Before we reach the village, we cross the plain, which is egg-shaped and is green and at one time was full of vineyards, olive trees, mulberry trees, fig trees, as well as pear, walnut and almond trees. It was used for the cultivation of cereals, such as wheat, barley, Indian corn, but also garden-variety potatoes, tomatoes, beans, squash and other things. In the southwestern part of this plain, and almost exactly under the country church of the Savior, there is the sinkhole.
The sinkhole, katavothra, as the name suggests, means nothing more but a place or thing which swallows everything. This sinkhole is a big hole, which absorbed all the waters of the plain. Because the plain was a small basin, it is closed in by small mountains and has no outlet except in the southwestern part of the village. Thus, every time it rained, the waters pooled in this spot and formed a vast lake. This lake the Vassarians in older times, when it used to rain more often, would be able to see it more often and for longer periods of time. Now, however, that the waters are more rare, this phenomenon is also more rare.
It is said that old man Chrestos Stavrianos, who was an ingenious man, gathered some of his fellow townsmen and cleared the bulrush, the sedge, the pieces of wood and whatever else had been deposited there, they opened the hole, enlarged it, and so the water could drain much more quickly. With this act of his, on the one hand he deprived us of this splendid spectacle of the lagoon, on the other hand he provided the area with a greater service, having rid the surrounding fields and vineyards from the pooling of the waters and, more generally, from the destruction of the various crops. Also, tradition tells us that the waters of the sinkhole drained into the river of Kelefina , near the village of Tsouni , a little higher from the bridge and, many times, different agricultural tools, such as yokes, harnesses and others, which had been washed away by the rains from the plain, had ended up in Kelefina.