A long walk around ancient mining ruins at Sounio National Park

To be honest I start this walk in order to explore what looked to me as an ancient site on satellite images which surprisingly wasn't even on google maps (Spoiler: that's the spot which you can now see on GM because I entered it🙂). As soon as I park my car to begin this several km long hike I find out that what used to be an abandoned area with several ruins here is now a finished ancient site from the ministry of culture open to public. In fact, I have visited this area a couple of years ago while the site was still under construction (you can read the post I made when I snuck into it with my mountain bike here).

Today it's a disabled friendly place with nice informative signs readable from blind people. The only disadvantage is that before I could visit spots like these,

while today the exact same spots are fenced:

But hey, safety first right?

The local church dedicated to Holy Trinity looks nice behind those pine trees under the flattering first rays of the sun - the pros of being an early bird when needed:

Definitely among the same pros is the absence of crowd:

So, all alone in this wonderful weather (probably warmest winter so far) I start my walk on this freshly paved path while the gravel road next to it is not allowed for motorised vehicles anymore. Left and right one can see various ruins from the intense mining activity of the past as silver has being mined around here even from the prehistoric ages. These ones come from the 19th century though:

The path goes on and so do I:

Prior to the renovations this abandoned building was almost fully covered by vegetation - glad to see they took care to expose it:

Think of this mountain as a Swiss cheese and that's due the aforementioned mining activity. Too many holes/vents to fence:

This last one is semi fenced though which allowed me a closer look:

At the same spot it's interesting to see the stomps of the burnt trees, victims of the recent wildfire that took place here:

On a positive note though, see the myriads of baby pine trees eager to make their green revolution:

I am often disappointed from signs in such sites but here they made a nice job both aesthetically and info wise:

Once a mining site, now a heaven to walk on a warm winter morning:

What you see below is an ancient (5th BC) mineral laundry:

Such constructions are mainly consisted of a water tank to collect rain water which was then used to wash the minerals from dirt. This was critical making more efficient the next stage of the whole procedure which was melting the minerals to get the silver, saving in firewood resources.

I said something about Swiss cheese didn't I?

I follow these brand new green rails in this green heaven,

I commented on Sounio National Park as a mountain that look like a Swiss cheese due to the intense silver mining actovity which dates back to the prehistoric ages and stopped just a few decades ago.The next pictures kinda speak for themselves on that:

As you can see there's a weird and interesting combination of rock formations and human "editing" on these rocks. I find a passage that makes me feel between a rock and a hard place (pun potentially intended) which I decide to enter:

It leads me to these pile of stones and I step closer to see what is what as usually there's interesting bits left behind at places with leftovers of such activity:

Fortunately my guess wasn't entirely wrong, there seem to be some holes in the rock worth having a look at even though there's nothing worth mining in them anymore:

In the last picture you might have noticed something like a hose in front of that small cave. With a closer look I can confirm it's a firefighter's hose:

Even more interesting is to see that it has burns showing why it was left there and how intense was the firefighting at that moment:

The hollow rock is definitely at least as interesting though:

Time to climb back up this pile of stones to continue my walk:

Nice informative signs, readable by blind people who can also touch this piece on the left to feel the landscape. Good considerate job from the ministry of culture:

If I wanted a break this spot would be impossible to pass but I am so excited to "Carpe Diem" that I walk past it:

One more hollow rock,

and another one, fenced though:

Wish I had a mountain bike but can't complain walking under the sun as it's impossible to sweat in the heart of winter even during the warmest one so far:

There's points where this heaven offers dilemmas like this - left or right?

Regardless the choice the view stays fan-pine-tastic:

A little later I deviate a few meters as I see an ancient mineral laundry on my right:

What you see above is its ruined water tank. Impressive to see how back in the day they had come up with a water tight grout that they applied on the stone walls to prevent leaks. There's still bits of it standing after all these centuries! How impressive is that!

