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Nov. 27th, 2019
Strawberry Tree
Nov. 27th, 2019 08:33 amSo, yeah, yesterday I decided to finally see a real Greek forest and the abandoned king's residence Tatoi.
So I woke up at six o'clock, at seven o'clock I boarded the metro train to Kifissia, at Kifissia I boarded bus 509 to Krioneri, and at about nine o'clock I finally entered the Parnitha national park.
The weather was ideal, the temperature was a little bit lower than 20C, in the beginning it was sunny and in the end it was cloudy and a few drops of rain.
So it was kind of a hike, I've been on my feet for six hours straight, climbing low mountains and descending into gorges, seeing no people for hours etc.
I think that now it is ideal time for such type of things, I don't think it will be a good idea to walk there during summer, when it is 30C or 40C. In fact it seems to me fucking insane going there during summer.
As there were no signs and I know nothing about this terrain, I got lost, and instead of returning back to Krioneri which I was planning to do, I ended up in Nea Erythraia, caught bus 503 and went back to Kifissia metro station.
All in all it was great and atmospheric, seeing a real forest etc.
Pines, cypresses, giant mushrooms growing here and there, trees, bushes and berries I know nothing about, rocky paths leading hell knows where, occasonal barriers blocking car access, apiaries etc.
Great expirience overall.
Somehow I managed to find the abandoned Tatoi palace located in the center of this idillic forest, surrounded by cows grazing in the meadows, the bells hanging on their necks constantly ringing etc.
Amazing atmospheric place, with just a few tourists, I've counted less than a dozen, and most of the time you are on your own with nature and history.
So it's like an abandoned fairytale palace in the middle of the thick wood, like yeah, there is no access and it is surrounded by barbed wire, but still amazing, you don't see a real abandoned fairytale palace in the middle of the woods that often, and the abandoned park filled with free-growing trees and bushes and decaying remnants of past greatness is still accessible and it is something one definitely should see. Real fairytale.
Of course I've also visited the royal cemetery nearby, was kinda strange seeing these simple shiny marble monuments on the graves of Greek kings, queens, princes and princesses, scattered in the grove with high trees blocking the sun and a thick carpet of spruce needles under my feet. Closed church, open crypt with the graves of Constantine and Alexander. And again nobody around.
How better could it get.
Well, actually, this magic day could get even better if I knew what is a "strawberry tree".
In fact, I've just spent about half an hour on the Internet trying to figure out what was it.
By "it", I mean a strange shrubs/trees which are abundant in Parnitha national park. These trees/shrubs are covered with red, yellow and green rough berries and, quite strangely, flowers. And I've never seen anything like that before.
I didn't want to risk and eat them, this never seemed a good idea to me, since I know some tasty berries are actually poisonous, so even if you can eat something, this doesn't necessarily mean you won't die an awful death in the next few hours/days after you eat it.
But yeah, turns out these berries were actually edible, and the plant is called https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbutus_unedo.
In Greek in is called κουμαριά/κούμαρο.
And there is no wikipedia article in Greek about this tree!
Fucking insane.
And just to think about it, sometimes I went for hundreds of meters among these trees/shrubs, all covered with red berries, which fell on the ground as I touched them.
So now I think I should return to Parnitha just to eat all these berries.
So I woke up at six o'clock, at seven o'clock I boarded the metro train to Kifissia, at Kifissia I boarded bus 509 to Krioneri, and at about nine o'clock I finally entered the Parnitha national park.
The weather was ideal, the temperature was a little bit lower than 20C, in the beginning it was sunny and in the end it was cloudy and a few drops of rain.
So it was kind of a hike, I've been on my feet for six hours straight, climbing low mountains and descending into gorges, seeing no people for hours etc.
I think that now it is ideal time for such type of things, I don't think it will be a good idea to walk there during summer, when it is 30C or 40C. In fact it seems to me fucking insane going there during summer.
As there were no signs and I know nothing about this terrain, I got lost, and instead of returning back to Krioneri which I was planning to do, I ended up in Nea Erythraia, caught bus 503 and went back to Kifissia metro station.
All in all it was great and atmospheric, seeing a real forest etc.
Pines, cypresses, giant mushrooms growing here and there, trees, bushes and berries I know nothing about, rocky paths leading hell knows where, occasonal barriers blocking car access, apiaries etc.
Great expirience overall.
Somehow I managed to find the abandoned Tatoi palace located in the center of this idillic forest, surrounded by cows grazing in the meadows, the bells hanging on their necks constantly ringing etc.
Amazing atmospheric place, with just a few tourists, I've counted less than a dozen, and most of the time you are on your own with nature and history.
So it's like an abandoned fairytale palace in the middle of the thick wood, like yeah, there is no access and it is surrounded by barbed wire, but still amazing, you don't see a real abandoned fairytale palace in the middle of the woods that often, and the abandoned park filled with free-growing trees and bushes and decaying remnants of past greatness is still accessible and it is something one definitely should see. Real fairytale.
Of course I've also visited the royal cemetery nearby, was kinda strange seeing these simple shiny marble monuments on the graves of Greek kings, queens, princes and princesses, scattered in the grove with high trees blocking the sun and a thick carpet of spruce needles under my feet. Closed church, open crypt with the graves of Constantine and Alexander. And again nobody around.
How better could it get.
Well, actually, this magic day could get even better if I knew what is a "strawberry tree".
In fact, I've just spent about half an hour on the Internet trying to figure out what was it.
By "it", I mean a strange shrubs/trees which are abundant in Parnitha national park. These trees/shrubs are covered with red, yellow and green rough berries and, quite strangely, flowers. And I've never seen anything like that before.
I didn't want to risk and eat them, this never seemed a good idea to me, since I know some tasty berries are actually poisonous, so even if you can eat something, this doesn't necessarily mean you won't die an awful death in the next few hours/days after you eat it.
But yeah, turns out these berries were actually edible, and the plant is called https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbutus_unedo.
In Greek in is called κουμαριά/κούμαρο.
And there is no wikipedia article in Greek about this tree!
Fucking insane.
And just to think about it, sometimes I went for hundreds of meters among these trees/shrubs, all covered with red berries, which fell on the ground as I touched them.
So now I think I should return to Parnitha just to eat all these berries.