Greek Journal Part
XI
Greek Journal: 5/13/2005-6/8/2005
Summary:
6/1/2005: On the Corfu Trail,
We picked up some
extra hard boiled eggs, bread and cheese at breakfast for our hike and set out
to find our trail. There was a light
warm breeze off the ocean and only a few non-threatening clouds so we headed
out with our usual sense of non-urgency.
Once again gestalt was our best guide as no trail signs or sign of a
clear trail was evident. I found a break
in the trees above a rock wall that seemed to go in the direction we
wanted. We scaled the wall and found
ourselves on a trail that tunneled through junipers and oaks as it climbed a
steep hill side. It briefly broke clear at the base of a 200 ft lime stone
cliff and then tunneled back in to the trees and undergrowth.
Mo ascending a lime stone step on the Corfu Trail between
Liapades and Paleokastrista
After wandering
through this vegetation maze for about an hour we abruptly emerged in to the
town of
Climbing toward
Lakonas, the view back toward the town of Paleokastrista
Had lunch on the back
deck of the store with a view of the ocean below. The next couple of hours was
spent trying to find the trail. Even
though our technique for trail finding was improving we still had our
occasional walkabouts. If we came to a
branch in the road and there were several options we would usually wander a
quarter of a mile or so down each one until we either found a CT trail sign, a
yellow mark on a tree or rock, or the trail was eliminated for some
reason. This worked about 80% of the
time, but the other 20% we just guessed. Today we guessed wrong. We walked down through some magical old
olive groves for an hour, connected to a trail that wound back and forth along
the coast for a while, climbed a narrow winding path back up the mountain and
two hours later came out back in Lakonas.
Given that the town was only about 400 meters long, we had made ¼ mile
of progress in just over two hours.
The other skill we
have gotten good at is looking at these inevitable side trips as an opportunity
to explore areas that we would have not seen otherwise. Traveling by foot is a slow intimate way of
becoming acquainted with your environment.
In my mind the trade off of distance to detail is much like the
comparison of quantity of life to quality of life. Every mile my feet are in direct contact with
the earth 1,000 times. I hear things,
smell things and see things that I would never be aware of in a car or for that
matter on a bike.
Back on the trail
after Lakonas we headed for Krini. The
town is located adjacent to 13th century Byzantine fortress
that is situated on a seemingly inaccessible cliff top near the town on the
northwest
The Byzintine
fortress of Angelokastro on the hill top next to Krini
As we left Krini we wandered back in to the countryside and through more old olive groves. The trail finally emerged from the groves through a gap formed by a lime stone ridge. As we stepped through the gap we were standing at the top of a magnificent trail that descended the near vertical sea side cliffs to the beach about 1,000 ft below. The trail was made of cobble stone and had a rock wall that protected the path for most of its course.
This Kalderimi, or
trail (right side of picture), that descends from Krini to Agios Georgios is
hundreds of year old
About half way down the trail we came upon a lime stone cave that had probably served as a watch station in earlier centuries. The steps leading up to the watch station were built in to the rock wall, and even through they were build 500-700 years ago, they were as solid as if they had been build by a modern day rock mason.
Trail side watch station on the way to Agios Georgios
We descended the trail and then traveled another hour up the coast before we came to the town. Before finding a place to stay we found a restaurant and immediately dehydrated and replenished our depleted caloric stores. We then found a two bedroom apartment right on the beach with a full kitchen, marble floors a granite fire place and with dinner and breakfast included, all for a mere 62 euros.