Safe Return Doubtful

Heavy on the pics light on the text today.

Great weather to visit the Gorge of Lousios today after considerable overnight rain, which meant the river was in full flow.

My hike started at the ruins of the Asklepion, a sanctuary of the Greek God of healing Asclepius at Ancient Gortys. These ruins were discovered in the 1950s and date back to the fourth century BC. In only the last few years, archaeologists have found a pedestal carrying an inscription referring to the statues of Asclepius and his daughter Hygeia. Asclepius was the god of medicine. The assumption is that the healing sanctuary was destroyed by earthquake around the first century AD, and lay under earth for 1800 years.

From there, it was up 400 metres of ascent, and about 4 kilometres, to the Podromos Monastery, founded in the sixteenth century, nestled in the cliffs.

It is actually built into the hollow of an overhanging cliff. Some monks say its founding was actually four hundred years earlier. Due to its hidden and inaccessible position it was used as a refuge and hospital for local fighters during the Turkish occupation.

As well as its collection of ancient books and manuscripts, it has a considerable number of cats. I restricted my visit to the courtyard. It isn’t a place for dogs to loiter.