Tag: Tripolis

When looking from above, from the village of Kandalos, it looks like a blue hole in the dark brown fields of Tegea. It consists of a central artificial reservoir of water that floods around it from the waters of endless rains of winter. The Tripolis plateau is a haven of wildlife and archaic beauty, which in the winter is plagued by the merciless cold. When the north wind blows, the atmosphere is clear as glass and nature is crystallized and silent.

"On the 29th of August we go to Limpovissi, for the celebration of St. Ioannis church outside the house of the Greek hero Theodoros Kolokotronis. At six o' clock in the morning we are very proud to put on our costumes and go to the church and have our arms blessed by the priest. Then we bring around the icon and have a memorial service at Kolokotronis's house. And then what? We begin to sing about Kolokotronis and the echo of the gorges gets really creepy".

"We created our rescue team in 2001, intending to help people in danger. Our first mission was a winter night patrol on Maenalus Mountain. We were driving slowly in the mountain's snowy streets with one of our fellows' car, looking for people trapped in the snow".

Tricorpha is a range of mountains in the east section of Maenalus, where the rebellious Greeks used to entrench themselves. The rebels' barricades are saved until today at the tops of two mounds and thrill all the visitors. It takes more than half an hour of uphill trek on a really rugged terrain to go to each one of them.

“Every night, after the sunset behind Maenalus Mountain, the wind stops blowing and extreme calm surrounds us. The only sounds that can be heard are those made by little frogs living in the lakes around. On Sunday night, the ribbiting mixes with the sounds of the cars from far away, as they return to Athens.”

"As a young man I worked at a traditional woodcarving laboratory in Athens with a good salary of 20,000 drachmas per week, but I stayed there less than a year, because they didn't care much about the details. I got a job at another lab for 6,000 per week, where they didn't like mindless working. I preferred earning less money and learning more about the job. Today's young people make something and want to immediately make money out of it; they don't care about learning by other people's experience".