Velvento 4 - Watch Your Step

After a bit of a siesta we hit the road again. Xristos took us up windy mountain roads, leading a four-car caravan to his favorite camping spot atop the highest peak. We passed streams running across the road (it had actually swallowed portions of the road and more was like a Wild West river crossing you see in the movies with cowboys on horseback). Around one bend we stopped to watch two loggers cutting trees from the woods and putting them on the backs of their horses and donkeys to walk down the mountain - talk about old school! After about 30 minutes of zigging and zagging to reach the summit, we pulled through a town to reach the site. There was a small gazebo that the family gathered in to look out into a gigantic (and yes gorgeous) gorge. Some of the more adventurous people walked down to the edge of the cliff to take pictures, scarily slipping and sliding along the way with great caution.






The sun lit up the valley to a bright mixture of green and gold, while the clouds and shadows of the mountains played tricks on the atmosphere. Xristos even explained that this valley, though beautiful, had played a major part in WWII as the Greeks had built a long trench along the hill we stood on (although at this point the trenches had, except for about a foot of depression, naturally filled themselves in and grown thick with wildflowers). They used it to watch the mountain roads and hills to see when German forces were en route to the area. "It was a very effective lookout for snipers and spotters" he told us. There is so much more WWII history throughout these parts of Greece as Velvento was the only town in it's direct area that wasn't destroyed by German forces. I'm really not sure why, but it just adds to the mystique of the town and our experience as a whole.

We piled back into the cars (Mazda, Fiat, Nissan, Subaru - cars from all over) and took off back down the mountain to the log cabin where Xristos and his buddies would escape for a man-stuff retreat (though the activities are clearly for both genders under other circumstances). He showed us a fern gully, some cliffs, beautiful woods, and the large quantities of alcohol that USED to be available - before they had drunk it dry.



We had MORE Greek coffee (probably the 4th or 5th time so far in the day...mom won't be sleeping tonight) and sat around picnic tables chatting with the family, laughing at old stories and simply enjoying the area. On our drive back home we stopped at an outlook area with tables to take pictures of the landscape and town, as well as the sunset.