OrestisTrips: WWII fortifications in the heart of a pine forest

02/01/2023

WWII fortifications in the heart of a pine forest

It's not the first time I share stuff that dates back to the second world war here but I always find them too interesting to pass so here's some more of them. The ones I found this time are located in the National Park of Sounio (Greece) which is an explorer's heaven despite difficulties one might face around this time of the year like this one:

Not sure the picture tells the whole story but these grooves are half a tire deep, I'm solo as it gets and my 4x4 is not engaging 100% lately so I decide to deviate. Besides, what is to complain about doing more kms in a sweet area like this:

It's almost 11:00 am but one can still see drops of water from the overnight humidity that the sun hadn't dried up yet:

There's interesting slates to observe as well:

As I climb up a hill hiking towards to my target this plane offers me a nice overview:

A few steps later in between these pine trees I get my first sight to this WWII fortification:

The exact location is right here for those interested.

If it wasn't that clear in the above image I guess this next one steps later makes it more obvious:

As I get closer I meet this gravel road where I make a stop to enjoy the impressive (sea included) view:

Time to focus on the main target though:

As you can see at first it looks as a pillbox/watchtower in mediocre condition. However, as I approach it at the top of that hill I find out that there used to be an artillery here back in the day - here's a gun post:

I found out later that this was made by Italians - FYI.

This spot gives me another viewing angle to the pillbox next to it,

But look at the kind of view it offers me to the sea:

Which gets even better and more pacific than back in the day with some flower power:

Next to the WWII ruins is a more contemporary watchtower for wildfires, obvious necessity as those pine trees become nearly as flammable as unleaded fuel during summer:

Now, who wants some watchtower view? I'm sure you all do - be my guest:

Here's a couple with the fortification included:

And one more looking North West towards the mainland:

Time to step down and have a closer look to those ruins:

Wondering how life inside that thing is? I'll try to give you an idea:

As you can see this thing provides such an intense contrast between its ugliness and the spectacular view around it.

I mean, look how ugly it is,

and compare it to its view:

Did you by any chance notice that white thingy on top of that green hill in the middle of the above images? That's my next target located here.

As I step down that dirt road you may see it clearer:

I'm glad to see that the local authorities are already preparing for the next fire season hence the road is full of cut branches that weren't cleared up yet:

As I get closer to the hill that thing looks kinda cute contrasting the green beauty around it:

And the overall view around is nothing to complain about:

However, as soon as I arrive there's more than enough to complain about - look at all that trash:

Seems that they gave power and telecommunications to that thing there but didn't give a fuck to pick all that shit when the project was over:

Ehmmm...did I say that this thing looked cute from far? Well, actually not even close - it's ridiculously hideous AF, a cross between comedy and eye pollution:

So it seems that they added on top of this WWII pillbox a wildfire watchtower made from cement blocks built in a way that the drunkest worker on earth would never manage to fuck up like this. How did they dare to make anything like that in a place like this: