# Chasing the Matriarchy on a Remote Greek Island > A journey to remote Karpathos: we explore the matriarchal traditions and the unique culture preserved deep in the Greek islands. - URL: https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/karpatos-ostriv-matriarkhatu-v-hretsii-podorozh-do-tradytsii-ta-unikalnoi-kultury-viddalenoho-hretskoho-ostrova/ - Language: en - Published: 2024-01-23 - Categories: Culture, Historic Sites, Beaches, Tours, Greece, Food & Drinks --- Whitewashed and pastel buildings perched on rocky hillsides rise above clear blue water. The sun sets in breathtaking fashion. The moon over Karpathos is so full and bright that adventurous traveler Katie Sell mistook it for a lamp or a giant floodlight the first time she saw it. In many ways Karpathos looks like other Greek islands you have seen in photos or in person, and Sell, a freelance writer and editor from Montreal, has just arrived on this remote island for the second time in less than two years. Though it is only an hour's flight from Athens, Karpathos feels like the edge of the world, especially in the quiet mountainous northern region of Olympos during the off season. Pigadia, the island's main town, is where things are relatively lively, and although that is where Sell is staying, she does not plan to spend most of her time there. ![](/storage/image/prev/july-article-image-4-1-2024.jpg) In Olympos, a village in the northern part of the island, there are traces of a matriarchy, and it is this unusual, little-known structure that Sell wants to understand. Olympos, picturesque and beautiful as it is, is not really a tourist attraction, at least not yet. Karpathos, though ringed by beaches on all sides, is nothing like the other bustling Greek islands with their five-star luxury hotels and trendy restaurants draped in white tablecloths, or their bars where famous DJs play all night long. Then again, Sell is nothing like most travelers. "There aren't many places in the world that call themselves a matriarchy... it feels like a rare chance to see something different from what I'm used to," Sell says. ## From the Bakery to the Brick Oven ![](/storage/image/prev/july-article-image-4-2-2024.jpg) One of the first stops on Sell's journey across Karpathos is Avlona, a small residential and farming settlement beyond Olympos. The road is long and winding, dangerous in spots where big rocks have tumbled onto the asphalt. It is not for the faint of heart, or for anyone prone to motion sickness. In Avlona there is no internet, no bakery-shop or grocery store where you can pick up supplies. Instead there is the smoldering outdoor brick oven of Anna Lentaki. Modest houses overlooking lush green farmland dot the hillside above Lentaki's home, from which a sweet-smelling smoke rises. Lentaki will supply most of the bread for the upcoming Greek Independence Day ceremony (also the Feast of the Annunciation in the Greek Orthodox Church) on March 25, and her worn, cracked hands tell you she has been doing this for a long time, or, more precisely, her whole life. "Who taught you?" Sell asks Lentaki, as the two women stand beside the hot brick oven, Lentaki never losing her focus for a second on how many loaves are in the oven, when they need to be turned (it is hotter at the back of the deep, cave-like space) and when to pull out the finished loaves with a giant spatula-like tool. Lentaki's bread is a big deal, but so are her macaroons, and every recipe, she explains, was passed down to her by the women in her family. In turn, Lentaki has taught her daughters and granddaughters. She is a pro, and Sell, a novice cook who at home would buy her bread and pasta at the grocery store, is thrilled to find herself on this side of it. She helps score the soft dough before firmly sliding it into the oven, and later pulls the pasta dough into macaroni-like shapes in preparation for their hot salted-water bath. Sell could just as easily have eaten in town at one of the family-run spots along the port in Pigadia, the more obvious choice for a tourist in town during this eerily quiet time of year. ![](/storage/image/prev/july-article-image-4-3-2024.jpg) But Sell insists: she wants to learn and gain a new perspective, and she knows that will not happen while dining at a local restaurant or buying kitschy souvenir magnets or T-shirts. The stomach-churning trip to Avlona and Olympos in the north of the island is a necessary part of the journey, however grueling it may be. Sitting with Lentaki over a generous bowl of freshly made macaroons, simply seasoned with butter, fried onion and a little cheese, Sell has not made much headway in uncovering the matriarchy of these parts, but she has, at the very least, met Anna, the matriarch of this local family, and learned what moves her through her days in this remote land. ## Tradition and Tourism ![](/storage/image/prev/july-article-image-4-4-2024.jpg) You could say Sell's disillusionment with patriarchy is what led her to Olympos. This community is "known as a place where women are in charge," Sell says, adding: "I don't know to what extent that plays out these days." Even so, she is curious to see how the roles between the men and women of this remote, sometimes harsh land differ from the traditional patriarchal society she is used to. Especially now, when "the current cultural moment in North America and around the world is doing some reckoning with certain symptoms of, perhaps, a patriarchal society." A student of classical history, Sell points to an essay by the scholar Mary Beard titled "Women in Power" to question the very existence of patriarchy and to further explain why she is so drawn to its opposite. Is it possible that the structure of patriarchy is invented? Over a lightly sweetened black coffee, thick as mud, Sell tries to work through these ideas with another local, Evangelia Agapiou. She wants to learn about the matriarchal history of this place, and when Agapiou hesitates in her answer, Sell keeps pressing, asking whether the notion is overstated. ![](/storage/image/prev/july-article-image-4-5-2024.jpg) Of course, women run the kitchen, not only at home but in the public restaurants too. They create and wear the traditional garments for religious ceremonies, while the men wear everyday khaki trousers and button-down shirts, and everyone gets by without many modern conveniences. But in many ways these practices feel more like relics of another time than an alternative society. In fact, at first glance there is little to suggest that Olympos has abandoned patriarchy in favor of matriarchy. And yet Sell does seem to find its elements: women open up to her more than the men do. They hold important roles, but more than that, their roles are valued: "In many societies women's power is a secret, but in Olympos the secret is out." Fotini Fragkou, a local woman working in tourism who has taken Sell under her wing, seems to confirm this when she tells Sell that the women "have a kind of special strength or power to run the home and survive in this environment." Indeed, it is the women who are responsible for keeping the traditions alive, for passing down recipes and feeding the family, and now for making sure their community survives. Despite some disappointment in her findings, or lack thereof, Sell is ultimately moved: "The women of Olympos reminded me of something even more profound: women are strong, no matter what system of governance or society they live in." ## The Edge of the World ![](/storage/image/prev/july-article-image-4-6-2024.jpg) Sell is far from the first traveler wanting to step, far off, the beaten path. Though savvy travelers with enough determination can always find ways to get off the tourist trail even in the most popular destinations, it is easier to do when a place was never very touristy to begin with. "There's something a little mystifying about landing here," Sell says, comparing it to the feeling of standing at the edge of the world. Indeed, Karpathos, so unlike the Greek hot spots of Mykonos and Santorini, lends itself to an alternative kind of travel. Sell is aware that her presence and her very willingness to share her story through this piece puts the island's status at risk, but she has also come to realize one simple fact: the island increasingly wants to welcome tourists. Agapiou, in fact, runs a small ecotourism program in Northern Karpathos, and she describes her business efforts as an attempt to get the local community she is part of to value tourists. ![](/storage/image/prev/july-article-image-4-7-2024.jpg) "The goal," Agapiou explains, "is not to have millions of tourists, but to have small groups" who will spend money on things like cooking classes and hiking tours, which benefits the locals. "The future is a system of tourists," Agapiou says, highlighting yet another way the women of Olympos are in control. If they are lucky, the tourists they attract will be like Sell, eager to learn and grow through their travels. People who stop to smell the baking bread and linger a little longer to ask how it was made.