Travelled: 16 kilometres from Acropolic of Gortys (on the Lousios River) to Karytaina Village, The Peloponnese.
Visited: Hiked Lousios Gorge, visited the village of Karytaina.
Stayed: Karytaina, carpark of the village square below the Citadel. Free, water nearby, toilet down the road a little. N37.485058, E22.041557
We have a very quiet night at Gortys, a single car drove through and kept going about 9 pm and that was it. After yesterday’s rain and being in the mountains it was a cold night, our first night with the covers on since Saint Bernards. The plan is to walk up the valley for two hours to the New Philosophou Monastery. Sounds easy when you say it quickly. The issue for today being, the path follows the river on the gorge floor and the Churches and Monasteries are sitting high up on the cliffs so we will have some steep climbs.
Acropolis of Gortys, the site had been excavated many years ago then abandoned. Gortys was a 4th century Greek city. There are two large excavations here but no signage unfortunately, just another ruin to the Greeks.
On the banks of the Lousios River about 200 metres from Gortys we find this little Church. Standing on the foundations of an earlier Roman structure the Church of St. Andrew dates from the 11 century. Given it get’s few visitors and little attention it’s a wonder it survives.
The Lousios River constantly reminds us of its existence as it noisily makes its way down the valley.
Around 30 minutes into our walk we find this little treasure. On the site of an earlier monastery, it has been converted into a washing and treating tubs for tanning leather It is a real labyrinth of small rooms all with water running through channels. Apart from anything else a chance to catch our breath.
Now the first real climb begins as we make our way up to the Monastery of St. John the Baptist (Prodromu). It’s not hands and knees but it’s a series of oversize steps that just keep on going, occasionally it levels out to a gravel trail and then the steps start again. It’s very pretty and we do it at our own pace.
We arrive at the Monastery and say good morning to the first and only Monk we see. We get a bit of a grunt in return. So we just make ourselves at home and have a wander about. From this photo you wouldn’t now Pam just walked up a steep hill for 20 minutes ?
At my right you can see where the Monks live, there was washing hanging from most windows, that could explain the bad mood. On the other hand I also noticed split system air conditioning units on the roof.
All the way up the hill to the Monastery we could hear a bell ringing and thought it must be some goats in the bush, but on our way back down to the river we found this fellow was strolling along parallel to us. Funnily enough an hour or so later on our way back down the Gorge this mule and a small horse had a couple of American tourist completely bluffed. They just stood their ground in the middle of the track with their flanks to the Americans, who I don’t blame didn’t want to risk getting kicked. Anyway they didn’t like our walking sticks and moved on soon enough.
Every now and then the pitch of the river would change and you may look over and see a series of falls like this one.
Another hour later and we are climbing again this time to New Philosophou Monastery on the opposite side of the gorge.
The Monastery Chapel was a bit overwhelming with frescoes and adornments, but from our experience that appears to be the Greek way. We were a bit lucky as a small tour group of half a dozen people is going through and we can listen to the guide give his commentary. One of his group was a woman from Leura, we had a good old chat in the garden.
The gardens of the New Philosophou Monastery and Chapel are just beautiful. We had a chat to a very friendly Greek Orthodox Priest about his appointment to this Church and his previous appointment in Athens. He hopes for a transfers to Australia.
Pam just loved this bit !
By this stage in our walk I would get out a KitKat and wave it about to encourage Pam to ignore the obvious need for a handrail.
We arrive back at Gortys very tired, but felt it was one of the most beautiful and interesting walks we have ever taken. So we do what Australians do, have a skinny dip in the Lousios River which was freezing cold (I had brain freeze and noticeable shrinkage, as George would say). We do the weeks washing while we are at it.
Greece
We drive on a relatively short distance to Karytaina the next mountain top village further down the gorge, but that’s another story. Note the washing hanging from the Hymer window we are too tired to worry about decorum.
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