Greece 2014 Adventure: Day 5 Mt Ainos
Last night was the bull's and hen's party and I had roped my "little Greek Brother" Andrew in. He had about 4 hours sleep, was a fit rugby player! This was his first mountain. We had a fair idea where we needed to go and Eli was going to drive us to the start near the quarry. The road is narrow and a 30km drive from where we were all staying in Lassi. the narrow steep and mountain road should really only accommodate goats never mind cars, so it got somewhat hairy at times. I was also worried about Eli going back on her own.
Eli showed me a little church that was built into the rocks under the main road as we went over the bridge. this was such a little treasure. The small chapel is located outside of Argostoli, in an actual cave just under the main road. The area was originally called Agia Varvara and according to tradition in 1912 a young refugee fell from the road and down into the ravine below. He landed on the ground without sustaining any injuries. The child himself is said to have said that a women in white helped him to get down unharmed. After this the villages watch for a whole year as a flame burnt. A few years latter they found the courage to go down and explore the mystery of the flame. They entered into the cave and found the icon of Saint Varvara. They attributed the wonder to her and took the icon to Argostoli where according to tradition he stopped a major epidemic that had erupted and killed a lot of people. The chapel was then built in the cave and you can see it clearly from the street under the bridge. From 1953 onwards, the miraculous icon disappeared, probably stolen. The church celebrates on the 4th December according to tradition, the faithful people boil wheat and offer it in the congregation in commemoration of the salvation of the island from the epidemic.
after a while we finally found what we thought was a quarry, It was somewhat confusing we had found several quarries and also signs for Mt Ainos. It turned out we were dropped off almost 10km off our starting point. After been dropped off we got chased by some sheep and thought we might get munched on but when they saw their shepherd they lost interest, suddenly did a round-about turn and raced off after him and left us alone!
After some time we realised that the landmarks were of a smaller peak. Once we had reached the top we could see Mt Ainos in the far distance. Eish!! at least now we could see more or less where we needed to go and could orientate the map to some landmarks.
Since 1962 the mountain has been a national park in order to project the unique Cephalonian fir more commonly known as the Greek fir and the rich native flora comprising of some 350 different species of plants, shrubs and trees. The Enos fir forest, which starts at an altitude of 800m is unique as nowhere else will you find such a large forest of firs. Because of the fir forests on Mt Enos are such a dark green from a distance the mountain looks black! The Venetians called the mountain Monte Nero "Black mountain". the mountain is so famous that even Napoleon asked Marinos Metaxas how the Black mountain was faring!
Owning to its geographical position, Mt Enos (Ainos) has always been an important landmark for ships plying to and from the West. it has also been a key factor in the history and destiny of Kefalonia and its people because of its valuable timber. The famed wooden horse from Helen of Troy was made from wood from this very forest. References to the mountain can be fund in ancient literature, confirmed that the wood of its fir trees was used in shipbuilding and Homer uses the word "firs" to refer to the oars of the Kephallenian ships. Scientific research has shown that the columns in the Minoan palance of Knossos were also made of fir. The profitable timer trade was exploied by the Romans and the Venetians. The coins of the ancient city-state of Pronmoi on the south-east slopes of the mountain bore an image of a fir-cone not found on any other ancient Greek coins.Mt Enos is connected with mythology and history as well as many local legends and traditions. in antiquity there was an altar of Zeus Ainesios, the father of gods and men, on the summit: traces of it can still be seen today. its situation reminds us that the gods had their home on the summit of the highest mountain in Greece, Mt, Olympos.
the popular imagination has woven many curious stories around the dense, often impenetrable forest of Mt. Enos. The Venetian administration's official records for 1509 have preserved for posterity the thrilling legend of the "gigantic winged dragon" that lived on the mountain and was the in the habit of devouring human beings in the area around Ayios Nikolaos. all efforts by locals to kill the dragon were in vain. Two brothers named Brescani succeeded in overpowering and slaying the dragon. it was burnt outside the church of Ayios Nikolaos and the Brescani brothers were given large estates as a reward for their heroism.
The views are fantastic, however we did not come aacrossany gods, however standing on the mmajesticsummit looking down at the entire island and sea it was very easy to feel like a ancient god!
the Meals on Wheels flag flies proudly in Europe for the first time!!!
Our 9 Peaks flag flies from the highest point of the Ionic Islands and Kefalonia!!!
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| Andrew flying the SA Flag up high |
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| The selfie - a job well done!! |
found on the mountain are many aromatic and medicinal herbs. Birds and reptiles like lizards, tortoises and adders (was thankful we did not come across any of these!). Small mammal like hedgehogs, moles, weasels, hare and fox are alos found. The one mammal I did want to see was the small herds of wild horses which live on the SE slopes of the mountain. They are very shy and are not often seen. Many legends are told as to how they came there but most believe they may have been left behind after WWII to roam free. They are protected to ensure their survival as they are in danger of extinction. During winter heavy snow falls on the mountains which create harsh conditions for the remaining wild herds.
A massive challenge now awaited Andew and I. We were not entirely sure how to explain to Andrew's dad who was going to pick us up, how to get to where we were. In fact we were not entirely sure ourselves. We knew we had to walk down a road we had spotted to connect onto the main road, but did not know what the name or road signs would indicate. We dedicded to walk along the national parks road and walk on back home some 30km to lassi, hoping we would meet the family along this road. to make matters worse neither of us could get phone signal and when we did it was for a few seconds at a time. By some mircle we sent a sms as to what path we were following. the family got horribly lost and by some mirlce they took another road which lead them directly to us!! So maybe the god's were smiling on us after all!! The family were heading towards Sami so we flagged down a car with a husband and wife who were Italin. they were on their way to Argostli and would give me a lift. It made for some interesting conversation. They spoke very little English and I no Italian!! Andrew only got back much later to Lassi. We all meet up later for dinner and chatted to the family about our adventure. The views were breathtaking and you really did feel as thought you would be slaying dragons and creating your own legends!
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