To be honest I expected something less impressive when I started to visit this next find of mine. My expectations were low enough to invite my nephew on this as part of our meeting for lunch since I thought it wouldn't consume that much of our time. That sounds funny to me now...
Wanna come with me? Let's go:
The spot I'm about to explore is here. It's right in the heart of a beautiful pine forest which made me think like "even if the destination sucks the route will be nice anyway". And boy it was! I park my car at this beauty,
and then we start hiking:
We soon find a trail which I assume leads to the destination so we follow it:
Looks like enduro guys like to ride around hence these fresh marks from their tires as they were digging dirt:
It's a warm but cloudy and kinda pale day which doesn't do justice for the beauty of this place photography wise but still you get an idea of how it feels to walk in the woods through those young, old and dead trees:
Just in case that's too much wood for you there's always some sea view in the background:
The trail goes up and so do we:
We reach a plateau were a stop to enjoy the view is beyond obvious as you can see:
Sea view definitely included:
I get a feeling we must be close, satellite images on Google seem to agree so we follow this path:
Just a few steps later I'm impressed on the first sight of the fortifications I was looking for. The whole rocky top of the hill is full of trenches:
Rocky as this place is imagine the amount of work this required 80 years ago. Of course they used stones as well:
Let's have a closer look at those trenches:
War "art" in this marbleish rock, peppered with nature's green touch.
Trenches go on a long way and we follow them:
At some point they become really deep:
I step down to take a closer look to this guy and I discover a passage underneath:
As I get even closer I find bits showing that this place was lived!
That's weird AF cause there's no civilisation around. I take a couple of shots before I cross it which speak for its depth:
I walk through it in darkness (watch video at the end) and picture its other side:
It's like a home for smurfs and dwarfs right? While the peace I am lucky to enjoy today allows my imagination to stretch I doubt the guys back in the day looked at it this way as it was an absolute struggle for survival for them.
I'm glad to see my nephew as excited as I am:
Hope he's not too hungry though cause I promised lunch and this looks like it's gonna take much more time than I thought.
We leave the darkness behind to enjoy the view back in the light:
Only to focus on more trenches later:
This is the sharpest piece of rock I have seen since I don't know when - almost Swiss knife sharp!
Trenches, trenches and more trenches:
Funny how those trees grow in the trenches as it's ideal place for them to grow protected while they're young and vulnerable. This one is the most Christmas tree of all:
One break for some view:
And then we head for more trenches:
Those dead branches of trees look as if they represent the dead bodies of WWII that could possibly be laying around here back in the day, completing this "open air museum" this site offers unintentionally.
Definitely among the intentions of the soldiers back in the day was to build some bunkers too hence the following stone constructions:
Happy as I am thinking that I found more rooms to explore I can't find any point of entry and looks as if they were half buried in stones and dirt at sometime.
Can't complain as I have already seen much so I follow the next trench:
Which leads me to this sweet view point:
Peaceful creatures of today make such a contrast with the bloodshed past of this place:
Next trench please:
I find one more room made of stone but a tree sits on top of it now not allowing much hope for exploration - still cute though:
Fancy a break from trenches for some view? I guess you do:
Surprise surprise, I've got some more trenches for you:
This looks like a pillbox but there's no way to go in and its windows don't make sense as they're in the trench so no idea what exactly it used to be:
Some more trenches:
And more nature's goodies:
Till I meet one more underground passage:
I follow the trenches trying to see its entrance from the other side:
As I enter it I realise that it's a threeway! Not exactly the kind that the young soldiers back in the day would like to enjoy but good enough to offer them the chance to go from trench to trench without exposing themselves to the enemy's ammo. You can see it plus the previous passage in the video below:
Kinda long one but hope you managed to enjoy it as much as I did.
See you on the next one!
P.S. If you are interested in such stuff around Greece fortifications.gr is a great source.
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