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| Samothraki! |
In no particular order, for no particular reason, I subjectively chose to list some places of awe-inspiring beauty and natural history value. I begun this when I was waiting at some far-off airport somewhere, thinking of Greece. I'm not ashamed to say, even though I've travelled far and wide in this country it is difficult to objectively select the best parts. I make an attempt here for ecotourists, since I have always been an ecotourist....
The Greece of Yesterday is really no-more. To find this please go to Albania or Anatolia. Greece is a modern country with many modern amenities, lots of recent sprawl, a good measure of near East ugliness and interesting problems. Greece's unique geopolitcal position brings in the Balkans, Europe, the Med and the Middle East. A rich cultural and natural assemblage is the result.
Now I'm posting this rather unfinished post, just for fun, just for my ecotourist friends abroad. I feel they should visit as soon as the Covid scare subsides....
These are the 15 most "beautiful" nature-filled destinations in Greece...
1. The Acropolis of Athens
I have visited this place of pilgrimage repeatedly as a child, student, teacher and with visting friends-from-abroad. Sometimes, when alone near the Parthenon -early morning- there is a feeling of pure awe. Get there extra early, perhaps in winter is best. Also go to Philopappos Hill across the Acropolis and admire the view. Finally, the area around the Acropolis is a wonderful greenspace, best seen in April but also interesting on any late fall or winter day.
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| View from Philopappos Hill. |
2. Samos
I visited first in 1995 and then again more recently. A mountain-peninsula droping into an azure sea. I remember walking the upland trail on a wind-still day watching the dolphins playing in the shallows below me. Samos is special because it is one of our only true Asian islands, this one realy close - separated from Anatolia by a mere 2 km marine strait.
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| Mikro Seitani beach in the northwest of the island. |
3. Samothraki
Similar to the Mount Athos and parts of Thrace, but a true Island. It is a mountian in the sea like no other. Athos is good too, but Samothraki is a cultural opposite. Like Athos, Samothraki also has its share of wilderness. Also Samothraki is on the Aegean edge- an Island apart from the rest. It is still fairly pure and untouristed. Most of all it is environmentally unique - especially its mountain, its running waters, tiny wetlands and its people.
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| The springs of the Fonias river at Karya. |
This is my homeland, my Olympus. And Mount Ochi although much smaller than Olympus, is totally unique and austere, windswept, dark-rock and Aegean...altogether! It plumets to the sea at its northern slope - sometimes also recalling Athos or Pelion. Its also an "island mountain". While Scuba diving near Arapis islet a few years ago was a highlight, wild Aegean waters just like any far-fetched island world.... The Petali islands nearby are said to have the most beautiful waters near Athens, part of southern Euboea also. I have spent hundreds of days field working in this area so it is a very subjective selection. I miss these landscapes dearly.
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| The wonderful peak of Ioudas (1386 m) with cool summer mists. |
5.The Southern Saronikos Gulf Marine Waters (Anavissos to Cape Sounio)
Again, a very subjective selection, since my work-place is at HCMR Anavissos, 50 Km South of Athens. This is my day job place and where I long to go swiming with a mask on. However, I am sure this is true and real beauty, a protected southwest facing coastline, variously indented with offshore islets, a beautiful sea. And the sunsets.....
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| I've counted more than 80 fish species right off the beach next to HCMR headquarters. |
6. Kerkyra
Vasso and I did a study there in 2002. I recal roasting marshmallows with Dimtri on Antinioti beach. Of course the Natural History of the island was made famous by the Durrels who made a legend out of this. There is no myth here, this is a totally uniquly verdent, humid and wildlife-rich island. Unforgettable. You can fall in love with Kerkyra (or Corfu) easy. My last project here was a Life Nature proposal which unfortuantely was not awarded; it is a pity, the Island deserves careful biodiversity protection and landsacape stewardship. Many visitors care.
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| Korission Lagoon in the southwestern part of Kerkyra (photo by rent-a-car service on the island). |
7. Messolonghi
The most "birdy" area the southern half of Greece, definately! And uniquly varied - the "lake district" including lake Trichonis, the extensive Valonia Oak savannas, the Acheloos river delta and vast Messolonghi lagoons. Its a great place to visit in spring and September; winters are also surprisingly mild. Conservation here has had mixed results, more work here is really needed.
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| Flamingos, common and easy to photograph in the salinas. Photo from instagrampost by @discoverusa. |
From '95 to '97 we did many trips and charted many new protected areas - in our work with the Hellenic Ornithological Society. The Society held a house on Lipsi Island, warmest of memmories there. Later,Vasso held seminars at Symi. We stayed with the people, not as tourists. We also got involved in a Life Nature project on Tilos for a bit. It is the most beautiful island cluster of Greece, and always hugging the coast of Turkey. Pure magic, seems so long ago.
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| The tiny harbour of the unspoilt island of Lipsi. |
9. Lake Kerkini
Lake and mountain, Greece's most bold and beatiful. A semi-natural weir-dependent lake. A natural mirror below the towering green wall of Mount Belles. A biodiversity hotspot; and like no-other ecotourism destination in Greece it is so easy to see so much wildlife here. Take a scope along - the lake is vast.
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| Where we bought our first water buffalo - later exported for re-introduction to the Amvrakikos during a Life Nature Project... |
10. Dadia - the Evros Valley -Evros Delta
Without a doubt this is a wildlife extravaganza on a fascinating three-state frontier. It was been well-researched and there are two wonderful National Parks. The grand Evros valley (a former Sturgeon river...), tiny villages lost in forest slopes, and a realy huge estuary-like river delta. I pay a pilgrimage there nearly every year.
