#location tzoumerka

[aretakh]

It’s not Ai,which could be🌿💦💦

Location:Tzoumerka,Epirus,Greece🇬🇷💦🌿🍃🌱

Just listen the sound of crystal clear water 💧 Calmness 🌿🌱🍃💦💧

[aretis]

📍The Holy Monastery of Kipina (Tzoumerka Greece) 🇬🇷Info: The Holy Monastery of Kipina is an old monastery - of unique architectural construction - located in the north of Tzoumerka, and is built entirely inside a steep, vertical rock, near the village of Kalarrites in the prefecture of loannina..

@georgebozouris

#unesco #monastery #tzoumerka #epirus #greece #athensvoice

Καλημέρα Ελλάδα!

[gemsofgreece]

Which small towns in Greece do you believe are the most pretty?

Know with winter approaching i think more in this app need to know about how many picturesque villages we have that are worth visiting as much as the ones on the islands during summer.

Oh that's very hard to tell. The thing is winter / autumn is better for mountains and since Greece is rugged most everywhere, there are beautiful traditional villages and towns in many places. A list of particular towns would be subjective and certainly lacking but I can name general regions which have several such towns.

Epirus

Zagorohória, Ioannina. Zagorohoria is a group of 46 traditional stone villages in the Pindus mountains, between two national parks.

The town of Metsovo in Ioannina attracts a lot of winter tourism too.

The Athamanian mountains (Tzoumerka), shared between Arta and Ioannina regions, have many traditional villages, very pretty and remote.

Apart from the small towns, the cities of Ioannina and Arta are great destinations for that time of year too.

Metsovo by Maria Vergou.

Thessaly

Mount Pelion, Magnesia is a great destination all year round because it forms a peninsula into the Aegean sea. It has both mountain and coastal villages. Obviously, this time of year the mountain ones become the hotspot. They are many and have a beautiful architecture unique to the mountain.

Trikala has a lot of traditional villages on the Pindus mountains such as the gorgeous Elati and Pertouli but there’s also the all year round winners, the towns of Kalambaka and Kastraki under the shadow of Meteora.

Portaria in Mount Pelion by Michael Koutras.

Peloponnese

Arcadia has some very beautiful mountain villages like Stemnitsa and Dimitsana, which are also rich in history.

Kalavryta in Achaea is a mountain town in a beautiful location with important history. It’s also close to a ski resort.

Regardless of its proximity to the sea, Monemvasia in Laconia is a wonderful town that can be enjoyed any time of the year. Of course it has a milder climate.

Stemnitsa by Alexandros Malapetsas.

Sterea Hellas

Arachova, Boeotia is probably the most popular Greek town for winter tourism. However, there are many more smaller pretty villages in Boeotia and Phocis.

Evrytania is one of the most mountainous regions in Greece and has many suitable destinations, including its main city Karpenisi, the region capital with the highest altitude in the country. Several chalets there too.

Arachova by DiChatz on Unsplash.

Macedonia

Central and west Macedonia have many towns suitable for this time of year, like Samarina in Grevena, Naousa in Imathia. The most popular destination though must be Nympheo in Florina. 

Mount Olympus in Pieria has beautiful towns like Litohoro and Palios Panteleimon. 

Several relatively small cities are good for that period like Kastoria, Florina, Kozani, Edessa, Drama etc

Nympheo by Georgios Tsapouris. 

Thrace

There are several villages in the Rhodope mountains that have special aesthetic and cultural interest. I believe also the main cities of Xanthi and Komotini to be great for colder weather.

The Pomak village Organi on Wikipedia.

*All photos found on 500px unless otherwise stated.

[smugtownmushrooms]

Good morning everyone! I woke to see the sun rise again and loved every moment of it! Pictured is me walking up a mountain in the Tzoumerka National Park, located in the Southern Pindus Mountains in my ancestral homeland of Epirus in Greece. You can’t tell but I got a basket full of mushrooms and a heart full of happiness in that pic! When we visit this region we often stop at @refuge_melissourgoi Which is at a base of a this beautiful summit and hosts us for many mushroom themed events, food and music! It’s in a lovely part of the country and whenever we are traveling and tell people we are headed to Tzoumerka, locals stop and say... Oooooooo....Tzoumerka! Basically it’s a stunning scene of living and culture that hasnt been disrupted toooo much by modernity. No billboards, no shopping malls, no nonsense, just pure nature and all it’s glory. I have opened a few more spots left for this years FUNGI, FLORA, FOOD & FORESTS OF GREECE retreat! Still offering a solid $500 off the listed price! Better pricing when you travel with a buddy! Offering payment plans and lots of beautiful additions to this trip! Be sure to check the website to more details and please don’t hesitate to contact me for even more details! Come with me! You’ll love it! www.smugtownmushrooms.com/greece2019 #smugtownmushrooms #smugtown #rochesterny #newyork #flx #fingerlakes #greece #hellas #tzoumerka #epirus #wildmushrooms #wildfoodlove #mycology #fungi #firtrees #mycorrhizae #spores #ellada #ecotourism #mycotour #mycotourism #offthebeatenpath #foraging #food #chestnuts #honey #permaculture #love #sun #moon #ancestors #ancestralhomeland #escapefromtrump #visitgreece #visitepirus #herbalism (at Mountain Refuge Melissourgoi) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1YnBonAY4Q/?igshid=z5br4hsqvdnk