More ruins on the way:

However, this one a little later is more impressive - another water tank in very good condition, almost exactly how it used to be back in the day:

I can't wait to step down its stairway and see this piece of history from the inside:

I'm so impressed deep down inside this thing - have a look:

Remember I told you about that grout before, time to see it from closer:

There's still so much of it standing - impressive if nothing else. Time to step back up:

Somewhere halfway on my walk in this heavenly forest I take the chance to picture the moon (though it's 10:00ish am) over this green carpet of pine trees - ype, it's that little white dot in the sky:

Once again I wish I had my mountain bike but who can not be happy while walking a route like this:

Some visit this area on enduro bikes despite the restrictions of this national park leaving traces like this behind:

I leave no trace as I walk this oneiric track:

Taking a short break to picture the green beauty and the moon once again:

The green beauty is often peppered with these tiny colourful guys:

Looking down from the path I walk on I see a bunch of stones that look not exactly accidentally placed there:

As I approach it looks like some short of stone construction used to be here. I have no idea how old it might be and what its purpose was but the area has a deep silver mining history dating back from the prehistoric ages up to few decades ago so it could be part of it:

I get back on the track and later I find some short of crater ahead:

As I step in I see more obvious signs of the past mining activity:

Feels weirdly nice to be inside this thing watching those rock formations and the trees waiting to jump off the cliff in the next landslide:

However, not all people go in there with the best of intentions as you can see, again despite the restrictions:

Without those hunting bits the nature's carpet looks better doesn't it?

The moon is still up, the forest is still lovely:

And the wounds on the rocks from the past activity over the years are plenty:

Though some are filled with dirt for safety reasons:

And others are fenced:

You wanna see what's behind the fence don't ya? There you go:

Getting closer to my initial "target" which is what looks like an ancient site from satellite images but without any info about it anywhere. With this in mind and still not close enough to it I see on my right this thing:

Definitely not as big as my initial destination but still I'm impressed it is not be mentioned by anyone yet. Let's have a closer look:

It looks to me at least as old as other antiquities around if not even older reaching the prehistoric years. Here you can see it from all angles possible:

A few minutes later I find more ruins, probably from the same period but again no info or idea about them:

Time to get back on the track that will finally lead me to where initially I planned to go but all these ruins obliged me to deviate. By the time I do so I meet this lovely old pine tree with one of its main branches parallel to the ground:

I won't comment on the view I get at this point but feel free to do so in the comments:

Finally, I reach what made me plan this walk in the first place. Yes, it looks like an ancient site on satellite images only because it actually is one:

However, it is still under construction and closed hence no info about it. Of course now you can find it on Google Maps thanks to me by clicking here.

I manage to take a few shots behind the fence so you can get an idea about this ancient mineral workshop that probably dates back to the 5th century BC:

I knew beforehand that there's one more fenced area next to it but as soon as I approach I find its door semi open:

Of course I couldn't miss this chance so I took it as an explorer's bonus/gift🙂. As I step inside I see in the background what looks to me like one more ancient mineral laundry:

Yes, it actually is - have a look:

This time, unlike in the previous parts where I showed you similar ones from the inside, I am not gonna go down these stairs:

As you can see above had I done so I would either ruin them or myself or both and I wanna keep both in tact. Time to walk back where I snuck in from:

I interrupted my view to the previous site when I saw that open door so now it's time for some more pictures from it:

Sweet as it is, so is the area around it:

The National Park of Sounio which is where all these are is an endless treasure. On my way back I feel like I can almost collect as much pictures as on my way up to here without risk of boring redundancy.

There's so many lovely old pine trees,

So many abandoned silver mines,

and so many (still unidentified) ruins,

that one can spend a lifetime walking around collecting enough material for a series of books about this heaven.

I will place my 4K video here consisting of clips I shot during this long walk hoping it will fill the gaps the pictures might left behind, especially audio wise:

Hope you managed to follow during this long walk and also hope you enjoyed it - I LOVED it🙂

See you in my next ones!