Greek Journal Part
XIV
Greek Journal: 5/13/2005-6/8/2005
Summary:
6/5/2005: Mikro Popingo and Astraka: The Vikos Gorge represented the first leg of
one o the thirty “Worlds Greatest Treks” according to our trekking bible by the
same name. We decided to do leg two and possibly
three if my foot holds together. To get
to our trail head we had to travel by car to the Papingo
Villages a couple of hours away. Mikro Popingo is one of the most
beautiful and best preserved Zagorian villages in the
Pindos.
We left the Zarkada Manor House in Monodendri
early this AM noting that we had about 1/3 tank of gas and making the assumption
that we could fill up somewhere on the way. After an hour of driving we came to our turn
off to the Papingos and the last and only town we had
seen. The town looked lively enough, but
an inventory of businesses came up with one café, two gift shops and no gas
station. I asked a gentleman who was
sitting in the courtyard at the café sipping Greek coffee where we could get
gas. There was a simple answer with a
long and relevant history. The Zagorian Villages had survived over 800 years of foreign,
often hostile, occupation, and had come through all of this relatively
untouched and unchanged. Their survival
was the result of their inaccessibility to the outside world. Mountain paths and Zagorian
bridges, not roads, have been their means of travel for several hundred years
and the people of the northern Pindos, as well as the
country of Greece take pride in preserving as much of their past as possible. The short answer to the question was, “there
is no gas in Zagoria and the closest petrol is about
40 km down the mountain”.
From this small
village it was possible to see a good deal of our path ahead. The road disappeared in to the Aoos Ravine and then climbed 20 switch backs on the other
side up to Megalo and Mikro
Papingo, the gateway to the
We coasted in to the
valley and drove 15 mph up the other side and made it to Mikro
Papingo. To
our amazement there were a line of cars parked along the road to the village. Unlike
As soon as you walk
in to town you can tell that village was planned as a unit. The narrow cobble stone paths seamlessly connect
to the rock walls that line the paths. At
regular intervals planters are built in to the base of the walls so that grape
vines can grow up the walls and across the trellises in order to create shade
for the people walking through town.
In five minutes we
were through town and on the trail to Astraka.
Springs with fresh water were located intermittently along the trail up
from town. About 2,000 ft up we passed tree line and entered an area of large open slopes
and high meadows. There were flocks of
golden sheep accompanied by herders. We
came to the branch in the trail to take us to the summit of Astraka 3,000 ft
above and since we were feeling good and making good time we branched off and
headed for the peak.
Left: The summit of
Astraka sits about 4,000 ft over head in the left upper corner of the picture. Our path to the summit is through the cliffs
in the center and is much less clear.
Below: Astraka
summit from further up the trail
The path became less
definite as we went and was only marked by yellow paint on an occasional rock
(shades of
Not having seen
anyone in several hours we were surprised to encounter two men standing in a
small meadow about 4,000 ft up from the trail head. They were from the World Wild Life Federation
(WWF) and were stationed in Mikro Popingo
specifically to monitor a group of wild mountain sheep that had lived on
Astraka for a few hundred years. We were
told that if we were very quiet we might see the sheep family. We floated silently up the slope, with the
exception of continual grunting and gasping, but the stealth sheep were no
where to be found.
Magenta wildflowers tucked in the limestone crags high on Astraka
Forty five minutes after leaving our WWF friends we finally
made the summit of Astraka. Our 360
degree view revealed large snow fields, surrounding peaks and a view all the
way to
About eight and half hours after leaving our car in the morning we were back at our car in Mikro Papingo and just a little worse for wear. Behind us was one the top 10 hikes I had ever taken and it was easy to see why the Vikos Gorge and Astraka had earned a place in the 30 most beautiful treks on the planet. In front of us was another adventure, getting to civilization with out running out of gas.
On the summit of Astraka
The 20 switch back descent in to Aoos
Gorge was no problem. We just
coasted. We crept back up the other side
and made it to the pass that descended to the low lands of Ionina.
I was sure that at any second the car
would cough and die, but it didn’t. We
made it to a gas station, gassed up, ate at a little town and headed for the
6/8/2005:
After thoughts:
While the Greek people were challenging and frustrating at times, at our greatest times of need total strangers stepped up and extended us uncommon kindness and assistance. We always felt safe and the level of adventure was just about right for a Greek vacation.