Another Saturday Night at a Monastery

I moved on from Vytina this morning just as it was filling up with day visitors. It had been quite busy last night, but signs were that it would be a popular destination for lunch today.

There was water from a spring just out of the centre, next to which I caused minor disruption for fifteen minutes as I filled up. The narrow roads of the village would not have been passable in the van in a short time.

I headed north west, just a quarter of an hour and ten kilometres to the village of Magouliana, the next stage of the Mainalon Trail. I had my eye on a couple of possible stopovers, working on the theory that there would be a lot less weekend traffic here, as it was a much smaller place, just with the one tavern. The first two places I had pre-planned were not suitable, and I moved on a few kilometres to Valtesinika, up at 1140 metres and a bit of a bigger place. Not far out of the village on its north-side is the monastery of Kimiseos, set above the road with plenty of space for parking. Fortunately the chief monk, a wizened figure with the expected two-foot long grey beard, was in the courtyard. I asked if I could park and stay over. He indicated they were expecting visitors, and showed me a spot out of the way. I think just two cars have come all day, but I am overlooking a gorge with the high mountains of the northeast Peloponnese behind.

I had put together a walk that completed a circuit that took in the gorge, the St Nicolas Abbey, set into the rocky cliff, and then joined the Mainalon Trail for about five kilometres, then arriving back into Valtesiniko from the north. It would have taken a couple of hours, but when crossing the river on the Trail, I followed Roja rather than watching for the green trail markers, or referring to my GPS, and we walked a kilometre, perhaps a bit more, in the wrong direction.