Itisallgreek2me

Cliff walk, path to cave and old bridges, near Monodendri

The charming village of Monodendri is situated near the south end of the Vikos Gorge at an altitude of 1060 metres.  You will not find the colours of blue and white anywhere here – all grey slate and stone, with any new construction built to match the old traditional architecture.  Stone walls and fortress-like gates enclose the courtyards and beautiful stone homes whilst stone laid paths separate them.

Yesterday morning after fortifying body and soul with another of Archontiko Zakarda’s amazing breakfasts, I set off to begin exploring my surroundings.  I walked down to the Plateia (Square) where a path leads to the abandoned Monastery of Agia Paraskevi which was founded in 1412.  It is built on the edge of the Vikos Gorge and from the balcony the views are spectacular.  At the rear of the Monastery I noticed a sign showing the way along a path to a cave and old bridges.  In the beginning it was okay, I could cope with the relative narrowness of the path, however, it eventually became less of a path and more of a strip attached to the cliff face, with a pretty scary drop down on the other side.  (Click on to enlarge and study the photograph on the left and you will see, just below the middle of the image, the path I had to take to get to where I was standing).  A little further on from there and things became even scarier so myself and a Spanish couple all turned back, deciding we were not ready to risk our lives.

On the way back to Monodendri, I took a left turn down a path which lead me to, of all things, the local Sports Stadium.  There as in many places surrounding Monodendri, the scenery rivals our native bush in New Zealand, only here the landscape is one of mainly beech, oak, maple and fig trees.  Once back in the village I took another path by the Church of Agios Athanasios for a short walk to the Angelos Kitsos Theatre and return – after the previous day’s excursion, I felt I had done enough walking for the day and returned to my room before once again, we had a little rain and thunder late afternoon.

The temperatures here seem to drop to around 15 degrees C overnight from highs of around 30 degrees C during the day.  If I want to do any serious walking, which is mainly what I came to Zagori to do, then it is necessary to make an early start immediately following breakfast.  Today I began with a walk along a kalderimi (old paved footpath – from the Turkish word Kaldirim meaning footpath or pavement) in the mountains behind Monodendri.  In places not much of a footpath remains and the only guidance one has is from the red arrows and dots painted on rocks here and there or red ribbons tied to trees, a little like orienteering I guess.  Crazyguyonabike Tristan, who I met on the island of Limnos, gave me the idea of taking photographs of myself.  I had not given it a thought before this, however, you will see my first attempt on the More Photos II page – a hot, sweaty girl!

Two hours after leaving Monodendri I arrived back here, albeit in another place, by which time the bug had got me and I wanted to walk more and so I headed along the road towards the village of Vitsa.  It was not long before I met a lovely elderly Greek man who kindly offered to take me to Vitsa.  He well remembered the New Zealand soldiers here in 1940 who he said fought hard with the Greeks.  A cold drink in the Plateia (Square) and then I was off down the Vitsa Steps to view the Misiou Stone Bridge of Vitsa.  Constructed in 1748 AD, it is one of several single, double and triple arched bridges in the area, erected in the 18th and 19th Centuries.  Financed by local families, the bridges were named after them and formed part of cobblestone roads which linked remote villages until roads were built in the 1950’s.  A hot afternoon climb back up to lower Vitsa, upper Vitsa and on to Monodendri.  Tonight as with every night here, dinner out at one of the many tavernas and an early night to follow. 

With all this mountain walking, miraculously, I have not been stung by a bee or wasp, of which there are many.  My legs are fine, however, my feet do get pretty tired by the end of the day.  The greatest annoyance whilst walking are the flies which hang around as I become hotter, sweatier and dirtier.  If snakes are out there, I have not seen them, nor any Wild Boar, although the latter do appear frequently on local taverna menus.  As for the threatened species of Brown Bears, there are only 150 or so left living in the remotest parts of the Pindus and Rhodope Mountains.  Their survival hinges on one simple truth – if life on this planet is to continue, wildlife and human beings must co-exist.  My final words for today.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 7th, 2010 at 10:19 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.