[gemsofgreece]

Are there any famous forests in Greece? I know our country is famous for their beaches on summer, but I think we have some gems for winter as well.

Quite right, Greece has many beautiful forests but they are mostly known to Greeks and ecologists / biologists because as people know abroad, Greece has no trees. Regardless, allow me to add a title to this answer:

Forests in Greece

Somewhere in Kastoria by Dreamy_Photos from Pixabay.

I started making informative lists of forests based on region but it was getting too long so I will follow a shorter approach.

Officially Greece has:

10 national woodland parks

17 national parks, 11 of which have partial or extensive forest coverage

19 aesthetic forests

Because more than 80% of Greece is mountains, you can expect that there is forest coverage in many locations but since these other places haven’t earned the title “national” or “aesthetic”, I am not gonna attempt including them too. Also, as you see, they are too many to write information as well. If one or a few interest you more, I can make a detailed post about them separately. 

National Woodland Parks

Forest of Mount Párnitha, Attica, Sterea Hellas

Forest of Sounion, Attica, Sterea Hellas

The woodlands of Pindus Mountains expanding in most of Epirus and West Macedonia

Woodlands of Mount Oeta, Pthiotis, Sterea Hellas

The woodlands of Prespa Lakes, Florina, Macedonia

The National Park of Vikos - Aoos, Ioannina, Epirus

The forest of Samaria gorge, Chania, Crete island

The woodlands of Mount Parnassus, Sterea Hellas

The forest of Mount Ainos, Cephalonia island, Heptanese

The National Park of Mount Olympus, Pieria, Macedonia

Mount Oeta by Dust Road from 500px.

National Parks (only the ones with important forests)

National Park of Schinias and Marathon, in Attica, Sterea Hellas. Includes one of the last remaining forests of Aleppo pine and Stone pine in Greece and the Mediterranean.

National Park of Koronia and Volvi lakes, in Thessaloniki, Macedonia. Includes the lakeside forest of Apollonia.

National Park of North Pindus mountains, in Ioannina, Epirus and Grevena, Macedonia. Part of this region is also a National Woodland Park as we saw. This region is in general a national something. The wood highlight must be Valia Calda, which probably belongs to the woodland part IDK

National Park of the lagoons of Missholongi & Aetolikon, the deltas of Achelous & Evinos rivers and Ehinades islands, in Aetolia - Acarnania, Sterea Hellas. Greek national parks tend to have easy names like that. It includes the well known Forest of Fraxos, which is registered as a “monument of nature”.

National Park of the Forest of Dadia - Lefkimi - Soufli, in Evros, Thrace. Honestly since this is a national park of a forest in its entirety, I don’t understand why it is not in the woodland parks. Anyway, it is one of the most ecologically significant regions of Europe.

National Park of Amvrakikos gulf & Lefkas island, expands in Aetolia - Acarnania of Sterea Hellas, Preveza of Epirus and Lefkas island (duh) of the Heptanese. It includes the seaside forest of Agios Varnavas in Preveza.

National Park of East Macedonia and Thrace. This includes the Great Forest of Nestos river, which used to be the largest lakeside forest in the Balkans but is no more, which is why they are trying to protect whatever remains.

National Park of Tzoumerka mountains, Peristeri and the gorge of Arachthos, This is a very mountainous region that extends from Ioannina and Arta in Epirus to Trikala in Thessaly and is forested with many tree species throughout.

National Park of Strofylia - Kotihi, in Achaea and Elis, Peloponnese. It is a forest surrounded by a lagoon, swamps, a lake and the Ionian sea, where the forest gives its place to a beach with sand dunes. It is a wildlife shelter.

