skalochori!

Skalochori Village belongs to Kozani Prefecture, but it is much nearer to Kastoria than to Kozani itself. It is a most beautiful village with a tradition of producing school teachers! During the years, young people coming from this village have shown an interest to become teachers of all grades. It is actually believed that the name of the village, Skalochori, is short from Daskalochori, meaning in Greek "The Teachers' Village." Closer study of the matter reveils that the name derives from "skala", meaning staircase, and it probably reflects the site on which Skalochori is built, on an escalated hillside.

As it is true for the majority of Greek villages, Skalochori, too, suffers from a decline of the number of its permanent residents; most of its people, though, have renovated their family homes and do come back to spend part of their summer vacations here and participate in the “Panegyri” (general feasting activities) that is held annually here on July 27th.

The village is built around a hill, with Aghia Paraskevi church and a cemetery on its top. It has a fantastic view over the forest and a very interesting Cultural Museum, housed in the old Elementary School building of the village, containing traditional farming tools, small furniture, embroideries, woven handmade rugs, old photos of the village and its people, traditional weaving instruments, etc., all offered by the inhabitants of the village. Although there are no hotels and rooms to let in the village, there is a community owned two-room hostel in the village and many fantastic traditional guest houses in the vicinity.

One can come to the village after having visited the petrified forest in Nostimo Village (next to Scalochori) and its very interesting Museum with exhibits from the petrified forest. Furthermore, one could go for a mushroom collection excursion, guided by mushroom experts, who are permanent residents of the village. Driving around the area, especially during early winter or spring, please have your cameras at hand: there are brown bears around, not as fierce as the Grizzlies, but nevertheless deserving of your respect, especially if they are mothers of cubs. They would never attack a car!