{"id":760,"date":"2013-03-13T11:34:52","date_gmt":"2013-03-13T08:34:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thepaleochorasite.com\/bobsblog\/?p=760"},"modified":"2022-10-08T17:08:28","modified_gmt":"2022-10-08T14:08:28","slug":"the-kambanos-gorge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepaleochorasite.com\/bobsblog\/the-kambanos-gorge\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kambanos Gorge"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Details of the Kambanos gorge came from the same source as those of the Prines gorge (see ‘Explore!’\u00a0 Sept 2012)\u00a0\u00a0 –\u00a0 a guide to Agia Irini and nearby areas (Antonios Plymakis 1994) : \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “The Kambanos Gorge begins a little further below the village and is full of rocks and wild vegetation.\u00a0 You can walk through it in two hours and you will come out at the village of Moni.”\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em> Lynne and I went to explore the gorge one January, shortly before she fell ill.\u00a0 Leaving Kambanos on the connecting road to Moni, we walked less than half a kilometre to where water flooded across the road and into the valley, ending any plans to descend further. Instead, we walked on 2km to the church of Ag. Nikolaus and enjoyed a picnic in the sunshine. \"\"<\/a> Soon we were joined by a shepherd, feeding his nearby flock and lighting a candle.\u00a0 Chatting to him, Lynne\u00a0 – whose Greek was far more fluent than mine will ever be\u00a0 –\u00a0 asked if there was a path through the gorge?\u00a0 Laughing, he replied, “No, just some olive trees, sheep and goats, and sometimes me.”\u00a0 And how old is the church?\u00a0 “Procthes … “<\/em>,\u00a0 he told us, literally\u00a0 translated as “before yesterday”, but often used by Greeks to indicate times long ago. Fast forward to late last summer, when friends and I drove 25km from Paleochora to Moni, 4km north of Sougia,\u00a0 parked the car by the cafenion, and caught the early afternoon bus up to Kambanos.\u00a0 The way out of the village is not obvious, but exits steeply from the ‘platea’ <\/em>by the imposing church of Ag. Konstantinos & Eleni.\u00a0\u00a0 Keeping south, the road runs alongside the streambed, and after 1.5km reaches a track left, leading to a water pumping station.\u00a0 Although it seems possible to enter the gorge here, it’s not, with gorse, oleanders and other shrubs blocking access.<\/p>