Honestly, I don’t know what is more refreshing and rejuvenating during summer. The mountains or the sea? Coming back from my holidays in the mountains, the final report goes as follows:
55km of hiking, a waterfall, some wild berries, a dragon lake, and one peak (2.637m.)! Of course, I wouldn’t want to forget our brief encounters with some members of the area’s fauna: a squirrel, a roe deer, a turtle, a wild hog, a rabbit, and only … the footprints of a bear!
Often, the most pleasant meetings are those that you do not expect, especially when they occur at a pure spot of high altitude, in the absolute tranquility of nature, and without any anticipation. That is how we randomly got together somewhere at around 2200m. in West Macedonia, with a friend of mine from Crete.
I call us “habitual suspects”, all those who move around in the same places engaging in our usual activities, whether this is cycling, hiking, skiing, or obviously anything that connects us with nature.
During the Munti Smolikas Festival, we got in touch with like-minded people and appreciated the herbal scents of nature. In addition, we gained an incredible and magical time of free-thinking, as well as endless hours of solitude and introspection with the unique noise of leaf twitching and the breeze that sounds like water within the mountain’s quietness…
We barely left our footprints and we certainly followed what felt instinctively right… “We respected the freedom we found”, as Miltos Zervas mentions in one of his articles.
Δίστρατο
Δρακολίμνη Σμόλικα (2200μ.)
Θέα της Δρακολίμνης από την κορυφή του Σμόλικα (2.637μ.)
Σαμαρίνα
Εκκλησία στη Σαμαρίνα όπου μέσα στο ιερό μεγαλώνει ένα πεύκο
Εφτά Βρύσες
Καφενείο στο Βρυσοχώρι
Καταρράκτης Ηλιοχωρίου
Go for a mountain getaway in the heart of August.
Here are some ideas:
Tymfi mountain range. Vikos gorge crossing can be your starting point and ending at one of Zagorochoria.
Tzoumerka. Consider booking your accommodation at one of the beautiful refugees of Pramanta and Melissourgi.
Grammos. An immensely virgin forest habitat (NATURA protected) that leaves a vibrant alpine flavor
Evritania and the astonishing canyon “It’s always raining”, a truly unusual scenery for the greek landscape.
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