24th September - Kalavryta and the Monastery of Mega Spileon

We had a big day of driving today, starting as usual after breakfast at 9am. Our tour took us on a drive through the Foloi forest, and we stopped for coffee in the traditional village of Divri (Lampeia).

Folio forest

Lampeia

Lampeia

Next stop was the  3000 year old Pausanias vine tree. It no longer bears fruit but is still growing. After the quick stop it was on to lunch at a restaurant right next to the water springs of Aroanios river in the magical place of Planitero.

Vine tree

Vine tree

Spring

Spring

Part of the delicious lunch

 After lunch we headed to Kalavryta, a martyric small town that suffered a massacre (known as the holocaust of Kalavryta) in December 1943 by the Nazi troops which refers to the near extermination of the male population and the total destruction of the town. We stopped at the war memorial which was very sad then headed to the Monastery of Mega Spileon which also suffered under the Nazi troupes as they threw the monks to their death. The Monastery houses a relic reportedly left at the site by the apostle St Luke.

Memorial to the holocaust of Kalavryta

Memorial to the holocaust of Kalavryta

Relic said to have been painted by St Luke has survived a number of fires at the monastery 

Spring at the monastery

Next we took the Cog railway from Kalavryta to Diakofton village in the Corinthian gulf. The scenery and natural beauty of Vouraikos gorge was a pleasant way to spend an hour.




Continuing our trip, we drove over the Rio – Antirio bridge, one of the world’s longest multi-span cable-stayed bridges. The 2,380-metre-long bridge crosses the Gulf of Corinth near Patras, linking the town of Rio (on the Peloponnese peninsula) to the town of Antirio on mainland Greece. We stopped on our way to the hotel in Delphi, where we will spend the night to have dinner at the Katharaki fish tavern in Agios Nikolai’s Fokidos. Another fantastic dinner. On the way to the hotel we played Motown songs from Spotify on the van stereo and sang along. 



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