Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
HIKING NEAR ANCIENT GORTYS
The farmland surrounding ancient Gortys belongs to the monks of the nearby
Prodhrómou
Monastery
, who have carved a path along the
Gorge of the Loúsios
between Áyios
Andhréas and the monastery. It's about a 40min walk up a well-graded trail following the
stream. The monastery, stuck on to the cliff like a swallow's nest, is plainly visible a couple of
hundred metres above the path. There are no more than five monks here, and one of them will
show visitors the tiny frescoed
katholikón
(closed 2-5pm). Strict dress rules apply, with
blanket-like clothing provided if necessary. The monastery is also accessible by an asphalt road
that makes a circuitous 7km descent from the Stemnítsa-Dhimitsána road to a parking lot and
newish chapel, and then it's a further descent on foot along a steep path.
Beyond Prodhrómou the path continues clearly to the outlying, well-signed monasteries of
Paleá
and then
Néa Filosófou
on the opposite side of the valley. The older (Paleá), dating
from the tenth century, is merely a ruin and blends into the cliff against which it is flattened.
The newer monastery (Néa, seventeenth century) has been restored and recently expanded
considerably, but retains frescoes from 1663 inside; there is a permanent caretaker monk. From
here, paths follow the west then east banks of the river, to reach Dhimitsána via Paleohóri in
under two hours.
2
from Asia Minor and ceramics master), textiles and costumes from all over Greece,
weapons, copperware and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century icons.
Ancient Gortys
Ancient Gortys
, 8km southeast of Stemnítsa, is a charming site, set beside the rushing
river known in ancient times as the Gortynios. The remains are widely strewn over the
hillside on the west bank of the stream, but the main attraction, below contemporary
ground level and not at all obvious until well to the west of the little Byzantine chapel
of Áyios Andhréas (by the old bridge), is the huge excavation containing the remains of
a
temple to Asklepios
and an adjoining
bath
, both dating from the fourth century BC.
The most curious feature of the site is a circular
portico
enclosing round-backed seats,
which most certainly would have been part of the therapeutic centre.
Dhimitsána
Like Stemnítsa, 11km to the south,
DHIMITSÁNA
has an immediately seductive
appearance, its cobbled streets and tottering houses straddling a twin hillside
overlooking the Loúsios River. Views from the village are stunning, and though quite a
small resort, there is an excellent
accommodation
selection, making Dhimitsána a
prime base for exploring the centre of the Peloponnese.
In the town, a half-dozen churches with tall, squarish belfries recall the extended
Frankish, and especially Norman, tenure in this part of the Moreas during the
thirteenth century. Yet no one should dispute the deep-dyed Greekness of Dhimitsána.
It was the birthplace of
Archbishop Yermanos
, who first raised the flag of rebellion at
Kalávryta in 1821, and of the hapless patriarch,
Grigoris V
, hanged in Constantinople
upon the sultan's receiving news of the insurrection.
Open-Air Water-Power Museum
Summer daily 10am-6pm; winter Wed-Mon 8.30am-3pm • €3 •
W
piop.gr
About 2km south of Dhimitsána, the excellent
Open-Air Water-Power Museum
has a
reconstructed watermill, tannery and gunpowder mill, with exhibitions on the
processes involved.
Andhrítsena and around
ANDHRÍTSENA
, 28km west of Karítena along a beautiful route, is a traditional hill town
and the base from which to visit the
Temple of Apollo
at
Bassae
(Apollo Epikourios) up
in the mountains to the south. Though very much a roadside settlement today, it was a
