Menetes is the largest village in Karpathos, 8 km from the city of Karpathos.
Together with the settlements of Kipos Afiarti, Ai-Giannis Afiarti and Lakki, and glebes Stavri, Skopi, Exhiles, Krithares and Vroutsas and the holiday villages of Ammoopi and Afiarti constitute the Local Community of Menetes of the Municipality of Karpathos, belonging to the South Aegean Region.
The village is built to the south of the island at an altitude of 315 m above sea level in the northern slope of Mount Profitis Ilias. It consists of 450 houses built close to each other, most of them in island, neoclassical style and has 662 permanent residents (during the 2011 census).
Characteristic of the village is the large church of Panagia, with its carved, unique wooden iconostasis, built on the impressive Sacred Rock. From the courtyard of the church you see the whole village in front of you and from above you have a unique view of the capital of Karpathos, Pigadia.
In the dark centuries of foreign invasions, Menetes were a stronghold of resistance against every conqueror, and their inhabitants were always pioneers in the liberation struggles and constituted a symbol of patriotism and freedom.
The inhabitants of Menetes were the first of the Aegean peoples who took the initiative to convene in 1912 in Athens a conference on the fate of the Aegean islands. They also belonged to the pioneers of the establishment of the Athens Labor Center, headed by Antonis Skordaras. With the declaration of war from Italy to Greece in 1940, the Dodecanese of Athens set up a Volunteer Regiment, in which the Menetians of Attica had a large membership.
A little outside the village is the chapel of Agios Mamas, a chapel with a special architecture and frescoes dated back to 1300. In Menetes the Folklore Museum of the island is also located, with collections of archaeological findings, vases, agricultural tools and sculptures. The chapel of Agios Spyridon stands impressively on the top.
