Voio The door of Mount Pindos P h o t o s b y Ιoli Petroulaki The door of Mount Pindos P h o t o s b y Ιoli Petroulaki

An Ovi Magazine Books Publication C 2014 Ovi Project Publication - All material is copyright of Ovi magazine & the writer Publications apopseis.gr C 2014 apopseis.gr Publications - All material is copyright of apopseis.gr & the writer

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For details, contact: [email protected] An Ovi Magazine Books Publication C 2014 Ovi Project Publication - All material is copyright of Ovi magazine & the writer No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior Publications apopseis.gr C 2014 apopseis.gr Publications - All material is copyright of apopseis.gr & the writer permission of the writer or the above publisher of this book. Voio: The door of Mount Pindos

oio (Greek: Βόιο, Voio; Ancient Greek: Βόιον - Boeon) is a mountain range in the southwestern and western regional units in . The mountain is part of the mountains. Its highest elevation is 1,805 m. It is a densely forested and sparsely populated mountain range. It is drained towards theV river in the west and towards the Aliakmonas in the east. The nearest moun- tain ranges are to the west and to the southwest.

The nearest villages are Pentalofos in the east, Eptachori in the west and Kypseli in the north. The municipality Voio, named after the mountains, is situated in the eastern part. The Greek National Road 20 (Kozani - - ) passes through the mountains, 2 km south of the highest point. The first home of Boeotians was in mountain Boion; the mountain gave them their name.

At the foundations of Pindos, between the giants of Mountains Grammos, Smolikas, and Vasilitsa, stands Mount Voio. A big mountain, different from others, a mountain so unique like its own ancient name.

It is the starting point of the high sierras, the stone villages, and Greece’s largest river, Aliak- monas. Anything one could ever hope to find on a mountain can be found here at Voio. High peaks, waterfalls, canyons, neverending forests full of life, legends and buildings from the past, rivers and bridges, hidden paths, and villages built on the sides of the mountain are only some of the things that characterize this unique set. From the west side of Voio starts yet another historical river, Sarantaporos, which where the landscape is considerably strange due to the flat crosses Epirus and joins up with river Aoos. Voio crosses in platform. In this area, where the vegetation is lush, the major- such way that the waters on its east side end up in the Aegean Sea and the ones ity of ‘’Kastanoxoria’’ are located. on its west side in the Ionian Sea. In parallel with the main body, starting from the area of Eptax- It is one of Greece’s most highly inhabited and foresed mountains. Its rich eco- ori and eventuating at Dotsiko village, Taliaros Mountain is systems, which include numerous mixed forests, consist mainly of oaks, chest- erected full of vegetation and mixed forests. In this area, Voio nut trees, beech trees, pines, firs and low bushes. Voio is an ideal habitat for all meets the bulge of ‘’Smolikas’’ at the south and Grammos at kinds of wild animals found in northern. the north. Its highest peak is ‘’Thanasoulas’’ (1537m), almost beneath the ‘’Profitis Ilias of Zoupani’’ peak. Paliomagero The villages of Voio, known as Kastanohoria or Mastrohoria, form an excep- affluent springs eastern of Taliaros Mountain and Veneticos tional ensemble of unique nature, tradition and architecture. The most represen- River from its west. tative sample Greece, like deer, wolves, wild boars, bears, eagles, hawks, owls, squirrels, foxes, wildcats, and various species of fish. of this incredible area is Finally, the lower part comprises of the successive and whis- the famous Pentalofos and its surroundings. And so we inviteyou to follow the tle palisade of Polikastano- Aygerinos-Tsotili with numerous paths that were formed by water and carved by history peaks which exceeded 1000m. Here are formed the main val- leys of Pramoritsa and Velos Rivers and the abundant alpine The Voio Mountain, from which the homonym province took its name, con- and riparian forests which are interchanged to grasslands. The sists of four individual mountains with particular natural beauty. Thus, it is not majority of the mountainous and semi- mountainous villages a homogenous mountain, but a cordillera with direction from the North to the are located in this area. This alpine network has irregular di- South, just like Pindos. Its length and width reach 45 and 30 Km, respectively. rection, however, generally follows the way of the main body, Voio is one of the most forested Greek mountains, having trees in an area which concluding at the Prefecture. covers 80%. The Ancient Greek geographers define as Voio, the entire Pindos cordillera. The most distinctive component of this mountain is the number and the formation of its peaks. These characteristics owed their nature in the impres- sive geographical formulations. Its bed of rocks arrangement has a West to East direction which has as effect, bold cliffs at the western and smooth forest lands at the eastern parts. These facts made Voio a rare biotope for a variety of animals, such as wolves, deers, wild pigs and bears. Aliakmonas River and its most sig- nificant affluents (Pramoritsa, Velos, Venetikos and Sarantapororos Rivers), are spring from Voio.

