Jane was not very impressed when I announced last night that I was going to set the alarm for 06:30 so that I could watch the sun rise over the mountains. However, she was as impressed as I was in the morning. We slept very well and not a single vehicle passed by on the road until well after we woke. There was a glow in the sky and not a breath of wind. We lifted the blind and opened the bedroom window and sat in bed watching the sky turn an orangey red as the sun appeared over the ridge of mountains. Absolutely magical – you would pay a fortune for a hotel room with such a breathtaking view.
When we last visited Vassae, we were able to walk all around the outside of the temple underneath the tent but now, one end of the temple had been closed off although we were able to view the area from the side. This was part of the extensive work that they are doing on the temple, which has an estimated completion date of 2020. Although the temple is beautiful, it is very easy to see the faults – columns lean at incorrect angles, parts of the floor have slumped and there are cracks in the walls of the cella (the inner, holy part of the temple). Thousands of years of weathering, settlement and earthquakes have taken their toll and repairs were desperately needed in order to ensure that the temple will still be there for future generations. They are systematically dismantling the temple, correcting the problems, replacing stone where needed (although always incorporating every available piece of ancient stone that is available), reinforcing the foundations and then reassembling it. This is obviously a very slow process! All of the columns at the northern end of the temple were removed in 2001 and put on a specially constructed base whilst the foundations and flooring were consolidated. These columns have not yet been replaced, although it is clear that much work has been done on them. When this work has been completed and those columns replaced, they have to do the same with all of the remaining columns, repair the floors and the cella, reconstruct the upper structure (currently stacked neatly all over the surrounding area like jigsaw pieces) and perhaps put a roof on – the original one was made of Parian (from the island of Paros) brilliant white marble. Then they plan to remove the tent structure to reveal the temple in all its glory. I suspect that 2020 may be a little optimistic but I really want to see it when it is completed and uncovered. Let's hope that it is in my lifetime!
After a last look at the view from the temple, we set off on what must be one of the most attractive drives in Greece, through the mountains and the traditional villages of Andritsena, Karitena, Stemnitsa, Dimitsana and Vitina. Our first stop was Andritsana where we had stopped at a hotel on our first visit to this area some 15 years ago. Then, all of the traditional shops such as the 'Pantopoleio' (everything shop) were open and their were only three small restaurants. Many houses were empty as the much of the population had moved to the cities for jobs and the remaining houses were attractive but in a rather run-down way. The change was quite dramatic – most of the traditional shops had closed to be replaced by more modern versions and new tourist shops had appeared. There are now many restaurants and cafés, houses have been modernised and disused houses renovated. There was only one medium sized and one small hotel then but now there are at least four and there are many signs for rooms to rent. It was good to see that the village was more affluent although a shame that it had lost some of its charm. However, some of the traditions had survived and I spent some time chatting to a cooper, still making wooden wine casks – they give a much better taste to the wine than plastic he told me. I left with a gift of local wine and I promised to send him a copy of one of the photographs that I had taken.
We also stopped in Stemnitsa and sampled their speciality tiny pastries filled with honey and walnuts and covered in huge amounts of icing sugar. The icing sugar went everywhere including all over my trousers, but the pastries were delicious. We made one more stop on the way which was just outside Dimitsana on the road to Zatouna. Here there is a viewpoint that gives a wonderful view down the Lousios Gorge with two monasteries, one clinging to its side and the other perched on top of its cliffs. I have vowed that next time that we visit, we will drive to the Philosophou Monastery and walk to the Prodromou Monastery.
We carried on north until we joined the road that we had used to travel south nearly three weeks earlier. We enjoyed Planiterio so much then that we decided to return there. Once again, we agreed with the taverna ('O Planiterios') that we could stay overnight if we had a meal there. This time the meal was lacking a little in atmosphere as it was too cold to sit out on the balcony and we were the only customers, but the food was still very good.
Photos: Sunrise at Vassae; The western side of the temple; The northern end with the removed pillars on their temporary bases; The protective tent; Karitena village and castle.
No comments:
Post a Comment