Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Destinations
Athens (6 daily; 4hr 15min); Kalambáka via
Tríkala (hourly; 1hr 15min); Lamía (six daily; 2hr);
Thessaloníki (hourly; 2hr); Tríkala (hourly; 1hr); Vólos
(almost hourly; 1hr).
Olympos Trek
T
24109 21244,
W
olympostrek.gr.
Lárissa-based operator offering rafting trips along the Vale
of Témbi gorge with Grade IV rapids at Vernézi (€60 for
3hrs).
ACCOMMODATION AND EATING
Metropol
Roosevelt 14
T
24105 37161,
W
hotel
metropol.gr.
Large, popular, cheerfully decorated hotel;
its 80-place basement garage is a blessing in a town with
difficult parking. Rooms are spacious, soundproofed, and
have a/c. You can have your breakfast (included) in your
room, or in their full-service restaurant, wh
ere m
eals go for
€10-15. Non-smoking rooms are available.
€60
To Syndrivani
Protopapadháki 8
T
24105 35933.
On
the south side of tree-filled Platía Makaríou - one of the
main squares, where the central post office is - this
classic taverna purveys a variety of
mayireftá
, with tables
outside in summer. €10-15 for a full meal.
Daily lunch &
dinner.
The Vale of Témbi
he
Vale of Témbi
, for millennia inspiration to poets, is a gorge-like valley cut over the
eons by the Piniós River, which runs for nearly 10km between steep cliffs of the
Olympus (Ólymbos) and Óssa ranges. In antiquity it was sacred to Apollo and
constituted one of the few practicable approaches into central Greece - being the route
taken by both Xerxes and Alexander the Great.
At the beginning of the vale, on the northern side, a notable landmark is the
Hasa
Baba Tekkés
, the domed remnant of a Turkish Dervish monastery (not open to
visitors). Halfway through the vale (on the southeast flank) another ruin is the
Kástro
tís Oreás
(“Castle of the Beautiful Maiden”), one of four local Frankish guardposts,
while marking the northern end - and the border with Macedonia - is the Platamónas
Crusader-built
fortress
(Summer Tues-Fri 8am-7pm; winter Tues-Fri 8.30am-5pm;
all year Sat & Sun 8.30am-3pm).
3
Tríkala and around
TRÍKALA
(population 50,000)
has a fairly charming centre and
is reasonably easy to
manoeuvre, although like so many Greek municipalities it's generally shabby and seems
to be dusty even when it's raining. The town is evenly divided by the Lethéos River, a
tributary of the Piniós - clean enough to harbour trout - and backed by the Kóziakas
mountain range rising abruptly to the west. For most travellers, it's merely a staging
post en route to the Metéora, with the rail line connecting Lárissa and Tríkala
continuing to Kalambáka. Frequent buses also call from Lárissa, with additional
services heading west over the mountains.
Tríkala was the capital of a nineteenth-century Ottoman province, and in the
Varoúsi
district - below the fortress clock tower at the north end of town - there are lanes with
variably restored houses from that era.
The town's inner
fortress
, a Turkish and Byzantine adaptation of a fourth-century BC
citadel, hosts attractive gardens and a terrace café. The liveliest part of town,
encompassing what remains of the
old bazaar
, is the streets around the central,
riverside
Platía Iróön Polytekhníou
with its statue of local hero Stefanos Sarafis,
commander of ELAS from 1943 to 1945. Rembétika great Vassilis Tsitsanis (see
Contexts p.797) also hailed from here, and he, too, is honoured by the street bearing
his name, heading east from the platía.
ARRIVAL AND DEPARTURE
TRÍKALA
By train
The picturesque nineteenth-century station
(
T
24310 27214) is still used and has been upgraded. It's
on Asklipiou, all the way at the southern edge of town.
Destinations
Athens (2 daily; 4-5hr); Kalambáka (8 daily;
15min); Lárissa (2 daily; 1hr 15min); Thessaloníki (1 daily;
2hr 30min).
