Exploring the Arkadian Mountains

The Peloponnese peninsula enjoys crystalline seas and historic towns as well as lesser known areas like the mountainous southwest corner of Arkadia with its forests and rivers. Here in my father-in-law’s patriko village of Lykaio, where he was born, it’s time for our fall visit to see our house and gather karydia (walnuts) — it’s the season — both from our tree and trees spread throughout the village. Time to find a good recipe for karydopita, walnut cake!

The name of the village, “Lykaio” (meaning wolf) comes from the Lykaio Oros, one of the holy mountains of ancient Greece where Zeus was worshipped 3,000 years ago. Lykaio is near Lykosoura — ancient Lykosoura is sometimes known as the oldest city in the world — which is near the sanctuary of the goddess Despina. You can learn more about these ancient areas from a previous blog Arkadia, land of mythology and history...

I. Temple of Epikourios Apollo and the Neda Waterfalls

Usually we just hang around the village, taking walks from our house to the village square to use the wifi, and walk around the mountain. But with son Theo, visiting for a few days, we explored more of western and central Arkadia. Our first stop over the mountain is the larger village of Neda (actually on the border with the province of Messenia).

In the next village, Ampelonas, even bigger, we find a fascinating map of trails of the region with names like “Trail of Joy,” “Trail of Innocence,” “Trail of Bliss.”

We remember the last time we were in Ampelonas (about 25 years before!) at a paniyiri, a village celebration with food, lots of local wine and music — always clarinet and violin.

As with all the villages around here, stone is the building material and houses are built on levels. Since the population is mostly elderly, I marvel at how well they’re able to maneuver the hills.

We come across a chestnut tree with its characteristic burrs, the spiny husks that grow in clusters and hold the chestnuts. Most have fallen already.

The plaque on the main square of Ambelonas is named for “Socrates Derehanis,” a local immigrant to the U.S. who made it big and became a benefactor to the American College of Greece, which gave his name for the upper division of the college, becoming Deree College. As ACGers we had to pay homage.

We’re on our way to the Epikourios Apollo temple in Vassae, about a half hour from Ampelonas. Perhaps Greece’s most isolated temple, it’s sometimes known as the Parthenon of the Peloponnese., as it was designed in the 5th century BC by Ictinus, the same architect that did the Parthenon in Athens. The people from the nearby town of Figalia, wanted to have a temple built to dedicate to Apollo Epicourios (the Helper) for delivering them from pestilence, as one story goes. Another theory says it was built for gratitude for a victory over Sparta.

Since 1987, the Temple has been well protected with a huge tent that from afar looks like circus tents. A year before, it was the first ancient Greek monument to be listed as a World Cultural Heritage protected monument of UNESCO.

A couple of furry friends guard the ticket window, but they decide to let us pass.

When you part the curtain and enter, it’s like you’ve stepped into an ancient world of mystery.

The temple itself was innovative for its time, combining Doric and Ionic columns. Where there was usually a cult statue in the inside, a single Corinthian column was placed, the earliest known example of this style.

Besides the protective tent, the stones of the temple have been undergoing conservation and restoration works, as well as earthquake sensitive joinings. From the rear side of the temple, you can see how some of the columns have been restored.

A sculpted frieze showing two favorite stories from Greek mythology, the Amazonomachy (battle of Athenians against the Amazons — women warriors) and the Centauromachy (the Centaurs against the Lapiths) ran around the upper interior walls. One reason you can’t see this frieze and other temple sculptures today is that they were looted in 1814 and taken to the British Museum, where they are on display. This was about a decade after Elgin took the Parthenon Marbles. The same old story… I wonder if these are part of the negotiation with the British Museum for returning the Marbles to Greece.

Inside the temple you hear the sweet tinkle of sheep bells, while outside you can see a flock off in the distance. We admire the wild pink cyclamen growing everywhere, and the mist casting a white veil over the mountain. It’s getting chilly — we’re anxious to get to a lower altitude for our walk along the Neda river gorge.

Close to the Neda waterfalls, we pass this gentleman carved of wood as the road descends more and more with many parts that are dirt road or with pebbles. Wood carving seems to be an important art in Arkadia.

As we walk along, we hear that lovely sound of rushing of water, and stop to take in the different colors of the gorge, all the varied shades of green, especially around the bridge.

We learn that the Neda river, named for a nymph, is the only river that’s “feminine” in Greek — all the other river names are male.

At the bridge is where we decide if we’re going to make the trek to the waterfall. For Theo it’s always an “easy walk” but a couple of women who’ve just finished the hike tell us it’s a real killer (!) Not long but difficult. But… when are we going to get back here? And as it turns out, it wasn’t exactly a breeze, but just narrow in parts so they provide a rope to hold onto.