11. The Amvrakikos Gulf
Again a place of work, of education and worship. I did my first paid stint as a naturalist warden here back in 1985 (thanks to the Hellenic Ornithological Society). Later I helped mapped the Park's outer boundaries. And my M.Sc., and so much field work (thanks to so many projects and friends). But the most amazing feeling was flying in a very small hyperlight aircraft over the entire area to map the vegetation and search for bird colonies back in 2002. Thrill of a life-time.
12. Mount Iti and Spercheios River
A mountain from "Northern Greece" down so south! And in a unique rain-shadow river valley with a huge micro-tidal estuary. The river Sperchios floods the Maliakos creating a unique estuarine environment, complete with extensive mudflats and teeming with aquatic diversity. Little explored, yet spectaclar even from a superficial view. We have been working here since 2005 at full tilt; currently we have two projects here. In 2021 it will be "my other office"....
13. Vikos - Aoos and the Northern Pindos National Park
There is no doubt in my mind that this area is above-and-beyond spectacular and a word-class protected area. It is slightly drier than the long deep defile of the upper Acheloos. And the geological set-up is much more complex. No doubt this is our most beautiful and wildest and "biggest" national park areas. I am proud to have worked here for a long time and hope to go back soon. I helped design the boundaries of the Northern Pindos National Park in the late '90s - just one of many Special Environmental Studies I was working on at the time. This is now a show-case area - the Chamois population has rebound as has the bear and wolf population. And since Yannina is close, I have good friends here.
14. Upper Acheloos Valley
I think there are reasons to say that this area is about as important as the Aoos valley. It is definately word class in terms of wilderness, wildlife and naturalness. But it is different from the Aoos. Differnet geology, starker, perhaps more inhabited at some point a few decades back. A warmer river flowing south. Also, the area is infamous for being one of Greece's longest fought eco-battlegrounds - relating to the great Acheloos dams and river diversion. This has occupied environmentalism in this country for more than three decades. The upper Acheloos along with the Aracthos (which became a big park) are both very close to me and featured deeply in my PhD researach.
15. The south coast of Crete
First your must read "The Making of the Cretan Landscape" by Rackham and Moody (1999). Then go to Crete! The south-central part is the most spectacular collection of near-coast mountain landscapes in Greece within such a small stretch of coast. There are literally 100 gorges along the south coast. This leeward side of the island, the south, is no place like anywhere in Greece or Europe. Period.
Without a doubt this is a wildlife extravaganza on a fascinating three-state frontier. It was been well-researched and there are two wonderful National Parks. The grand Evros valley (a former Sturgeon river...), tiny villages lost in forest slopes, and a realy huge estuary-like river delta. I pay a pilgrimage there nearly every year.
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| Two Cinereous Vultures and a very rare Egyptian Vulture at the "feeder" near Dadia village. |
11. The Amvrakikos Gulf
Again a place of work, of education and worship. I did my first paid stint as a naturalist warden here back in 1985 (thanks to the Hellenic Ornithological Society). Later I helped mapped the Park's outer boundaries. And my M.Sc., and so much field work (thanks to so many projects and friends). But the most amazing feeling was flying in a very small hyperlight aircraft over the entire area to map the vegetation and search for bird colonies back in 2002. Thrill of a life-time.
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| One of my photos of Rodia Swamp, taken when we did'nt have any drones. |
12. Mount Iti and Spercheios River
A mountain from "Northern Greece" down so south! And in a unique rain-shadow river valley with a huge micro-tidal estuary. The river Sperchios floods the Maliakos creating a unique estuarine environment, complete with extensive mudflats and teeming with aquatic diversity. Little explored, yet spectaclar even from a superficial view. We have been working here since 2005 at full tilt; currently we have two projects here. In 2021 it will be "my other office"....
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| Mout Iti and a big sky in the valley of the Spercheios river. |
13. Vikos - Aoos and the Northern Pindos National Park
There is no doubt in my mind that this area is above-and-beyond spectacular and a word-class protected area. It is slightly drier than the long deep defile of the upper Acheloos. And the geological set-up is much more complex. No doubt this is our most beautiful and wildest and "biggest" national park areas. I am proud to have worked here for a long time and hope to go back soon. I helped design the boundaries of the Northern Pindos National Park in the late '90s - just one of many Special Environmental Studies I was working on at the time. This is now a show-case area - the Chamois population has rebound as has the bear and wolf population. And since Yannina is close, I have good friends here.
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| The clear-as-gin and very cold Voidomatis river. |
14. Upper Acheloos Valley
I think there are reasons to say that this area is about as important as the Aoos valley. It is definately word class in terms of wilderness, wildlife and naturalness. But it is different from the Aoos. Differnet geology, starker, perhaps more inhabited at some point a few decades back. A warmer river flowing south. Also, the area is infamous for being one of Greece's longest fought eco-battlegrounds - relating to the great Acheloos dams and river diversion. This has occupied environmentalism in this country for more than three decades. The upper Acheloos along with the Aracthos (which became a big park) are both very close to me and featured deeply in my PhD researach.
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| Somewhere in a lonely part of the upper Acheloos in late summer. |
15. The south coast of Crete
First your must read "The Making of the Cretan Landscape" by Rackham and Moody (1999). Then go to Crete! The south-central part is the most spectacular collection of near-coast mountain landscapes in Greece within such a small stretch of coast. There are literally 100 gorges along the south coast. This leeward side of the island, the south, is no place like anywhere in Greece or Europe. Period.
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| The Kourtaliotis river flowing to the Lybian Sea (near the Preveli palm grove). |
