"I studied economics and my dream was to work with agricultural associations, but I ended up being an accountant in a plumbing association. I didn't like this job, I didn't like Athens either, and I was always looking for a chance to leave. I couldn't feel free in this city, I couldn't assimilate the images and the messages, and I was totally lost. When I became 28 years old I realised that I had been walking the wrong way and decided to reset my odometer. I was done with education and I was done with the jobs that didn't offer any meaning to my life".

He returned to nature

Chris Simopoulos left his work behind and moved to Valtetsiniko of Gortynia, where he studied carving in the local but relatively famous school.  He then returned to Athens, where he studied his new art under Vassilis Nanos, in a workshop situated at Pseiri neighbourhood. Later, he worked at the archaic furniture workshop of Stavros Neonakis. But as he didn't want to stay in Athens, he finally abandoned it for Elati, a small village in Gortynia, on the top of Maenalus mountain; a place which had charmed him during his college years. 

"The mountain and its people belong to me, I know them all and they know me, they can manage me and I can manage them. I immediately started to explore maples and the plane trees. I was enchanted by the shape and the colour of the trees, but most of all by the unrivalled variety and beauty of their branches. I opened a carving workshop with the help of my fellow villagers and the mayor. I then realized that I also needed an animal so I bought my first donkey, with the help of which I manage to climb to the tops of the mountain. My dream was finally coming true; I was living surrounded by nature and living because of its kindness".

In Elati, which has only 10 permanent residents, Chris became much more sociable than he was in Athens with its five million inhabitants. "I'm glad I can offer life to the village with my presence and my animals, but I never forget that when I first came here I wanted to take life and not give any back. I completely disagree with the businessmen and the inn keepers, who consider themselves as saviours for the villages. They're wrong; the village is their salvation rather than the opposite".

He used to long for the villages

Chris Simopoulos was born in Voutsaras of Megalopolis, but he left when he was ten years old and went to Athens along with his family. After every visit to his village, he used to weep in the bus that was taking him back to Athens. Village life was deeply rooted in his soul and he couldn't dislodge it. He yearned to be on the mountain, where the meaning of possession is senseless. The mountains are hospitable and accept everyone; there is no point in making them yours.

All of Chris's phrases contain hymns and gratitude for the mountains and the villages: "Up here, each day is better than the one before, I had never dreamed of this kind of happiness. I wake up every morning and ask myself: Did I do all this? There was never a moment where the thought that I had made a mistake in leaving Athens crossed my mind. I wonder why people don’t gather in the mountains on weekends. I'm glad that my friends' families with their children keep visiting me during springtime so that they can see my horses giving birth to their young. Now I only go to Athens to buy the materials I need and I make sure that I'm finished with my works on the same day. Sometimes I even postpone it, until I have no other choice but to go".
TEXT-PHOTOS: GEORGE ZAFEIROPOULOS
SOURCE: www.greecewithin.com

MORE PHOTOS 

He breeds horses, with which he explores the mountains.

Elati is located at the tops of Maenalus mount at an altitude of 1175 meters.

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