No other part of Greece combines such stunning mountain scenery and scenic routes with deserted pristine beaches and a huge number of ancient attractions as the Peloponnese. After all, this is where the gods once walked the earth, and where the world's greatest sporting event, the Olympic Games, was born.
Historic, beautiful, wild and whimsical, the Peloponnese has a lot to tell travelers like us for our soul. Ancient monuments, natural beauty and magnificent coastlines blend charmingly with mountain ranges and rugged landscapes.
Hiking in Greece can be for you a wonderful experience, as you will see not only different types of terrain, but also flora and fauna. The country has beautiful landscapes, and we set out to explore Arcadia in early July, although my recommendation would be to hike the Menalon Trail in the cooler months - and despite the stifling heat, I thoroughly enjoyed the trek.
I honestly have to admit that I did not like hiking before my wedding. But my husband was a fan of it. And once, when he said that he was going hiking in the mountains, I was too scared to let him go alone, imagining all the terrible accidents that could happen to him, so I went together. And one trip was enough for me to fall in love with hiking.
The lengths of Menalon Trail is 75 kilometers. It is going through nine mountain villages. We can see some historic monasteries, bridges and beautiful Lousios Gorge. It is surrounded by the slopes of Mount Menalon, the valley of the Mylaon River and the north-east Gortyn ridge. The trail was finished and opened for tourists in 2015. As the length of the route is a good 72 kilometers, we, of course, were unlikely to ever attempt this at once.
The trail is the first certified trail in Greece. We saw signs along the route, and all technical and quality parameters were met, so this route looks safe enough. The route is divided into 8 sections, so visitors can plan their trips based on their interests.
Our first goal was the first route - from the village of Stremnitsa to Dimitsana. But we started our hike not from Stremnitsa itself, but went down by car along a winding narrow road another five kilometers from the main highway. There is a parking lot next to the small church. Besides us, 3-4 more people parked there that day who wanted to take the route. The start took place around 11 am.
The trail from Stemnitsa village to Dimitsana is 12.5 km long. We have to go through beautiful Lusios Gorge. It's one of the most beautiful places in Greece. The views from the numerous observation decks are simply indescribable! In addition to pure natural beauty, ancient monasteries nestle on the slopes of steep cliffs. The gorge is also called Holy Athos in the Peloponnese. And there is plenty of beauty here: sharply narrowing 400-meter walls of the gorge and ancient cave monasteries right in these rocks.
There are monasteries every few kilometers. This is the amazingly beautiful Prodromos Monastery, nestled right on the rock. The monastery is very old and active. There is even a small vegetable garden below. The Monastery of Prodromos hangs over the Lucio Gorge, the cells of the monastery practically float in the air. We looked at it from a distance, and went further. But I know we will come back here.
Looking at the map, I assumed that the route would be gentle, because the path passed along the river all the time. But that was not the case - the height was constantly gaining and dropping again.
Well, let's go to the next monastery of the Philosopher. There are two of them. Many tourists visit only new monastery, but we decided to visit both. As they stand almost next to each other. This is what the old monastery looks like.
After wandering a little there, we moved to the newer monastery. It closes after one o'clock in the afternoon, and then, apparently, it is impossible to get there. The monk explained this to us, but he had some kind of speech impediment, so I understood very little of what he said. We have planned to come back here and explore all the monasteries. The monk also treated us to water and received some money from us for it.
To get to the Philosopher monastery, we had to overcome a sharp climb. It’s a little difficult, especially if you’re with a backpack. Even though all our equipment was lightweight.
The Menalon trail is mostly pleasant and shady. We take a break near the river - in general, there are almost no places where we could sit. The path is always narrow, with either cliffs or bushes on either side.
In the last few kilometers, we got a little lost and even had a fight about how to get back. Our car remained at the start, and the route was not circular. The last two or three kilometers to Dimitsana are solid asphalt.
We sat on the roadside at the very beginning of Dimitsana, my husband tried to hitchhike. Having no immediate success, we went into town in the hope of finding a taxi. But here we were lucky - we met a company that we had already seen on the trail. They took us. The guys solved a similar logistical problem simply - they did not do the entire route to the end, but walked a few kilometers from Dimitsana and then simply returned to their car. Everything would be fine, but, of course, they should have started from the other side, from Stremnitsa - all the most interesting things were there.
They dropped us off on the highway, and the five kilometers to the car turned out to be fun. The descent was very steep - in general, it is part of that very first stage. It was difficult to walk - every second you had to think about where to put your foot next time so as not to kill yourself. We did not fall, although once I hit my leg badly on some protruding root.
Where else during hiking could we find so many ancient and medieval traces while living in Greece? I think the Menalon Trail is a hikers' treasure trove.
This route will definitely show us a different side of Greece. We came back so tired, but both of us were happy.
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