One of the highlights in the north of the Peloponnese Peninsula is the Voraikos Gorge, and the Odontotos Railway, a rack railway that parallels the river in the gorge between the towns of Diakopto (on the coast) to Kalavrita (in the mountains).
The drive to Diakopto was about 1.5 hrs from our home in Nafplio, along a good highway. We had tickets for the 9:52AM train.At the Diakopto Station, there was a little graveyard of old trains.Note the toothed rail in front of the train between the tracks (a rack railway), which allows the train to negotiate steep grades.The boys checked out all the old trains,while Neil observed the local insects. Their eyes cover most of their heads, giving them almost 360° field of view. They are carnivorous and have sharp teeth.The Odontotos Railway has a gauge (the distance between the two rails of a railway track) of 0.75m, which is the world’s narrowest gauge. For reference, a standard gauge is 1.4 m. And that’s our train. We’ll travel 22 km in it; the journey will take an hour, and end at the town of Kalavrita.Important information. Max conventional traction speed: 60 km/h. Max gear uphill speed: 25 km/h. Max gearing downhill speed: 16.5 km/h. Weight: 55 t. Gross weight: 66 t. Braking rate: 90%.Felix wished he could drive the train – he was fascinated by the controls.Patiently waiting for the driver.One of the amazing views from the train. Sometimes we’re up high on the gorge, and other times, we’re down at the bottom by the river.There’s almost always a mountainous view.We travelled through a number of tunnels. If we were hiking the gorge, we’d have to time it so we were out of the tunnels and off the rickety metal bridges when the train came by.The railway has two types of racks. The regular rack, which allows the train to travel up to 40 km/hr, and the toothed track on the steep grades, which allows the train to travel up to 15 km/hr. There are cogs in the wheels that latch on to the rail as the train ascends and descends.Our “wagon is air-conditioned”.Nearing the end of our journey.
There is no room for hikers when the train is going through some of the tunnels or bridges. Timing is critical.Final stop at Kalavrita. The town is known for two important reasons: 1. The Monastery of Agia Lavra, built in 961 AD, is the site of the start of the Greek Revolution; 2. On Dec 13, 1943, German troops executed almost its entire male population (approximately 500) in retaliation for the Greeks executing 68 German soldiers.We wandered a bit around town, and then had some lunch while we waited for the return train to Diakopto. Ubiquitous signs: “Do not throw papers in the basin.” This is because Greek sewage pipes are only about 2 inches – compared to a standard 4 inches in Canada/US/UK.We had tickets for the 1:30PM train, and loitered at the station until around 2PM before we discovered that the train was not coming till 5PM. At this point, Neil swung into action with his phone. He discovered that the Cave of Lakes were a 20 min drive away so we hunted down a taxi who was willing to squeeze 5 of us into his car to drive us there, wait while we did the tour, and drive us back to the train station for our 5PM train. The ride cost €50, the same as the entry fee into the Cave of Lakes. These caves were discovered when villagers noticed water flooding from the roof of smaller cave. Speleologists (aka a cave expert) investigated and found 13 caves on 3 levels, created by water dripping and collecting on the floor. No photography was allowed in the caves. We were going to tour the second level (first and third levels are for speleologists only) – 500 m out of total 1950 m. Given that the temperature was around 35°C, we were looking forward to entering the caves, where the temperature is between 15-17°C all year with a humidity between 70% and 96%. The water remains at a constant 11°C.Long day of adventures for the everyone.
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1 comments on “Voraikos Gorge and Cave of Lakes”
While having lunch at the restaurant, I remember some guy came out of his car, drained a cup of ouzo, hopped back in his car and drove away. The taxi we took to the caves had five seats. With the driver, we made six people. Felix and I had to squish into one seat together.
While having lunch at the restaurant, I remember some guy came out of his car, drained a cup of ouzo, hopped back in his car and drove away. The taxi we took to the caves had five seats. With the driver, we made six people. Felix and I had to squish into one seat together.
Good memories.