Temp. 16-10 degrees, wind:
W/NW, cloudy/sunny
Our goal for today was a ‘classic’
hike to the Profitis Ilias monastery near Salakos, in the heartland of Rhodes.
On the way to Psinthos we checked where we had seen the cave with the bees, and
marked the place on the map. Via a beautiful winding road we drove southwards
to Archipoli, Aleousa, Dhimylia and Salakos. Near the village square, with the
police station, we parked the car and had coffee in a nice, local and rustic
restaurant. We’ve noticed that the Greeks take their time making our coffee,
and we were the only customers. So we waited. No hurry. We’re on holiday,
right? 😊
We parked the car near the
beginning of the trail.
“A very pleasant and
effortless route’, I read on the internet … hah! Our hike went through the
verdant mountain of Profitis Elias that dominates over the villages of Eleousa,
Apollona, Platania, Dimylia and Salakos. The trail is built and begins from a
steep “front” of rocks that lies above Salakos village at an altitude of 220
meters. Nearby are the springs of the Rhodian bottled water “Nymfi”. The trail
leads to the monastery of Profitis Elias, at an altitude of 610 meters. It took
us 1 hour and 40 minutes to get all the way up there. The views were really
beautiful.
The route passed through a
landscape with dense vegetation. The area is a protected wildlife sanctuary.
During the route, we had the strong, cold mountain breeze in our back and
enjoyed the incomparable views to the sea. Each time we thought we had reached
the top, only to realize there were more bends, and more steep paths to climb.
But finally, we reached the small chapel of Archangelos Michail (the Archangel
Michael). The door was unlocked, so we took a look inside and ate our
sandwiches on the stone bench, out of the wind.
Higher up, amidst the trees, we
saw the in the 1930’s Italian built hotel, which looked like a Swiss chalet.
Profitis Ilias is covered with forests of pines and cypress and maquis
shrubland. Notable are different Rhodes Paeonies and Cyclamen (who no longer
were in bloom) . The large parasitic orchid (eats flies) grows in the pinewoods.
Also notable are the Profitis Ilias Bee Orchid (found only here), and other
rare orchids that only grow on high altitudes, moist woodland, and Prophitas
Ilias only.
Refreshed, we began our
descend, which didn’t go as quick as we hoped, because of the quality of the
narrow path. Loose stones and rocks, mud, uneven terrain, we had to keep our
eyes on the path so we wouldn’t stumble or fall. Grateful to be back at the car
after 1.15 hour, we continued our travels through this beautiful area.
We took the road through the woods, which led us to the top entrance of Profitis Ilias and now we past the hotel we had
seen from below.
The "Elaphos" hotel was built by the Italian colonists in the
Dodecanese in 1929 as Albergo del Cervo (Deer Hotel named after the deer Dama
dama platoni that lives in the adjacent woods. The nearby villa was intended as
a retirement home for Benito Mussolini.
The winding, very narrow
road through the woods was so beautiful. We continue to be amazed there are so few
cars on the road. The villages we pass seem deserted, only near the squares you
see some people or near the supermarket.
Two kilometers from Eleousa
we past by a VERY old church, and decided to take a look.
Agios Nikolaos Foundoukli is a late Byzantine church dedicated to St Nicholas containing 15th century
frescoes. Around the church are very old Olive and Oriental Plane trees.
Because of the darkness
inside this little old church (which had great acoustics, Wim found out), we
couldn’t really make out the frescoes. Only at home, looking at the pictures I
had taken, did we see the beautiful, very old paintings. Awesome!
The last stretch of the
journey home was via the by now regulary travelled road via Archipoli and past
the Epta Piges (7 springs).
All in all, it had been a
long, but wonderful day!
Time for coffee!
