October marks thirty years since I first met Katerina, and it also happens to be her birthday month. Looking back, it is remarkable how one chance encounter can shape the course of a life.
I met Katerina in 1996 at the department store Lazarus, where we were both working. We both had short hair and a lot in common, and then, as happens, we lost touch. Two years later, in 1998, I walked into my biology classroom at Ohio State and found her sitting there with long hair. We picked up right where we’d left off, and soon we were living together on campus.
That December, Katerina invited me to visit her village. It was my first introduction to Goumenissa, and also where I met my husband, Georgios.
Life carried us in different directions. I moved to Chicago while she remained in Ohio, until she decided to join me there. In 2009, we both chose to leave the US. She went to Greece first, and I followed. We lived together for a time, went our separate ways, and then found each other again. Today, she is my neighbor here in Goumenissa.
Call it serendipity.
Katerina has spent her life between the USA and Greece, and in the end she chose to make her home here. I couldn’t help but wonder what drew her, so I asked her one simple question: why Goumenissa?
Here is Katerina Martsioki, in her own words:
“I was asked to answer ‘Why Goumenissa?’ I could write a novel as to why but I will try to sum it up as best as I can. There is no other place for me that fills my soul with peace and tranquility with every breath I take. Mount Paiko is everything to me. I am so grateful to wake up and look at it every single morning and bask in its glory as it is the source of everything good here: the air, the water, the flora and the fauna. Goumenissa is a safe place to live. People here for the most part are kind and friendly. Everyone pretty much knows everyone. And if you’re new here, you too will be known by everyone soon. You can’t leave home to run an errand or go somewhere without greeting or being greeted by almost everyone you run into. The plateia is a meeting point for food, coffee, drinks or just people watching. If you walk through it you’ll surely be invited to sit with a parea for a coffee or a tsipouro. There’s also no lack of social events, from semi-marathons, hikes in the trails, religious festivals, open doors to local wineries, and many more. There’s so much life here. But if you ever feel like being alone, the nature around Goumenissa is there to offer you the perfect escape whether you go down to the river, up in the mountain or through fields and the vineyards.
Having lived abroad as well as in some urban parts of Greece, I have come to the conclusion that Goumenissa is the ideal place for me. So for me that’s “Why Goumenissa.”
Happy Birthday, Katerina! Here’s to the next thirty years.
Do you have your own answer to Why Goumenissa? We’d love to hear it. If you have a story or a memory you’d like to share, get in touch with us, and it could be featured here.
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For personalized tours or to arrange visits, contact The Goumenissa Project.