Eventually you reach an exquisite waterfall, but that’s just the small one.

You need to keep going to get to the big one.

But first a little detour to the church. Amazing, in this remote place!

From inside you can see how it’s built right into the rock.

And then, around the bend, there it is, the “big waterfall.” Impressive. A young couple swimming in the pool formed by the falls kept trying to get their little dog (see lower right) in the water but it was probably scared of the sound of the falls.

On the uphill on the way back to the car, we admire the river below. As it’s hardly rained this year, it’s really more of a stream.

Back to Lykaio to eat and relax …

II. Stemnitsa, Dimitsana, Karytaina and the Lousios River Gorge

Another pleasant sunny day the next day, Theo has more hiking in store for us, this time the Lousios River. Instead of west, we head northeast to central Arkadia, passing by the town of Megalopolis, which in ancient times really was an important city. Plane trees, their leaves starting to change color, morea, the characteristic tree of the Peloponnese, as well as olive and cypress trees blanket the road but in the clearings are dozens of beehives — the area is rich in its fir honey.

Ahead of us nestled in the Mainalo mountains and above the river Lousios is the lovely and historic village of Stemnitsa.

During Ottoman times, Stemnitsa was considered a safe haven and a center of Greek culture and religion.

It’s from Stemnitsa that Theodoros Kolokotronis, the main leader of the 1821 War of independence, led the revolt against the Ottomans. It’s fitting that in front of the main church is his statue. The cat opens one wary eye, like “again a photo of this guy?”

About 10 km further, Dimitsana is similarly nestled in the hills above the river. There’s more activity going on here, many visitors, also more tavernas serving a lot of grilled meat and fried potatoes. Later when it gets a little cooler, there’ll be dishes like rooster with hilopites (a kind of small egg pasta), boiled goat and even wild boar, which is plentiful and hunted now in the fall. (With dug up fields, you can even see evidence of them walking around the village at night.)

Hilopites (mentioned above) on the left and on the right, trahanas, which is great for soups. Both are traditional products that we like to stock up on.

Souvenir shops, carved figures, produce, honey and olive oil grace the shops. The village reminded us a little of Arahova at Mt. Parnasos or Makrynitsa (Mt. Pelion)

Dimitsana had a special role in the 1821 Revolution with its gunpowder mills, “working day and night” to supply gunpowder for the Greek cause. If you’re interested, you can see more about the gunpowder mills, water powered mills and tanneries of the pre-industrial period at the Open-Air Water Power Museum outside the town.

Today Dimitsana has beautifully restored mansions with placards saying who lived there and cute hotels and pensions to stay at.

Both Dimitsana and Stemnitsa are popular destinations. I read that hotels there are 100% full for the upcoming long weekend of October 28, oxi day.

Back in 1923, an American archaeologist took this photo that you see at the top of a narrow alley. She commented “we passed through Arcadia 4,800 feet up in the most wonderfully familiar spruces overlooking a brown Arcadian valley along a superb gorge to Dimitsana…”

And at the beginning or end of the village is this intriguing sculpture made in the 1990’s. On the plaque it says that it’s dedicated to the 1821 War but hard to make out anything else. Cannonballs but also a harp and a dove — perhaps a symbol of peace?

Stemnitsa and Dimitsana lie above the river Lousios. Time to drive down to our next hike in the Lousios gorge. But first, a typical Arcadian site, a flock of goats on the road.

Again the road becomes a partly dirt road with pebbles. Near a small stone church where you leave your car, you hear the rushing of the river below.

Off we go down the path, rather steep. We meet a number of hikers along the way, young and old, even a couple with a baby on the young man’s back.

The Lousios gorge is known for its medieval monasteries. It’s definitely worth the hike to see the first one on the trail, St John the Baptist (Prodomos) built in the 12th century right into the rock, that became a center of learning during the Ottoman rule. It’s still used today for a few monks. It definitely reminds you of Meteora in the Thessaly region of Greece.

You can go inside the gate during the day where you’re given loukoumi (known as Turkish or Greek delight) but we decide to keep walking.

A second monastery lies much further along in the gorge known as Philosophou, the oldest in Arcadia. It’s actually two complexes; the old one was built in 963 AD under a safe rockshelter, like the Prodomos, and a newer one built some centuries later, which is the only one used today. Like the Prodromos, it was a center of learning during the Ottoman occupation. To get to the Philosophou, you need to cross the old bridge, as it’s on the opposite site of the ravine. Since it’s getting late in the day we make it “only” down to the bridge, passing cyclamen forests along the way.

