"My name is Chris Zampouras, but people here in Plastiras Lake know me as Zampetas. I decided to live here when I saw an advertising leaflet with pictures of the lake. I started a farm with horses, cows, semi-wild bunnies, sheep and other animals. I have Thessalian horses, which is the best race after the Arabian horses".

He loves snakes

Zampetas is a man of nature and but doesn't like hunting any more. He decided to live in the nature and put the arms aside forever. ‘What did the deer, the bears and the wolves do to us to deserve this?’ he wonders. He even loves the snakes and he can catch them without getting bitten. He claims that the bite of the water snake bite is much more harmless than that of the wasp. When he catches a snake, he doesn’t remove their teeth because he heard that they die after that. He even used to have some snakes at home. He once had a guest who was very frightened and got on a bench begging for help when he saw them.

Some passer-bys often stop at Zampetas's farm, which is outside Kerasia village in Plastiras Municipality, to ride the horses. There beside the lake the human mind and eyes relax. "I once went to Athens for business. I left at nine thirty in the morning and by noon I was back. I got sick of it".

The lake is no funny business

With all those animals that Zampetas breeds, he has the chance to taste the purest of delicacies. "Only the calf's penis cannot be eaten, but it's not wasted because we make whips out of it". He loves the lake fish. Their white flesh and can be roasted with butter and corn flour. When the weather is good he gets in the water with his boat to fish. But he is careful, because the lake is dangerous. "I was almost drowned once because of the undercurrents pulling me in the bottom of the lake. I saw some children swimming and I thought I could too. But they were locals and knew; I wasn't. I hardly made it ashore and I still swim in fear when I think of it".
TEXT-PHOTOS: GEORGE ZAFEIROPOULOS
SOURCE: www.greecewithin.com

MORE PHOTOS 

Endless pastures around the lake.

Plastiras Lake offers impressive landscapes.

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