National Park of Rhodope mountains, also in East Macedonia and Thrace. It includes two important forests: a) the Forest of Frakto in Drama, which is one of the five least disturbed by man woodlands of Europe. It is said there is no human interference for the last 500 years and b) the Forest of Drymos or Haidu in Xanthi which is full of bears, wolves, boars, deer and endangered birds.

National Park of Mount Helmos and Vouraikos river, in Achaea and Corinthia, Peloponnese. This is another huge area that is very mountainous so it is covered by forests but it also includes one of the aesthetic forests, that of Kalavryta. 

Valia Calda by Konstantinos Lagos from 500px.

Aesthetic Forests

Palm forest of Vai, Lasithi, Crete island

Forest of Kesariani, Mount Hymettus, Attica, Sterea Hellas

Tempi Valley, Larisa, Thessaly

Saint George - Karaiskakis, Karditsa, Thessaly

Pefkia of Xylokastro, Corinthia, Peloponnese

Suburban forest of Ioannina, Epirus

Forest of Selemnos and Haradros streams, Achaea, Peloponnese

Forest of Farsala, Larisa, Thessaly

Forest of Steni, Euboea island, Sterea Hellas. This one turned to ashes this summer, hooray

Woodland complex of Mount Ossa, Larisa, Thessaly

Oak tree forest of Moggostos, Corinthia, Peloponnese

Seaside forest of Monolithi, Preveza, Epirus

Woodlands of Skiathos island, Sporades islands, Thessaly

Stena of Nestos river, between Xanthi in Thrace and Kavala in Macedonia. This must be close or part of the aforementioned Great Forest.

The also aforementioned Forest of the National Independence of Kalavryta

The suburban forest of Tithorea, Phthiotis, Sterea Hellas

Woodlands of Amygdaleona, Kavala, Macedonia

Woodlands of the fortress hills and Ailia of Trikala, Thessaly

Oak tree forest of Kouri & Almyros, Magnesia, Thessaly

The Kesariani aesthetic forest in Mount Hymettus, outside Athens, by vaisgaea from Wikimedia Commons.

!Very important note!

I hate these lists. Living all my life here, I consider them to be very lacking (therefore the Greek state is lacking) and thus I must add some honourable mentions.

Elatia Forest, Drama, Macedonia. Now here’s the funny thing. This is the biggest forest in Greece! Somehow it is not mentioned anywhere above. I assume it is part of the National Park of Rhodope or the East Macedonia and Thrace one but it was literally ignored in all the national park websites I checked for more info! What the heck.

Vytina forest, Arcadia, Peloponnese. This is one of the most popular and beautiful forests in Greece. Again, nowhere to be found.

Foloi forest, Elis, Peloponnese. Another big forest, entirely ignored.

Foloi forest by nanpan from 500px.

Also, from personal experience, why has Skiathos made it to the aesthetic forests when Skopelos island next to it is even more forested??? Not that Skiathos isn’t pretty forested, but Skopelos is more, maybe the most forested Greek island. In general I think there are many forested areas that are better than half the official aesthetic forests but anyway. You do you, Greek state.

Vermio mountain has gorgeous forests and in general Imathia prefecture, you can find very beatiful gems of nature there. The Agios Nikolaos forest there is one of the prettiest places I have been.

Forest of Holomon in Chalcidice is great too and offers views to the incredible coastline of the region too.

There is also the petrified forest of Lemnos island but I assume that doesn't count as a living forest.

Mount Pelion in Magnesia might be one of the most densely vegetated regions of Greece but they put something random in Kouri Almyros or whatever it is called from that prefecture instead in the aesthetic my ass forests...

OKAY don’t mind me ranting about the aesthetic forests. They might be all nice, I don’t know, a couple of them that I have been in are truly beautiful, I just believe there are numerous places - maybe comparatively better - that are ignored.

I worked a lot in this answer and I start having a meltdown so I am stopping here, enjoy :) I am sure I forgot important places but blame the Greek state not me hehehehe

Goodnight or Good morning with this picture from the forest of Euboea which was burned to the ground because I am fun at parties.

Photo by Stathis Floros from Wikimedia Commons.

[gemsofgreece]

“Kalarrytes belong to the prefecture of Ioannina, located on the western slopes of Pindus, at an altitude of 1200 m. The village is surrounded by the mountains of Peristeri (Lakmos) and Tzoumerka (Athamanian mountains). On the northwest, the steep gorge of Kalarrytikos river separates the village of Kalarrytes from Syrrako, while on the north and above the village extend the plateaus and mountain grasslands of Baros, which connects Thessaly to Epirus.”