Even though rafting is done on the Lousios, it’s known as a dangerous fast flowing river. We got more of a taste of that a short drive away in ancient Gortys down at the bank.

Besides its “treacherous” nature, Pausanias, 2nd century AD historian and geographer, wrote that it’s the coldest river in the known world! We can vouch for that when we took off our shoes to wade. Despite it being icy, Theo bravely submerged himself (in a calm spot)

Above the bank, at the remains of ancient Gortys, was an asclepion, a healing center, named for Asclepios, the god of medicine, and ruins of Roman baths.

On our way back to Lykaio, we stop at Karytaina, another pretty village, one of the first towns to rebel in the 1821 war, and known for its Frankish 13th century castle above the town.

This cafeteria on the square was offering traditional galaktoboureko, a kind of custard with phyllo, which looked heavenly, but even more divine looking was the not so traditional sweet of the area, tira misu, which we couldn’t resist.

III. Agia Theodora

No trip to Arkadia is complete without a visit to the Byzantine church of Agia Theodora of Vasta in a verdant area about 45 minutes south of Lykaio, with oak and plane trees and streams. Written up in the Guinness book of Records as a miracle church, it has 17 large and a number of smaller trees with roots on the roof of the church. How does the roof stay up? And where exactly are the roots? There’s no trace of them. How can the roof tolerate the weight? That’s the miracle!

Studies to try to figure out the explanation for the trees have been inconclusive.

Underneath the church and around runs a stream that irrigates the trees.

The story is that Holy Virgin Martyr Theodora of Vasta was condemned to death and supposedly she said before her execution, “Let my body become a church, my blood a river and my hair the trees.” A church was built in the early 13th century in this spot of martyrdom, where a spring gushed forth to become the river we see today, and 17 huge maple and oak trees symbolizing her age, grew on the roof. For more on the story, see here.

It’s a popular pilgrimage site all year, especially her feast day Sept. 11. Buses come from all over Greece to visit.

If you’re hungry, Kyria Voula’s traditional taverna proclaims the most delicious food at the best prices with special hospitality. I like its display of old milk pails.

IV. Lykaio

And finally Lykaio itself, a village of maybe 10 permanent residents. The land for our house is extensive — on one side, the valley, on the other, the village with its traditional stone houses on terraces.

Joining us for all our meals, meet two sisters, with totally different personalities. The black tailed cat joyfully goes after lizards and mice while the brown tailed just watches her eat them.

At the plateia, Luna usually keeps us company.

As we’ve seen, the villages in Arkadia have a strong sense of history of the 1821 Revolution. Lykaio is no exception, with its monument in the plateia dedicated to the rebels. It contains a miroloi, a lament for the dead by a grieving mother and mentions the names of some who “fell” in the Revolution, including a Stefanos Paganos, a relative of so many generations back. So strong is the sense of history in Lykaio that many call the village with the Turkish name, Derbuni.

It’s a little sad the sliding board when there are no kids, or rarely kids to play on one. This is the fate of villages all over the country, that the old people die out and younger ones don’t replace them.

The former elementary school where my father in law attended has been painted a perky bright yellow — it’s used for village administrative matters.

And not to forget the cafeneion with its beautiful morea (mulberry) tree. The Peloponnese in fact was once known as the Morea, after its characteristic trees.

Although not a craftsman (he grew his grapes and made wine), my father in law was very good at carving objects out of wood, an Arkadian tradition. The wooden horse he made (with its tail of tulle) when my kids were little delighted them to no end. For more on traditional products and food of the area, see my blog post City Pleasures, Country Treasures.

V. Astros, eastern Arkadia

Mountains inspire awe and respect but we are still sea people at heart. We end our trip with a visit to east Arkadia to the village of Astros by the sea, a popular summertime resort, where we have a quiet and peaceful swim. The water feels pleasantly warm for the middle of October and the sun is like a warm caress, not the harsh summer sun.

We’re ready to explore many areas of east Arkadia — at another time! Including the so –called Tsakona villages, where some residents are said to speak a dialect related to Doric Greek, which goes back to Mycenaean times. Another blog for sure.

The coastal road up to Myli has beautiful views before you hit the national road at Argos.

Hope you enjoyed reading my Arkadian odyssey. At 2 1/2 to 3 hours away, it makes a nice weekend getaway, maybe even better in winter, warming yourself by the fireplace, with possible snow on Mt. Mainalo near Vytina, home to a ski resort.

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Thank you and wishes to all for a good autumn!

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Sherri Moshman Paganos is a writer and former educator, inspired by her life in Athens, where she and her husband are happily retired and enjoying their travels in Greece and abroad. You can check out her writing — fiction, non-fiction, poetry and articles here.