Kambos- Sotirianaka  (approx 3 hours)

 

Park your car in Kambos and follow the road sign posted Kendro.

This is a well made road and in a short time you will see the village of Orova.

Follow the road that leads down to the village, you will pass several covered springs in the fields either side of the road. In the centre of the village you will find the church, with your back to the church door, turn right proceeding though the village for about 100 metres.

Turn right follow path, you are now looking at a track leading out of the village, turn right and follow the path out of the village. You can now see the monastery behind Kambos.

 

The monastery is a fine balconied building and resembles a hotel. It is believed only one nun remains here and sometimes you can spot her peering through the garden as you walk by. The path now reaches a track, turn left and follow this track through the olive groves.

On a bend you will see the kalderimi that will take you to the ancient bridge over Koskaraka gorge. You now have a choice in deciding whether you wish to carry on to Sotirianaka or diverting past the ruined settlement of Toubia and back to Kambos. You can divert past Toubia and still get to the bridge and this is the way we will guide you now. Following the bend in the track to the left the settlement starts to appear on your right.

There are some quite high walls around this farmhouse (see bottom right of picture) are they part of a defensive feature or are just ruined buildings? Carry on this track until you see the road down below, turn right onto this road.

In front of you now are other ruins. As you reach the bend in the road you are on top of the buildings. One is obviously a former mill as it has the equipment still inside, the other appears to have been a residence.

 

  

Continue on the track, after a while you will come to a kalderimi, a well made cobbled path which will take you to the bridge, the views of the gorge are now quite stunning.

 You should also be able to see the kalderimi that will take you up over the other side of the gorge.

  

The bridge is of 19th century origin but there would have been one here even in ancient times.

 Before you cross the bridge go down the little path on your right handside. This will take you into the dry river bed and on your left hand side as you face the bridge you will see a small building, presumably a former water mill.

Many people miss this feature even when they walk down into the gorge. Under the bridge you will find many large smooth rocks on which to sit and have a break.

Having taken your break, it is now time to cross the bridge and climb up the other side of the gorge on the old kalderimi. This is a particularly fine example of this type of road and there is another one of this quality that takes you to Altomira, we will save that for another day.

The kalderimi will wind up the gorge and you will eventually come to the former monastery of Aghios Nicholaos and the ruined settlement of Marvinitsa.

The monastery was obviously well supplied with water as there is a supply running constantly. Amongst the ruins you will find a cave with a doorway and another whose only entrance is a window.

 

 

 

Festivals are here still held here on the day of Aghios Nikolaos as you can see by the cooking arrangements.

Follow the track out of Marvinitsa and take a right turn on the adjoining track. Follow this right through to the village of Sotirianaka on your way you will pass several covered wells and pumps.

 The village of Sotirianaka has no taverna or kafenaion so make sure you are well supplied with refreshments.