It was time to say goodbye to all at Aginara Beach and continue
on our trip but we will definitely return to this excellent campsite when we
next holiday in the Peloponnese.
One thing that we love about the Peloponnese is the mountains and it was time
to visit some of them.
We started off across flat land before gaining height to join the main Patras –
Tripoli road, the 111, at Panopoulos. Although it is described as a ‘highway’,
it is actually very quiet and has great views of the mountains. Just before we
reached the 111, we passed a smallholding with pigs, chickens and a large flock
of free-range geese – fortunately, they hadn’t strayed on to the road although
there was nothing to stop them doing so. Just beyond, but not too close to the
geese, we pulled in for lunch and just a few metres further on were many
multi-coloured beehives.
We drove on past lovely scenery, avoiding flocks of sheep and goats corralled by
sheepdogs. We reached Psofida Tripotama,
the word Tripotama means ‘three rivers’ and it is indeed at the confluence of
three rivers. This made it strategically important and in ancient Greek times
they built the city of Psofida. We decided to have a wander around the small
settlement and came across a beautiful old (Turkish period?) arched bridge.
Bridges would have been important here since ancient times in order to provide
a safe crossing over the rivers. I followed a small path from close to the
bridge and it was obviously going to a nearby hamlet further up the valley.
However, I soon came to some suspiciously large stone blocks and decided to
investigate. It soon became obvious that I had stumbled across the base of a
tower and the city walls of Psofida. It made sense that, although the main city
was further up the hillside, the walls would have come down close to the river
confluence to protect the crossing.
We backtracked a few kilometres to an informal layby where we could spend the
night. We were visited by a flock of sheep and their sheepdogs and ate our meal
looking out at the mountains and listening to the bells of the goats in the
valley below. We have seen no sign of shepherds with the flocks but we did hear
the farmer calling the goats in.
Photos: We stopped at a bakers soon after we left and I couldn’t resist this
loaf, or the tyropita (cheese pie), spanokopita (spinach pie) or the baklava; A
random view from the road as we climbed to meet the 111; There are so many
chapels in Greece but this one was especially pretty; The ruins of the Psofida
tower; The arched bridge in Tripotama; One of the views from our wild camping
spot – this is Mount Afrodisio and there is a temple to Aphrodite nearby;
Another view from our camping spot – the bare mountain has turned pink as the
sun goes down – no photo editing, that really is how it looked.
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