During our adventures in Zagori, we saw a wonderful selection of Stone bridges. They are one of the features of the Zagori region that I was really looking forward to! I'd looked at some tourist websites of the region and they talked about picturesque stone bridges and rivers.
On our second full day in Papigo, we certainly saw our fair share of them.
We planned a route along the river Voiomatis which runs out of the Vikos gorge. After yesterday's really hot walk, we decided to opt for a river walk which might be cooler and in shade. By the way, I found this highly unflattering picture of me on CBC's camera from that last hot walk I wrote about. You can see how unimpressed I look at having a photo taken of me in that state.
CBC was very noble that day. He drove me down to the village of Aristi where he dropped me by this Stone bridge. This bridge is the only way into Papigo and is the start of the epic switchbacks up to Papigo and the way we had to go to go anywhere. Every time we drove there, we saw people swimming in it or at least, lurking by the water. CBC drove off to park the car some 5 miles away and left me by the bridge.
It was gorgeously in the shade under the bridge which was welcome given the excessively high temperatures. Having seen it as a swimming place I was really looking forward to sitting there reading and then having a swim- I had my cossie on. I settled and read.
Eventually, I took my outer clothes off and shoes off and decided to walk in. Alas, the a
verage temperature of this river does not exceed 4 degrees celsius and it was utterly bone-chillingly glacial!
I persevered for about one minute before emerging out to go and sit back down. I felt so annoyed at myself though. I watched a large amount of people dive from a rock above the river after much umming and ahing and jeering from their friends! Every time someone made the epic plunge, there was a resounding cheer. It made me more determined that I WOULD be getting into that water.
I really found it hard to capture the beauty of the reflections of the glistening of the water on the underside of the bridge. Eventually, I made my way into the river and sat myself down on a rock in the middle- my bottom half stayed in the water for a good 10 minutes but I wasn't ready for the full immersion yet. It took CBC arriving from his trek for me to go in and actually swim. I hasten to add that he didn't join me.
Yes, that tiny dot is me swimming.
Alas, my camera died fairly soon on the journey so I have to rely on CBC for photos.
I thought this journey would be easier given there was more shade but there was a lot of up and down and the start was a bit hairy as CBC decided he would try to find our way along the river from here rather than start the official walk further along the road. This was a mistake.
We had to build our own stepping stone bridge across the river at one point, it was rather like that scene in Labyrinth with the Bog of Eternal Stench and then we had to scale a really sleep slope with loose earth where I had a massive hissy fit at CBC for making me do this stupid alternative route when there was a perfectly lovely road ahead! The picture above is pre-hissy hit.
The trek was about 5km post upward scramble and I thought it would be easier than the Vikos Gorge trek since we would be in shadow a lot because of the trees by the side of the river. However, it was equally scorching hot and there was a lot of up and down steep stone steps so I was panting a lot. And as you guessed - I ran out of water again despite carrying a lot. Today I was wearing shorts, vest and a light floaty top. I don't know if wearing lighter clothing helped or not. I had a wet wipe which I kept dipping in the water when I could to wipe my face on.
Eventually,we reached the end where the car was parked, where there was a perfectly picturesque stone bridge.
Here I am at the end of the walk.
Along our walk, we met the Israeli man I had talked to the previous day at the Oasis during our Gorge walk. He recognised me and we chatted. Brilliantly, we were able to help him as his family had left their car back at Aristi, where we had started the walk, and they were going to have to trek back but we gave him a lift to Aristi so he could come and pick up his family (sadly there wasn't enough room for all of them to fit in!)
After buying some snacks, we went for a drive to a traditional village which our host had recommended though it turned out to be a little dull so we went in search of more stone bridges.
This stone bridge was amazing- the river below had totally dried up.
It just appears by this enormous rock face with caves and openings in it.
Finally, we made our way to find the famous triple Stone Bridge at Plakidas.
It was a little out of the way and didn't actually seem as picturesque as we would have imagined.
It was a bit overgrown and quite treacherous. It was, again, surreal to be walking on a completely dry river bed.
You can see the amazing views of how the river has cut into ground with interesting strata of rocks.
It definitely was a day of beautiful stone bridges- that which I had anticipated before coming to Greece? Was all the walking worth it? Yes. Hard work but satisfying!
Have you ever visited Zagori?
xx
