08/09/2011 Greece VII: Fantastic Folds

It's surprisingly difficult to find a good geology road trip route. So often, the route takes you through thoroughly uninteresting terrain only pockmarked with natural wonders. That's how I viewed most of my undergraduate road trips, anyway. The other problem is that unless you have a map in front of you, it's extremely easy to lose your bearings, and with them your sense of geological setting.

Today was not like the average geology road trip. From Grevena we took the Via Egnatia to Metsovo (Μέτσοβο), then drove on to Anilio (Ανήλιο), so called because of its position on the shady side of the local mountains. We parked at the base of the village, and walked the short distance to the plateia, shaded by aged platanus trees. On one side, an early 18th century church provided extra respite from the sun, its stone walls the same light grey as the streets and walls of the rest of the village. I sat and ordered a strong Greek coffee (ελληνικός σκέτος), and fussed over a small dog that scampered over to us inquisitively.

Dina at the entrance to one of the Anilio Metsovo churches

We then drove south to Haliki (Χαλίκι). To the west lies Lakmos (Λάκμος), the source of the Achiloos River (Ποταμος Αχελώος), whose peak is at 2,295 m and is named Tsoukarela (Τσουκαρέλα). The Achiloos is named after the Greek deity Achelous, son of Tethys and Oceanus, and considered by Homer to be the origin of all the fresh waters of the Earth. The rivers origins are described by Servius:

When Achelous on one occasion had lost his daughters, the Sirens, and in his grief invoked his mother Gaea, she received him to her bosom, and on the spot where she received him, she caused the river bearing his name to gush forth.

Larva of Saturnia pyri, the Giant Peacock Moth; the largest European moth

South of Haliki, a spectacular range of mountains reach skywards. Once made angular by glaciers creeping inexorably down the valley, their peaks have been sanded only slightly by the passage of the last few millennia. Flysch in a myriad shades of grey reveals itself where grasses have failed to colonise the slopes, creating hundreds of towering chevrons rising above the valley floor.

Panorama of chevron-folded ranges and sheep herd

Chevron folds between Chaliki and Kalarrytes

From Haliki, we continued upwards to 1900 m, and then descended past Kalarrytes (Καλαρρύτες) into a valley across which a metal bridge spanned a crystal-clear stream. An older footbridge lay further to the west, beneath which large carbonate blocks with brown-grey chert nodules provide a perfect place to sit and relax unseen from the road and village.

Old bridge along path from metal bridge across the valley south of Kalarrytes

We continued our drive to Pramanta (Πράμαντα), and from there to Melissourgoi (Μελισσουργοί), another beautiful alpine canyon.

Alpine scenery and Ionian flysch near Melissourgoi

Back to Pramanta, and through the Tzoumerka region (Δύμος Κεντρικών Τζουμέρκων) along the Vourgareliou-Pramanton (Βουργαρελίου-Πραμάντων) and Pros-Gorgousa (Πρός-Γοργούσα). We stopped for lunch at a cafe on the Artas-Fraston (Άρτας-Φραστών) road, just before a bridge crossing the Araxthos River (Ποταμός Άραχθως).

Looking north from the Artas-Fraston bridge across the Araxthos River

From there, we drove back to the Via Egnatia near Ioannina, and then back to Grevena.

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