On the weekend of July 4–5, Vamvakou once again opened its arms – its square, its alleys, its school, and its courtyards, and welcomed lovely visitors who chose to leave behind the fast pace of everyday life for a while and reconnect with nature, people, tradition, and themselves.
The Vamvakou Experience Festival 2026 featured 14 events over two days, attracting more than 1,400 participants, in a small mountain village on Mount Parnonas that is being revitalized day by day as part of the Vamvakou Revival Initiative, made possible by the exclusive support of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF). Our motto was simple: whatever we experience, stays between us. And indeed, the memories and the entire experience will remain. However, this “between us” turned out to be much greater than we had expected.
So what if the weather had its own plans on Saturday morning? So what if the rain “mixed up” our schedule? With a few minor adjustments, all the events went ahead as planned, and we were all there, in the best of spirits. The activities swept us up in their flow, from gymnastics, somersaults, and handstands with Giorgos Hatziefstathiou and Gymnastic Stars, to Graphic Novel with AI and the Wood Wide Web: the secret language of trees by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC), all the way to the secrets of home brewing and the traditional “trahanopata”. The square was filled with the aromas of Gogo Delogianni’s delicious pasta and “galatopita” recipes, and the roaring laughter brought on by Kostas Maliatsis’s jokes, while the school filled with people of all ages for the most powerful and entertaining sing-along with the wonderful Kaiti Garbi and Dionysis Schinas, who gave it their all on stage!
Sunday dawned with sunshine and welcomed Splash Athens, the little instrument makers, the “Nyfopazaro”, which culminated in an unexpected spectacle starring the village donkey, the Lagkadia stone carvers, and the traditional music performance curated by Lambros Liavas, which brought this beautiful village experience to a perfect close – just as summer in the mountains should be.
It wasn’t just the events and the participation that made this festival what it was. It was the plane tree in the middle of the square, under which spontaneous conversations took place. It was parents watching their children discover something for the first time. It was people who hadn’t heard of Vamvakou before, and who left promising they’d come back.
And when we said, “Whatever we experience, stays between us,” we didn’t mean it would remain a secret. We meant an experience that brings us closer and binds us together. And every time someone becomes part of this “between us,” the circle opens up, grows, and embraces.
Thank you for being there, with or without rain. We’ll be waiting to see you again in Vamvakou!
Photocredits: Pelagia Karanikola & Nikos Karanikolas