Burning down the house

We are all watching as the last haven of our capital city is being burned to the ground. The fire began Wednesday afternoon 15 km away from the National Park of Parnitha (a NATURA 2000 site) and reached it yesterday afternoon. There is ash flying all over the city, and the smell is just so scary. There are way too many questions the government and the local authorities will have to answer to.
How timely this is, if one thinks of the Greek government's plan to amend article 24 of the constitution by inserting an innocuous passage which will allow development in order to meet "public needs", aka opening the door for uncontrolled development in forest areas. This along with the absence of a national cadastre, a forestry inventory and the recently proposed Spatial Planning Framework for Tourism, make all of us working in the environmental field all the more angry and suspicious of our country's "leaders".

The natural wonders of Attica

Trail map of Mt. Parnitha (source: Oreivatein)

Stalagmitic & stalactitic decor of the cave (photo: P. Matsouka)

This Saturday I went on an amazing hike with two friends at the southwest foot of Mt. Parnitha. We took the not-so beaten path (not the green one marked on map) and started off on the west side of the Kleiston Monastery, passed through forested areas, clearings, traversed west around Omali peak, made a small beautiful climb down the left side of Goura gorge and hit Giannoula's stream with it's gorgeous silver colored pools to climb up again and reach Panos Cave. This beautiful "alive" cave (770 m), was the site of worship of Pan, the ancient goat-legged god who protected mountains, forests, caves and the flocks. It amazes me every time how gorgeous Attica is, all these places just a few minutes away from the city center.

Useful mountaineering link: Oreivatein