Voio consists of the main body with fascinating abundant vegetation. It starts to erect along the basin between and Peykos villages of the Kastoria Prefecture. Then crosses the Kozani Prefecture and settles to the Grevena Pre- fecture. The main part of the mountain belongs to Kastoria district and there are not few who wrongly confuse it with Grammos Mountain, as Voio consist a mountain of its own, geographically and geologically. Its distinctiveness is that it comprises of two peaks of equal height; the ‘’Paliokrimini’’ (1812 m altitute) and ‘’Profitis Ilias of Zoupani’’ (1810 m altitude). The third higher peak is ‘’Pe- tritsi’’ (1784m) and the fourth, the Pirgos of Kotili (1767 m). The entire crest of Voio’s main body, from Profitis Ilias at the North until the Pirgos of Kotili, constitutes the highest part of the mountain. It consists of numerous peaks with altitude greater than 1600 m, forming, in combination with Grammos Mountain at the West, the Srantaporos valley.

The second big part of Voio is the ‘’Ondria’’, which has vertical direction at the main body, intersects the mountain at the area north of Paliokrimini, ending at the Municipality of Orestida, a few kilometers before the towm of Kastoria. The highest peaks are the ‘’Megali Otra’’ (1589m) and the ‘’Mikri Otra’’ (1530 m), “Ι seek a shore where Ι can fence in a patch of the horizon with trees or reeds. Where, gathering infinity, Ι can have the sense that: there are nο machines or very few; there are nο soldiers or very few; there are nο weapons or very few, and those few aimed at the exit of the forests with wolves; or that there are nο merchants or very few at remote points οn the earth where paved roads have not yet been laid. God hopes that at least in the poets’ sobs paradise will never cease to exist.”

-- Nikiforos Vrettakos

“Truly, you couldn’t possibly leave behind the time you were afraid of the wolf and you were anxiously awaited the angel. You studied the customs and traditions of history, you passed under the arrows of contemporary events, you’ve traveled... and yet you couldn’t cast off the small town of your childhood from your innermost, the town made up of kind faces, bare or verdant plains, celestial things, along with the esteemed old man sated with reflection and perception, and high up, Taygetos, zooming proudly.”

-- Nikiforos Vrettakos

“Truly, how smugly you would’ve felt if only you could, turning your back to gigantic cities, had returned to the things that were given to you and had weaved your beautiful dream, if you had returned to the hill where you sat , at one time, and reigned in peace, ...Returned under their gleeful glances to gather your evening wood. ”

-- Nikiforos Vrettakos

““Poised like an eagle, I stand above the world - one claw in the snow, the other in the clouds – immovable, white.”

-- Nikiforos Vrettakos

“The apple tree sows its blossoms in the wind: you fetch rainwater in your apron light from the wheatstalks a moon of sparrows.”

-- Nikiforos Vrettakos

Voio, the door of Mount Pindos

September 2014 Ovi Magazine Apospeis.gr

Photos by: Ιoli Petroulaki

Design/Edited: Thanos Kalamidas

An Ovi Magazine Books Publication C 2014 Ovi Project Publication - All material is copyright of Ovi magazine & the writer Publications apopseis.gr C 2014 apopseis.gr Publications - All material is copyright of apopseis.gr & the writer

Ovi books are available in Ovi magazine pages and they are for free. If somebody tries to sell you an Ovi book please contact us immediately.

For details, contact: [email protected]

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior permission of the writer or the above publisher of this book. VoioThe door of Mount Pindos P h o t o s b y Ιoli Petroulaki