Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
parked coaches. Just before the flagstoned platía with its giant tree, the seventeenth-
century church of
Áyios Minás
is locked, but the narthex, with fine eighteenth-century
frescoes, is open. The wide, artlessly modern
kalderími
leading from the far end of the
platía reaches, after 900m (not “600m” as signed) the eagle's-nest monastery of
Ayía
Paraskeví
(built 1412), teetering on the brink of the gorge (there's a small viewing
platform just behind) and now empty, though left open. If you're extremely sure-footed
and have a head for heights, continue around the adjacent cliff face along an
exceedingly narrow and dangerous path to a stair-trail climbing to
Megáli Spiliá
, a
secluded cave where villagers once barricaded themselves in times of danger. The views
HIKING THE VÍKOS GORGE
The
Víkos Gorge
cuts right through the limestone uplands of Mount Gamíla for 20km,
separating the villages of western and central Zagóri. With walls almost 1000m high in places,
it's quite equal to the famous Samarian gorge in Crete, and a
hike
through or around it is
probably the highlight of a visit to the Zagóri.
Despite the gorge's popularity with hikers, and periodic bouts of trail maintenance, it's worth
emphasizing that it is not a Sunday stroll. Bring proper, over-the-ankle
boots
and a leak-proof
water container and walking poles or a stick (also useful for warding off guard dogs and
belligerent cows). The best
maps
for the region are produced by Anavasi Editions (see p.52).
Check
conditions
in advance of setting out. During April or early May, snowmelt often makes
the Monodhéndhri end impassable, and during a rainstorm the sides of the gorge are prone
to landslides.
THE ROUTE
The most-used
path down to the gorge
begins beside the Áyios Athanásios church in
Monodhéndhri; a sign promises fairly accurate walking times of four-and-a-half hours to Víkos
village, six hours to either of the Pápingo villages. Once past Monodhéndhri's municipal
amphitheatre, the path is cobbled for most of the forty minutes down to the riverbed, whose
stony course you follow for another few minutes before shifting up the west (true left) bank,
reaching the best viewpoint at a saddle ninety minutes from the village.
The entire route is waymarked, sometimes faintly, by red-paint dots and white-on-red
stencilled metal diamonds with the legend “
O3
”. This refers to a long-distance path, which
begins south of Kípi at Lynkiádhes on Mount Mitsikéli, traverses Mount Gamíla and ends
beyond Mount Smólikas. However, the surface underfoot is arduous, with some boulder-
hopping in the gorge bed, metal or felled-branch ladders getting you over tricky bits on the
bank, plus slippery, land-slid patches.
About two hours out of Monodhéndhri you draw even with the
Mégas Lákkos ravine
, the
only major breach in the east wall of the gorge; a spring here has been piped to make it more
usable in summer. Another thirty minutes' level walking takes you past the small, white shrine
of
Ayía Triádha
; a further half-hour (around 3hr from Monodhéndhri) sees the gorge begin to
open out and the sheer walls recede.
As the gorge widens you must make a choice. Continuing straight, the best-defined path
takes you past the side trail to beautifully set eighteenth-century
Kímisis Theotókou
chapel
(unlocked; excellent frescoes well worth the 15min round-trip detour). Beyond here, the route
becomes a well-paved
kalderími
, climbing up and left to
Víkos
(
Vitsikó
; 870m elevation),
four-plus hours from Monodhéndhri and also accessible by a 5km paved road from Arísti. This
underrated village has two inns, and up on the square, with its exceptionally handsome
church of
Áyios Trýfon
, a good restaurant.
Most walkers, however, prefer to follow the marked O3 route to the two
Pápingo villages
,
crossing the gorge bed at the
Voïdhomátis springs
, some three-and-a-half hours from
Monodhéndhri. It's about two hours' walk from the springs up to Mikró Pápingo, slightly less to
Megálo, with the divide in the trail nearly ninety minutes above the riverbed crossing. After an
initial steep climb, there's a fine view down into the gorge near some weathered, tooth-like
pinnacles, before the trail traverses a stable rockslide to the fork. Should you be reversing this
route, the path-start in Mikró Pápingo village is signposted bilingually, and marked by a fancy
stone archway in Megálo Pápingo.
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